I finally got a chance to post the pictures I took of a new hitch pin in the receiver and on the hitch shank. I tried to take the photos as square and even as I could, but I did take measurements at various points and from what I can tell everything is 'square and even'.

If there are any other picture you would like to see, just ping me!

I also took two photos of my WDH bars, first one here is them done up where I normally put them. You can see the slight upwards inflection on the shank relative to the receiver...

I then put the bars on the last link (IE, super loose), and things seem a little more aligned. Which makes sense since the WDH is not putting as much 'lift' on the back end of the truck

Is there a possibility that I am doing up my bars too tight, and that caused the shank to put pressure on the bottom of the receiver? I obviously can't have my bars super loose, since the defeats the purpose of the WDH, but would it help to adjust the hitch head angle at all?

Some thoughts or questions.

The first pic shows the pin in the shank , the marks in the shank are those grooves wore into the shank? How old is this hitch and bars?

The receiver on the truck , is the shank really loose fitting in the receiver? What class is the receiver?

If your bars are not tight enough this will cause the hitch to have play in the receiver allowing for wear of both the hitch shank and the receiver. Also a friend with a similar style hitch with the round bars found earlier this year that his bars where wearing and needed replaced , he has used this for 10 years or so.

You might also try if able to slide the hitch further into the receiver. Looking at your shank I am not sure if this is possible. As close as the pin hole is to the end of the shank I am not sure that you have enough sticking thru the receiver and this may be causing your issue.

Brian

Thanks Brian for your questions, I'll answer each on their own

Those marks are where the paint was warn down on the shank, no grooves on the metal though. This is my third year with that hitch.

There is certainly play between the shank and the receiver. I've listed the measurements above, but the shank spots I measured were 2", while the receiver is ~2-1/16". When the WDH is inserted I can certainly move it by hand. The system is a class-iv receiver.

No, it's not possible, and TBH I have noticed that since day one. Both that the shank doesn't go super far into the receiver, and that the shank hangs out from the truck more than I would like.

I also measured he angle of my driveway, and with the limited tools I had on hand, I measured ~3.5°. Just to highlight what I put above, but previously I had been backing into my driveway with the bars done up, which I thought could be doing this.

Try one. No more play after install.

X2 Brian,

The shank for whatever reason has excess play in the receiver and has much less contact area than my Equalizer as a comparison. The impression left in the bottom of the receiver from earlier pics shows the shank is not providing enough support and is deforming the truck receiver.

Jim

Looking at the tapered end of the shank does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling. That tapered point is putting all the stress in the weakest point of the receiver tube. Also since its such a concentrated force it will cause deformation and possibly tear through the receiver tube. I would look for a different shank setup and mount the ball adapter to it, preferably one with a longer distance between the non ball end and pin.If it sticks out the back side of the tube that would not be a bad thing.

I agree with jlawles2 on all of his points. The taper on the end of the shank is certainly different, I have never seen a shank like that. Is this the way all
eaz-lift shanks are? There would be a great amount of force on that small area that could cause all manner of issues.

Dave

just watched the R3 / R6 video on the website https://www.eaz-lift.com/collections...bution-hitches it appears those are tapered on the end. Not certain if it's an across the board design as I did also see a different video for the elite that appears to have a square ended shank.

I would look for a different Shank or completely different setup.

Jlawles2 Again I agree with you on the point of finding a different shank or hitch. That small area would focus maybe 3 or 4 times the pressure in that limited area as well as allow for some lateral movement as opposed to a square shank. I wonder about the engineering on that design and how it got approved. Seems to be a failure waiting to happen.

Dave