Tow Hitch Receiver Failure

[AyatollahGondola]

A' camping we will go..
A' Camping we will go..
Hi-Ho....whoa.....We have a problem


All loaded up and suddenly something doesn't quite look right. The front of the trailer looks mighty low. After a thorough inspection, a major metal failure becomes obvious. I've been towing trailers for years, and never saw a hitch receiver break like this:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b207/AyatollahGondola/Auntie%20Mary/trailerhitch007.jpg


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b207/AyatollahGondola/Auntie%20Mary/trailerhitch005.jpg


The other side cracked all the way through, and ready to fail at the most in-opportune time I'm sure:


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b207/AyatollahGondola/Auntie%20Mary/trailerhitch009.jpg


The new one is quite different, so I suspect the old failure was a design flaw:



http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b207/AyatollahGondola/Auntie%20Mary/trailerhitch004.jpg


Check your metal for fatigue, or be a victim of some roadside tow company who's putting his ex wifes lawyer through wine connoisser training :badgrin:

Oh, and to add insult to misfortune:

While I was out at the dealerships trying to find the only hitch receiver that will fit these new fangled trucks.....a Sac County parking cop left a ticket on the front of our trailer because it was not hooked up to the tow vehicle. :mad:

$100.00 fine :evil:

[Motor City Cop]

You might think about going to court on that one. Perhaps a judge will have compassion for your case since the trailer was only unhooked due to equipment failure.

[AyatollahGondola]

You might think about going to court on that one. Perhaps a judge will have compassion for your case since the trailer was only unhooked due to equipment failure.

Ha! I looked into "court" already. It more resembles a kangaroo rubber-stamp committee. You send in your argument to a PO box in Santa Ana, CA, and they review it. Who "they" are is not disclosed. It also looks like this has caught on like wildfire, as a brief internet search reveals hordes of muni's have their parking tickees adjudicated or processed there in some fashion.
This is form of due process has captured my interest more than the ticket and fine itself.

As for the receiver, I am leaning towards thinking that the factory installation fell a little short. I believe it was not tightened properly, which led to one of those ears fracturing where the bolt goes through, and then that pintle hitch trailer I tow slamming back and forth did the rest.
I don't believe the thing was torqued down properly from the start

[cjincognito]

I know you carry that big billboard type trailer, but now I'm a little curious. How big/heavy is your trailer that you need a pintle hitch? I usually only see those for large commercial applications like a 8-wheeled flatbed with a backhoe being pulled by a dump truck, or tractor/trailer pulling a second or third trailer. I was also wondering what type of truck you had. Is it a 3/4 or 1 ton. I saw it's a Dodge. Anyhow, tough break...no pun intended.

[HonkingAntelope]

Ha! I looked into "court" already. It more resembles a kangaroo rubber-stamp committee. You send in your argument to a PO box in Santa Ana, CA, and they review it. Who "they" are is not disclosed. It also looks like this has caught on like wildfire, as a brief internet search reveals hordes of muni's have their parking tickees adjudicated or processed there in some fashion.
This is form of due process has captured my interest more than the ticket and fine itself.

As for the receiver, I am leaning towards thinking that the factory installation fell a little short. I believe it was not tightened properly, which led to one of those ears fracturing where the bolt goes through, and then that pintle hitch trailer I tow slamming back and forth did the rest.
I don't believe the thing was torqued down properly from the start


I never really bothered to fight any of my parking tickets, but as far as I remember, the second step after losing the kangaroo court is to file a de novo hearing at the local court. I believe the filing fee for the de novo hearing is $25 (not free like it is for regular tickets) but it is refunded along with the fine if you win.

[AyatollahGondola]

I know you carry that big billboard type trailer, but now I'm a little curious. How big/heavy is your trailer that you need a pintle hitch? I usually only see those for large commercial applications like a 8-wheeled flatbed with a backhoe being pulled by a dump truck, or tractor/trailer pulling a second or third trailer. I was also wondering what type of truck you had. Is it a 3/4 or 1 ton. I saw it's a Dodge. Anyhow, tough break...no pun intended.

The trailer came stock with the pintle loop. It was an ex Army base issue, so that may explain the pintle. We're a poor non-profit, so we weren't going to spend a nickel changing it. I've been looking around for some method of taking up the slack like they have on big rigs with their air actuated tighteners, but thus far that has eluded me. I heard there was a hitch that had a manual tightener, but I heard this from an old timer...older than me, so maybe they quit making them.
We have a 1 ton tow vehicle

[AyatollahGondola]

I never really bothered to fight any of my parking tickets, but as far as I remember, the second step after losing the kangaroo court is to file a de novo hearing at the local court. I believe the filing fee for the de novo hearing is $25 (not free like it is for regular tickets) but it is refunded along with the fine if you win.

I don't know....my thinking here is that I'm going to request my day in court from the start. If I submit my evidence to the "court" first, it might be viewed as an acceptance that I agree to have my case reviewed by some sort of committee as opposed to a court hearing.
This manner of adjudication they have going is patently un-American, to say nothing of the issue of economics. My county is laying off scores of employees, and we are outsourcing our court and ticket processing to Santa Ana?

[HonkingAntelope]

I don't know....my thinking here is that I'm going to request my day in court from the start. If I submit my evidence to the "court" first, it might be viewed as an acceptance that I agree to have my case reviewed by some sort of committee as opposed to a court hearing.
This manner of adjudication they have going is patently un-American, to say nothing of the issue of economics. My county is laying off scores of employees, and we are outsourcing our court and ticket processing to Santa Ana?

