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Ideas for K5 trailer hitch mounting/improvement

if i cant find a good hitch i just build mine from scratch and no need for mods or washer spacers and rework .

been pulling 10k trailers of liquid no baffles a few years now and the hitch has not moved at all on the truck .

other problem is k5 is short and any real weight gets funky on towing and handling . so depending on your load pulling keep this in mind on whats out there .
 
sweetk30 said:
if i cant find a good hitch i just build mine from scratch and no need for mods or washer spacers and rework .

been pulling 10k trailers of liquid no baffles a few years now and the hitch has not moved at all on the truck .

other problem is k5 is short and any real weight gets funky on towing and handling . so depending on your load pulling keep this in mind on whats out there .
Click to expand...

Oh yeah. Luckily this trailer has all the weight quite low, and it balances pretty well. That hitch just sees a lot of abuse and I suspect the weak frame absorbed some of it. When boxed, it won't, so I expect the loads on the hitch will be even greater.

I think the majority of "abuse" comes from the corner of the truck coming down pretty hard on the hitch sometimes when I go over a large water bar. That is definitely not a load/angle the hitch is designed for. Perhaps there might be some odd loading with the potholes as well, I suppose that can attempt to push the tongue one way or the other as well.

But based on how beat up the frame appears to be, they are not designed for this abuse. I have to look closely at my spare frames but I'm pretty sure the frame isn't the original shape in back.
 
For anyone that may be looking 20 years from now, the hitch I believe I had seen before was a draw-tite 75129. From what I can tell from the pic, they've already reinforced the bent mounting tabs. I hope so, as the Curt seems to be quite a bit cheaper.

As far as I can ascertain draw-tite no longer makes these, I hope what I purchased is actually in stock, but the order went through. Here is the listing pic and instructions associated with it:

full


full
 
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Yeah, but you are talking 750lbs at most, if loaded properly.

Andddd....canceled. Vendor says it's been discontinued.
 
Chickntrk said:
5000-7500lbs seems like a lot on 4 grade 5 bolts :yikes:
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That is shear loading. The grade 5 SAE bolt is rated for 120 KSI in yield and a single bolt can take that load with a good factor of safety in the shear direction (approx 4.7:1 factor of safety against yield @ 5000 lb, 3.1:1 factor of safety at 7500 lb). In reality, you don't actually carry the load in shear though, you carry it through friction on the clamping action of the bolt/nut. I don't know the surface area in the joint for a real calc, but four bolts torqued properly to 75 ft-lb are rated to do the job by the manufacturer who cares about liability and I expect good factors of safety as a result.

1759865385437.png
 
dyeager535 said:
Yeah, but you are talking 750lbs at most, if loaded properly.

Andddd....canceled. Vendor says it's been discontinued.
Click to expand...
Not quite, you have to count the lever length to the ball to come up with the moments and convert that to tension loads in the bolt axis. The forward bolts see upward loads (no additional loads on bolt tension over the torque, the rear bolts see all the load amplified by the lever ratio and dynamic forces while driving down the road. They are also added to the pretension created by the torque value and that is evaluated as a spring element to verify you never see the clamping force reduced below a limit or over stress the bolt. The reality is those bolts had more capacity than the tabs of the previous hitch and frame that you broke though.
 
Guess I'm just used to most hitches using 6 bolts and usually they supply Grade 8.
 
500$k5 said:
Just grab you a used home built bumper from @6872xtc, and install a receiver hitch tube into it. Put a 16 inch, home built, drop hitch into it upside down, with a 2 5/16" ball, and throw a gooseneck camper on that sexy thing! LOL Yes Safety chains are optional at this point!!View attachment 514949View attachment 514950
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Glad that you didn't post that on FB, because some doober would think that you can roll down the interstate with that!!
:haha:
 
I would expect 6 bolts for class 4-5 hitches. Class 3 loads are much lower. to the point a factory step bumper is rated for the same load on a pickup.
 
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