# Outback 210Rs Fell Off My Truck



## moonshot (Apr 21, 2011)

A few weeks ago I was less than 20 miles from home (1480 out 1500 miles) and the receiver pin fell out on the 101 freeway in Ventura. Helluva bang followed by a tremendous amount of sparks, smoke, and jerking back and forth. I had to slowly drag the trailer about a 1/3 of a mile to where I could get out of the slow lane and off the highway.

Needless to say I was pretty damn rattled. I sat in the truck (2011 Chevy Duramax) for about twenty minutes making some phone calls to try and get bailed out. Realizing I was on my own I got out and started surveying the damage. Finding that the shank on the bottom of the hitch had ground off almost three inches of solid steel and was still very hot to the touch, I realized that if i had a new pin I could jack the trailer up and at least self rescue off of the highway.

After much checking of all the drawers and tool boxes I found an old pin that was too short (the new Chevies have 2.5" receivers) I taped, strapped, and wired the pin in so I could get off the highway and into an auto parts store.

In hindsight I realized the following- the amount of rattle in the reducer sleeve is excessive- It probably caused the pin to shuttle back and forth enought to break the cotter pin. Second, never use a cotter pinned receiver pin. Although I have towed countless miles with this set-up over the years it is not the best set-up.

My solution? I bought a strong shoulder bolt with 1/2-13 Nylock nut. The thing will never come out. I also bought a piece of 2.5"od 2.0" id square aluminum tubing and made a much more accurate reducer for the receiver. I now has a fraction of the play as before.

A word about the Chevy- it has a trailer sway software function. I must say that when the trailer was jerking back and forth i got the feeling the truck comletely took over and all I had to do was steer. Amazing.

The trailer came through with no apparent damage. The shank on the hitch is substantially shorter and I am replacing the hitch and ball as it is good practice given the loads they went through.


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## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

Whew!!!! Glad you're ok.


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## desperado (Aug 21, 2011)

I have the same truck. That is good information to have. I was aware the pin is longer than the standard receiver pin but did not notice the play in the sleeve that Chevy supplies. I will double check it next time out. GLAD YOU ARE O.K.


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## egregg57 (Feb 13, 2006)

There have been many posts about on the road issues. Tires going flat, blow outs with damage to skirting, and even axle, and leaf spring issues. But this is the first time that i can remember seeing a post where the Tow Vehicle and Trailer parted ways, on the highway.

That being said...Glad you are safe, glad you were able to maintain control, glad your truck had the ability to compensate for an extremely awkward condition, AND glad you did not have any other damage to your trailer. 
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WOW!

There are some lessons to be learned for those that may have a similar condition. Don't wait! Make it right! Get it fixed!!

Eric


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## duggy (Mar 17, 2010)

Wow! That must have been a scary situation. Glad you and your vehicles came out of it OK. 
It's good that the trailer wiring didn't come undone. I believe the built-in sway control, which helped so much, works by applying the trailer brakes. It might have been a different outcome if the wiring had been tight enough to get pulled out when the vehicles separated. I'm thinking it would be best to always make sure there is less slack in the safety chains than the trailer wire.


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## LaydBack (Aug 22, 2010)

Glad you made it thru that situation. Not to question your knowledge of what you're doing, but does the softness of the aluminum spacer concern you at all? I too, have that GM hitch and adapter setup, and was thinking of starting to use an anti rattle clip. I never thought about just making or getting a new adapter. I wonder if they have steel tubing in the same size as the aluminum you got.


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

I also have a 2.5" (class V) hitch on my truck, and after messing around with it, IMHO the "real" solution to the reducer is to just not use one. it isn't that expensive to get a 2.5" shank to replace the 2" shank on most hitches. Turns out as far as I've seen, all the 2.5" shanks taper to 2" where the WD assembly bolts on so it is a pretty simple change. Now I have a nice solid minimal slop setup. I've never used on of the cotter pin clips, I have always had one with a lock on it, but I still check it every stop, man, if I was in your shoes, it would probably taken me a 1/2 hour to get the heart back in my chest!! Bet the adrenaline was really pumping. Glad to hear it turned out ok in the end.


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## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

Scary stuff! I carry two of all small hitch parts in a box in our pass-through - receiver pins, cotter pins, and those little clippy thingies for the snap-up brackets on the Reese WD setup. I've had to use some of these spare parts when something has been dropped or lost, but I never thought about a cotter pin actually failing. Glad everything worked out ok.


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## Joe/GA (Aug 14, 2009)

Wow! That's scary stuff! Glad y'all are OK. My F-350 also has the 2 1/2" receiver hitch. I bought a Reese adapter and it is made of steel. I too, use a pin with lock. That said, I'm going to make sure my electrical cord to the camper is longer than the safety chains since I also have the anti sway software on my truck!


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## GlenninTexas (Aug 11, 2004)

After returning home from a camping trip last year I found that the pin clip was gone. The pin had slid almost all the way out, just hanging on through the right side of the hitch . I won't use that type of pin anymore, though I did buy another pin clip and kept the pin as an emergency spare.

Glad everything turned out ok for you, but you didn't tell us home you cleaned the stain out of the driver's seat.

