Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Hitch Pin or 5/8" Grade 8 Bolt.

You are correct. That's called a slip critical connection. And the strength value of the connection is directly proportional to the "tightness" of the bolt. The tightness is about 70% of the bolts tensile strength with is based on the same psi strength value of the metal as the shear strength (oversimplification but good enough). Higher strength bolt = more tightness = stronger connection.

Edit to add;
After the storage business shut down, I worked a year for a Big 3 auto dealer and was somewhat perplexed how often they'd sell a customer a pickup that was not going to be able to pull what they wanted to.

For that matter, some of the RV dealerships sold trailers to people that were too big for their little SUV to pull safely on our mountain roads, but we saw far too much of that as well.

Dwayne, I feel your pain. I don't think concern about undersized tow vehicles is limited to BC. The US is cursed with the same people who think their F150 and 4Runner is appropriate for towing a 30' toy-hauler into the mountains. I know this personally because I routinely get stuck behind them, I'm usually car number 82 or more in that line of backed-up vehicles. It's a rare sighting to see any tow vehicle outside of agriculture and construction that is properly sized by the owner for the toys they are pulling.

I also yank heavy loads. But I have no advice.

gunchamp;
Good afternoon to you sir, thanks for the reply.

My goodness I'll just imagine you've "seen some things" then in the RV service business.

For a couple years I managed a fair sized indoor and outdoor storage facility where we stored boats, RV's, classic and exotic autos.

Here in BC up until a couple years ago one could waddle into an auto dealership, buy a new pickup and get a 5th wheel hitch installed and then buy the biggest RV on the market and legally terrorize the highways with a regular Class V driver's license. A couple years back the powers that be decided that if the trailer exceeded 4600kg then the driver needed an upgraded license which includes some training.

Yes indeed though, the "average" person out west here who retires having never driven anything bigger than a Camry, then deciding to become a snowbird... well sir when you say "anything you can possibly imagine"... I can imagine a wee bit!!!

There were a couple local RV dealers who I had a really good working relationship with their service departments since more than a handful needed their services.

Thanks for the information, the chuckle and the memories.

All the best.

Dwayne

Edit to add;
After the storage business shut down, I worked a year for a Big 3 auto dealer and was somewhat perplexed how often they'd sell a customer a pickup that was not going to be able to pull what they wanted to.

For that matter, some of the RV dealerships sold trailers to people that were too big for their little SUV to pull safely on our mountain roads, but we saw far too much of that as well.

Rub the receiver in a slurry of road salt, sand, and water. Slide it in and let the chemical reaction take place. They can be quite miserable to remove.




That was tongue-in-cheek that anyone in the rustbelt will understand.

You could go with a grade 12.9 5/8" SHCS. (socket head cap screw) such as is used in machine shop assemblies.

My gut feeling is, you'll spin the tires bald on a 4Runner before you shear a 5/8" grade 12.9 SHCS.

A 4 runner ain’t snapping no 5/8 grade 8 bolt.

The block says 13k, the pin is 20k+. Is that a 1/2" shackle? If so, it's probably near 20k breaking strength. So, the block is the weak link. If that isn't enough, you likely need a heavier hitch. It's certainly more than the OP's 4Runner can handle.

A local blacksmith made pins of blue steel rod, with a loop bent on the end, he ground them to a point.