Receiver Hitch Failure 07 Diplomat

[Joel Sheriff]

MODERATOR EDIT….

Talked to Joel for clarification.  The OEM Monaco Receiver hitch failed.  The failure point was a few inches behind or towards the Engine,  the tube on the receiver snapped.  The extender, which was also secured, I think, with a hitch tightener, came off and the rupture point was about where the entender’s draw bar was inserted.  I had already contacted a Roadmaster Engineer, that I had worked with.  After I got the details from Joel, he called back.  So it was NOT a Roadmaster Tow Bar failure.

He recommended a large Roadmaster dealer in Redlands CA, which is near Joel.  Redlands Trucking.  If anyone has another resource for Joel to contact, please PM him.  He needs a NEW MH Hitch….and obviously installed by a trusted and competent dealer.  Here is Joel’s post which he asked me to clarify…..

Making a turn in California my 07 Diplomat trow bar snapped like I've never seen before. Car doing 3 mph around turn hit another work van and stopped immediately but hitch and tow bar gone. Ever see something like this? Also where best place to get Rv tow bar replaced and examined for carriage damage?20221215_132053.heic

Edited December 21, 2022 by Tom Cherry
Clarification of failure member

[Bill C]

Where did you buy the the slide in? I would go back to them and ask them  WTFO

[Joel Sheriff]

It wasn't the slide in it was the actual. Body of the bar hitch attached to the coach  The slide in stayed attached 

[96 EVO]

Nope!

That's a new one to me!!

[nvrtoofast]

Aggressive. Approximately how many miles on the bar?

[Joel Sheriff]

113k on coach note than half tow miles. It's a new roan master but original tow bar on Rv

[Ivan K]

Snapped in the weld?

[Tom Whitlow]

The entire tow hitch broke off our 96 HR Endeavor about 20 years ago.  It broke from the coach at the welds.  Thankfully, we were going slowly up a grade on an exit ramp from Interstate 20 in south Dallas.  The Brake Buddy breakaway stopped our car.  Someone passing us alerted us moments after it happened and we stopped immediately.  We drove the coach and the car (separately) to Joe's Trailer Hitch (if I remember right) and they rewelded the hitch to the coach.  One of those "almost" disasters.  We were lucky that time.  Here's the moral:  "Eventually, everything breaks."

[klcdenver]

Please supply some more pictures so we can get a better look at the problem.

[Tom Cherry]

13 minutes ago, klcdenver said:

Please supply some more pictures so we can get a better look at the problem.

Please see the edit of the original post which Joel asked me to clarify.  If you look closely, this is the part that snapped off….the tow bar (not in picture, but to LEFT).  The Extender is totally intact and did not fail, nor did the hitch.  Joel is looking for a recommendation for a hitch installer to weld on a NEW MH receiver….and I found a potential one, but all help is appreciated.

As a point of information, I do NOT know where the safety breakaway tether was attached,  I have a short length of welded chain that is attached to the frame and that is where I hook up the safety breakaway tether line…..

[Joel Sheriff]

Tom, my brake wire was wrongfully tethered to the back of the hitch bar not the coach itself. Mistake number one but the tow brake wouldn't have done much since the vehicle only slid about 10 ft from coach before hitting and stopping at only 3mph.  My two safety chaines were from towbar to vehicle. Could have been dramatically worse, highway or crowded street or mall location.  Got really lucky.  

Having trouble uploading other pix. Will try a different way. 

 

 

20221215_132112.heic 20221215_132053.heic 20221215_132053.heic 20221215_124858.heic

[Jdw12345]

I’d say you’re extremely fortunate to have it break at under 10 mph, that could have been ugly at hwy speed!

 That one picture looks like the bottom of the receiver has been cracked for some time, it appears to have a bit of rust showing that! 

[nvrtoofast]

The location of the shear makes sense with these photos. With a step down extender like that the loads on that location during turning is very high. Likely started with a micro crack and slowly grew into a full shear. definitely lucky on the location of the accident. Go buy a Lotto ticket!

[Cubflyer]

Looks like it may be a good item to add to a recurrent inspection list.  Check for cracks, loose bolts, solid welds, etc.  I do not believe that sheared off, completely, all the way around without being cracked partially, for awhile, before this incident.   

[Tom Cherry]

3 minutes ago, nvrtoofast said:

The location of the shear makes sense with these photos. With a step down extender like that the loads on that location during turning is very high. Likely started with a micro crack and slowly grew into a full shear. definitely lucky on the location of the accident. Go buy a Lotto ticket!

Excellent observation.  The moment arm or the lever from where a normal drawbar would end played havoc, from a physics standpoint.  You have the added length and then the rigid lower mounting point.  Double force vectors…..  if a normal hitch would have been used, way less side to side shear load.