Regards, Glenn


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Curious on two points.

1 - Did you have a WDH installed?

2 - Did the trailer emergency brakes activate?


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## moonshot (Apr 21, 2011)

Here are some follow up's

1)I made the aluminum reducer and it only really reduces about half the play. Was about .160" is now less than .080", much more typical. This is a mod that requires a machine shop however...
2) Not to worried about the softness of the aluminum as the torsion bars load up the sleeve and there is tremendous surface area to bear against- time with tell as those parts move around constantly.
3)I called around to find a 2.5 male shank with a 2" vertical. No go. Will have to look again with other sources.
4) As for the safety chains.... the 210RS has the chains coming to a common point at the tongue- so no crossing is available. The umbilical cord stayed put and I am dammed glad it did.

Thanks for all the replies and one more thought about receiver pins from someone who is an engineer in the aerospace industry.

I have heard a fair amount about how "locking pins" are superior to cotter pins. If any pin comes out of China, even with a brand name on it, I am extremely sensitive as to what the things are made from. Just because it has a key does not mean it is any better at keeping the thing from shearing off. Often the lock is engaged with a small pin the same size as a cotter and worse because you cant visually see anything. Some of these metals they use are a far cry from the standards in the US.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

moonshot said:


> 4) As for the safety chains.... the 210RS has the chains coming to a common point at the tongue- so no crossing is available. The umbilical cord stayed put and I am dammed glad it did.


Appears you are not using a WDH system and just have your trailer attached to your truck and using the safety chains....right?

I don't see how this could happen if you had a WDH installed as the bars shouldn't allow the receiver to come out of the hitch.


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## moonshot (Apr 21, 2011)

If you read closely I refer to having tortion bars, so to be clear weight distribution bars were on. Take a closer look at your set-up. The only positive load path between the back of the truck and the trailer is the receiver pin and then the chains. Take the pin out and whole hitch is free to fall out.

The weight bars are part of the hitch itself, not the receiver. The effect is load the shank forming a highly sprung hinge. The tortion bars do create tremendous friction in the receiver and it was clear that the thing was moving a bunch before it let go (the paint was rubbed off about an inch) so I maight have lost the pin many miles before it actually wiggled out.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

moonshot said:


> If you read closely I refer to having tortion bars, so to be clear weight distribution bars were on. Take a closer look at your set-up. The only positive load path between the back of the truck and the trailer is the receiver pin and then the chains. Take the pin out and whole hitch is free to fall out.
> 
> The weight bars are part of the hitch itself, not the receiver. The effect is load the shank forming a highly sprung hinge. The tortion bars do create tremendous friction in the receiver and it was clear that the thing was moving a bunch before it let go (the paint was rubbed off about an inch) so I maight have lost the pin many miles before it actually wiggled out.


Ok...but i read the post again and I still don't see you mention tortion bars. I have a locking pin that would have to have the lock somehow come uplocked and then fall off and the the pin woud have to wiggle out.	Plus is keeps my hitch from walking away.









Looks like this.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

moonshot said:


> If you read closely I refer to having tortion bars, so to be clear weight distribution bars were on. Take a closer look at your set-up. The only positive load path between the back of the truck and the trailer is the receiver pin and then the chains. Take the pin out and whole hitch is free to fall out.
> 
> The weight bars are part of the hitch itself, not the receiver. The effect is load the shank forming a highly sprung hinge. The tortion bars do create tremendous friction in the receiver and it was clear that the thing was moving a bunch before it let go (the paint was rubbed off about an inch) so I maight have lost the pin many miles before it actually wiggled out.


I actually drove my pup about 120 miles with only the fiction load of the shank in the receiver with the load being applied by the weight distribution bars. The pin was still on the bumper when I stopped for gas on the way home from camping and the shank had not slid at all. I know I was lucky it did not slide out but that is also why I asked if you had one installed.

I was also very curious about the emergency brakes as they should activate before the safety chains reach full extension. You did not indicate if yours did or didn't, just guessing that they did not.


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## duggy (Mar 17, 2010)

CamperAndy said:


> I was also very curious about the emergency brakes as they should activate before the safety chains reach full extension. You did not indicate if yours did or didn't, just guessing that they did not.


In his original post, he said the truck's built-in sway control did a great job of keeping things in control. My understanding of the new truck's built-in sway controllers, is that when they detect sway, they apply the trailer brakes. If the umbilical cord had come undone, the truck wouldn't have been able to control the trailer brakes.

I hear what you're saying about the emergency brake. I'm pretty sure that mine would trip the emergency brake before the chains got tight, but maybe not. If the emergency brake did trip, the trailer brakes would have locked on fully and he would have stopped in short order. He's probably lucky that didn't happen, as it sounds like he wasn't in a safe place to stop.


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## moonshot (Apr 21, 2011)

It look like the chains are "fused" to the trailer tongue. In other words the chain hooks that hook to receiver on the back of the truck are far stonger than the 3/4" bar that the chains are attached to on the tongue. The break away cable is woven thru the chain and is co-located with one of the hooks. The chain bar on the toungue looks like it would break and the chains would stay with the truck and the breakaway cable would be pulled.

