Hi Hank,
Very, very scary!
I don't have a hidden hitch; but I'm always concerned about the TOAD system and check it constantly. I will check the torque on all the bolts before using it again. However, it does seems that if there is a catastrophic failure such as you had, one may not ever have a pre-warning.
One thing that has been worrying me is that there have been a number of times that the Sterling tow bar system, when mounted on the hitch, will drag on the pavement when driving (very slowly) in or out of driveways, gas stations, etc. Not only does this stress the tow bar, but also the hitch. If stress cracks did occur in this way, I don't know if I would necessarily see them before a catastrophic failure.
You were very lucky!
Bill & Sandy
Forest River Charleston 360QS 2006 w Mercedes 926
Subaru Outback 2008 - Toad w M&G brake system
Yumi & Jesse, German Shepards
RED Locktite bolt and nut thread glue is mandatory for some 'toad hitches' like BlueOx. That's why. TOM
Locomotiveman..Yes I am a career cross-country Locomotive Engineer. Wife is an RN. We are CLOSE to retiring and 'downsized' to a Monaco Executive w/450hp Cummins and nice drapes. Locomotiveman
BigRabbitMan wrote: The above is why my hitch is welded to the motor home - no bolts. It is also why my cables are attached to the frame on both vehicles.
Never seen a broken weld????
Jim and Deanna
Tiffin Allegro 35QBA 2007 Carson Trailer 22' Titan TH Trailer Toad
Me, Wife, Boy/10, Boy/7, Girl/5
Faith/Springer
1985 Toyota 4Runner
five quads, three kids, two motorcycles, one wife, one dog, one cat!
BigRabbitMan wrote: The above is why my hitch is welded to the motor home - no bolts. It is also why my cables are attached to the frame on both vehicles.
Never seen a broken weld????
Heating the metal can cause it to become brittle and then the welds break. I would rather have it bolted to the frame, than a broken frame. We have a Spartan Chassis, they warn against welding on the frame and not just because of possible damage to the electronics either. It must be done correctly and lots of so called frame/alignment/hitch shops don't know how.
I can stick two piees of metal together and it looks pretty good, but I wouldn't depend on it for anything critical. My son, on the other hand is Nuclear certified and instructor rated, him I would trust (if he owned a welder). He doesn't get to work on RV's in the shipyards much!!
Deen - Vancouver, WA
'02 Dutch Star 4090 (41+', triple slide)
435/1200 ISC Cummins/Banks PowerPak
'08 Honda Civic/dolly
'05 Honda Odyssey/dolly
NRA Benefactor Life Member
FMCA f47302s, Life Member: Good Sam, Newmar DP Owners Group
51st yr of RV'ing
I am always amazed the number of units I see that do not have proper safety cables attached to both the frame on the MH and the Toad. They should never be attached to any part of the hitch system. When bolts, welds or the material fails, having the safety cables attached to any part of the hitch or reciever, will do you no good. I have seen welds break, bolts break, so nothing is 100%. Thats why proper attachment of safety cables is the most important part of towing.
Gadget Guy wrote: I am always amazed the number of units I see that do not have proper safety cables attached to both the frame on the MH and the Toad. They should never be attached to any part of the hitch system. When bolts, welds or the material fails, having the safety cables attached to any part of the hitch or reciever, will do you no good. I have seen welds break, bolts break, so nothing is 100%. Thats why proper attachment of safety cables is the most important part of towing.
Ok, I agree that absolutely anything CAN fail. Our goal is to REDUCE the probability of failing and follow that up with periodic (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly) inspections as appropriate.
PROPERLY welded systems can break. Properly bolted systems can break AND unscrew. Two possibilities for failure vs one possibility. If an attachment system is not done in a proper manner by an actually qualified person, it doesn't matter how it is done, it WILL fail. Note that I have cables attached to the frame (not the hitch assembly as apparently was the situation in this case) of BOTH vehicles.
In my business life I deal with farm equipment. I have a lot of exposure to both welded and bolted "things". Properly bolted things fail more often than properly welded things. In fact, a lot of problems of bolted things coming apart are solved by turning them into welded things!
I am not going to speculate on why one side of the hitch came loose from the frame as many others have already done so. I will say that the design of the hitch itself looks good. The tubular cross member passes through both heavy duty angle iron pieces that actually bolt to the frame. This passes the forward/aft forces directly from the cross member to the two side members and does not rely on the welds to contain those forces. With this design, even if the welds failed on both ends (and they didn't) the cross member would rotate, but not fall out on the ground. Rotation would cause major problems, but not the one experienced.
I like my welded hitch in my case as my frame had adequate material to weld to and it was done with good welds in a well designed manner. That virtually (not absolutely!) eliminates the problem experienced by the original poster. All the other potential problems still remain and that is why I have cables attached to both FRAMES.
* This post was
edited 08/13/08 09:01pm by BigRabbitMan *
BigRabbitMan & DiamondGal
Dixon,CADiamond Gal's T-Tapp fitness site
76 FMC #1046, Gas Pusher W/Chrysler 440-I
Edelbrock MPI fuel injection, Allison 545
Toad: Red '87 4x4 Subaru Brat, Lorance IWay 500c
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I saw this forum too late! I had the same problem towing an '07
Saturn Aura with my 40' 2003 Dutch Star. The motorhome was pre-owned and purchased this spring. I was travelling very slow descending a mountain pass when things came apart and allowed my car to run into the back of the motorhome when slowing for a switch-back turn. Bolts came off the right side mount. Damage to the Hidden Hitch receiver, Falcon 2 Tow bar, slight damage to the rear of the MH and to the front of my Saturn.
When I advised the dearlership of the situation I was told that there was no warranty, but the dealership owner had never heard of such a thing and wanted to have a look at it. The cost to take the rig back to the dealership was several hundred dollars so I decided to get it repaired locally. As other posts report, there were no lock washers on the nuts and in my opinion the bolts (capscrews) were too short. I installed with longer grade 8 bolts, lock washers and nylock nuts just to be sure. As others have indicated I will also include checking the mounts underneath the rig on my pretrips.
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