I'm not sure, but I definitely don't want to be around when it does!

Just because you've been lucky or never seen it happen doesn't mean it can't or won't.

 

I dont think the sky is falling. Tell any puller that doesnt have a draw bar that the only reason their hitch hasnt exploded is becasue they are lucky. It isnt because they are lucky its becasue the hitch will handle it.

 

Ok, but aren't we talking about a stock rear hitch now compared to an aftermarket front hitch? They're not exactly the same thing, so I'm not sure you can come to the conclusion the front is safe because the rear hasn't fallen off yet.

Does the front hitch attach before the "crumple zones" in the frame or behind them? That alone could make a huge difference in strength between the front and rear.

EDIT TO ADD: Admittedly, I don't know squat about sled pulling and I have a question for you. How does the track get insurance approval for people off the street to pull 20-40k with a hitch rated for 10k? They would need some serious liability to cover the participants, employees, and spectators...unless they just let it happen without approval.

 

Where does the crumple zone stop? And if it does have a crumple zone then the hitch in on back of our truck would have to be part of the crumple zone wouldnt it? Its one piece formed into the frame.

As far as my reasoning it out that the front 5000 hitch could handle a 10 k winch pulling a 7500 k truck out of a ditch because the rear hitch can handle sled pulling I stand by it. The two are not that much different. Maybe thickness of steel - I dont know - probably is a difference there.

I gotta go and I will check later about the crumple zone.

 

Just to add a little fuel.

Hidden Hitch's front receiver is a 9k hitch.

Just FYI for others, I did not drill holes in my frame to install this hitch. I removed the bumper and managed to get the bolts through the front openning.

 

AFAIK there's no crumple zone on the rear. It would just be a small (6" or so) length of frame in the front just behind the bumper.

 

WOW! I am gald I checked this before I walked out the door. They do it caue they know the hitch will handle it. Thats it I am leaving....maybe

 

That's a lot better than 5k.

I personally wouldn't put less than a 12k winch on my truck though. It would probably work fine in most cases...it's the really nasty one(s) that could be hairy. It takes WAY more than 9k to pull a CTD with 35's out of something serious. Double up the line on that 12k winch and you have 24k of pulling power.

 

Lol if you think insurance companies approve things "cause they know it will handle it".

It's all about the numbers and ratings with them. Either these events aren't insured (which is exremely hard to believe) or they just look the other way while it happens. Has to be one of the two.

 

Same here and have used it for Cooler rack, fishing rack,And winch.With out it a lot of Ferd's would still be on the beach stuck or under water.HA HA
I have had them on my last 3 trucks and love um. Good luck.

 

How many feet per second/minute does a winch for a truck come in? I think its pretty slow - maybe 2 ft a second? There isnt enough speed to rip the hitch off. Now if the winch came in super fast, the truck was coming up out of the hole, and the truck got jammed into a something - I could see the possibility of something getting tore off. I bet it would have to be coming in at 15 -25 foot a second. Which would be impossible.

What a great science experiment this would be. Test the hitch with a winch to failure. Myth buster's special. I say you are busted.

 

I built my own. I tooka piece of 3/8 in. plate and went to TSC and got so reciever tubes and welded them on the plates. and bolted them where the stock tow hooks were at. I bought a couple of Warn reciver clevises. I hang a700 lb. wheight rack on it for sled pulling. and have jumped up and down on top of the wheights and they havent bent or cracked.

 

I'm not sure what to say to this, Dan. Your logic is way off.

The speed of the line has NOTHING to do with anything. It's the force being applied (ie. lbs of line pull) that can break something, not speed. It sounds like you don't have much experience with winches so I guess you'll just have to learn the hard way. Hopefully nobody gets hurt while you're learning your lesson.

Being involved in rockcrawling you quickly learn that steel is not indestructable. This is exactly why steel comes in different thicknesses. You just can't expect 1/8" plate to do the job of 1/4".

 

And don't forget this very important use for a receiver hitch!!!!!

http://bumperdumper.com:80/bumper2.htm


We could use this at our next DTR Get Together!

 

Actually, line speed does affect the stress load level; the 12K# hydro winch on my '05 has a tendency to tear pieces of metal off what it's attached to if it takes up all the slack in HIGH, so I bring all 12K# online gently, in LOW. Of course, if resistance suddenly increases while the load is in motion, it acts as a force multiplier due to inertia.

My '98 has the grunt to yank a 19K# 'dozer out of a BIG hole, but it won't break a Grade 70 transport chain while logging unless I hit the end of the chain at 15+ mph (it's faster to tear the bigger trees out by the roots than cut them down).

Hitches, receivers, winches, cables, chains, etc. are typically over-engineered/over-designed/over-built just to keep the average guys from tearing up their trash, since most don't pay enough attention to the accompanying weight/capacity/load rating.

Consider an ordinary steel bolt with a tensile strength in the 60K psi range; with 4 of them attaching each tow hook to the frame, you should be able to pull with ~53K # of force... I don't think the CTD is up to that!