Our Hitch has broken Welds and Needs to be Replaced

Yesterday morning in La Pine Oregon, we woke up to the temp inside the trailer at 60deg, and I needed to start the furnace to get it warm above the temp that I was shivering at.  There was a fog laying about the area, and frost had gathered pretty heavy.  Anne-Marie and I had a good day of viewing wildlife along our drive in Southern Oregon, 70 antelope, 3 coyote, 15 deer.

When I was putting away the utilities, I found ice on the ground, all piled up from a drip at the hose connection, it was cold.

This tarp tent, was where a traveling biker camped, in La Pine.  The motor bike had broken down, and he was waiting for parts before he could move on.  The tent campers are in a RV Park in Alturas California, and they have been weathering freezing temps at night, but they have an ac outlet, and they might have a small heater.  The park manager says that they are moving on in a week.

The hitch we are using is a Hensley, anti-sway and load leveling, and it has served us well, but it has developed a problem.  Several states ago during our travels, I noticed that at rest, and unhooked, the hitch had a slight lean to the curbside, but I could push it to level by hand.  When I had attached the van and tightened the spring bars, all was level and firm, and all seemed OK.  When Anne-Marie and I were on the Oregon Coast, a RV Park resident looked at our van/trailer hookup, and said that the van was riding too high in the front, and we needed to tighten the equalizing bars, a little more.  We looked at the van, and said it looks OK, and it always rides high in the front, even when empty because of the four wheel drive under the front, and we drove on.  We have driven over mountain passes in Montana, the Continental Divide, Satus Pass in Washington, the Coast Range twice in Oregon, and around Mt. Hood on Hwy’s 35 and 26 in Oregon, and all the time not being aware of this.  Yesterday in La Pine Oregon, while hitching the trailer, I happened to glance at this part of the hitch, and saw a gap and the ground below, where a strong weld should be.  The broken weld is why the van sits high when hooked up to trailer, the rear of the van is carrying most of the load.  The picture of the van and trailer shows the van sitting a little high in the front, and the close-up of the hitch shows some of the broken welding, and it is pulled apart.

This morning I have called Hensley MFG in Michigan, and I have sent pictures of the part, and described it best as I can.  If I knew that this was all that was worn out, the single lower housing would be around $400, plus shipping.  There are four big bearings between the black part in the picture, and the orange upper housing, that just barely  shows in the upper left of the picture, there are pivot bars between the two housings, and underneath are the spring bars.  I’m guessing that the short pivot bars may have damage, from the lower housing rubbing against them, and the torsion spring bars could have wear in the hidden part of the lower housing.  There is too much to know about how one part that is broke, effects all of the rest, and we are getting another hitch from Hensley, and we will ship this one back to the factory.

We will continue South to Carson City Nevada, and park at Anne-Marie’s sister’s house, where they have a RV hookup.   I will remove the old Hensley, and wait for the UPS delivery.