Hidden hitch failure

[Mogolfers]

I know I have seem posts before on this subject but it has now hit close to home. My friend who has an identical Select Suite to ours was traveling with their bikes on the back, when the hitch broke and sent the bikes flying along with the hitch. If a car hadn't come up to the drivers side to flag them down they would of never known it. Luckily they were on a two lane road and the bikes and hitch slid to the ditch off the road. I can't even imagine what would happen it a car had hit the bikes and hitch and caused an accident. I had emailed Dan Tauer at Doubletree several months ago when it happened and did not get a response. I recently even called the owner of the dealership that sold us our 5th wheels and hitches, haven't heard a thing back. I guess I see this as an more urgent problem they they do!!! Does anyone have a way to beef up the hitch to prevent this from happening or have any other solution other than pitching the hitch in the trash? We will leave soon and are now afraid to trust the hitch with the bikes on it. Will it take the death of a family following a 5th wheel with a hitch failure to make everyone listen to this serious problem? :cry:

[Stripit]

We just had a hitch built, because the one that was available thru DT, to me, wasn't anywhere near as strong. I would think if you wanted yours 'beefed' up, any fabricator could add more steel and brace it so it would never move.
You would think when someone informs the higher ups in the company of a part failure, like you did with the hitch, you would get a response.

[Motor31]

First off, do you know if the hitch broke or what? The hitch is in 2 sections. The receiver which is welded to the frame and the bike racks which slide into the receiver and lock in place with a pin. Either of these 2 pieces could have failed.

In our case we had the hitch itself come off of the trailer. We were not using it at the time so there was noting riding on it. The factory "welds" were nothing but a series of small cold "tack" beads along the mounting point. At no place did the "weld" form a proper bead or gain penetration of either the frame or hitch. All that was holding it on was small clumps of welding rod slag. When it made contact with the ground it pulled off and then speared the back of the trailer causing damage to the rear cap. I still have the hitch (dunno why, if someone wants it it will be very cheap!) and pictures of the "welds". This was the same "quality welds" as the shock frame mounts that I had redone later after one broke.

I very strongly recommend that anyone with a MS check the shock absorber frame mounts and factory mounted bike rack hitch look to make sure that there is a proper bead on each one.

[Mogolfers]

The bike rack broke around the bottom bend area. The hitch was still there. Thanks for the heads up though, we'll check ours out!

[golf_bears]

How many bikes were you carrying on the bike rack and do you know what the weights are of each bike?

[Mogolfers]

As I said in my first post, it was a friend of mine who has an identical Select as ours that this happened to. She does not have readily available internet access so I was trying to find some answers for her and make sure that this did not happen to us when we leave soon. She was carrying two bikes and I do not know the weight, sorry. Does the bike rack have a bike weight limit? It does have room for 3 bikes on the rack. I e-mailed a company that sells Hidden Hitch and this is what they replied. " Most racks are not designed to be used behind a 5th wheel due to the additional sway stress behind a towed vehicle." If this is true why would anyone sell one to an unsuspecting buyer? I paid to have this added as an option when thiey built my 5th wheel. How sad! :cry:

[golf_bears]

Dave,

Appreciate your info. Reason I asked is that I have also ordered my MS with the receiver and bike hitch. Our unit will be going into production next month. Just wondering if I should eliminate the receiver and bike rack from our order before it goes into production?

Please keep us posted with whatever information you gather on this, thanks.

[jdwilson3]

Let me put in my 2 cents. The original posting stated Hidden Hitch Failure. The bike rack failed, not the receiver hitch. Who was the manufacturer of the Bike Rack?

Some bike racks have been notorious for failure. Take a look at RV.net and do a search. Today I heard of two bike rack failures.

[Mogolfers]

Mine says Hidden hitch bike carriers on the side of the bike rack, so I assume it was made by Hidden Hitch!

[Mogolfers]

I talked with Dan T. today and Tom P. at Doubletree. Tom contacted Hidden hitch. They are forwarding a picture of the hitch so MissouriJan can circle where it broke. The guys at Doubletree are eager to get to the bottom of this and I'll let everyone know what the result is. Thanks for your concern and post.