[AT] Trailer hitch ball mount: RESOLVED

[Dick Day]

Again, thank you for all of the great ideas and suggestions.

I contacted Draw Tite about the ball mount.  The customer service rep put me 
straight through to the engineering department.

I expressed my concern that a., it was made in China, and b., it needed to 
be modified to get the ball mounted.

This was (roughly) the response from the engineer:

a. They would prefer to keep manufacturing in house, but to be competitive, 
sometimes they must use off-shore facilities.  He said they will send the 
specs to the manufacturer's engineers, and they would send prototypes back 
for inspection. Once approved, production begins and product eventually 
arrives back from China.

He said that every product is individually inspected to make sure it meets 
specs before being sold.  In the case of ball mounts, they are tested on 
some sort of machine plus visually inspected for defects.  Once through this 
process, they have met the same testing that products made in their plant 
must meet.  He agreed that "Made in China" does not instill a lot of 
confidence, but in the case of  this type of product, he assured me that it 
must pass the same testing as their own products.

b. He said that any modification, other than cosmetic, such as painting, 
will void their warranty and shift liability to the owner and whoever made 
the modification.  Even enlarging the ball shaft hole is considered a 
modification.  Even if you re-enforce the product (extra welds, or gussets), 
it will void the warranty.

They want this ball mount back in the worst way. He is very concerned that 
it was able to get out of the plant without passing inspection.  They are 
sending a replacement product as well as a call tag to return the defective 
one.

So, those of you who were concerned that modifying it would be a problem, 
you were right on!

Thanks again,

Dick




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dick Day" <ddss at telebeep.com>
To: "ATIS" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 8:17 PM
Subject: [AT] Trailer hitch ball mount


I recently bought a new Navigator as my business vehicle that will also 
double as my tow vehicle. My older Navigator sat 2" lower than the new one. 
So, the 6"drop ball mount that I was using would not work.

I debated about having a local welding shop fabricate a ball mount with an 
8" drop for me, but I opted to buy one that was an engineered and tested 
product.

I had the local trailer shop order a Draw-Tite Class IV #4283 ball mount for 
me. When it arrived, the ball hole was too small by just a fraction of an 
inch, so they had to drill the opening to get the ball shaft to fit.  That 
concerned me, but then when I read the label and saw that it was made in 
China, I am now almost afraid to use it.

Any idea if Draw-Tite, or any of these companies, do any type of quality 
testing before these products are shipped?  Since the opening for the ball 
shaft was under-sized, I am guessing not.

If I use this, my life, and the lives of others driving near me will depend 
on the quality of the welds on that ball mount.

Will the reaming of the hole do anything to weaken this ball mount?

Am I being overly cautious?

Tractor reference:  I want to be sure this new tow vehicle is safe to use 
before I make the Nebraska/Missouri run to get a 1946 Huber :)

Dick Day

DDSS, Inc.
Software For County Government
83712 552nd Avenue
Norfolk, NE  68701

402-379-1606
http://dickdaysoftware.com/default.aspx
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