Reese R20 Bushing Failures

[Mtelkman]

That is an aggravating situation. I think if it was me, I would cut the bushings in my metal chop saw (or even use a hacksaw), clean it up with a file and install. Count it as a lesson learned regarding Reese customer service and move on.

[blkcorvair]

Originally Posted by Mtelkman

That is an aggravating situation. I think if it was me, I would cut the bushings in my metal chop saw (or even use a hacksaw), clean it up with a file and install. Count it as a lesson learned regarding Reese customer service and move on.

Yes, that might be the final outcome. The whole process was actually pretty aggravating with etrailer. The boxes came in all smashed up because it was barely packed with any packing material. I originally contacted them because the various parts were scratched and knicked and I told them I didnt want it like this let alone with defective bushings. But lets face it, the hitch will get weathered and scrathed in the back of the truck anyhow so once they told me they had the new isolators on thier way I figured Id just deal with it. But now Im kicking myself for not sending it right back.

In the end if Im stuck with it, Ill have my freind machine those spacers down on a lathe so they are nice and square and Ill probably opt for bolts that are 1/2" longer to be safe. Lesson learned..

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by Mtelkman

That is an aggravating situation. I think if it was me, I would cut the bushings in my metal chop saw (or even use a hacksaw), clean it up with a file and install. Count it as a lesson learned regarding Reese customer service and move on.

Don't think you would be able to cut with a hack saw and a chop saw will heat the metal too much and possibly melt the flexible material. Lathe is the proper way to do it. Probably take a carbide tool to cut it on a lathe.

[Mtelkman]

I thought the bushing came out of the flexible material. You are right that it might melt it if it doesn't.

[sidney]

The bushing is a separate piece that can be removed from the orange isolator.

[blkcorvair]

Originally Posted by sidney

The bushing is a separate piece that can be removed from the orange isolator.

I was About to chime in. Yes the Part that everyone is calling a Bushing, is a Removeable Sleeve that gets inserted inside the "Bushing". the sleeve is the part that is too long. The "Bushing" is molded as a part of the Isolator and that part is fine as is. The sleeve is what I keep referencing that needs to be cut down.

Also this may not pertain to the R20 hitch. Apparently the R20 Hitch doesnt use a Bolt to hold all of this together. The R20 has a pin of sorts.

[Jjsav]

Blkcorvair

I just looked at my R16K with the new orange bushings and it is the same exact way. It sticks out about a 1/4 inch, just like yours. I did not notice that when I installed them last season. I have to look at my records to see if I towed with the new bushings. I think I did do several short trips with the new bushings. Will research and let you know.

I checked I only used the new ones to park the camper in the back yard. No real towing....

[blkcorvair]

I bought some 3" long bolts instead of the 2-3/4" that it came with, and added (3) 1/16" thick machine washers to each side instead of machining down the sleeve. I do believe the fit shouldnt be tight and some gap should be there so everything moves freely but 1/4" seemed excessive. and I wanted more than 1/2" of threads holding the hitch together. Also used some blue loctite on the threads. Ill post some additional photos.

[Jjsav]

Originally Posted by blkcorvair

I bought some 3" long bolts instead of the 2-3/4" that it came with, and added (3) 1/16" thick machine washers to each side instead of machining down the sleeve. I do believe the fit shouldnt be tight and some gap should be there so everything moves freely but 1/4" seemed excessive. and I wanted more than 1/2" of threads holding the hitch together. Also used some blue loctite on the threads. Ill post some additional photos.

That's funny, because that is exactly what I was thinking of doing. I would like to see some pictures.

[blkcorvair]

Everything is a wee bit frozen here now but heres some picture.

You can see with (3) Machine Washers this leaves 1/16" of space so everything can still move. I put a light coating of white lithium grease on everything to keep those washers from rattling.

Also the other picture is a little dark but you can see the backside of the hitch and the bolt almost reaches completly through now.

The Machine washers were 1" OD and fit perfectly snug on the sleeves.

[Silverstrip]

Hi all, first I will apologize upfront for the long post..

I just need to jump in and voice a concern about the R16 hitch as well.
I have had one for about 20 hours of towing a 8500lb rig and replaced the slider once and the isolators twice.

This hitch has the potential to be extremely dangerous mainly due to the original isolators but please read on....

The hitch has a list of obvious flaws in engineering including

• isolators
• jaws too thick to accommodate a lube disc (jaws catch on bottom of pin with 3/16th inch disc in place making connecting and disconnecting success a coin toss at times)
• excessive (1/2") front to back play in the side to side pivot pin
• green "locked" indicator not functioning when using a lube disc(bottom of pin about 1/16th inch too high due to disc),
• slider up and down play
• no lockout on slider handle.

Now in saying all this....Reese has made upgrades to all of these issues and are now marketing it as a Titan.

