Trailer Hitch

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Kane Oster

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I just recently put on an OEM trailer hitch, I didnt use any impact tool just a normal ratchet and socket and tightened it as hard as i could. Now i saw that it needed a torque wrench and when i asked the guy at O'reilly's he said that was mainly for using an impact wrench so that you wouldnt tighten it to tight.



So i guess my real question is, do i need to worry about it coming loose or anything if i tightened it as tight as I could by hand?



Thanks everyone...
 
Honestly if you used 1/2 inch drive stuff to install it, and gave it a good tug, OR even used a breaker bar or a pipe on the ratchet to tighten, you will be above the 90 lbs or so they say to tighten them to any way...



Todd Z
 
if your worried about it, go back out there and break the bolts loose. put a little lock tite on them then do what todd said when you but them back it. extend your wrench a little with a pipe or something to get better leverage and you should be fine
 
I put a brush guard on a customer's truck. He was really really concerned about the bolts loosening up. I used a ton of red loctite, then torqued the bolts to specs... I then put a jam nut on each as well.
 
I used a 1/2 drive and used a 2 foot section of pipe to increase the leverage, I cranked on that thing until the truck was about to flip. One yeaer later, many heavy tows and pulls later the thing is a tight as ever. Thats just my experiences though.

CHRIS
 
The instructions that came with my OEM Class III hitch from Walls said torque to 115ft/lbs. I'll tell ya, it wasn't easy to get the wrench to click set at 115# while lying under the ST. I'm pretty sure the hitch came with lock nuts, so if yours did as well and you got all six bolts as tight as you could with your wrench, you're probably just fine.
 
Yea me and a friend were on either side of the bolt one holding and one tightening the back side, and we got them as tight as we could with a standard rachet. Could i put the loc-tite stuff on the bold behind the nut to keep it from turning back?
 
I installed my Hidden Hitch seven years ago, using only a 1/2" socket wrench. I put as much elbow grease as I could muster onto the wrench. Once a year, usually at the beginning of boating season, I check to make sure nothing has moved. I'll do the same if I have a long trip planned.



They never budge.



I've towed right around the upper limit over rough roads, as well as extended towing of lighter loads over long highway miles.



I also expect that if they started to loosen at all, there would be a lot of warning noise before the whole thing detached. Six 1/2" bolts are not all going to let go all at once.
 
If you want to "wing it", here's some technical advice that may help;

1) "Technically" it's not 115 ft/lbs, or 115 #. It is 115 lb-ft. "Technically", Torque is always correctly defined as force-distance.

2) By defination, that means at 12 inches (one ft.) from the bolt center, you should exert 115 pounds of force, therefore equalling 115 lb-ft of torque. Note this is not Pounds of mass.

3) And this is linear. That is, if you put a breaker bar/pipe extension on it which changes the distance from the bolt to your hand (force) by a factor of two (2 ft.), you now have to exert half the force. Example; a 2 ft. distance now requires 57.5 pounds of force. This is a torque of 115 lb-ft (often noted as 115 ft-lbs in laymen terms).

4) Consider your body weight. Many times you can "hang" or pick most of your weight off the ground while torquing a fastener. 200 lbs at 12 inches equals 200 lb-ft of torque.

The above is just a guide. Critical applications require a troque wrench.

Hope it helps a little.:)



edited to be technically correct.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Actually, both my torque wrench scale and the instructions that came with the OEM hitch indicate "ft/lbs", whether you care to believe that's the correct terminology or not. And, I believe you'll find "foot-pounds" is more commonly referenced.

[Broken External Image]:
 
http://www.magtrol.com/support/torque_calc.htm



I should have stated "technically correct" is lb-ft. My bad. You can't always believe Wiki. Search a University.



America "simplifies" phrases, units, etc, because it is easier than correct education. Hence your Torque Wrench and instructions.



SI system for torque is N-M (Newton-Meters), not M-N. In the English Measurement System, Pounds can be expressed in pound-force or pound-mass, and therein lies the disconnect for the layman. If you are really interested, contact a local physics/engineering institution (college, High School, business) and ask.



But you are correct, and Thank You for bringing my ommission to my attention. I have edited my post to be technically correct. ;)
 

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