Reese Adjustable Height Hitch and "The Clunk"

[mosquito13]

There is about a 1/4" of play in both boxes of this hitch( new to me). Need the adjustability, as tow several differnt trailers and sick of changing out balls. But there is enough slop that there is a clunk I feel more than hear at braking/accelerating. Thinking about welding a couple beads on two sides of the male parts and grinding down to tighten tolorances on the hitch. A couple hardwood shims quited this down but did not last the 4 hour round trip tow. Anybody experence the clunk and have a working fix?

4

[catchersrock]

here was my fix

www.bwtrailerhitches.com/product/tow-stow-adjustable-ball-mount

Absolutely love it, and, it stowes under the truck when not in use.

[mosquito13]

Nice but not in my budget. Got the Reese at goodwill for $20 all sticks still on. I got pins in mine till the s/s pin/locks arrive. This all started when i had to cut off a pinlock...

[freezerfiller]

I drill and tap a 3/8" hole and put a bolt in there with some Loctite and tighten it up. Removes all the noise, even the slightest normal play.

[mosquito13]

Sounds like a good fix Freeze. Tapped you still have the adjustable too, and a lot ez'r than what I got planned. Think I need a beefeir fix as pulling a car trailer some , so 6k lbs. That and I have to be able to adjust the height , as the hitch for boat, car hauler, and a enclosed (motorcycles) trailers and be cool if toolless adjustment. All three ride a different levels. Need to get a new tank of argon so I can lay a couple beads. Projects are backing up.  

[mosquito13]

Did two beads down the sides on two axes and ground them down on my buddies mill to a tight fit. Fixed the clunk. Too bad they don't close up the tolerances when making them . Guess that is why Reese stuff is relatively inexpensive. Still a fair amount of slop with the pin hole but that got tightened up with shift of the shaft in the receiver. Think in retrospective for the amount of work it took to "fix" purchasing a better product would be a better solution. That said I do not recommend the Reese adjustable hitch.