Hitch Coupler Broke


tomjv

Junior Member
Ok, so here goes!
The bolt snapped on my trailer hitch coupler. I've never seen this before. I have several trailers and it never even occurred to me that the part COULD break . . . but mines's broken and I have to repair it.

I'm talking about the tongue here. The tongue is the part that sits on the ball. Then you engage the tongue lock, which keeps the trailer from coming off the ball. It's the tongue lock that's broken. The tongue lock is basically a bolt with two flanges on it. The flanges tighten around the bottom side of the ball when you engage the lock. You never see these parts, because they are hidden by the tongue.
In my case that bolt has snapped.

Sure, I could run to Wally World and p/u another tongue, but mine happens to be welded onto the trailer.
I COULD break out the grinder and grind the welds off . . . then I'd have to drill holes in the trailer arm to install the new part . . . I'll need a carbide bit, probably two because the bolts will be pretty big . . .
There's got to be an easier way.

Anyway, that's it. I figured maybe it's happend to someone else.

Thanks for looking!
TomJV
 

LEN

Senior Member
You have a tuff one here. It's either cut it off and install a new one or find a bolt the same as the broken one, if you have all the parts. In the end a new one might be the easiest.

LEN
 

Dman

Junior Member
Keep in mind that when you grind the old tongue off, it's very easy to grind some of the parent metal from the draw bars. This well weaken that part of the frame. You my want to get someone to weld the new tongue in place as it will bring all the steel parts back together and repair any gouging. You can probably find someone with a welder in his truck to come to you for the repairs.
Good luck!
 
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