Trailer haulers- this is for you, Randal you out there? Options

[URY914]

During my 2000 mile trip to New Jersey to deliver my car to its new owner, one thing bothered the hell out of me the whole trip. My ball mount was too loose in the receiver of my truck. I measured it and it was 1/16” loose at the receiver but that made the end at the ball move over ½”. Every time I would stop or start the trailer would jerk the truck.

So I started thinking how to control this and tighten the pieces together. Simply replacing the pin with a bolt and shimming it would not be enough. I came up with this….

1- 5/8” x 6” grade 8 bolt to replace the pin.
2- ½” x 5” grade 8 bolts to pull the ball mount to the pin/bolt
1- 1 ½” x 1 ½” x 3/8” angle

I welded the 1/2" bolts to a 1/4" flat plate and welded washers on the flat plate so that it would mount on the shoulder and not the threads of the pin/bolt. Here it is laid out on the table....

[URY914]

The lights are tractor lights that are red on one side and yellow on the other. I also polished the aluminum. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

The mounting "pole" is a 1" diameter piece of roll bar stock that I welded nuts in top and bottom. The lights come with a mounting stud which threads into the top nut. On the bottom I installed a bolt up from the bottom angle. The wiring exits the bar under the top angle out of sight.