Don't know when it happened but Americas attitude has turned upside down. I remember when everyone thought a person was responsible for their own actions. If you bought a hot cup of coffee and spilled it in your lap it was your fault you got burned, not the fault of the person who sold it to you. If you used a knife wrong and cut yourself it was your fault, not the knife manufacturer's. If you weren't watching and walked into something it was your fault, not someone else's. Now days no matter what a person does, they won't accept responsibility but blame someone else. I suppose it is because the lawyers and liberal juries have been preaching it. So I guess it is todays norm for CJ% jeeper and his wife to blame the hitch instead of her for not looking where she was going. I have not banged my shin on a hitch but in my life I think I have banged everything on something and have never blamed anyone but myself.
Old Navy Chief (AOC) Retired Aircraft Mechanic/Inspector
2007 29' 27FBV Trail Bay V Series
2007 Dodge Ram 1500 Mega Cab 5.7 V8 3.92 Rear End
Reese Strait-Line Dual Cam Hitch
I leave mine in. It's too much trouble to take it out, and then where do you store that darn thing? I just put ball covers on it and leave it in. If someone is too stupid to watch where they are walking, oh well. They shouldn't be that darn close to my truck anyway. It only sticks out a foot. It's also a great way of keeping people from riding your butt at the stop lights.
Yes, what did happen to personal responsibility? Leaving the hitch head assembly in creates a hazard. What does it say if you can't take 60 to 180 seconds to eliminate that hazard for yourself or someone else?
2010 Sabre 30BHDS: 10 gal elct/gas dsi, 15k a/c, 1.5 bath, high fidelity package
2010 GMC Sierra 2500HD 4x4, 1 dog, 1 wife, 2 kids, 2 cats
I remove mine at the campground and lock it to my safety chain.
I pull a Walmart bag over the hitch to keep rain and debris off until
I get ready to leave the campground.
I've got a 2 5/16 ball on a standard hitch I put in while camping.
It provides some measure of extra protection from parking lot rear enders.
I don't know about about much, but thought that people who owned trucks and boats and trailers had run into the hitch at some time or another. I know I have and seen others do it as well. It hurts like heck (worse than that really) but I never though of blaming someone else for not looking where I was going.
DWolfrom wrote: I've been told that PA has a law against leaving any hitch assembly protruding...wonder if that will catch on with other states.
Many states have regulations regarding equipment attached to a vehicle needing bumpers and marker lights ("parking" lights, etc). Pretty much anything "sticking out" from a vehicle is supposed to have lights and/or a bumper attached to it. I don't know about regulations specifically saying "hitch assembly". One more thing a police officer can cite you for.
I usually leave my WD hitch on while touristing during a camping trip. It is big and heavy and just easier to leave on the truck. I use a locking pin. A hitch isn't the only thing that may be sticking out from a truck -- step bumpers (some are HUGE), mud guards, brush guards, off road lights, winches (front and rear), snow plow frames, and on and on.
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2008 F-250 CrewCab 5.4L,
2004 21' Forest River Surveyor
CJ5 jeeper wrote: A couple of weeks ago we were in Yosemite, and my wife walked into someones hitch and hurt her leg, it was very sore and brused for over a week. If I could found the a--hole that was to lazy to remove the hitch we would have had a little talk about his lazy ways. I do not think he would have cared for what I had to say.
You more than likely would not have liked what I said back to you
either. I leave my W-H hitch in for months at a time. And if someone is to lazy to walk around the hitch, well, that is there problem.
They should not be that close to my TV
I agree!
I leave mine on when we are at the campsite or if the camper is home and going to be moved within a day or two. ( I have a storage place for my TT )
2005 Ford Expedition XLT (The Gas Guzzler)
2011 Nissan Sentra SR (The Gas Saver)
1999 Sunline Saturn T24
1 Wife
3 Kids
1 Dog!
And what about the EXTENDED MIRRORS? people walk into them also. In some cases this is a head slap, for short people.
It all comes to this, LOOK where your going.
95 Dodge CC #5 TST plate Flame Red/Silver
not totaly stock
2007 fiver
Tag Ma-haul has been suggested for a name but now The Shoe box
I leave my hitch attached to the coupler on the trailer, fold it around so it doesn't stick out straight, wrap the chains around the shaft sometimes (that's how i leave it stored in the lot, with the chains locked). I raise the trailer untill the shaft is loose in the reciever and pull the truck forward, I don't unhitch the ball I leave it locked. If it is really level I hook it up that way as well, line it up, put the truck in Neutral, hold the hitch up as I pull the truck back by hand. That method is mostly done just at the storage lot, been to a couple Campgrounds I could do that, sometimes my wife will hold it up while I back into it.
I always fold my mirrors in when I park in a parking lot, even when I don't have the extensions on them, mine are electric so it's just a button. I've seen several times when someone tries to squeeze between two vehicles and runs into the mirror, then gets mad and slams the mirror into the folded position.
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