[cbr046]

65k with toad?  (looking for a wild guess . . . . ).  Towing a Suburban or a Mini Cooper?

Just curious . . .

- bob

[jacwjames]

The other possibility is that with a drop hitch, and addition length it created, the hitch might have bottomed out when going in or exiting a steep drive. 

I had an extension double receiver on my rig to be able to carry a separate spare tire carrier while pulling the toad.   My wife was getting ready to go on a trip and went into a steep drive and it broke the weld on the the extender hitch.  Luckily she was only ~15 miles from the house, grabbed some tools and angle grinder, had to cut the safety chains off to be able to unhook the Jeep.  I have since added some skid rollers on the rear that helps protects the hitch from dragging while entering/exiting steep drives. 

[Joel Sheriff]

In response to a few, I noticed weathering on the lower quarter of the 2" receiver. The two vertical.and top horizontal quarters were a clean break so it looks like even on inspection, it would have been almost impossible to see long term wear. I have, in the past, checked for unusual play but never noticed anything unusual. And yes, new on the checklist 

2014 CR-V with relatively new base plate & Roadmaster tow bar. 

[Jim Pratten]

Thanks Joel for posting this.  We are all very thankful this bad day wasn’t much, much worse.

This hits home for us as we have a Roadmaster 8” lift bar to tow our Jeep JK.  Some of my thoughts:

1. Reassess how to inspect our hitch
2. Evaluate connection location of the breakaway cable on tow vehicle
3. Evaluate connection location of the safety chains on tow vehicle
4. Consider adding skid rollers to protect the hitch from road impact
5. Consider drilling additional locking pin hole in the solid 2” tow bar, shortening bar length to help reduce side loading moments
6.  

[Jdw12345]

One thing I added to my receiver/hitch/riser/towbar setup that I use is a hitch tightener from Amazon to reduce the play, there’s a certain amount of play in the receiver and the riser and I wasn’t comfortable with the play I had between the two connections. It seems to firm up both connections. I ended up with a 6” riser to have a flat tow bar for my 19 Jeep Rubi.

[Gary 05 AMB DST]

2 hours ago, jacwjames said:

The other possibility is that with a drop hitch, and addition length it created, the hitch might have bottomed out when going in or exiting a steep drive. 

I had an extension double receiver on my rig to be able to carry a separate spare tire carrier while pulling the toad.   My wife was getting ready to go on a trip and went into a steep drive and it broke the weld on the the extender hitch.  Luckily she was only ~15 miles from the house, grabbed some tools and angle grinder, had to cut the safety chains off to be able to unhook the Jeep.  I have since added some skid rollers on the rear that helps protects the hitch from dragging while entering/exiting steep drives. 

Seems like the skid rollers would only add the total weight of the MH on the hitch when used.

Gary 05 AMB DST

[jacwjames]

1 hour ago, Gary 05 AMB DST said:

Seems like the skid rollers would only add the total weight of the MH on the hitch when used.

Gary 05 AMB DST

Yes it does add weight, it's a trade off I'm willing to take to help protect the hitch and tow bar. 

We had a really steep driveway and the hitch would easily drag, adding the rollers helped protect the hitch and keep the tail pipe from dragging. 

 

Edited December 22, 2022 by jacwjames

[Rene and Linda Vero Fl]

Glad no one was injured. It appears to be faulty welds. Was the tow hitch home made? By the looks of the ball mount it looks home made. When traveling down the highway hundreds of miles I wouldn’t trust anything homemade unless welded by a journeyman or certified welder. Just my 2 cents.

[Joel Sheriff]

Nothing homemade... All Monaco installed and Roadmaster bar.  All safety cables tow brake etc installed. Not a break at a weld joint just a stress fracture from use. I had a hitch tightener to prevent up and down excess motion.  That was installed 2 years ago after 13 years of use without. I didn't see any visable cracks or stress on metal surface albeit the crack seemed to have started on the under section of the 2"receiver installed by Monaco.  I don't know how this could be avoided except the good ideas that are coming from this thread like moving the safety chains, brakeaway cable etc.  Keep up with the comments, I think we can all learn from this situation. 

[jacwjames]

Fatigue cracks can be hard to see.

On equipment that would lift/move people we would do an annual nondestructive test on the connecting joint/pins and booms.  We also did testing on critical equipment, this was required for insurance purposes. 

You are correct that this type of topic is worthwhile.  I know after seeing failures of axle supports on different model rigs I take the time to look at these whenever I do a lube job on my chassis, I pull a work light under and look at each weld to see if I can see any stress cracks developing.  I guess I'll now take the time to take a good look at the hitch.