Broken trailer hitch

[spyderwoman]

This is what happened to my hitch as I was traveling back from the Keys. As I was getting ready to get onto a four lane highway, my trailer separated from my bike across two lanes of traffic. The hitch had broken at the welds. Thank goodness there was no oncoming traffic and the trailer scooted across the four lane into a turning lane! Beware of the welds on any hitch, but this is an aftermarket hitch. Not sure of the manufacture, bought it used.

[Copperman]

Holy crap!!! Good thing I have a BRP hitch.

[pitzerwm]

Thanks for the heads up, just checked the BRP hitch, there is no welds there, but one thing to realize is that the chain holders are on the part that broke away. You were lucky for sure.

[Bfromla]

Please do find the name & share With us. Being that it was used Will not point blame. Glad no other major damage or injuries For our guess work do you have any pics of it before it broke?

[spyderwoman]

No no pictures before the break . But here is a picture of the temporary fix I made to get me back home . Held up good for over 400 miles .

[pitzerwm]

Clever and quick thinking on the fix. In addition to the Name of the manuf. Used or not, there shouldn't have been that kind of failure.


Did the weld break or the weakened metal by the weld?

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Glad you were made out OK......could you possibly post some more pics....like the part with the BALL turned so we can see the other side where the breaks are.........Thanks .....Mike

[ARtraveler]

Glad you got through that okay. Nice fix for the journey home.

[spyderwoman]

I will get some pics tomorrow of the bottom side .

[Cruzr Joe]

This does not look like any Spyder Hitch that i have seen.


Cruzr Joe

[Tango]

Not the first time I have heard of an aftermarket hitch breaking at the welds. Tom

[Chupaca]

Agree with the above . it is scary epecially with the backup (chains) going with it... Never seen that set up but the patch job is better than the original...

[Bob Denman]

This kind of makes you want to think that BRP knows a little bit more about what they're doing, than they often get credit for...

Glad to hear that you made it home okay!

[Fatcycledaddy]

That is why I went with the Show Chrome hitch. it is one piece of 1/4" thick steal bent into the proper shape and reinforced for the ball location. I didn't like the looks of the welded joints to make the angle changes on most of the other hitches out there.

[PrairieSpyder]

This kind of makes you want to think that BRP knows a little bit more about what they're doing, than they often get credit for...

Glad to hear that you made it home okay!

Spyderwoman, did you have just happen tools and parts with you to do that fix? I travel with some zip ties, but not that other stuff.

[Brentc]

Dodged a bullet there! Glad your ok, and made it back in two pieces....

[trikermutha]

Love to see the back view and underside view.

That looks like a 3 piece hitch welded together but hard to tell completely by the pics.

Man that must have been scary..

[jaherbst]

You get what you pay for. Unknown to many, Cheaper is not better nor does it usually come close to the OEM equipment. This was just another example of that. Buyer beware!

Jack

[billybovine]

This looks like it.


Looks like it was made by a company called Mel's Monster Garage. It was advertised in 2008 as the first and only trailer hitch available for the Spyder. The company appears to be out of business.

IMHO If anyone has and still using this hitch. I would change it out for another one. In my thinking it is just not built to take the stress of vertical movement in a unsprung application found on the Spyder.

[Bob Denman]

I think that they also made the first of the oversized front sprockets also...

[trikermutha]

It is a 3 piece design.. That thing must flex the metal with that design to cause the failure we seen.

[spyderwoman]

It was actually my husbands RT that the hitch was on . He was actually 1.5 miles from a Home Depot in Albany Ga. were he got the parts to fix it and they loaned him the drill so he could repair it in the parking lot .
Billybovine was spot on with the hitch in hIs pic . We purshased it in 2009 , used , we put it on my GS . Anyone using this hitch should really have it checked at the weld lines or to be safe , replace it .

[H2O]

It appears the boomerang shaped piece with the hitch ball is thicker material and the formed side pieces are thinner material. In a weld like this, proper control of the amount of heat being applied to the thinner material is very important as the heat affected zone in the thinner material can make it more susceptible to fail. Also, the side pieces are formed at an angle and the weld attaching the boomerang is taking any stress applied sideways on the hitch. There should not be very much sideways stress, but after a lot of miles getting banged around with the weight of the trailer, it could add up.

The main thing is you are OK and nobody else got hurt.

John

[murphybrown]

BUT gives me much assurance that my getting the OEM BRP trailer hitch was definitely the right decision for me. Again glad all is well with your "experience".

[Fatcycledaddy]

Very thin metal tube welded together.


Thin metal tube welded together.

One solid steel piece.

I am not saying that anyone here did anything wrong, and I am glad all turned out OK with no injuries.

IMHO.....After reading this post I have debated whether or not to add this reply.
I see that people now thinking that the BRP factory hitch is the way to go and the life saver. Look closely, it is manufactured with the same thin metal sidewalls as the one that failed, and the ball area is thin metal welded onto the then metal tube rails. It could be why the tongue weight is limited to 40 pounds with the factory hitch, anything more than that could be detrimental to the hitch, not to the Spyder.

That is why I personally chose to go with something heaver and one solid steel piece.
All I can say is BE AWARE of what you are buying, make sure you are to exceeding its designed usage.
Inspect your hitch, hitch bolts, and ball every time before you start to pull anything.
Listen for any excessive or strange noise as you ride. With the solid link as BLUEKNIGHT911 has talked about in many post, you will have no hitch chatter or noise, not chucking or bouncing, and if you do hear any noise you have a problem starting.
Grab onto your trailer tongue and try to lift it up and down at every fill up to make sure it is still secure.
Stay safe!