Cheap Hitches, Big Loads, and Gravity

[The Warden]

I don't even get why lower class receivers are made.
Overkill. Go big or go home.

THIS!!! I found a hitch that's rated for 16K, and I"m planning to get it since I don't know what the weight rating is on the hitch that's on my truck at the moment. I don't plan to connect a 16K trailer to it, but overkill is our friend

Do you guys put your chains in a "X", putting the pass side trailer chain on the driver's side of the truck hitch and the other one opposite? I don't know where people learn about such things, but I happen to find out about this idea word-of-mouth and wish I had been doing it since I started hauling. The "X" will cradle the trailer tongue if something bad happens and the trailer tongue drops.

Crossing the chains like that is one of the first things I learned when I learned how to connect a trailer at the ripe age of 13, and exactly for that reason.

Here's a question, speaking of chains...is there a better place to connect them than to the hitch? I have a hitch insert that sticks out far enough that, when I'm using it, "standard" trailer chains don't reach all the way to the hitch. I temporarily have a piece of chain wrapped around the hitch that reaches far enough to get to the trailer chains, but I'd like to do something better. One thought was to find the highest-strength chain that I can and find a way to anchor it directly to the frame, but again, I'm in the early stages of considering it at this point...but, any thoughts?

 

[79jasper]

To the frame is better. In case of the receiver coming loose, you would lose the chains also.
I had a PDF talking about all this. I'll see if I can find it later.

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[Dieselcrawler]

on my dually, with the v5 hitch on the back, and my v5 rated drop bumper, I always but the ball on the hitch, chains hooked to the bumper. two completely different mounting points to the frame.

 

[The Warden]

To the frame is better. In case of the receiver coming loose, you would lose the chains also.
I had a PDF talking about all this. I'll see if I can find it later.

Please do!! I'm very curious to see what it says. And, regarding the receiver coming loose, that's exactly what I was thinking...

The next question is, how best to anchor the chain to the frame? And, for that matter, what's out there that's strong enough to not break when a 10K+ trailer comes loose but still be practical to use...?

 

[79jasper]

Of course I can't find it now.
Iirc, someone had posted it here awhile back, which is how I got it.

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[franklin2]

The problem with hooking the chains to the frame is turning. When the chains are hooked in close to either side of the hitch ball, when you turn the chains length changes very little. If you splayed the chains way out to the frame, then their length will radically change when turning, possibly dragging or getting tight and binding.

Also, the frame is so thin, I would not be surprised if when something bad happened, the hook would pull through the frame hole.