ReCurve 6 WD hitch problems
 

We just bought and had installed the ReCurve 6 WD hitch to pull our 17t Hilo. The problem is the large brackets that attached to the trailer tongue prevents the door that covers the battery and hydraulic lift from closing. Also on our drive back home from the shop that installed the hitch one of the brackets tilted toward the trailer making it near impossible to remove the arm without loosening the bracket. Do you think it would be possible to drill a hole through the trailer tongue and insert the bolts through the tongue to have it be more stable and not move. Thanks for your input.

Hi Miaz. I had the same problem with the door cover for the battery compartment interfering with the L-Brackets that my Equ-I-Lizer hitch uses that serve the same purpose your brackets do. The solution is simply to cut the diamond sheet metal of the top away so it will fold down and fit flush. I only had to have a small amount of the door removed, on either edge, and was able to then fit the black edge trim into the cutout region so there were no sharp edges. It looks OEM when done right. You can cut the metal with sheet metal shears or a metal cutting wheel on a grinder.

As far as the brackets moving, I also had a similar problem with mine. The metal of the inside bar of the brackets bent under load and this caused them to loosen up. I added an additional bar there which made everything stronger. I don't like the idea of drilling holes in the tongue beams, because I think this could weaken them.

- Jack

Thanks Jack for responding. Let me understand you added another piece to the hitch bracket or to the trailer hitch itself? On ours the bracket didn't bend, it rotated a bit toward the truck under towing conditions. We are newbies and don't have much experience with this sort of thing.

And, Miaz, I'm having a bit of trouble visualizing how the bracket "rotates" - mine did not do that, but the mounting got loose due to the inside bar of the bracket bowing.

If the bracket rotates on the side of the tongue frame, so that the top of the bracket is moving forward or backwards, it seems to me there is too much space between the frame and the two bolts that secure the bracket to the frame. If you cannot move the bolts to holes that are closer together, then I'd see if you could add a thickness of metal plate, possibly something like mending plates you find at home improvement stores, into the space you have between the bottom bolt and the frame. This should stop any rotation that can happen due to the existence of that space.

I'd use steel there and try to make it as wide as the width of the tongue beam. It should stay in place if it fits tightly.

I'll send some pictures of my brackets and the cutouts on my battery box doors in a bit.

- Jack

OK, here's pictures of the top and bottom of my L-brackets, which I think mount to the tongue almost the same way yours do. In the first (top view on the street side) the yellow line shows the original edge of the top of the battery box which was removed for the bracket mount. As you see, only a small corner of the front part of the top was cur out. You want your brackets as close to the front of the tongue as possible, to minimize stress on the equalizing bars.

Te red arrow points to the additional bracket bar I added. Actually, I just lived with the bowing until I got replacement L-brackets (due to wear on the originals) and they came with additional mounting hardware. The new L-brackets had an improved mounting system too, which was another reason for the replacement. I simply added an additional inner bar to the setup, since I had it now.

The second picture (curb side) shows the underside of the mounting system and the yellow line is where I suspect you might have a lot of space? I don't - the bottom bolt is against the frame. If you can fill that space, it should stop any rotation you are having.

Hope these thoughts help.

- Jack

Jack, thank you so much! Pictures help us alot, we will let you know how we do :)

You're most welcome! Please DO let us know how things work out. It helps us when others have related problems.

- Jack