Luckily the bar on the tongue was able to withstand the loading and the umbilical cord stayed put. Now if the bar breaks off the tongue and the trailer gets away, then all hell breaks loose. Now if the breakaway trips before the chains get tight? Then something has to give. Perhaps the chains have enough strength to actually hold on to the skidding trailer? All bad news from there on out.

As for the truck sway control- I would think the only way it knows whats going on back there is lateral accelerometers detect the tail wagging the dog and try to make the rear end of the truck stay straight. It only knows the trailer is plugged in. I guess it can only apply the brakes on the trailer universally and the truck selectively. Either way it works great.


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## CdnOutback (Apr 16, 2010)

@CamperAndy... I couldn't find the reference either but found it later... in the follow up post, point #2.... I read the first post about 10 times though looking for it...


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

moonshot said:


> The break away cable is woven thru the chain and is co-located with one of the hooks.


This is an incorrect installation of the break away switch cable. It should be independently run to the truck and tied to a point independent of the hitch.


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## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

CamperAndy said:


> The break away cable is woven thru the chain and is co-located with one of the hooks.


This is an incorrect installation of the break away switch cable. It should be independently run to the truck and tied to a point independent of the hitch.
[/quote]

Was thinking that myself. Having the break away cable fished through a safety chain goes completely against how the break away cable is supposed to work.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Any chance you took some pictures of the truck/trailer along side the road after this happened? Picture is worth a 1000 words...


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## funbikerchick (Jun 6, 2011)

Oregon_Camper said:


> If you read closely I refer to having tortion bars, so to be clear weight distribution bars were on. Take a closer look at your set-up. The only positive load path between the back of the truck and the trailer is the receiver pin and then the chains. Take the pin out and whole hitch is free to fall out.
> 
> The weight bars are part of the hitch itself, not the receiver. The effect is load the shank forming a highly sprung hinge. The tortion bars do create tremendous friction in the receiver and it was clear that the thing was moving a bunch before it let go (the paint was rubbed off about an inch) so I maight have lost the pin many miles before it actually wiggled out.


Ok...but i read the post again and I still don't see you mention tortion bars. I have a locking pin that would have to have the lock somehow come uplocked and then fall off and the the pin woud have to wiggle out.	Plus is keeps my hitch from walking away.









Looks like this.









[/quote]

That is what I use as well.

Moonshot, sounds like you kept a clear head and didn't panic. I am sure this helped keep you safe. Really glad, that in the end, everything worked out with no injuries or serious damage.


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## 2011 210RS (May 27, 2010)

WD or not still had the shank leave the receiver. Yikes! Never happened to me but I was close, sort of. I had a spring nut and bolt with a lock from Uhaul for hollow shanks. Great because it to took to slop out. I have a class VI so a lot different. Any way, got the WD but it has a solid shank, drats. I didn't like the latch or pin type so I bought a locking one. We where traveling and stopped for whatever. I try to make a walk around to check for things, and just so happened I looked at the pin. The lock was off and was perched on top of the ring for the chain barely touching the shaft. My heart sank thinking of what could have happened. Thank god you had everthing work in your favor and you washing machine has a heavy cycle. I hope we all take this and learn. I have the same TT but a much smaller TV so hats off to you brother!


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## willingtonpaul (Apr 16, 2010)

CamperAndy said:


> If you read closely I refer to having tortion bars, so to be clear weight distribution bars were on. Take a closer look at your set-up. The only positive load path between the back of the truck and the trailer is the receiver pin and then the chains. Take the pin out and whole hitch is free to fall out.
> 
> The weight bars are part of the hitch itself, not the receiver. The effect is load the shank forming a highly sprung hinge. The tortion bars do create tremendous friction in the receiver and it was clear that the thing was moving a bunch before it let go (the paint was rubbed off about an inch) so I maight have lost the pin many miles before it actually wiggled out.


I actually drove my pup about 120 miles with only the fiction load of the shank in the receiver with the load being applied by the weight distribution bars. The pin was still on the bumper when I stopped for gas on the way home from camping and the shank had not slid at all. I know I was lucky it did not slide out but that is also why I asked if you had one installed.

I was also very curious about the emergency brakes as they should activate before the safety chains reach full extension. You did not indicate if yours did or didn't, just guessing that they did not.
[/quote]

i did this once also, only with my F350 and the 301BQ behind it. i hooked up in a rush to do a good flushing of the black tank. drove 20 miles up and down the interstate and went to the dump station at a rest area near my place. after i dumped, walking back to the truck, the pin was right there on the bumper. i still can't figure out how i missed it when hooking up, but i did. not only did the hitch never leave the receiver, but all i had to do was slide the pin into the hole, they were still lined up. a miracle that nothing bad happened....

i see what you guys are saying about the WD part of the hitch holding the shank in the receiver (obviously it worked for me) but isn't it true that the GM receiver is notoriously sloppy in it's OEM format ? that could be the difference between fords and RAM's to what happened to him. it seems to me that i know alot of GM folks that swap out the OEM receiver for aftermarket or mod their receivers to stiffen them up and greatly reduce play...


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