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The Tow Hitch Near-Disaster I Didn’t Know About
A few weeks ago, I wrote about my annual battle with my ancient MTD snowblower. I threw $19 at it for another replacement carburetor, and it fired up immediately. I was resigned to soldier through the rest of the winter with it when something unexpected happened.
A dear friend called me up to bounce a question off me about buying a BMW unicorn E46 rear-wheel drive stick wagon. After we were done discussing it, he asked what was new, and I said “Oh, just the usual battle with the snowblower.” He said “I have a spare Ariens you can have if you need it.” Obviously, I was interested.
The story was that after his ex-wife had passed away last year, he helped their kids deal with liquidating the contents of her house. After the estate sale ended, there were items that hadn’t sold, including the snowblower. Neither of his kids wanted it, so rather than have it be liquidated by the real estate agent, he grabbed it. “It’s on the roof of my workshop,” he said (this isn’t as odd as it sounds; his property slopes downward so the roof is on street level), “but I don’t think it’s been fired up in a few years.”
My first thought was “Great. Another dead snowblower with old gas in it.”
Still, as with cars, you never know unless you look. So I drove the 15 minutes over to his house with a gas can, starting fluid, and my road toolbox, and was surprised to find a decent-looking Ariens AX369 Platinum SHO 24 with more chute controls than my decrepit MTD, and heated grips. There was some flaking paint and rust on the auger housing from sitting outside, but it still looked pretty nice.
I know the drill. Undo the shroud around the carburetor, spray some starting fluid into the throat, press the electric start, and see what happens. The red herring of a bad extension cord delayed the launch, but eventually I got the thing spinning. As I expected, it ran for a few seconds, then died. I drained the old gas out of the float bowl, dumped fresh gas into the tank, and it woke up as if nothing had happened. Cool.
However, when I squeezed the left lever, it didn’t budge. I soon realized that both of the wheels as well as the auger housing were literally frozen in place, though I was a little surprised that I didn’t hear the “ker-CHUNK” that my MTD makes when you put it in gear. Still, warm weather was forecast for the next few days, so the problem was going to resolve itself.
A few days later, I went back with my Armada and a crowbar just in case the ice needed some persuasion to release its grip on the Ariens. It did, but once free, the blower easily self-propelled itself onto the sidewalk. Right then. Let’s get this done. I’d already scoped out that the U-Haul dealer a few miles away had a motorcycle trailer I could rent to get the Ariens home, so I headed over there.
The U-Haul agent dragged the little motorcycle trailer to my trailer hitch and dropped it on. But when he tightened the knob on the top of the trailer tongue, the hitch ball wigged visibly. We both looked at it, surprised. When he undid the tongue and lifted it, the unthinkable happened:
The hitch ball came completely up and out of the hitch because the securing nut underneath it was completely missing.
My mind immediately raced. When was the last time I used the Armada and the hitch? In August I towed the BMW E30 (the FrankenThirty) home from Albany. I remember afterward whacking my shin on the hitch in my driveway, so I removed it and threw it in the back of the Armada. The next tow was the Lotus Elan +2 in November. The hitch had been on the back of the Armada ever since, but I hadn’t towed anything else.
So when did the nut fall off? Did I tow my precious little Elan +2 home from New Hampshire with an unsecured hitch ball?
Focus, Rob. You can do the post-mortem on this later. I told the U-Haul agent “I have another hitch at my house. I’ll be right back.” I did, I was, and I hauled home the Ariens home without incident.
But for the rest of the day, I thought about the likely mechanics of the missing nut. All medium-to-large trailers, including a U-Haul auto transporter, have enough unladen tongue weight that they have an integrated hand-cranked tongue jack to allow you to raise the tongue and then lower the tongue onto ball after you’ve backed up the vehicle so the hitch ball is under it. Only small things like motorcycle and garden trailers are light enough that they don’t have a tongue jack. So it’s quite possible that if the ball had come loose while towing the Lotus, neither I nor the previous U-Haul agent would’ve noticed when the auto transporter was unhooked because the gentle raising of the trailer with the tongue jack probably wouldn’t have disturbed the ball in the same way that manually lifting the motorcycle trailer did. I suppose it’s possible that the ball loosened up in the three months since I towed the Elan, but it’s far more likely that it happened during the jouncing and bouncing of the 70-mile vehicle tow. And while loaded auto transporters have a fair amount of tongue weight that would’ve kept the ball in place, the idea that a bounce could’ve lifted that ball out of its hole gave me shivers.
