2004 F150 Trailer Tow Hitch (slightly broken)

Tuffcall because you do not know what other damage or crakc may be present that you cannot see. Best to scrap it I think.

----------------- The SnoMan

I still disagree. It is not the damage you can see that is a concern to repair, it is what you cannot see.

----------------- The SnoMan

I'm with you on this one. Besides, it really isn't worth spending money to have a broken one repaired. You can buy a decent class IV hitch for not much more than a hundred bucks. Why bother taking the chance?

Stephen N.

Penny smart and pound foolish. Used to get people coming into the shop wanting to buy $20 dollar tires for their boat trailers, after all they would say "their just for the boat trailer", to which I would ask, "How much is the boat worth?" falls in the same category.

Whitelightning

As a welder, I disagree. A hitch is made of steel. Steel shows damage easy. Usually, steel bends, not breaks. Welds break. A decent welder could referb the hitch if need be.

I haul a 10k plus trailer for work about 30 times a year, I've had to replace the t>

Well maybe conservatively, but if you look at the thickness of the steel on a two hitch you get a great idea of how sturdy these things are. And the brackets I think were designed to give way on a rear end collision.

Thanks

As a guy with a engineering back ground that has seen a lot of NDI tests over the years (Non Destructive Inspection) I have seen a lot of good looking parts prove to be bad from hidden cracks that are undetecable otherwise. Being that this hitch was in a wreck and they are not that expensive to get a new one, why waste the time not to mention that if you weld it and it fails and someone is hurt they could come after you and clean your clock and bank account when they found you used or welded a hitch that had been in a wreck and unless you have some records of some valid NDI tests on the part to support your claims that it was good, your goose is cooked. Why set yourself up?

----------------- The SnoMan

All valid points. The hitch will be removed from the vehicle when it is replaced and can be inspected. They cost over $400 new, so not exactly cheap. The "wreck" in question was about a 10-15 mph rear-ender. Not much of a collision. The steel on the hitch is almost

Again, the impact on the bumper broke off the two bumper mount brackets welded to the hitch, by design. The hitch itself was not touched by anything but the bolts mounted through the bumper footwell shearing through the mounts on impact.

I understand but sometime sudden shocks are harder on parts thana slow steady overload. I may be alright but in today world with some of the shark lawyers out there it just is not worth it.

----------------- The SnoMan

My 2004 F-150 4x4 was recently rear-ended and they replaced the bumper and the entire receiver hitch. Like you said, it is better to install a new receiver instead of finding out too late that there was some hidden damage.

I just got back from several days of camping and everything worked fine. The repair technicians did a really good reapir job.

Yikes. I bought a new OEM hitch, bumper, bumper frame, trailer wiring harness, bumper cover and license plate lights for less than $900 total out the door after being rear-ended October of 2004. I'm pretty sure the hitch didn't cost almost half of that. In my case I was hit while at a stop light by some guy doing an estimated 45mph at the time of the collision. His poor Honda Odyssey did not survive. :)