Connect a hitch to a chain

galactic_04

galactic_04

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I had to pull up a few iron fence posts this weekend and I broke out the old chain. Needed a way to hold it to the hitch and cam up with this solution... the 2GR-FE rod held up better than the chain did (maybe due to the arp rod bolts)!
 

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Why not just put the chain around the hitch ball? You can actually tie chain like a rope on itself and it'll hold. Did it this weekend to remove a large concrete storm water fixture with a Bobcat bucket.
 
Yeah, don't ever pull something with a hitch ball, they are not designed to have that sort of force put on them. get a hitch receiver with a bow shackle with the proper rated pin. TJM or ARB have nice kits with this sort of gear.
 
Why not use the tow hook on the frame of the car? Depending on how much you are flooring it and yanking, I don't think you would tweak your frame.
 
it all depends how much force you are using to pull whatever you are trying to pull but I wouldn't attach anything to any part of my 4Runner that wasn't engineered to pull from.

Buy a proper hitch with a bow shackle and just use that, or the engineered recovery points, I think there is one or two on the front and the hitch on the back.
 

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And anyone thinking I"m going to bend the frame pulling out poles for a chain link fence needs schooling on metal strengths. Only the one embedded in concrete needed a yank breaking the chain... look at the chain, it's not a high strength chain by any means. I'd always make it so the chain is the weak point in the system, not anything on the truck itself. Had I a tow strap I'd have been using that for the extra give.
 
galactic_04 said:
And anyone thinking I"m going to bend the frame pulling out poles for a chain link fence needs schooling on metal strengths. Only the one embedded in concrete needed a yank breaking the chain... look at the chain, it's not a high strength chain by any means. I'd always make it so the chain is the weak point in the system, not anything on the truck itself. Had I a tow strap I'd have been using that for the extra give.
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It's not bending your frame that is the issue, it's using components that aren't rated for the forces being applied to them, the pin holding the hitch in the receiver isn't designed to be yanked on in that way.

yank hard enough and the hitch pin can let go sending the hitch plus ball like a projectile.

I'm sure people get away with doing macgyver stuff like this quite often but there are also the few that do not and end up damaging their property or themselves.

there is proper gear for this type of job, that isn't it and there isn't much you can do to argue with that fact, although it was a creative solution, it definitely isn't the best or safest.

there are a bunch of youtube videos of people using improper recovery techniques or pulling on random stuff and ending up sending chains, and bumpers and all sort of crap flying through the air.

at the end of the day, you seemed to be pulling pretty weak stuff out of the ground so it's not that big of a deal but it's still best to use the proper techniques and gear.
 
not to beat on this anymore, but when i was younger and "muddin" was the cool thing to do, we yanked the sh*t out of trucks that were stuck. i'm talking bumper to bumper and taking off with a 25' strap trying to break the suction from the mud. i've never seen a hitch pin or a ball break. the only damage i ever saw, was when i straightened the engineered hook on the front of the truck using a chain, and no, it wasn't one of those crazy jerks that i was describing above. This was my 88 first gen, and we all know the kind of tanks those things were...just sayin'

has anyone of the guys that's preaching about sending a trailer ball flying ever seen it happen? we've all seen bumpers get pulled off because someone tied off to the weak bumper mounts. the amount of force to shear a solid 1/2in or 5/8in pin is tremendous.
 
Some relevant info discussed in this thread.
Ditch Hitch receiver

One story, not too much detail
Tragic end to footy break Tasmania News - The Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania

there is another one in that thread but the link no longer works.
Worker Struck by a Broken Hitch Ball [fatality Report]. - Alberta. Alberta Human Resources and Employment - Google Books I can't find the actual report anymore.

also this but its a faulty (most likely old from a farmer) shackle
Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation Report F2006-22 | CDC/NIOSH

either way, hitch balls, hooks, and chains do fail and do kill people when they aren't used properly.

this is taken from this article, but to save you reading the whole thing I will post it in quotations

"The victim was Jordan Roppel. The teenager was struck dead six years ago by a pickup truck’s broken metal ball hitch at Innicor Subsurface Technologies’ plant in Standard, east of Calgary.

MacDonald was one of two government investigators on the case. The pair found Innicor workers and managers routinely used a pickup to pull a forklift out the mud, even though the truck’s ball hitch wasn’t designed to handle the forklift’s weight.

taken from this article.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/busine...rosecutes+workplace+deaths/3097659/story.html
 
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