Reese Hitch Failure?

[Dave&Ginny]

Originally Posted by JellyStonePark

Looks like we lost the images! let me try again. The following images were taken of the Reese R20 hitch that failed during our last outting. It should be noted this hitch is only six months old and had only 1500 miles on it when it failed.


The above image is the cross member of the hitch with the head removed. Looking down from this prospective note on the top of the blue cross member wear on top of the shackles that contain the yellow isolation bushings show wear in the way of metal to metal contact. When the bushings failed the head began to rest on the top of the shackles.


Here you can see when the bushing collapsed, the washer that is mounted on either side of the bushing actually started wearing away the blue cross member. In the image on the right you can start to see how outta-round it became caused by towing and pin weight.


Here is more evidence of the wear to the sleeve and washer as those bushings over time began to collapse more.





Finally, you can see in the top two images here the wear contact points. The upper right image is under the head had been filed down approximately 1/4 of an inch. This brings us to the last image again looking at the head of the R20 upside down. Notice how the two springs create a V at their connection point. That connection point isn't made of metal, as I would of expected. The image on the right is tucked between the operation handle and the under side of the head. It contains a pin and bar that opens and closes the jaw. It is this piece that actually shattered causing the failure.

Best Regards




Darrell V. Galloway

Yep...I can imagine it

[johnboytoo]

As we have to since the pics did not upload

[JellyStonePark]

Sorry I'm a little late to the party on this thread. Anyway long story short we had the exact situation you described with our Reese 20K hitch. Fortunately, we didn't drop the RW. However after $500 roadside repair we where able to get home. Called both Reese and our Installer immediately upon arriving home. It was decided the entire Hitch would be replaced with no cost to us.

With the arrival of the new 20K we noticed immediately that many of the components and hardware had been upgraded. The yellow bushings had been replaced with a more dense orange bushing. Our old 20 K had literally started to disintegrate when the bushings would not support the weight of the RW causing steel on steel contact in several areas like yours the Jaws would not close completely.

Just for the record this wasn't the first issue we had with the 20K, we had initially ordered our 20K with slider legs thinking we needed them. Unfortunately, during the trip home from our dealer ( a 300 distance) we found the slider legs would unlock when we encountered bumps. This allowed the RW to shift backwards when moving down the road with such force I thought it was going to rip the tail of the truck off. Of course as you might image the finger pointing started. First it was me, not know how to operate the equipment correct, then it became "No the Trail Glide hitch" won't work with the slider legs, and then it became somehow the trucks fault. After all that non-sense we decided we didn't need a slider at all and went to the standard legs with no further problems until the above stated problem.

[atom ant]

Darrell,
Is yours the "Titan" Reese hitch?