Leave it in. The pintle hook hanging on the back of the truck combined with ranch hand bumpers on the front and back are my parking lot defense.

 

What good is a hitch in the toolbox...unless it's a spare

Chris

 

I have a real nice Harley hitch cover that the wife paid waaay too much for,,,, but the thought was nice. However, the only time it gets put on is when I tow the 5er. The reason being that I have a habit of walking between the truck and fiver and that drawbar is awful hard on the shins. As soon as we get home and unhook, the drawbar goes back in and stays in until next time. My Sport with the painted bumpers is still unscathed by the jokers that use the "Bump into the car in front" method of parking.
Funny story,,,
I was parked in a mall parking lot and was standing outside talking to a friend at the store entrance. Two 20 something ladies pulled up behind my truck and contacted the 2" ball on the back of my truck. It made enough noise that I heard it 50' away. The lady on the passenger side was like and the lady doing the driving was like and I was like . As I walked towards the truck, the lady driver jumps out and glances at the front of her car and continues to walk towards the store with one of those "I'm a Movie Star" walks. I get to the truck to find that no contact was made with my painted bumper,,,,, but the 2" ball is now pushed through the hole it punched in her bumper cover. The lady left sitting in the car was embarrassed but I smiled at her as we made eye contact. I then calmly got in the truck,,,, fired it up,,,,,, and slowly pulled away as the bumper cover came with me,,,, . Thought I might get it all the way off, but a couple of stubborn bolts held one corner onto the car. At least I didn't have to stop and pull it off my hitch!

 

if i took my hitch out i would not know how to get my fat butt up in the back of my truck i leave it in all the time i got a aluma stinger so that baby is locked in tighter than a frogs you know what! plus if i took it out i would more than likely loose it or some one would snag it out of the shop

 

I also leave it in to give the bone heads something to run into. We have 4X4s and one sits on 35in tires. I have not had the fun of having someone in a fart can can get hooked to the hitch. I have had them so close to me going down the road that I could not see them in any of my mirrors. That is when I turn on the TST box and nail the throttle to the floor, it turns pretty black behind me, even better when going about 45. No boost add LOTs of fuel =massive amounts of black smoke.

Works for me.
See Ya
Chris

 

I am beginning to see why the redneck farmer types, around here, leave those deadly looking hay-spikes, sticking out at radiator level, behind their trucks year round.

 

I leave mine in all the time. I used to take mine out until I got rear ended by some dummy. The reciever stopped him but he did get my trailer electrical plug that I had to fix. Ever since then the hitch stays in with a locking pin.

 

I always take the hitch out because my brother put one through ones hood once. I just take it out for safety and so it doesn't get stolen.

 

I keep mine in all the time. Great deterrant for tailgaters. Get a good locking pin, and you are set.

 

I pull a gooseneck most of the time and the thing is hard on the legs sneaking under the neck . Also on my three car garage I have the closest bay to the house so everyone needs to walk by it , sometimes in the dark , so out of respect for the family and home peace it comes out . In parking lots or trucks stick out more then most and people walking by are usually watching the moving traffic more then the parked , a little old lady with a bag of grocery's could end up in real pain by not seeing it , so I pull it . I have been kind of having a hankering for a set of bull ***** hanging under there any how and the hitch would block the view some .

 

Yep, A.K.A bumber saver. Never taken mine out it has saved me from retarted drivers twice.

 

Interesting Story - Went to have lunch with my youngest daughter at her grade school. Got there a few minutes early so I sat there and listened to Paul Harvey. While I am setting in my parked truck in a parallel parking zone area, a lady driving a new Lexus LX 470 talking on the cell phone whips in behind me and hits my stinger. Well it went through her valance panel, punctured her oil cooler and radiator and played havac with the plastic on her from bumper. She jumps out of her SUV looks at the puddles of fluid leaking all over my 2.00 inch ball and stinger and proceedes to tell me that I will have to pay to have her car fixed. I politely asked her to call the police since she had a phone as I thought we could let them figure it out. I went in to lunch with my daughter, came back out after lunch to be greeted by her somewhat over-weight Rolex wearing Escalade driving husband that continued to infrom me I was financially responsible. I asked if anyone had called the police yet. At this point chubby gets irritated with me and says he is calling his lawyer. I went back into the school, went to the office and called the police. The officer gave the lady a ticket for intatentive driving. He then looked at me with a smile and asked if I wanted to press charges since my stinger and ball has anti-freeze and oil all over them. Chubby and the mrs. jumped in the Cadilac and left. Moral of the story - the stinger in heavy traffic and parallel parking situations can save the rear end of your truck.

 

I'm with Jeff, Dennis, J.R., and Tiny!!!

Mine stays in because I use it almost daily and I have had my share of goofs bump into it. Lot's of young ladies too, I might add, and I didn't really mind getting bumped by them!

 

I take mine out because it's been nailed more times than that by a retard driver, ME. My shins hurt just thinking about it.

 

Great stories!

I leave it in as well and my wife seems to be the only one marking up her shins. But that's only when she's late for work and not paying attention

One thing to keep in mind is that when we are backing up that the stinger is back there. Over the years I've seen a few garage doors with holes in them.