Pin weight or hitch problem. Which one?

Bones · Oct 10, 2017

Good morning to everyone. I have a Reese elite 20k puck hitch for my dodge ram. I purchased this hitch back in 2014 when it first came out for the Ram trucks. I am currently in contact with Reese to see if there is anything they can do or wont do for my hitch. However I am concerned that my hitch has too much movement in the head assembly. I am now on week 3 waiting for their response. As it stands now I can pick up the head of my hitch roughly 1/4" from it's mounts before it will stop on the lock pins. Got any thoughts? I have a video but not sure how to post directly on here.

SNOKING · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

Bones said:
Good morning to everyone. I have a Reese elite 20k puck hitch for my dodge ram. I purchased this hitch back in 2014 when it first came out for the Ram trucks. I am currently in contact with Reese to see if there is anything they can do or wont do for my hitch. However I am concerned that my hitch has too much movement in the head assembly. I am now on week 3 waiting for their response. As it stands now I can pick up the head of my hitch roughly 1/4" from it's mounts before it will stop on the lock pins. Got any thoughts? I have a video but not sure how to post directly on here.

Try lifting while hitched up!!!

With thousands of pounds of pin weight on the hitch, trust me it is going to stay down in the saddles. Our B&W RVK3270 manual slider hitch just has little spring loaded latches to attach the head. Other heavier duty B&W hitches have similar pins to your Reese. People with Andersen hitches have posted that they forgot to slide in the latch and drove many miles with only the pin weight hold the trailer onto the ball. Chris

fastcarsspeed · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

What do the pins look like? If they appear to be worn then you may want to see if you can get some new ones. I believe my Reese Elite has a tiny bit of movement once locked into the bed but not much at all. Also do the Latches feel firm when you are hooking it into the pucks?

Bones · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

fastcarsspeed said:
What do the pins look like? If they appear to be worn then you may want to see if you can get some new ones. I believe my Reese Elite has a tiny bit of movement once locked into the bed but not much at all. Also do the Latches feel firm when you are hooking it into the pucks?

The latch does hold the king pin in place. I have a single latch on mine. But here is a video I found that shows some of the movement I am having but not all.

https://www.etrailer.com/question-48483.html

SNOKING said:
Try lifting while hitched up!!!

With thousands of pounds of pin weight on the hitch, trust me it is going to stay down in the saddles. Our B&W RVK3270 manual slider hitch just has little spring loaded latches to attach the head. Other heavier duty B&W hitches have similar pins to your Reese. People with Andersen hitches have posted that they forgot to slide in the latch and drove many miles with only the pin weight hold the trailer onto the ball. Chris

I'm not sure how to respond. Weight alone will not hold an item in place upon sudden height changes. It is that 1/4" compounded by the area of the recessed portion of the king pin that is allowing vertical movement upon sudden height changes.

fastcarsspeed · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

Ok sorry I was confused. I thought you were referring to the Base that has the 4 anchor points into the pucks in the bed. So you are saying that you have slop in the actual receiver. I have the 18K Elite and it swivels pretty easy but have not really payed attention to it that much. I have chucking with mine and am looking to add a new Flex Air or Moryde Pin box to stop it but I am also towing around 16K with the Cyclone.

Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

Bones said:
Good morning to everyone. I have a Reese elite 20k puck hitch for my dodge ram. I purchased this hitch back in 2014 when it first came out for the Ram trucks. I am currently in contact with Reese to see if there is anything they can do or wont do for my hitch. However I am concerned that my hitch has too much movement in the head assembly. I am now on week 3 waiting for their response. As it stands now I can pick up the head of my hitch roughly 1/4" from it's mounts before it will stop on the lock pins. Got any thoughts? I have a video but not sure how to post directly on here.

Dave that's the same hitch I had in my last truck. If your saying you can lift it up off the saddles I'd say that's normal, now it you have any play back and forth than it might be worn-out.
Jim B, taught me how to post a Video, Save it to YouTube then you can attach that to the thread. I'd like to see the Video before I'd say it's fine. Mine would lift at least a 1/2" before it would start lifting the truck.

fastcarsspeed · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

Check this video and see if it moves more than this.

https://www.etrailer.com/tv-review-reese-elite-series-5th-wheel-hitch-rp30142.aspx

Bones · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

jesstalkn said:
Dave that's the same hitch I had in my last truck. If your saying you can lift it up off the saddles I'd say that's normal, now it you have any play back and forth than it might be worn-out.
Jim B, taught me how to post a Video, Save it to YouTube then you can attach that to the thread. I'd like to see the Video before I'd say it's fine. Mine would lift at least a 1/2" before it would start lifting the truck.

I'll have to check out my Youtube account. I never messed with it.

My hitch head is picking up off the pivot points approx 1/4" before it hits the pins which keep it on and it is moving fore and aft. I seem to be having all kinds of movement. What started all this is when I was at Hershey and I was checking out one of their brand new hitches exactly like mine and there was very little movement.

