I should have posted some pics of mine first so you can see how it's mouted and get your advice on how it can be reinforced. Basically I currently have a Class V hitch and will be buying an Enclosed 24' trailer soon and need to have my Hitch reinforced. I am wondering if there is anyone out there that would shoot a few pics of there Reinforced hitch so I can see what and how it needs to be done. Also do I need to upgrade from a Class V or can I just reinforce the one I currently have? I was told by a Trailer MFG guy that he can upgrade my Class V by just reinforcing it. Is this OK?

I replaced mine just because I didn't want to take any chances. I tow a 24 foot trailer that weights about 8k loaded. When I had the hitch installed I told them I was going to tow a 15k stacker trailer. They replaced the hitch and reinforced everything. I'll post pictures tonight for you. -Justin

i had mine replaced as well to 10,000 lbs was 5,000 lbs

I'd like to see some pics as well. I've been wanting to add some reinforcements to my 32' Southwind frame/hitch (currently 5K). The workhorse chassis is torched off about a foot before the end of the moho and the hitch connects to it with bolts. I've thought about scabbing on some channel to extend the workhorse frame and add some more bolts to beef it up a bit.

Post up some pics please!!!

I will try to on Thursday when I bring it home to load up for the next trip! I had a custom one built when the OEM one broke off. I had Cliff's Welding in Mesa AZ do the work, they rated it for 10k. Massive amounts of steel box and huge D-rings to connect the chains onto. They added extra steel to the frame about 3 feet back and welded it all, along with a bigger 3" receiver (have to use an adapter for the 'standard' 2" drawbars).

Greg

One more question for you guys that are having the hitches reinforced. Are you doing this on Pushers or V10 gassers Motorhomes? Mine is a V10 so I know I will be pushing the weight limits anyways so I want this to be as strong as possible. Looking forward to some pics... Also looks like from reading the rest of these posts I am going to need to be upgrading from my class V 5k hitch to something a little bigger....

What's the capacity of the tow rig? Don't go throwing a 10k hitch on a 5k rated tow rig.....Something else will be the weak link.

According to my Owners manual it says about 7k but from what everyone else says it sounds like about 5K rating. I know I need to have the hitch and framework reinforced to keep from bending something up. Also if I end up doing a custom trailer I will have to talk to the fabricator about maybe messing with my axle position a little bit to take off some tongue weight...

I had mine done just for ease of mind purpose. I'll get pictures for you. Mine is done on a 31' class C with the V10. I told them I wanted it for a 10K# plus trailer but, I don't tow that much weight. I just wanted it to be over kill.

The limits to GVW are normally, tires, frame and trans.

I am sure your tires are beefy already, get the frame beefed up and put the biggest tranny cooler with a guage on it. THe 4r100 or even the 5 speed torqueshift can handle the weight if you keep them cool enough.

I have done this to two motorhomes now and no issues.

So all these posts and still no Photo's. I am still on duty for the next few days so I can't get a photo of how mine looks underneath... So if you have a MoHo that has been reinforced underneath please take a photo and post it up so we can see how to do it right....

I'll get you some pix later today. I had my hitch reinforced mid-trip in Brawley after suffering a slight, minor, almost imperceptible problem with the factory hitch.

Pix later... sleepy now...

Ok here ya go. First, a story:

My rig is a 36' gasser with a factory 5k hitch, 2005 model. Trailer is a 20' enclosed Carson, fully loaded with the rail and three quads it's probably north of 6k but not by too much (VW car and one quad was a 50). I use a weight-distributing setup and at the time I had a sway control, I've since "misplaced" it (left it on the tongue... oops).

March '06, we were headed to G. Coming into Brawley on the 86, my wife comments that the moho seems to be riding "funny," bouncing up and down more than usual. I hadn't noticed anything but looking in the mirrors, the trailer didn't look like it was riding right. We stopped at Plaza Park downtown and here's what I found:

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Pictures were taken after I unhooked the trailer... the tiedown is being used to keep the crossbar from dragging on the pavement. The crossbar had separated cleanly from the left mounting bracket. There was rust in the weld... absolutely ZERO penetration. Came from the factory that way...

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A friend, already at Keyhole, unhooked their truck and came back to town to rescue us. We got the hitch welded up the next day at a little shop in Brawley, a couple blocks north of the 86 and east of the 111... sorry I don't remember the name. It looked like something out of "Deliverance" but these guys did awesome work...

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Total bill: $104.00 (the extra $4 was for the square tube to reinforce the hitch). We tipped them an extra $80.

Here's the result, three years now no problems:

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Good save, could've gotten ugly...

Ok hitch pictures. I ended up with the OEM hitch nearly broken off as well....ended up with this after the work was done.

Mine is a 37 foot gasser on a Workhorse frame.

A similar thing happened to my hitch, it had "L" shaped ends where the top of the L was bolted to the frame and the leg was welded to the cross piece with the receiver. Got to camp and the bend part of the L had split cleanly off all the way down on both sides, except for about 1 inch! If it had gone all the way at 70 mph on the freeway the trailer would have come all the way off because the chains are attached there too....close call.

When I looked at the bend, it had stressed the steel and it was fatigue cracking for a long time. The break was rusty for quite a ways along the line....faulty from the beginning.

Greg

Anyone have pics of a Class C hitch?

tim fixed hozay's since it was broken

amazing how cheaply it was done by the manufacture

Here's my 31' Class C.

Great pics, I think this weekend I just may crawl underneath my Moho and take a peak at things

Couple things we did just to brace the existing hitch:
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Gussets can dramatically strengthen your hitch

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We added a brace to the hitch first of all to stabilize the receiver

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Next we anchored the back of the hitch assy

Your class five hitch is already rated for 10000lbs and I wouldn't think a 24' enclosed is going to be rated any higher on the GVW. My 28' enclosed is rated at 9995lbs, just under the 10000lb cutoff for non com A. If you are doing this for piece of mind I understand, after seeing some of the crappy workmanship on the factory hitches. There is a trailer place here in Santa Clarita that does this regularly and very clean I might add. Just throwing some info out there.