Bolts today are typically Chinese junk. We have a huge list of counterfeit bolts that we cannot use. Not all are the same.
With that said, anyone who can shear a 5/8" bolt in a mild steel tube receiver should get some national recognition.
The reference to the man killed by the flying receiver failed to mention it was a drop hitch that broke at the weld....not the pin.
To put a receiver in perfect shear would require dead even tongue height. Most hitches are some level of drop and that acts much like the sliding side of a pony or bessey clamp.....you're not likely to break even a diamond hard or butter soft one.
Actually, if you see the pics the hitch didn't break at the weld- the drop tube broke in the middle of the tube - complete metal failure. The point is you need to know how to calculate the actual pulling stress- Matt did a quick calculation that the mud suction the Ram was stuck in was causing the 7000 lb truck to create approximately a 13000 lb pulling load. Without proper equipment this is beyond most equipment being discussed here. Whether a proper hitch pin would have handled this I couldn't guess, but it seems they use hitch pins to hold the proper stinger for connecting their pulling straps and kinetic ropes....
The article just says "a long drop hitch". I’ve seen some dickwads around here with 18"+ drop on their 1/4" x 2" sq tubing hitches on lifted trucks. They have no clue.
Hitch pins are designed to take the shock loads that are dealt out when towing. Most are rated north of 20k lbs, some a good bit more. Once again, use the proper tool for the job.
Back in the early 70's, I was standing in the bathroom shaving when I heard a not thunder rumbling. I opened the back door and there was an upside down flatbed trailer sitting on top of an upside down back hoe. A 1/2 ton Ford pick up, right side up with the cab looking like the Jolly Green Giant had hammered it! At the wreck, nobody was hurt other than some dirty underwear.
When I walked by the trailer, the ball was still in the grips of the Bulldog hitch. The bolt for the ball had been sheared off!
I can't believe this went as many posts as it has. I'll say again, if you are wheeling and relying on yanking your vehicles around with straps ,ropes and cables. Get a winch, and save yourselves lots of headaches, vehicle damage and possible injury. It's not rocket science! Winches are good investments, and if setup properly can be moved from front to back, and moved from vehicle to vehicle! My opinion YMMV.
Field testing a recovery loop here. Receiver failure before pin failure.
Bruce
This is a testament on Mig Welding
99% of Manufacturers choose MIG welding over any other process because it dues not take the skill level as other processes and the clean up is almost nonexistent so it speeds up production time.
MIG is a more Brittle weld than others.
I will get a lot of back lash for my comment but I have been involved with welding for 49 Years and have been an Welding Inspector for 34 years in 2 days. And have tested welds my self. I know what is Brittle and what is Ductile.
Broke a pin hooking the cylinder to the fold down stabilizer leg on a Prentice loader, the boss ran to the hardware and bought a couple grade 8 bolts. Getting the right pins was a couple hour deal.
Broke them quick. At lunch he got their last grade 8, and a couple 5s. The 8 broke, a 5 stayed in the rest of the week.
An earlier poster hit the nail on the head. The 8s just snapped, too hard in shear. The 5 deformed, it had to be hammered out, but it didn't snap.
PS. I was glad to get a real pin. Loading on the downhill side, reaching out for a heavy log....your Sitting on Top of The Loader Ass will pull seat stuffings when the lower stabilizer let's go. A truck suspension isn't very strong under those conditions.
Boy, this brings back memories.
We had one of these on a Diamond Rio when I first started working for my father. The first load I ever took out when I first got my truck license, I thought I was going to die. I pulled up on the job with a full load of flagstone and climbed up on the crane like Billy Badass and forgot to put the stabilizers down. Picked up the first pallet and swung it off and the truck proceeded to roll over. I let go of the controls because I was going to jump, and the boom swung out and kept it from rolling over. I let the boom down which put the truck back on all of it's wheels. I climbed down and had to clean my shorts out. If I didn't die from it, my old man would have killed me.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
You ought to run one on a mountainside! First time I did, everything I swung the boom uphill these seat fell down as it pivoted. That high up, it feels like you are falling. I'd let go of the controls, pull me feet from the swing pedals, and brace myself. Of course the loader quit moving and the log started driving, the gyrations were impressive but only enhanced the WTF! Factor!
Very best job I ever had was logging, It's in my blood, didn't pay for Chitt, no future, had to chase money.
Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!
Broke a pin hooking the cylinder to the fold down stabilizer leg on a Prentice loader, the boss ran to the hardware and bought a couple grade 8 bolts. Getting the right pins was a couple hour deal.
Broke them quick. At lunch he got their last grade 8, and a couple 5s. The 8 broke, a 5 stayed in the rest of the week.
An earlier poster hit the nail on the head. The 8s just snapped, too hard in shear. The 5 deformed, it had to be hammered out, but it didn't snap.
PS. I was glad to get a real pin. Loading on the downhill side, reaching out for a heavy log....your Sitting on Top of The Loader Ass will pull seat stuffings when the lower stabilizer let's go. A truck suspension isn't very strong under those conditions.