I’ve always been in the habit of, after I’ve passed papers on a car and loaded it onto the trailer, calling Hagerty to establish coverage before the tow home, but I never envisioned something like this. You can bet that from now on I am always going to double-check that the hitch ball is secure before I tow something. And leave a spare hitch in the back of the Armada.
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Rob’s latest book, The Best Of The Hack Mechanic™: 35 years of hacks, kluges, and assorted automotive mayhem, is available on Amazon here. His other seven books are available here on Amazon, or you can order personally inscribed copies from Rob’s website, www.robsiegel.com.
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All the Ariens snowblowers I’ve ever seen (which is quite a few) separate into two roughly equal halves with the removal of two bolts near the top of the belt housing and disconnection of the chute control. Each half can then be loaded into a Nissan Armada by an able bodied man or two teenagd girls.
speaking of towing disasters, many years ago while working at O’Hare airport for American Airlines as a ground equipment mechanic, third shift Mechanics were sent to the terminal to retrieve a one hundred thousand pound push out tractor that had died on K19, the guys had towed push out tractors in the past without incident, they got so good at it they never used the safety chains provided, because of their towing track record they also towed a little faster than they should have, as they turned into the GEM building the pushout tractor slipped off the tow bar and rolled through the employee parking lot crushing cars in its path, you had to see the carnage and destruction to believe it!
I had a similar experience a decade ago, except the discovery was made AFTER a 2,500 mile move. I was returning the U-Haul trailer when the associate lifted the trailer’s tongue off the hitch and the ball went with it. No nut! We both looked at each other in horror. At what point during those 2,500 miles did that disappear? The trailer was fully loaded with our household belongings, so I suppose there was enough tongue weight to have kept it in place and I suppose the safety chains would have saved the day had we hit a bump big enough to dislodge the ball. But wow, that was an eye opener. It was a U-Haul branded hitch that I had bought years prior. I noticed that newer U-Haul hitches have a cotter pin in place to prevent the nut from escaping should it work its way loose, and I’ve since replaced all my hitches with that type.
You must not have been the only one, Rob. Some years ago I was crossing a downtown street and spotted a large, shiny nut in the middle of the crosswalk. I picked it up as much to save someone’s tire as anything else. It had very fine threads for such a large nut, so when I got home I tried it on a spare hitch ball…a perfect fit.
BTW, the hitch balls I have all have holes in the threaded section for a large cotter pin…
I’ve got a better story than that. 6 years ago I rented a car carrier from U-Haul. The U-haul personal ALWAYS hooks up the carriers to assure it is hooked correctly. Drove from NW Indiana all the way across Illinois to the border of Iowa to pick up a 1964 Chevy Impala. When driving onto the carrier ramp with the 64 the trailer tongue popped off of the hitch, the hitch tongue flung forward and pierced into the gate of my pickup nearly striking my wife who was standing (thankfully) just to the right of front of carrier directing me onto it! Have no idea how that car carrier never popped off while traveling the bump filled Illinois freeway nearly 300 miles to get to that Chevy? Of course U-haul claimed no responsibility although their personnel attached it and told me all was secured with the trailer. Morale of this story, always witness and assure the trailers are properly hooked up when renting one. Total to fix my truck: $5500.00!
Recently, I took the boat out and made it 20+ mi before I hit a major road dip and the trailer jumped off the ball.
Repairs cost ~$1000. Post mortem: I forgot to latch the pall. Same would happen here, regardless of load with ball not anchored, even if engaged.
