Toad Check Surprise

[kendall69]

I have a dedicated hitch for my various needs. I ALWAYS weld the nut to the hitch and never have a problem. Cheap insurance to have a dedicated hitch.


I also weld the bolts on my winch after I had an entire winch with bumper stolen. Since welding it and the winch to the frame and bumper, no problem.



Tack welding is much better than thread lock.


It's much safer to have to cut off a weld than having the bolt either come off or be stolen. Sure a thief can also cut then off, but how many thief's carry around a battery operated cut-off grinder or saws-all and how many want to chance making that much noise?

[Steve 716]

A flat washer, lock washer, and blue locktite should prevent a reoccurance. Use a long handle torque wrench of you have one.

Do not use red or you will never get it off again. A torque wrench might be a

[Monkey Run]

Unfortunately, we are now living in an era of high crime, bad manners and among those whom think it's funny to mess with your stuff. Someone pulled the retaining pins for the ramps on my trailer while parked at an auction. I wasn't more than 75 feet from it inside the building. My practice was and is to do a complete walk around after parking, and before hitting the road again. One item which I never thought necessary to recheck after leaving home were the loop lock type pins on my ramps. I was incorrect. At the first stop light after leaving the auction, one ramp came crashing down. Fortunately, nobody was behind me or it would have remodeled their hood. Both pins were taken.

[almacd1814]

Originally Posted by bryanwwelsh

4 weeks into a road trip. Heading out for new day and just finished up toad brake check etc. and was doing my last walk around and noticed the hitch ball was at an angle. It had come loose. I had personally torqued this down on installation 8 months ago using a 2' closed end wrench just for this purpose. Very surprised it unscrewed. Never have had this happen in many years of towing toads, boats and trailers. In fact, I have often struggled to get a ball OFF when needed to change. I was also surprised & disappointed I didn't notice it when I took the toad off. I will be replacing the lock washer as soon as I get into a town that has one of this size. Anyway, something to watch for. And yes, I know if I had one of those fancy tow bars this would not be an issue...

When you torqu a nut use a torque wrench set to the proper spec depending on the stud size, an us a couple of drops of RED LOCTITE!! The nut will not come loose.

[VentanaOdyssey]

We don't have a ball in our towing setup but from years of towing boats from 17' to 30' I can tell you two things will cause the ball to loosen. First, the ball shack is smaller than the hole in the bar. Second not using a good quality lock washer that will dig into the nut and the hitch. A third less common cause is corrosion on the ball and ball coupler that will cause the ball coupler to actually loosen the ball.

[Tugboat]

I have seen this on boat trailers. There is a nut under the coupler and if it has been tightened to much it will clamp on the ball and want to twist it when you turn especially if there is no lubricant on the ball. This happens on boat trailers because there tends to be a lot of rust in the coupler from sitting in damp environments. Near the ocean is the worst.
A tack welded ball shank and plenty of grease works.

[Jchemie]

From the angle of the ball stud in the hitch, it appears the hole for the stud has been enlarged over time. It may have not been at proper tighness initially and slowly enlarged itself over time from start-stop movement. It’ll feel tight by hand shaking it, but with the weight of the trailer yanking it back & forth it was moving slightly. You may have not noticed it visually at first, it will be subtle, but then on one trip it escalates and you caught it in time before it fell off. Had it happen to me, nobody is perfect. Time to buy a whole new hitch bar & ball.

If the hitch is a dedacated one, take it to a hitch shop and have them torque it down and do a tack weld.

[Lakeman1]

Originally Posted by bryanwwelsh

4 weeks into a road trip. Heading out for new day and just finished up toad brake check etc. and was doing my last walk around and noticed the hitch ball was at an angle. It had come loose. I had personally torqued this down on installation 8 months ago using a 2' closed end wrench just for this purpose. Very surprised it unscrewed. Never have had this happen in many years of towing toads, boats and trailers. In fact, I have often struggled to get a ball OFF when needed to change. I was also surprised & disappointed I didn't notice it when I took the toad off. I will be replacing the lock washer as soon as I get into a town that has one of this size. Anyway, something to watch for. And yes, I know if I had one of those fancy tow bars this would not be an issue...

Looks like the hole has been walled out or was too big to start with. I would check it out.

[SuperGewl]

Originally Posted by bryanwwelsh

4 weeks into a road trip. Heading out for new day and just finished up toad brake check etc. and was doing my last walk around and noticed the hitch ball was at an angle. It had come loose. I had personally torqued this down on installation 8 months ago using a 2' closed end wrench just for this purpose. Very surprised it unscrewed. Never have had this happen in many years of towing toads, boats and trailers. In fact, I have often struggled to get a ball OFF when needed to change. I was also surprised & disappointed I didn't notice it when I took the toad off. I will be replacing the lock washer as soon as I get into a town that has one of this size. Anyway, something to watch for. And yes, I know if I had one of those fancy tow bars this would not be an issue...

Well, there you go, you answered allot of our questions. Now you just need to put that check on your monthly or even every other RV Trip Checklist.
good thing you caught it before your toad passed you going down the road.