I'm gonna have to agree. I've seen several cars' radiators destroyed by the ball hitch on a truck that received no damage.

Also, for you non-truck driving pansies: don't tailgate trucks with hitches on the back, nothing good can come of it.

I've seen tons of trucks that have been hit in the hitch (worked on a construction site) and in most cases it was some high school / college girl. "Hitches get biatches" was one of the main phrases on the work site. I guess it should have been "biatches hit hitches", but I wasn't around when they made up the phrase. Of course this doesn't count the work site related accidents, but those were extremely rare except for mechanical failures.

/csb

Ditch the stock bumper and weld up a nice heavy gauge triple pipe bumper(three high) that curves to the outside edges of the truck and it helps to deal with turds who think that vehicles are meant to be bumped on a routine basis. Stock bumpers suck dog shiat.

/set your parking brake too, as it saves your automatic tranny parking gear when repeatedly bumped.

I drive shiatty cars. My method of dealing with tailgaters is to downshift. It's especially galling for someone to tailgate me because I usually drive 10 over the speed limit.

/the benefit of giving tailgaters their comeuppance via trailer hitch is the only reason I would ever own a truck

Ah, the Towbar...
How many times it saved my little Toyota Camry before I traded it in for a Honda Accord.
The Accord has one as well, both factory fitted, not that I would tow anything in a Camry or Accord, you just think of it as insurance against any major rear-end damages.

If you leave it in, don't ever tow with it. Or at least be sure to check very regularly for the rust that will develop. Might be embarrassing when your boat falls off even though the ball is still secure

I knew these sisters once that had a pretty bad grille problem. So bad that Koki Puka was able to marry them both for the price of one.

Just get yourself one of these instead:



=Smidge=

cgraves67: I'm gonna have to agree. I've seen several cars' radiators destroyed by the ball hitch on a truck that received no damage.

Isn't this illegal most places for that very reason?

The whole purpose of bumpers is to limit damage to both vehicles. Circumventing your bumper with a car mangling device is usually a no-no.

I can't get the cap off!: cgraves67: I'm gonna have to agree. I've seen several cars' radiators destroyed by the ball hitch on a truck that received no damage.

Isn't this illegal most places for that very reason?

The whole purpose of bumpers is to limit damage to both vehicles. Circumventing your bumper with a car mangling device is usually a no-no.

Tailgating is a bigger no-no.

Raddamant: If you leave it in, don't ever tow with it. Or at least be sure to check very regularly for the rust that will develop. Might be embarrassing when your boat falls off even though the ball is still secure

Some guy is filling up the comments to that article with links to his poorly designed website all about rampaging trailer fatalities.

Not that I disagree with him, but I don't think he's going to find much of an audience with the readers of that article.

twat_waffle: I can't get the cap off!: cgraves67: I'm gonna have to agree. I've seen several cars' radiators destroyed by the ball hitch on a truck that received no damage.

Isn't this illegal most places for that very reason?

The whole purpose of bumpers is to limit damage to both vehicles. Circumventing your bumper with a car mangling device is usually a no-no.

Tailgating is a bigger no-no.

That won't stop you from being ticketed for driving around with an exposed ball hitch.

I can't get the cap off!: twat_waffle: I can't get the cap off!: cgraves67: I'm gonna have to agree. I've seen several cars' radiators destroyed by the ball hitch on a truck that received no damage.

Isn't this illegal most places for that very reason?

The whole purpose of bumpers is to limit damage to both vehicles. Circumventing your bumper with a car mangling device is usually a no-no.

Tailgating is a bigger no-no.

That won't stop you from being ticketed for driving around with an exposed ball hitch.

I've driven around for years with 5% tint and never got ticketed; even though I've gotten speeding tickets in the very cars that had limo tint.

pretty sure 99.9 percent of the cops would never notice or know that there is some sort of law about the hitches.

I drive a truck, without the hitch attached, and also think tailgating is stupid/unsafe. I leave the hitch off because my truck already sticks out of parking spots a little-bit more than a normal car, and I don't want to be that dick-bag who hangs a trailer ball an extra 8" off the back for some poor bastard to side-swipe in an already too-small parking aisle.

It's a goddamn truck, not a Ferrari. If someone hits the bumper backing out of a spot and dings/scratches, I'll get over it. Coincidentally (or ironically? i don't know), the only time someone has hit it in a parking lot, they smashed the shiat out of the quarter panel and took off... trailer ball would have done nothing to help me there.

/well that was kind of a biatchy rant... wonder where that came from

I don't think your trailer hitch would survive my Grille

Hit me

Jeebus, the only thing worse than having to deal with the grind of riding the metro is to get in a car and have to deal with drivers who have a hundred different opinions of how to act on the road. Why don't they just allow you all to drive Mad Max type cars and be done with it?

TheMysticS: Hit me

Shut up

twat_waffle: My method of dealing with tailgaters is to downshift.

I have a rotary powered car with an ignition cut style flat-shift.

Nothing gets rid of tailgaters faster than a 4' fireball with a report like a shotgun.

/really, i don't do that

MissinLnk: TheMysticS: Hit me

Shut up

Hammer time

phedex:

pretty sure 99.9 percent of the cops would never notice or know that there is some sort of law about the hitches.

Yeah, you'd be surprised how well informed cops are once the department has a budget crunch.

So the guy doesn't know how to merge and stops on a ramp and nobody has a problem with that? Maybe if he drove better he wouldn't have to worry so much about getting hit from behind.

/I agree about the trailer hitch though

SoundOfOneHandWanking: So the guy doesn't know how to merge and stops on a ramp and nobody has a problem with that? Maybe if he drove better he wouldn't have to worry so much about getting hit from behind.

/I agree about the trailer hitch though

Just because a person doesn't know how to drive doesn't mean you get to rear end them. Although it's very tempting to do so.

degenerate-afro:

Just because a person doesn't know how to drive doesn't mean you get to rear end them. Although it's very tempting to do so.

Actually, that situation is the only time when the rearendee is the one at-fault, since it is expected that drivers on an on-ramp are looking behind them so they can safely merge.

But there's this pedal looking thing on the floor, you push it down and the car goes faster it? Push it the hell down when you're on an on-ramp. You can't merge with 65mph traffic if you're going 30. All you do is endanger the lives of the people behind you.

Just get a ball hitch mounted carrier. Ta da you are using the hitch. No?

Mister Peejay: degenerate-afro:

Just because a person doesn't know how to drive doesn't mean you get to rear end them. Although it's very tempting to do so.

Actually, that situation is the only time when the rearendee is the one at-fault, since it is expected that drivers on an on-ramp are looking behind them so they can safely merge.

Source?

IIRC from defensive driving class, the biggest driving misconception is that you cannot come to a complete stop on an on-ramp.

I remember it so well because they showed us pictures of fatal accidents caused by people plowing into stopped vehicles on on-ramps.

That would indicate that coming to a stop on an onramp is a really, really bad idea, no?

Mister Peejay: That would indicate that coming to a stop on an onramp is a really, really bad idea, no?

No, it would indicate that people who have no clue to the rules of the road are a menace to safe drivers.

I can't get the cap off!: Mister Peejay: That would indicate that coming to a stop on an onramp is a really, really bad idea, no?

No, it would indicate that people who have no clue to the rules of the road are a menace to safe drivers.

I would say that defensive driving requires that you avoid coming to a complete stop on a ramp unless it is completely unavoidable. Safe drivers would know this.