Have you checked your trailer hitch lately? Please do.

A very unhappy customer brought a truck in recently with the hitch barely hanging on by two bolts.  A  heavy construction trailer had come completely off the hitch. Thankfully caught by the chains before it took out a busload of nuns. Moral of the story is to check and tighten the bolts that secure the platform hitch to the frame as part of your regular maintenance.

Tighten, then tack or mushroom the ends.

I noticed the hitch on the XJ was loose the other day. It's a universal hitch and the cross piece is moving in the sides. It's on the list of things to fix. 

Yep I always tack weld those bolts. Done it to every truck I have had for the last 30 years. An old timer told me to do it and it just seemed like a good thing to do. 

Also, check your balls in addition to your nuts.

This summer, I helped my dad load his side by side on his trailer in preparation to go ride some trails up in the mountains. We got everything loaded up the night before so we could leave early the next morning.

Before we left the next day, I did a once-over on the trailer.

The R-clip holding the receiver pin in was gone. I watched my dad put it in when he attached the stinger the day before.

I think the couple of shady neighborhood kids here took it.

A locking receiver pin was put in that day.

Double check everything!

stanger_missle said:

This summer, I helped my dad load his side by side on his trailer in preparation to go ride some trails up in the mountains. We got everything loaded up the night before so we could leave early the next morning.

Before we left the next day, I did a once-over on the trailer.

The R-clip holding the receiver pin in was gone. I watched my dad put it in when he attached the stinger the day before.

I think the couple of shady neighborhood kids here took it.

A locking receiver pin was put in that day.

Double check everything!

Company I worked for long ago had me towing a 6000# display to another state. The maintenance guy set the rig up with a grade 8 bolt instead of a hitch pin.  Turnpike bathroom stop, habit to check all trailer stuff at every stop, the nut was gone and the bolt was a bump away from falling out.  Had to ziptie it in.  After that I always used the pin out of my car's hitch because he kept getting bolts.

In the rust belt you don't have to recheck any bolts just instill them in the fall, by spring you will need a torch to remove them.  A six month salt spray test is the best thread locker.

I know mine is loose whenit rattles after i walkinto it with my shin.

Lol,         What's that Saying,    " Stupidity Should be Painful".   I have done it more than Once.

akylekoz said:

In the rust belt you don't have to recheck any bolts just instill them in the fall, by spring you will need a torch to remove them.  A six month salt spray test is the best thread locker.

This was my first thought, too. Good luck getting the hitch off my van. On my previous Astro I left the ball in the receiver and wanted to remove it before the truck went to the junkyard. Hooked up the trailer, removed the pin and tried to yank the thing out. Wouldn't budge, so it went to the junkyard with the van.

Last time I towed with the motorhome, I got back and went to pull the drop tongue and ball off so I could park it.  I discovered that the lock pin was missing.  It was very much luck and tongue weight that kept the hitch pin in...  One of those locking pins is on my list to get before I pull a trailer again.

This summer a guy traveling down I 40 with a skid steer on a trailer lost his pin.  Lost the trailer which went into a construction zone and killed 3 people

Locking receiver pins ALWAYS!!!! Trailer with a tractor,frontend loader , backhoe, nose down almost thru an intersection SUCKS!!! 

I used to use a hitch pin with a hair pin clip to keep in in place. I found a hitch pin that has a built in retaining tabthat always stays attached. While mine is not SS it looks and works like this one:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/100-Stainless-Steel-Hitch-Pin-Pivot-Lock-/172192461201

I don't like to use one that uses a key lock as you can loose the key and then what? Also in my state; Illinois: you can be ticketed for driving a vehicle with a receiver and ball installed in your hitch with no trailer attached.

I have a habit of doing the age old "hitch kick" test before I attach anything to my truck, or anytime that I stop the truck and walk away from it. With this test, I found out, after two nights in a camp ground, that my hitch pin walked away, and there was no place within a half hour to acquire one. I found out on that day, that a 3/8" craftsman ratchet is a good enough substitute to help get the 2000lbs of trailer and 4wheelers to the nearest tractor supply. 

In reply to FIMS :

That picture just made me E36 M3 myself.