Boy, this brings back memories.
We had one of these on a Diamond Rio when I first started working for my father. The first load I ever took out when I first got my truck license, I thought I was going to die. I pulled up on the job with a full load of flagstone and climbed up on the crane like Billy Badass and forgot to put the stabilizers down. Picked up the first pallet and swung it off and the truck proceeded to roll over. I let go of the controls because I was going to jump, and the boom swung out and kept it from rolling over. I let the boom down which put the truck back on all of it's wheels. I climbed down and had to clean my shorts out. If I didn't die from it, my old man would have killed me.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
You ought to run one on a mountainside! First time I did, everything I swung the boom uphill these seat fell down as it pivoted. That high up, it feels like you are falling. I'd let go of the controls, pull me feet from the swing pedals, and brace myself. Of course the loader quit moving and the log started driving, the gyrations were impressive but only enhanced the WTF! Factor!
Very best job I ever had was logging, It's in my blood, didn't pay for Chitt, no future, had to chase money.
Yeah, they were pretty easy to operate. That old Prentice that was on the Diamond Rio, in addition to pallet forks, had a grapple attachment. We used to go up to the mountain and dig fieldstone and boulders with it, so I know where you're coming from. That was back in the early 80's. About 20 years ago I bought a old used Mack Superliner that had a Prentice Drywall crane on it. Pretty much the same gig, but that one had a telescoping stick and power forks. The biggest problem with them was that a lot of times when you were unloading, you'd be sitting up in the tree limbs. Knuckle booms are a bit better with our type of applications.
"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." Ronald Reagan
I'd love, love, to have a nice Superliner! Don't have anything to do with one, no where covered to park it.
Rarely buy a ticket, but if I got PowerBall money I would have some old Mack's. Didn't love them when I drove them, and just like cars new ones are much better in almost every way.
But they are just cool.
Anything with 2 cycle Detroit? No thank you! Can only take so much abuse!
Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!
I can't believe this went as many posts as it has. I'll say again, if you are wheeling and relying on yanking your vehicles around with straps ,ropes and cables. Get a winch, and save yourselves lots of headaches, vehicle damage and possible injury. It's not rocket science! Winches are good investments, and if setup properly can be moved from front to back, and moved from vehicle to vehicle! My opinion YMMV.
I hear ya....OP said 2 days ago he was going with a grade 8 bolt
Buy a lockable hitch pin keep it lubed and carry on
I have been a Structural Steel Welding and Bolting inspector for 34 years and in Commyfornia with all of the Earth Quake crap they frown very heavily of the use of a Grade 8 bolt for Structural use. I have seen Engineers spec out Grade 8 bolts but not very often. They do not like brittle bots for Structural use due to the Shock values.
Just my opinion but pulling a trailer with the bumps and humps in the road. That may create Shock on the Hitch pins
Structural bolts are almost exclusively used in shear. The shear strength of a grade 8 is higher than grade 5, and provides a higher shear strength value for the connection. Period. That being said, the bolt may not be the weak link - so using a stronger bolt might not gain any overall connection strength. There is no "bending" of a bolt in structural shear connection. Failure modes in steel are almost all catastrophic. The bolt shears, or the steel tears out in chunks (block shear). Seismic design requires the steel members not the connections, to yield and absorb the seismic energy. When a contractor complains about grade 8 bolts, it's because of the expense and availability, or lack there of.
Structural bolts like A325 and A490 are used as a clamp in most cases anymore Yes they have shear values but it is the Tension (Clamping Forces) that Engineers Calculate over the shear values That is why they Tension bolts in buildings instead of just having wrench tight bolts Think of a C Clamp holding something together. An Structural Bolt just does it from the inside instead of the out side.
i have used A325 bolts as a Hitch pin in a pinch when I could not find a hitch pin in the moment.
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.
Yes But the original Poster was asking about hitch pins.
I was trying to explain about Brittle verses Malleable steels for Hitch pins.
Not Tension type Connections.
Shear shock a grade 8 bolt then Shear shock a grade 5 bolt. You may be surprised on the result. I have witnessed both.
A four runner at max speed strap and bolt is hold my beer
I almost puked reading the comments on this thread. There are a very few good ones, but anyone that believes the other 90% of the replies is a little dumber for doing so. Pull off the warning labels and let Darwin take over.
[quote=Jim_Conrad][/quote Some years ago, there was a similar incident here. Someone in a car with a trailer was up cutting firewood and got stuck in a creek. A guy in a pickup tried to put them out. There was no front hitch on the car so they wrapped the snatch strap around the front bumper and hooked it to a tow hook on the front of the pickup. The strap ripped the entire bumper off the car and it went through the windshield of the pickup, killing the driver.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
I ran a grade 8 bolt in my receiver hitch to deter theft for 15 years across two trucks. Never had a hitch disappear. Only reason I went back to the pin was that the bolt threads finally got so rusty that I had to really work with get the nut off.
![[Linked Image from hosting.photobucket.com]](https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/e78/montanasam/20230301_085207.jpg?width=960&height=720&fit=bounds)
