Trailer Guys - Warning About SS Hitch Balls

[hotajax]

I was using a stainless steel ball, rated for 6000 pounds. My boat and trailer weigh about 4800 pounds. This past weekend, I accelerated gently from about 15 miles per hour, the ball sheared right off the shank, leaving my boat and trailer in the dust. At the breaks, it was evident that corrosion got in to ball for some time. Fortunately, not a busy street, and the boat stayed upright in the trailer. A couple of guys with strong backs and we lifted the tongue up enough to get the jack down. The moral of the story - if you bought a stainless steel ball like I did because it looks cool with your new truck, forget it. And for the record, a company named Curt Manufacturing makes a 2" ball with a 1" shank with a 12,000 lb capacity, almost double the the big brands are. I am now the new owner of a Curt ball. Looking cool or keeping the boat on a trailer??? None of you guys should talk to me for being so stupid that it took me this long to learn that one. Hot Ajax :bang

 

[family affair]

Got any photos of the bad product failure?

 

[hotajax]

Yeah, I have the parts, but I don't know how to post pics on this website. Any tips are gladly appreciated. I can upload the pics to my computer, but putting them on this website?? I dunno. All tips greatly accepted..Hot Ajax

 

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

What was the shank diameter of the one that failed?
If you want you can email me the pictures and i will post them, or open an account with Photobucket(it's free) and you can download them from there as easy as copy and paste.

 

[BobP]

Sounds like a defective casting originally. So much for quality assurance programs.
If the ball failed from overload it would appear ripped at the break with nuggets of metal shown not a smooth surface.

And you are supposed to have the chains in place for such an event. A more likely failure is the spring loaded mechanism on the end of the trailer or the entire tongue coming out on receiver type hitches.

 

[Grog]

The SS shouldn't have corroded, it may tarnish but nothing structural. It's hard to describe how the metal would look if it was sheared, post a pic if you can. If the pin looks fine and the holes in the receiver look OK, it was a bad ball.

 

[ahill]

Perhaps the chains failed as well, Murphy's Law.
Murphy's law with boats is exponential.

 

[grady23]

Thanks for posting. The ball is overlooked all the time. I rented a U-Haul trailer last spring and the guy that put the trailer on the ball tightend it so tight that it un-screwed the ball on the tounge. Everytime I made a turn and straighten up the trailer would turn the ball slightly. I got where I was headed with the load but got the stuff scared out of me when I saw how loose the bal had become.
What brand name was the one that failled???

 

[BobP]

Grady 23 - reminds me of the time when getting new car tires, mechanic left all of the wheel nuts loose, I was driving home and heard a metallic rattling sound.

When I called to complain to take note, they didn't seem to care. It would be something if your tow vehicle tires were just replaced at the same shoemaker tire place, and then you had the trailer guy rig up...They must be related!

We can't leave our homes soon!