I hate it when I bark my shins on somebody else's trailer hitch but I'm just as guilty as everybody else - I leave mine on until I bark my shins on my own. That's when it comes off and gets heaved into my toolbox accompanied by some rather colorful language.
Had much the same experience with hitches. My brother has left his on his truck though he hasn't owned a trailer for 15 - 16 years, yet there it is, ready to screw up one's day. Only one time has that hitch helped since, having to move another person's trailer but he keeps it on for 'just in case'.
ReplyDeleteLOL - mine stays on ppermanently. I also have a habit of giving every truck bad end a wide berth. I know I look crazy sometimes but damn that hurts.
ReplyDeletePain is a wonderful teacher and motivator.
chillhill
I've had 2 rear-end wrecks where my trailer hitch basically saved me from having to replace a bumper. Solid piece of metal attached to the frame does a number on a small front wheel drive car. Totalled out the other guy and I drove away without even a scratch.
ReplyDeleteThis.
DeleteNice thing about old age at least for this old fart is I take the time to put shit away. My trailer hitch being one of them. Years ago I'd a probably have left it on and run into it on occasion. Plus I live in horse country. I figure if I left it on one day someone would decide they needed it more than me. Yup, I got a lock for it but would rather just take it off and store it in the truck, where I know exactly where it is.
ReplyDeleteMine stays on permanently for the purpose of extra protection. (It also makes a nice step for getting into the bed). If I wanted to take it off I'd likely have to use a torch to cut the padlock that secures the cross pin.
ReplyDeleteOnce i was parked at a home depot and away from anyone else. As i'm heading to my truck i see a little shitty 1/4 ton truck doing reverse donuts and they rear end my truck hard enough to move it. So i rush over and the driver takes off as soon as he hears me yelling. Left his rear bumper and license plate attached to my ball.
ReplyDeleteI made a police report and when the company ownibg the truck tried to claim their vehicle had been no where near there having the bumper as proof was a great fu to the owner.
Exile1981
many a time i have seen one being backed in a parking garage. A crash and lot of profanity.
ReplyDeleteI leave the receiver and ball in at all times in case of parking lot hits. I also have a rubber cover on it to protect my shins. The cover's saved me some pain more than once.
ReplyDeleteI'm pushing 70 and have yet to trip over a hitch. Perhaps some of you need eye exams. Just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is why I leave mine on
ReplyDeleteMy son and I were out doing some shit a while back in his truck, a Dodge Ram with a 3 inch lift kit and a class 3 hitch on the back. So we had lunch and was headed back to his truck when we noticed a small group over where we had parked. Getting back to the truck we found 3 youngish girls and a couple guys trying to free a car, a Toyota, from his hitch. The girls had pulled into the spot a little too far and caught the bumper on his hitch. We had to get their jack and lift the car some then Josh could pull out some to free the damn car. Obviously a phone and 3 20 Y/Os parking is not a workable situation
ReplyDeleteJD
Leave that ball on around SA and it'll disappear.
ReplyDeleteHell, I'd pay to have somebody pull the ball & tube out of the receiver.... Done drug that Dodge around with a chain hooked to a Versatile tractor and it still won't let loose.
DeleteThe reece hitches are handy get one with whatever ball sizes that you need and change out your trailer ball in less than a minute. Unless you live in a state that uses salt on the roads then that sucker will be rusted in tight in a couple weeks ! Mine isnt in the hitch unless Im using it .
ReplyDeleteThose hitches are the coldest hardest steel any man can rake with his shin. Dammit.
ReplyDeleteI've barked my shins a couple of times on hitches, but I figure that's my own fault for not watching where I was going. However, there was this one guy...
ReplyDeleteHe insisted on parking his stretch pickup in such a way that his hitch blocked half the walkway. We needed to get tools into the worksite via that same walkway so we found him and asked nicely if he wouldn't mind moving his truck. Even a nice "no" would have sufficed, but instead this asshole gave us a blast-of-shit. Okay. We didn't insist. Instead went and got the portable welding kit and welded his locking pin and ball in place.
We never saw him or that truck again. (I'm not sure he even noticed it until long after the event.)
Class 4, weight-distribution hitch - it is PART of the truck. The irony is, it is attached to a 1/2 ton, V6, long-bed. It was what was in the garage when we needed to install a hitch.
ReplyDeleteMy next door neighbor's car has a hole in the rear bumper cover. Guess what shape the hole is. Right height too. Yes, the hitches do tend to attack shins, but I have learned to give the back of vehicles a wider berth (especially trucks).
ReplyDeleteSwitched mine out for a garbage can hauling bracket. Can't roll 'em up the drive myself anymore. Serves as an extra bumper as well.
ReplyDeleteI just found out last year that Oregon has a statute that prohibits a hitch in the receiver if not towing. And I've been driving in this state for 54 years. Obviously some Karen in Salem got pissed over this issue. Some of the comment threads there were fun. Like the guy who was written up by an a**hole cop who couldn't find anything else to fault the guy for. He contested it, and when it came up in court, the judge looked at the cop and said "You wanna write me up too? Go look in the parking lot at my rig. Case dismissed."
ReplyDeleteAs for the guy above who thinks he needs a torch to get the padlock off the locking pin: uh-uh. My son once locked a storage shed in our back yard and DID NOT leave me a key. I got pissed and got out my 24" bolt cutter. I was just getting myself braced to reef down on that padlock and almost fell over. It was like snipping a strand of spaghetti.
My last F-150 got rear ended 3 times. First time no hitch Mercedes SLK sub-marined where the receiver ripped open the radiator and intake knocking the engine off it's mounts. I had my wiring bracket broken. I put a receiver in with a 2" ball. A few year later I had a Honda rear end me in a parking lot just as I was walking up. I got to see it spinning its tire trying to get un hung when the front bumper cover ripped off. No damage to me. A year latter a Camry bumped me in traffic. I didn't feel it where the receiver punched a hole in the radiator and I pulled the grill and front bumper cover off. I found the bumper cover still attached when I got to work. I told the off duty cop that was our security about it and he tracked it down and squashed a "leaving the scene of an accident" charge.
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