Hitch Pin Grades

[Roocrew1]

I recently purchased a Reese coupler locking assessory kit which included a locking hitch pin. In my years of pulling trailers, I've never questioned the "grade or strength" of different hitch pins. Is there actually different grades of of pins for 2" receivers? For some reason I called into question it's strength as compared to others non locking (regular) pins I have. Comments??

[davel1971]

When I had my bumper pull trailer last year, I purchased a Reese locking hitch pin. Used it one time for about a 6 hr round trip and it was bent. Trailer was 30ft and just under 8000 lbs loaded.

[Cypressloser]

Excellent question, I wondered that myself.

[Mark S]

Today I bought a new Harbor Freight locking hitch pin for $10. I too got to thinking that this $10 pin is holding everything together and wondered just how good is it. Oh man, another night of not sleeping.

[Roocrew1]

I guess they have to be fool proof and handle the standard load applied to a standard receiver... Never seen an accident or loss due to a sheared pin.

[Mark S]

Besides, my Harbor Freight pin comes with a 3 month warranty.

Seriously, I pulled my last trailer, loaded about 7,500 lbs for over 16,000 miles over 2 years with no issues other than surface rust.

There sure is a lot of weight on a small surface area. But you never do hear of a pin failure accident.

[kandl]

If the locking hitch pin is intended for a Class IV hitch, I would expect that it would be rated for at least a 10K lb pull. We have the Master Lock variety. It's seen three yrs and over 12K miles tugging ~7500 lbs. No issues save for a little abrasion to the chrome finish.

[youroo]

The (shear strength) of (1.250 CRS) would be Much higher than any Numbers used in this Post! Very few applications of a hitch are (Direct Pull) unless You are (Pulling Stumps)? Youroo!!

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by youroo

The (shear strength) of (1.250 CRS) would be Much higher than any Numbers used in this Post! Very few applications of a hitch are (Direct Pull) unless You are (Pulling Stumps)? Youroo!!

I think the hitch pins are 5/8" dia (0.625").

[davel1971]

not sure why I still have it, but here it is after 1 trip

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[jevanb]

Originally Posted by davel1971

not sure why I still have it, but here it is after 1 trip

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if you send that pin to me I will test the hardness of it with a rockwell tester, I bet any money it made it thru manufacturing with out heat treatment and is still in the Annealing condition

[davel1971]

Originally Posted by jevanb

if you send that pin to me I will test the hardness of it with a rockwell tester, I bet any money it made it thru manufacturing with out heat treatment and is still in the Annealing condition

That's tempting, and I appreciate the offer, but I'm not sure I even want to know how close I was to testing the hardness of the safety chains

[dcheatwood]

Originally Posted by jevanb

if you send that pin to me I will test the hardness of it with a rockwell tester, I bet any money it made it thru manufacturing with out heat treatment and is still in the Annealing condition

If I send my wife, can you test her to see if she's been tempered? Lol

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[RPAspey]

I had same issue right after I bought my TT. After a 1800 mile trip, the cheapo pin bent enough that I had to hit it out with a drift pin. Threw it out and bought a SS Reese locking pin. Still like new.

2000 Cherokee, 400w solar, 6v batteries, flipped axles, LEDs, etc. 2007 Tundra DC-LB, modded as well. C-co, 8/158th AVN Maint.

[davel1971]

Originally Posted by RPAspey

I had same issue right after I bought my TT. After a 1800 mile trip, the cheapo pin bent enough that I had to hit it out with a drift pin. Threw it out and bought a SS Reese locking pin. Still like new.

2000 Cherokee, 400w solar, 6v batteries, flipped axles, LEDs, etc. 2007 Tundra DC-LB, modded as well. C-co, 8/158th AVN Maint.

that's exactly what I bent in one trip. Thought I was getting quality when I bought a Reese product

[RhoZeta]

Most of the Reese stuff I have seen is import, including hitches and 5th wheels that is why I went with B&W.

An adage I use concerning Harbor Freight is "If your life or your job depends on "it" then do not buy "it" from Harbor Freight"

Your life may not be in jeopardy from a chinese hitch pin but the poor schmuck driving behind your camper may have a little more money in the pot...

Not bashing HF, have a bunch of stuff from them but not anything that I depend on.

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[youroo]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

I think the hitch pins are 5/8" dia (0.625").

Yes they are (.625) I said (1.250) because you would have to (Shear (2) sides X (625) = (1.250) Youroo!!

[Blackrock]

I sometimes run a 1 foot hitch extender and use grade 8 5/8" bolts in both holes. But in 23 years working as a fleet mechanic I have never seen a hitch pin failure.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by davel1971

not sure why I still have it, but here it is after 1 trip

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Shear strength on a 5/8" type 2 bolt is 13,621# and considering it has to shear 2 sides, it would take 27,242# to shear the pin. No way it would have sheared. Just because it bent does not have anything to do with shearing it.

Bending is definitely not good, but that just makes it very inconvenient to remove, nothing else.

[davel1971]

I wasn't too concerned about shearing. Working on big tractors all day I got a pretty good understanding of steel strength. My life depends on it. Just the fact it bent after one use was reason enough to not use it again. Went back to using the pin that came from who knows where and never had an issue with it.