I'd re-read the fineprint. I've had my share of parking tix, and none them ever stated that doing the administrative review/hearing waives your right to a hearing in a real if you lose the initial review steps.

[AyatollahGondola]

I'd re-read the fineprint. I've had my share of parking tix, and none them ever stated that doing the administrative review/hearing waives your right to a hearing in a real if you lose the initial review steps.
There's very little fine print on this ticket. In fact, there's very little period, aside from send the money to this address.
The way it's worded is a little misleading too.
To pay your fine/contest this citation, send your check or evidence for review to this address, and allow 3 weeks for reply.
I don't care for this at all. I looked into the parking citations, and most appear to be complaint generated, but they need to allow for some sort of face to face hearing process before I can get behind an effort that streamlines it. This appears more to be convincing people that there's no other way.
We'll see

[AyatollahGondola]

OK, so this company acts as the initial judge, and then collector of the fines for over 150 muni's and other public agencies parking citations. Aside from the basic evasion of the American system of justice, the highlighted section below from their website is something I have a big problem with


PHOENIX GROUP Information Systems provides our Parking Citation Management System; WINCITE.NET, which is a fully automated parking citation processing program designed to facilitate the processing, controls and collections of parking payments. These elements augmented with our handheld enforcement technology and software, all create the critical elements of a program that are needed to maximize revenues in a real-time .NET environment.


In addition, the victims of this banana republic form of justice do not get to know who presided over their case, whether that person was qualified in any manner to do so, or even if they were a citizen of the US

[AyatollahGondola]

A little update here:

I opposed my parking ticket using the methods described in the VC. The first stage was just appealing by sending in a written letter detailing your reasons for appeal to the company in Santa Ana, CA. I did that, and received a canned response of denial. I say a canned response, because the reply did not reference my reasons for appeal, but just re-stated the law. The defense I used was the exception listed in the VC for "extenuating circumstances". So the next stage was to pay the fine, and demand an in person hearing. So I sent them $100.00 and a formal request. That took about 8 weeks for them to schedule a hearing. I also sent them notification that I wanted to record the proceedings. The people in Santa Ana told me just to tell the hearing officer when I got there and there would be no problems.
The day of the hearing, I went to the local SO parking enforcement detail, and found a two person office staffed by a clerk and a retired lawyer on contract for the county. The recording issue did not go over well initially. The hearing "officer" stated that the people in Santa Ana don't communicate with them very well, and she was unaware of my intentions. I offered to postpone if necessary, but that I would still want to record. There was some small argument over the issue, but in the end, I recorded. I stated my case during the appeal, and the officer demanded proof that I was going camping on the day the ticket was issued. This was supposed to prove that I didn't leave the trailer in front of my house all the time, and just use the broken hitch as an excuse to oppose the ticket. I wasn't entirely comfortable with proving my innocence, but with the stakes being low this time, I decided to comply with her demand for a copy of our campground reservation. After the conclusion of the hearing, she asked what I was going to do with the recording, and I told her that I was most likely going to publicize it on the website to help educate people more thoroughly how to oppose their parking citations. This did not go over well. She demanded I not publicize it on the web. I did not argue further, and just told her I would send in the evidence she asked for and then packed up my stuff and left.
A few days later, we sent in copies of our campground reciept, and 8 weeks later we got a letter from the the county that our cite was dismissed, signed by the hearing officer. A few days after that, we recieved the refund of our fine.
From an economic standpoint, it was not cost effective this time. The fine was $100.00. I spent a few hours researching the law, writing appeals, and attending the hearing, plus a few dollars in correspondence, copies, and other incidental costs. But that's what the legislators had in mind when they tilted the system towards the agencies and the municipalities. Make it just enough of a problem that people would rather just pay the fine. While I'm certain that most cites are issued in good faith; I'm also certain that those that are not are not given justice during the appeal process. The sheriff here is raking in around 2 million a year from parking cites. The law is tilted quite a bit towards the system as I already mentioned. But adding insult to injury, the sheriff and the county are not complying with the VC code with their program, making the appeal process a little more difficult. The conviction rate is right around 98%. That's pretty damn high. I'm strategizing on how to address the issue of getting them in compliance, as we now have a new sheriff, albeit an insider from the previous regime.
Last July, I got another parking cite that I also opposed two weeks after I received it, but this time it was in the city instead of the county. I still have not heard a thing on that one, and it has been nearly 6 months.
Around christmas, I had to visit the local hospital to attend one of my kids who was brought in to the ER. Despite having trouble with their ticket kiosk, I did purchase a ticket and placed it on the dash as stated. When I came out to buy more time, I had already gotten cited, although my previous time had not expired. I have already filed an appeal with that one, but I can tell you the hospital parking patrol were patrolling the lot like hungry sharks. I never stopped seeing them as I paced the waiting area of the ER

[AyatollahGondola]

Around christmas, I had to visit the local hospital to attend one of my kids who was brought in to the ER. Despite having trouble with their ticket kiosk, I did purchase a ticket and placed it on the dash as stated. When I came out to buy more time, I had already gotten cited, although my previous time had not expired. I have already filed an appeal with that one, but I can tell you the hospital parking patrol were patrolling the lot like hungry sharks. I never stopped seeing them as I paced the waiting area of the ER

Update: Received a dismissal notice of this cite in the mail saturday.