Do you need to weld a trailer hitch?

hscrugby

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Raleigh, NC
This confused me, and I'd never heard this before.
But, I figure I'll ask first.
Was driving a buddies boat back from Edenton today, and at the gas station had two seperate people, tell me that to be legal, you had to weld the hitch assembly on.
Just bolts was not legal. The nuts or bolts have to be at least spot welded on.
Which since he has a unibody jeep, struck me as stupid.
But the one guy was old redneck, the other a sheriff's deputy.
Soooo, I'm not sure what to think.

No where in the hitch manual did it mention welding the bolts.
And it was the first I ever heard of it.

So figured I'd ask here before getting a stupid ticket.

Thanks


Edit: oh yea, it's your standard 6 bolt drawtite hitch.
 
I have had hitches on probably six different trucks and none of them are welded. A couple of them I pull over 10k lbs often. I do not think I would worry at all about welding the hitch on to the truck.
 
Yeah, you shoulda scolded the old man and slapped the deputy.. DAes!

I mean how would a cop know it wasnt welded onless your hitch broke off going down the road? otherwise, i doubt they will climb under to check. How did they come across informing you of this? I live on the lake and tow alot of boats with different trucks that none have welded on hitches...
 
Good deal.
We were standing at the gas station, putting gas in his liberty.
(It's a smaller boat, prolly 1600-2000 with trailer)
And the old dude was beside/across the pump putting fuel in his truck.
Brian started talking to him, (nfc why) and he started talking about that.
Then the cop came out, and B was freaking out.
Then I said, "but you aren't really supposed to weld to a unibody" (mainly trying to calm B down so we could get the boat back here)
The guy then told me I wasn't sposed to, was supposed to weld it to the frame on a jeep.
So I was able to get Brian to ignore him. :D

So I'll happily keep using his liberty to haul his boat so we can go fishing. :D
 
Sounds like BS to me!

This argument, would almost be worth debating in court. Now I'm not saying it's A bad idea, I welded the front hitch on my YJ. I have A hitch mounted winch though, & the rear hitch is not welded. No way this should be A requirement! Makes no sense at all, not that many laws generally do.
 
No, you don't need to weld it if you read the sticker on the hitch it specifically says not to.
 
Back
Top