14" drop hitch prevents bad accident

[BSilveira]

My buddy and I were in stop and go traffic yesterday and a some lady rear ended me. We were having a conversation when all of a sudden we feel a good sized hit from the rear. I look in my mirrors and realize a lil honda slammed into me. We pullled over and sure enough, she hit my hitch. I have a 14" drop weight distrubution hitch. I had no damage what so ever. Her car on the other hand was damaged pretty good. Her front bumper had two huge holes from my hitch. She said she put her head down for a second before hitting me.



I almost put my hitch cover on the other day. Thank god I didn't. If she would have hit me w/ out the hitch, she would have gone under and cause serious damage to her car and my truck.



I have been told my a cop that I cannot have my hitch on my truck when not in use. I always thought that if someone were to hit my hitch, it would save my "baby". On a lifted truck like mine, a drop hitch is a definite saftey feature. I'll post a pic of my hitch tommarow.



Has anyone had a similar situation?

 

[rubberneck]

My truck isn't as high as yours, but i run a 6-8" drop depending on trailer. So far my drop has given a facelift to a honda and a nissan mini truck. Mini truck hit pretty hard. ball glanced off of top of bumper and went through ac condensor and radiator. No damage to my baby. Oo.

 

[HOBrian]

Somebody said a while back that they too were not allowed to have the hitch on the truck unless they were using it.

 

[PSchwering]

Had a Chevy Corsica hit me a couple of years ago. Totalled her car, put a couple of scratches on my bumper. (My truck sits pretty low to the ground) . I would highly recommend a good check of your Hitch frame. My cross-Tube had about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch bow in it after she hit it. The insurance man did not see it. If I had not noticed it, the hitch would not have been replaced... ... ... ... P.

 

[BK]

I don't get it. .

If you didn't have the hitch in and she was going any faster, she might have had your rear bumper in her dentures !!!

Hence why the semi trailer had to install drop "bumpers" that are just steel structures.



Some laws are just stupid and narrow minded.

 

[WyattEarp]

There is no common sense in the world or in our laws anymore, simply put, without the hitch your looking at 2 vehicles with serious damage or worse for those in the truck with whiplash etc. . secondly if someone walks into my hitch, they are walking to damn close to a vehicle(not my problem they aren't paying attention to where they are walking) and secondly if someone rearends you in traffic and hits your hitch ball then they were not paying attention and obviously to damn close to begin with. Thats why mine stays in the hitch with the ball attached and so far pple for some reason get closer to the 2000 than the 92, could be the height thing with the older truck.

 

[wcjp]

I was passenger is a friends CTD on Wednesday. An old Honda had no brakes. She bounced off a OTR carhauler, into an Infiniti Q56 which hit the Dodge drop down Hitch. The Infiniti caused $2k in damage to the Dodge. Stock hitch is toast and the bed doesn't quite close correctly. The Honda is done, the Infiniti was driveable and the OTR needed a new tire.



Friends drop down was a 8" weight distributing.

 

[bighammer]

I got rear-ended in my 94 a few years ago. A kid in a Chevy Beretta going about 45 on an icy road went right under. I was stopped at a light behind a minivan that had hit the fuel tanker in front of him. His windsheild had a big hole from my bumper and receiver. My truck was a twisted mess. Frame, axle, springs, bed sides, etc.

I think if I had a hitch on at the time, damage would've been much less. I've thought about just keeping a pintle hitch mount (just the flat plate without the actual hitch) in the receiver.

 

[Cummins Pilot]

Never heard that your supposed to remove your hitch when not in use. I never take mine out (someone else did once, jerk), everyone else seems to run theirs.

 

[TJany]

when i had my old truck (95 chevy) i got rear ended by a little honda on a rainy morning... i had one of those big 3 ball jobs (chevy sits low enough to use one) and had a little bit of paint on the bottom ball, meanwhile her bumper was on the ground, radiator bent in a "V" (how it didn't split i don't know) and both cooling fans were shattered. i've been told bout the legalities of leaving a hitch in when not in use, but never been ticketed or what not, so i always run with one



Tim

 

[BK]

I never heard it either, and lots of folks around here leave them in.

I don't, I hate banging my shins into it.

 

[nickleinonen]

I've thought about just keeping a pintle hitch mount (just the flat plate without the actual hitch) in the receiver.

i have parts of one sitting on my toolbox at work... it will be spring dampened when i am done making it [emd valve springs are 1-5/8" od] so i will have about 2" of compression before it hits hard. i need to shave out the inside of the 2" tubing a bit to make the spring fit inside, then i also have plans to attach a ~20" of 2"x6" c channel to that and use it as a step [maybe spring mount that too, as i have some 2. 5"x2" springs that need about 300lbs to start to compress them



need to get it finished quickly though. . had someone just kiss my bumper this week... scuffed paint [got lucky]

 

[EKlem]

I had the unpleasant experience of sitting in my old truck(chevy) that was backed into a parking space when someone else tried to back in against me and went a little far. My hitch went through their bumper and got caught. The guy in the ford explorer that had hit me tried to pull forward but my hitch was firmly stuck in his bumper so he just spun his tires. Then he pulled 4wd and tried jerking it so I pulled 4wd to stop him from pulling me around and got out as fast as I could to get him to stop. It took an awful lot of jacking and cutting to remove his bumper from my hitch but my truck was undamaged.

 

[Warwagon]

Pretty sure the state of Pa. has a law about having to remove your hitch after towing. Read about it last year in a travel magizine.

 

[rrausch]

I've never been rear-ended in my Dodge, but I had a '54 Chebby 3/4 ton, all restored, with a custom wrap-around steel-treadplate rear bumper--this bumper also had a protruding hitch welded onto it--the hitch had been made of 1/2" steel! Anyway I was cruising one night when a cop pulled out from a side street and I had to slam on the brakes, a car load of Mexican Gang members behind me didn't stop in time! My truck suffered no damage whatsoever, but the gang member's car got their bumper, grill, hood and 1 headlight trashed! Ha! They also fled the scene, but I chased them down and pulled up beside them at a stop light so I could enjoy their discomfort and see what had happened to their car.

 

[cahammer]

Pretty sure the state of Pa. has a law about having to remove your hitch after towing. Read about it last year in a travel magizine.

But officer i never stop towing so ill never take it out :-laf cause its a cummins and theres always a ford to tow

 

[nickleinonen]

or just leave it in there until it rusts in solid. . my pop's last truck [90 silverado] the drawbar was never removed, and when he traded it in 98, it would not come out [we tried a 1/2" link chain with a shackle through the eye, and tied it off to some concrete barriers, and with the pin removed, we dragged the concrete barriers around the parking lot in 4lo for a bit then gave up on it]



pop's current 99 silverado drawbar won't come out either. . it was clanging around when not hooked to the trailer, so we pounded in a tapered 1/16" SS304 2" x 4" wedge. . that one is never coming out either without the cutting torch.

 

[BK]

Had that problem on a friends truck, but he was selling his camper and need to get the weight dist. hitch out. We soaked it, banged it, tied it to a tree. heated it. . took a few hours but we got it out.

 

[wcjp]

Former coworker with a Chevy had the same problem with rust. He never removed the drop ball. When trading in the Chevy for his new CTD the drop ball went also.

 

[JFaulkner]

I don't get it. .

If you didn't have the hitch in and she was going any faster, she might have had your rear bumper in her dentures !!!

Hence why the semi trailer had to install drop "bumpers" that are just steel structures.



Some laws are just stupid and narrow minded.

I find that funny also since all our semi trailers have drop DOT bumpers but school busses don't require them. Guess it doesn't hurt as bad if you drive under a school bus.