They have redesigned the isolator, shaved some meat off the bottom of the jaws, changed the indicator pin and inserted spacers in the slider to take away some of the play there as well as a pin lockout for the slider handle.
I strongly urge whoever has these original hitches to contact Reese and nicely explain any dissatisfaction and see where it goes from there.

One of the biggest mistakes that Reese made was not to place a total recall on the old ones and supply complete new ones to the people that paid hard earned cash for this product.

I am slightly annoyed that I had to do the digging to have this fixed but am also very pleased that Reese's customer service ended up being second to none.

Just my 2 bucks worth...Cheers

[blkcorvair]

I agree with your frustration. I had called Reese and gotten some of the parts to fix the hitch and this is before I even had my Trailer. I then called eTrailer and told them I was very dis-satisfied that they sold me a hitch with so many problems, that I felt they off-loaded old stock on me when the newer hitches had know updates. and that I was not happy I had to make all these changes. While I installed the hitch but never used it, I explained to them I would like to return it. They refused. Never the less I filed a claim with my credit card and will never do business with eTrailer again. I have since recieved my money back, and they never fought the claim. I guess it was too much trouble to take it back and refund me.

[leencharlotte]

I also got the r20 and the hitch itself is up to date and so far no problems. However the slider has had issues. The first set I received the "legs" of one were 1/8" too far apart and didn't got into rails. Submitted a claim to reese and they said we are investigating our qa and will ship out news ones once the replacement parts arrive and are qa'd. Well that took two months and when they arrived both were too long this time. Started to think my rails were off but I measured and remeasured and sure enough the rails are the correct distance apart and the legs are too far apart. Was able to grind the rough finish off the original and now it goes into rails without force. Overall the hitch seems pretty good (towed less than 500 miles so far) but very disappointed with qa/workmanship.


Silver. The r20 comes with a hitch lube plate attached and doesn't need the discs. I do recall seeing that as an option to purchase with the r16, think it was around $50. Supposed to last a while. http://reeseprod.com/content/product...773&part=58457. That part is only listed under the 20k but I swear when I was shopping a few months back they said incl with 20 and optional on 16

[ronb707]

How about an update from anyone on how the new orange isolator and bushing is holding up and towing. I have installed mine but have not towed yet.

[Jjsav]

I have the new orange insulators and have several tows. Total 200 miles. Looks good so far. Big trip next week. We will see.

On a side note, I did not need my slider, so I switched to regular legs. What a big difference. Less clanking and I think it tows better. Glad I made that switch..

[ronb707]

Originally Posted by Jjsav

I have the new orange insulators and have several tows. Total 200 miles. Looks good so far. Big trip next week. We will see.

On a side note, I did not need my slider, so I switched to regular legs. What a big difference. Less clanking and I think it tows better. Glad I made that switch..

I see from your earlier post that the sleeves you received with your bushing don't extend way out past the bushing like mine do. Won't be long before I will be able to try mine out and see how it behaves. Still might give Reese a jingle and ask about the "too long" sleeve.

Other than yellow bushing issue, I am real happy with my R16. Mine too is a regular mount in the bed.

[Silverstrip]

2014 R16 usage update;
Hi, I have towed about 10hrs with about 10500lbs.
The orange isolators have held up and look new (I did buy longer bolts for piece of mind)
Hook and unhook is better than before with the jaw machining they did.
Indicator pin works now.
Slider has less play but not what it should be. I am writing this off to "you get what you pay for"... more money means tighter tolerances.
Now...the fore and aft play in the head... It was not addressed in their updates. I couldn't put up with the banging because of the play so manipulated a large washer and made a spacer for the back side of the pivot pin. (attached picture).
This has made this hitch feel solid and all for about 20 minutes of grinding and fitting and a 20 cent washer. Now that I know how much needs taken off and with the right sized bit to enlarge hole I could make this in 10 minutes.
Looks like it will last a long time and no sign of wear on it or hitch components.
All in all I think this hitch falls under the ranking of "acceptable". Its not a great hitch by any means but once again "you get what you pay for"
Cheers all.

[ronb707]

Called Reese tech support yesterday about my "Too Long" metal sleeves that insert into the polymer bushing. Tech said that is the way they are designed and are safe. I mentioned that the bolt is no longer able to thread into the saddle as deep as before. He said it still threads fully in. I told him I would check that out, because I did not think it did.

Called Reese back after I saw the bolt did not thread fully in as the tech said. Got a different tech person this time. He agreed with me and knew that the bolt did not thread as deep. However, he said in response to feed back they got on this issue they had the hitch retested with the long sleeve and bolt. It tested ok and they say it is safe. He did agree that it did look long. Tech said the kit is for more than one hitch (the other the R20?, my guess). So that to me answers why we who own the R16 get stuck with a "Too Long" sleeve.

When time permits, I will either use a hack saw (tech said that the sleeve was not hardened) or pay the dime and get them turned down to shorter length (tech said be sure to leave enough clearance so that saddle can pivot freely).