I changed to a different brake actuator that I’m most familiar with and has a tell tale when it’s not latched, changed the hitch and ball*, >10yrs and worn, and use a lock pin that I keep in the truck cup holder by the driver seat. That way if it’s inside, I know I forgot to pin it. Plus, with reverse camera, I can see the connection before I pull away. Sounds a little redundant but exactly what I want. From the looks of things, you need to replace all those hitches you’ve got laying around.
*-I increased one class size.
I really appreciate this article. I’m going out to check my hitch nut in five minutes. But in looking at the pics, it appears to me that the car should be set slightly back on the trailer, not all the way forward, to better distribute the weight. Am I mistaken?
When in doubt, and unable to do a proper weighing of tongue, you want to err on the side of having more weight towards the front of the trailer, not the rear. This keeps the trailer hitch on the ball and minimizes the squirrely handling that comes from too much weight aft of the axel.
Rob, glad everything turned out ok!
Years ago, I had a similar experience that caused my knees to shake with fear afterward. Fully self-induced.
The MiniVan was loaded up, including kids and junk. The last step was to hook up the 17′ fiberglass runabout and get out of town. (Side-eye comments not needed on a full mini-van pulling a boat. It was a different time…)
The tongue jack of the boat was cranked down on the ball, the latch on the coupler was snapped shut, tongue jack rotated and stowed and requisite chains and wiring hooked up. We took off.
10 miles later, we stopped for an unrelated item. When I came back out, I noticed the coupler of the trailer, with latch closed, was sitting ON TOP OF THE BALL. We had towed the boat with the coupler not even wrapped around the ball.
With the weight and sag in the minivan, the tongue jack of the trailer did not crank down far enough to for the coupler to drop over the ball. It was, however, the perfect height to be able to close the coupler latch and rotate up the tongue jack.
Because of plenty of tongue weight, the trailer tongue never slipped off the top of the ball for the 10 mile drive. Mind you, this was at 60 mph.
Thinking about what could have happened on that drive with my family onboard still terrifies me.
It is now my policy to walk-around the entire rig before any drive when I tow something- sort of like a pilot’s walk-around preflight inspection. A quick stop for gas will get another full walk-around. And yes, I make darn sure the coupler has actually dropped down around the ball and is latched correctly.
Just came back from Rapid City with a new (old) purchase, 75 2002 BMW. The nut on the bottom worked its way loose but did not fall off. On certain turns made while pulling up to gas pumps the “squeaking” from the trailer was very loud???? Ironiocally the same U-Haul trailer with a red car!!!!
One other possibility is an attempted theft. That happened to me in a hotel parking lot, someone tried to steal my bass boat by removing the nut. They ran when they set off my truck alarm, but already had the jack cranked down so that prompted me to do a thorough inspection and that was when I found a pipe wrench laying there and the nut mostly removed. I welded the nut on after I got back to my shop, no more theft and no more worries about it backing off.
PS: always remove your expensive SS prop at night, they are very easy to steal.
I would postulate the nut came off after your last tow, if the bar and ball were left in the receiver. An unloaded ball assembly would be more susceptible to the effects of vibratory resonance cased by road vibrations and impacts. Perhaps it was loosened on that last tow, but had that nut been off with a trailer locked to the ball, you would have most likely had an event as the tongue weight shifted up and down. You would have tested those safety chains.
Always apply purple neck torque when tightening a trailer hitch ball.
Maybe you have a neighbor with a lousy sense of humor
Just glad the nut didn’t kill anyone. A motorcyclist wouldn’t have taken that hit too well and I’d imagine it would have shot right through a windshield.
Same thing happened to me towing the scout trailer last month. The last 20 miles in traffic it felt like the trailer was hitting my truck a little hard. I checked the 30 year old trailer after unhooking, but didn’t find the bad latch I was hoping for. Grabbed the ball and pulled it out. Threads destroyed. Wasn’t sure of the culprit, but I was certain of the changes.
Ordered a new stainless ball, with the right size shank. No bushing needed. Borrowed the big wrenches from work, the cheater bar and cranked it for the solid 250 ft-lbs it needed. Thinking about it, maybe I’ll give it a squirt of that wicking grade loctite we have at work too.