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Trailer Hitch


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I've made a "hitch tightener" for years that makes your hitch attachment as if it is welded to the hitch receiver on your coach.  Use a piece of 1-1/2" square steel about 4" long (something that will fit INSIDE the tube of whatever adapter you are slipping into the 2" hitch receiver), mill the corners off with a heavy 45* chamfer.  Drill and tap it through for a 5/8-11 bolt.  Buy a "tap bolt" (5/8-11 Gr 8 bolt threaded entire length). Insert 2" square bar of your attachment into hitch receiver, with 1-1/2 bar installed, thread the "tap bolt" through the receiver and your attachment and tighten securely. Use a Nylock nut on the protruding part of the "tap bolt".  Do NOT tighten the Nylock nut, just snug it against the hitch receiver (it is not tightening anything, just functions as a clevis pin).  Add the previously mentioned Amazon "hitch tightener" and you end up with a tow attachment that might as well be welded to your coach--ZERO looseness, regardless the force applied to the 2" receiver, and regardless of what your attachment is.

This made an unmistakable difference when I was towing a 2000 Silverado Z-71 (5200#) with a (500#) motorcycle loader and a (800#) 2007 Harley Ultra.  The "home-built" Harley was 105 ci, Andrews 37 cam, Supertrapp exhaust, CNC street-ported heads, "chipped" ECM, front and rear sprockets changed, Baker 7-speed, HD clutch, centrifugal clutch enhancer, and a 160# rider.  That full-dresser will still lift a wheel EVERY time on 1-2 and 2-3 shift...and embarrass the "new generation" M8 Harleys.  "Old guys rule!".

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