OT - Class 3 Hitch Rattles A Lot

[DerbyDad03]

Sorry for the OT post, but I figure there must be a lot of trailer users in this group. This might be more of a vent than an actual question.

My old van had a U-Haul Class 2 hitch and I didn't know my trailer was back there unless I looked in the rearview mirror.

Last month I had a Reese Class 3 hitch installed on my new van and there is a lot of play between the ballmount (also a Reese) and the receiver. There is no mistaking that I'm towing something...you can hear it banging around on almost every bump and turn. I went back to the install shop and he said it was normal. He even mentioned that they make anti-rattle devices -

to quiet it down a bit.

It seems to me that all that banging around has to put more wear and tear on the hitch and mounting hardware.

So, if I actually had a question, it would be this: If the rattle is so "normal" that they make a device to eliminate it, why not make the ballmount bigger or the receiver smaller and solve the root problem?

[Keith Stelter]

They make them very loose for two reasons. One is that if they are tight they will rust in place. A guy in my shop machined a really snug receiver for his hitch, put it in in the Fall (I'm in Michigan) and in the Spring he literally had to soak it in liquid wrench and pull it out by using a chain wrapped around a tree while he pulled the truck forward. It came out like a cannonball and took a chunk out of the tree. The second reason is that the receives commonly get slightly bent by hitting on things when people back up, and the "slop" allows the bent receiver to still be used.

[Steve Barker]

If it's rattling when there's a trailer on, then you probably don't have enough tongue weight on it anyway.

steve

[KC]

Mine did the same thing. Very aggravating! I made a brass shim and drove it between the ballmount & receiver. Been quiet now for the past year. Haven't tried to remove the ballmount since and don't know what'll happen when I do.

KC