alwilsey
Sun Lakes, Arizona
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Joined: 11/25/2007
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I was the driver of the unit that had the hitch pin shear off. Impact speed was low. I was pulling 15,000#. Hitch was rated at 20,000# It was a U-Haul hitch. I do not know who the actual mfg of the hitch is. In looking over the areas of concern I feel that the hitch itself could have lead to the pin breaking off. the hitch ripped the bolt holes out that hold the bottom part of the swivel hitch to the base supports allowing the whole unit to rotate forward which would put an uneven strain on the front of the hitch pin causing it to tear loose in a bending fashion as opposed to shearing off straight. I plan on having all of the parts saved so I can try to get someone to take a through look at them and maybe come up with a solution that will keep others from having the same costly problem.
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Ray,IN
IN, USA
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Joined: 03/22/2001
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alwilsey, I'm suprised your insurance company hasn't already requested the broken hitch to determine in the manufacturer is at fault.
I have seen pictures of a 5er rear-ended by a semi and pushed into another semi in a chain-reaction crash. (Indianapolis 2006) The hitch, and pin-box were intact. The truck frame was bent down in the middle till it was touching the pavement. The pictures ware taken by a photographer from theindychannel.com .
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PHILLIP300
Barnum, Iowa
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Joined: 12/18/2006
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Anyone know what grade of steel the hitch pins are made of? I have an extensive background dealing with the design/testing of tow trucks. I used to see this kind of damage all the time when we purposely broke our units during the testing phase. We had a normal safety factor of 2-1 but the pins that we used to hold the hyd. cyls. in place had a SF of 4.25-1. The pins were 1 1/2" dia. fatigue proof, breakable at 145,000 psi min. yield. I would be willing to bet that the material composition within the steel had over the maximum allowable carbon, thusly making the material very brittle. You can see in the picture of how it was sheared without any failure to the pin at all, no bending or stress cracks.
The welds on the pin appear to be real cold and not burned into the parent (metal) material on the pin box. The weld should have been all the way around and burned in but thats just my opinion.
Dont get me started on the bolts.
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dhamblet
Olympia, WA
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Goes to show you what following too close coupled with inattention and a 10,000+ pound load moving at x MPH will do in a sudden stop. Something has to give.
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RandACampin
Kathleen, Georgia
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Quote:I don't know guys, if you have a 12K+ object gong down the road and stop the thing towing it, something is going to give. In this case several things pulled out of position and/or broke. I think that this is to be expected in cases like this. They did not include pictures of the front of the truck or the other camper, but I would expect a lot of damage there also. Remember there is nothing light about an Alpinlite trailer! Chris
Agree 100%, I think a lot of people underestimate the forces involved in an impact. Looks like the smallest items broke as would be expected. Why is everthing a cadidate for shoddy workmanship or litigation? I would almost expect this reult in an impact.
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benb21601
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i kinda think this goes back a little to the safety chain threads. they arent required on 5ers because that hitch pin should be the strongest part of the coach. referencing previous posts having to do with destroyed TVs and trailers, that hitch pin should be the last thing to break. I cant imagine there could be any situation in which it would be excusable for a pin to break. I would be curious to see what the response of the pinbox manufacturer is. i'd be willing to bet who that manufacturer is. 
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khd995
nebraska
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Joined: 01/27/2007
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Why does one pic show the sheared off pin, then the next shows a chevy bowtie grille run up on the hitch.
How does the chevy grille enter into this. What am I missing here.
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RedRam
Moved from the smallest county in Texas
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Joined: 10/20/2003
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I'm going to agree with JIMNLIN on this one,would the pin or weld break if he hadn't hit something ?,lots of weight had to stop on a dime and something had to give away but i will agree it should of been welded a lot better.
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RedRam
Moved from the smallest county in Texas
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Looks like a chevy was involved and they threw the grill in the bed or they found the grill alongside the road and decided to take it.
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hotrod4x5
Fulltiming Southwest USA
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RedRam wrote:Looks like a chevy was involved and they threw the grill in the bed or they found the grill alongside the road and decided to take it. I'm guessing that's his grill, not much damage for rear ending someone.
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