- - - Updated - - -

fastcarsspeed said:
Check this video and see if it moves more than this.

https://www.etrailer.com/tv-review-reese-elite-series-5th-wheel-hitch-rp30142.aspx

If your talking about at 3:59 mark my head appears to move more than that

SLO · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

I've wondered the same thing on my Reese Elite. The head basically just sits on the base with a very loose attachment. I figured the engineers knew what they were doing. You, being a mechanical engineer, have a far more educated perspective than I. I hope, for my sake, your concerns are misplaced. Please keep us informed on what Reese has to say.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Bones · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

fastcarsspeed said:
What do the pins look like? If they appear to be worn then you may want to see if you can get some new ones. I believe my Reese Elite has a tiny bit of movement once locked into the bed but not much at all. Also do the Latches feel firm when you are hooking it into the pucks?

Sorry I missed the last part. It is time to re adjust my puck latches but I do keep them tight. The pins that make sure the head stays on look good.

- - - Updated - - -

SLO said:
I've wondered the same thing on my Reese Elite. The head basically just sits on the base with a very loose attachment. I figured the engineers knew what they were doing. You, being a mechanical engineer, have a far more educated perspective than I. I hope, for my sake, your concerns are misplaced. Please keep us informed on what Reese has to say.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I will. My last correspondence with them, they were doing testing on a new hitch like mine to find out what is acceptable.

- - - Updated - - -

jesstalkn said:
Dave that's the same hitch I had in my last truck. If your saying you can lift it up off the saddles I'd say that's normal, now it you have any play back and forth than it might be worn-out.
Jim B, taught me how to post a Video, Save it to YouTube then you can attach that to the thread. I'd like to see the Video before I'd say it's fine. Mine would lift at least a 1/2" before it would start lifting the truck.

Jerrod I tried doing an upload from my photos and something went wrong so I am going to try later tonight on my own equipment. I wish the DW would let me get a Go Pro so I can set it up and record. Too bad the one road I know that this event occurs on I wont be back until next year now.

fastcarsspeed · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

Now you are making me go out this afternoon to look at my hitch. I need to grease it anyway, as we are heading up to PA on Thursday. Have you greased it lately to see if that may help a little? I know it wont do much but anything helps. I keep looking at the Andersen Hitch as i don't like the fact that my hitch is rated at the GVW of the camper but we don't carry that much stuff to be at 18k so I have not stressed that much.

Bones · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

fastcarsspeed said:
Now you are making me go out this afternoon to look at my hitch. I need to grease it anyway, as we are heading up to PA on Thursday. Have you greased it lately to see if that may help a little? I know it wont do much but anything helps. I keep looking at the Andersen Hitch as i don't like the fact that my hitch is rated at the GVW of the camper but we don't carry that much stuff to be at 18k so I have not stressed that much.

Yes I have it greased with the red and tacky stuff that was suggested to me awhile ago. That quieted things down a lot but it still makes noise.

Bones · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

ok please excuse my gam's but it was how I took the video for Reese.

fastcarsspeed · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

Wow that is more than mine. I just went out and greased the hitch and checked to see how much I could lift up and it was not much maybe an 1/8 or 1/16 of an inch. What I did notice was the two pin that hold the head on. Have you pulled those pins to look at them and see if they are worn? Mine look new as the hitch is always covered by my cover or the camper of course.

Bones · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

I don't think the pins are going to wear but my holes are very oblong in the head.

Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

They are made that way.
In my opinion from the pictures I see it's perfectly ok and looks good. I consider those pins, just safety pin to hold the head in place when lifting on it. They definitely don't do anything while towing and certainly have no way to be worn out because they are just sitting there doing nothing....
There you have my 2cents !!!!!

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

SNOKING · Oct 10, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

What he ^^^^said! Chris

Bones · Nov 23, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

I would like to share this video for your viewing pleasure and see what your thoughts are. This was on my most recent trip to Elkhart a 11 hour ride. I don't know if you can consider the pin moving severe or not but the force was strong enough to knock my camera off the magnetic mount.

fastcarsspeed · Nov 23, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

Can you take a side profile picture of your rig? I am wondering if you are not level and have enough weight in the rear of the camper that it is causing the pin to bounce up like that. We have a Toy Hauler and with the generator and storage in the front of the camper it keeps it planted on the pin and we don't get that kind of bouncing. However we do get the chucking which a new pin box is in our future for that part of it.

You are correct though that I don't think that is normal to see.

Bones · Nov 23, 2017

Re: Reese Elite issues, asking opinions

Here you go. This is the best I can do from this trip. The pin weight is roughly 3k lbs in the bed and my truck will auto level itself so it is always going to stay at the same height. That puts my pin weight at 19% of trailer weight which is standard. The rig rides level.

Pin weight or hitch problem. Which one?

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