Why do things always have to go wrong...

I posted earlier about putting a tranny cooler on my car.

Today I got around to installing the hitch.

And...I stripped one of the bolts that holds it in place. If you've ever put a hitch on a small car, you'll know what I'm talking about here - you have to pass the bolt up through the from and down through a hole, then you put the hitch in place, then run a nut up it to tighten it down. Well, I over tightened and stripped the bolt. It won't loosen or tighten. My only choice would be to cut it off, but then it will be stuck inside the frame...which is less than awesome. So I guess I'm going to have a friend tack weld the nut in place on the bolt so it can't back off. Its plenty tight, but just spins no matter which direction you turn it, but its all I can do with a wrench to turn it.

Then I found out the muffler hanger stuck out further than the hitch! So when I tried to put the muffler back in place, the uh...mushroom head looking piece on it that goes into the rubber hanger stuck out past the hitch. So I bent it down, put the muffler back up, and bent it back. And now my muffler is noiser than before. I guess I must have loosened a baffle. And used OEM mufflers are $150. Ugh.

So now I'm into this more than if I'd just taken it to UHaul and let them do it.

wow - between the boat, motor and trailer, you have had a tuff go of it.

Hopefully, when you have one good problem free day on the water,
all the negatives will just fade away into the bad memory bucket.

Hang in There !!

Trade car in for a truck :mrgreen:
Not sure you would want to "weld" the hitch in place, just in case you ever want to switch out or remove hitch later down the road for any reason. Good luck either way.

Just got it back from the shop. Cost me a shop hour to have them cut off the old bolt and install a new one, and bend the exhaust back into place. I'm happy paying the $50 to not spend this evening on my back in the driveway.

FWIW if you buy your hitch and have it installed by U-Haul, they give a lifetime warranty plus they'll remove & install it on another vehicle at no cost.
I found this out the hard way as well #-o

canadian omc said:

FWIW if you buy your hitch and have it installed by U-Haul, they give a lifetime warranty plus they'll remove & install it on another vehicle at no cost.
I found this out the hard way as well #-o

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I keep my vehicles long enough that the new one wouldn't fit the old hitch. I guess that would work for like F150s that didn't change for 20 years though.

I used to have a 93' F150 and it started having issues and I sold it for $700. 3 years later and I STILL see that truck driving around. I should have never sold it.

lugoismad said:

Why do things always have to go wrong...

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Because Murphy. :lol: :lol:

JMichael said:

lugoismad said:

Why do things always have to go wrong...

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Because Murphy. :lol: :lol:

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Sounds like we need to get together and do away with this Murphy fellow you speak of. lol

KMixson said:

JMichael said:

lugoismad said:

Why do things always have to go wrong...

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Because Murphy. :lol: :lol:

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Sounds like we need to get together and do away with this Murphy fellow you speak of. lol

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Geta rope! :lol:

lugoismad said:

I posted earlier about putting a tranny cooler on my car.

Today I got around to installing the hitch.

And...I stripped one of the bolts that holds it in place. If you've ever put a hitch on a small car, you'll know what I'm talking about here - you have to pass the bolt up through the from and down through a hole, then you put the hitch in place, then run a nut up it to tighten it down. Well, I over tightened and stripped the bolt. It won't loosen or tighten. My only choice would be to cut it off, but then it will be stuck inside the frame...which is less than awesome. So I guess I'm going to have a friend tack weld the nut in place on the bolt so it can't back off. Its plenty tight, but just spins no matter which direction you turn it, but its all I can do with a wrench to turn it.

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I had the same problem but figured if 2 bolts can hold the coupler on then 5 bolts can hold the hitch and bumper :shock:

WiskeyJaR said:

Trade car in for a truck :mrgreen:
Not sure you would want to "weld" the hitch in place, just in case you ever want to switch out or remove hitch later down the road for any reason. Good luck either way.

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My experience has been that it will weld itself eventually anyway. But then again I'm in NH and this forum has a more southern member list. Might just be my salty winter roads up here, but I almost always have to cut the hitch off if I want to replace it.