Exactly my point from my previous post....yield and ulimate look way too close.

The amount of drop is 100% irrelevant - if the hitch is rated for more than what it was pulling and failed, something is flawed.

 

With that much of a drop, there is going to be a little flex. Flexing over time will cause the stel to snap. Constant braking and gunning will put way over 5000lbs of load on that hitch at any time.

Go and get a solid hitch.

 

FYI the real shinny metal at the break will be the parts that broke the latest. The more interesting parts of the crack will be the edges that appear dull. From the pictures the bottom of the tube (where the steel will see compressive & tension forces) look dull and even rusty, signs that it had been cracking & rusting for some time. For future reference you may want to occasionally review the drawbar for stress cracks all, even with a solid tube .

 

I agree, but don't they take that into consideration when rating it? From the way I understand it they are rated for a 5000 lb trailer weight with a 500 lb tongue weight, static. Of course there are going to be higher stresses than this when you are driving, stopping, going over bumps, etc.

I guess what I am saying is they do not state that your hitch can handle a 5000 lb max dynamic load, they say it can handle a 5000 lb trailer, and I don't think they inted for you to hitch it up and just be parked.

I have replaced the unit with a solid shank model rated at 7500 lb / 750 lb. Hopefully it will serve well. I have been pulling trailers for about 15 years, and probably have pulled at least one a week throughout those 15 years and I have never seen or even heard of a hitch breaking like this one diid and hopefully will not again.

 

Anything will break given enough stress, fatigue.

It seemed like I broke more trailer springs when I was running empty rather than loaded, when jumping across railroad crossings...

 

yes they buy most of our scrap steel, the diff comes in QUALITY control when the old steel is melted down and repoured, they do not as closely monitor the alloys in the steel, resulting and "pot" type metal that is rated for more than what it can actually take.

when you heat up metal to a liquid state some of the important minerals and alloys get burned out and need to be reintroduced, if not done correctly the steel is of very pour quality even though it came from the good ol' USA.

 

Looks like a weld issue to me.
If you look at the 2nd pic there is some rust at the bottom of the of the break on the square tube, this rust point looks like it lines up with the gusset on the other half. My guess is that the weld on the tip of the gusset was under cut. This creates a stress riser in the part. Also its right at the end of the gusset a highly stress point. The part likely cracked at the end of the gusset at some point much earlier then due to fatigue (loading & unloading) it finally gave way. Look at the other welds on the gussets to see if they are under cut as well. Glad to hear no one was hurt, by rights I would think the mfg should at lest fix your truck but good luck with that.

As some one mentioned before the shine parts are the ones that were intact before the final event. The surface finish of the break does not indicate “POT” metal it indicates a brittle fracture. Brittle either due to material or due to work harding over time due to fatigue. Sounds like you tow a lot and are putting a lot of cycles on the part and this is what creates fatigue. Mfg’s rate their parts when they are new, since they cannot control how the part is used. As your parts start to age you should inspect them looking for small cracks even if it is a solid hitch. Solid or hollow it can still break under fatigue.

 

I don't like the tube heads, always used the solid ones. I never know when the load will get heavy and I don't like to take chances.

 

Any pics of the bottom of the ball?
With that much drop, the ball may of slammed on the ground.

 

Nope it did not hit ground. The hitch has a lot of drop but the truck has 37 inch tires and a six inch lift. The ball is higher than it would be on stock trucks.

 

Wow! Glad you're alright. I've got a solid aluminum one rated for 10,000 lbs and 1500 tongue weight and it makes me nervous. Serious thinking about going to a pintle hit setup...