Truck/SUV hitch ?

[Brandon]

There was a comment made about one that leaves their hitch ball in the hitch. I leave mine in as a deterrent of not wanting to tap my trucks bumper.
What do you do with your truck/suv/towing vehicle's hitch ball?

 

[mom45]

The one on the suburban stays there. The one on the truck, I think hubby removes so nobody steals it. Hitch stays there but the ball gets removed. It may also be because he doesn't always use the same size ball.

 

[Bunnykid68]

Its a mini bumper for my bumper and a reminder some days to pay attention to where I am walking

 

[Brandon]

Mine stays. I'd rather someone steal it from the hitch then through a window. Mine also serves as a mini bumper/pre bumper.

 

[mom45]

Mine stays. I'd rather someone steal it from the hitch then through a window. Mine also serves as a mini bumper/pre bumper.

If ours is out, it is at home in the man cave. We don't carry it with us. It is also rare that we use a hitch to pull anything.

 

[femurphy77]

I always leave it in, never know when it'll come in handy. As an aside, I purchased a boat several years ago for some serious coin. When I went to pick it up I signed all the papers and went out to wait for the to bring it around. When it arrived I noticed one of the tires on the trailer was literally shredded, I don't know how they did it but when I purchased the boat off the showroom floor it was in new condition even though it was a used boat (less than 30 hours on the clock). When I pointed it out to the scum salesman his response was that I should have paid closer attention because it was like that on the showroom floor. It was not. Anyway as they are jockeying into line to hook it to my hitch the salesman ran into the hitch, got him square in the shin. He hit quite hard because I heard the impact, he got pissed at me because he got grease all over his "$500" slacks and ruined them (idiot for buying $500 slacks). Of course my response to him was that he should have paid closer attention because it was like that before he ran into it!!! Happily that dealer is no longer in business, they had a habit of selling boats that they couldn't produce titles for, took me 6 months to get the title!

 

[Robert8252]

For the most part I leave it in. Usually only pull my camper once or twice a month from spring to fall. I have a hitch cover I put on sometimes but don't bother to switch it often. Doesn't hurt anything being there and luckily haven't had it happen but give my bumper another 8 inches of protection.

 

[FishnHunt]

Used to leave mine in all the time, until I had to spend 2 hours breaking it out with a sledgehammer before I sold my last truck. Now I take it out and leave it in the bed.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

The pin for the drawbar on the Exterminator has a way to lock it, though I haven't so far. I've left the one on the Chicken long enough that it's rusted in, like it did on the last two cars, so I'm not worried about that one. I'm pretty much too lazy to take them off.

 

[IrishSon of Liberty]

I always take mine out. One very simple reason. I have an SUV & it only takes one time busting a shin while loading/unloading groceries or whatever to sway my vote.

 

[eric001]

Leave it in all the time. I do change the ball occasionally, depending on what type of trailer I have to hook up (infrequently, at that). The hitch has been in so long I'm sure I could take out the locking pin/bolt thingie and the whole thing wouldn't move no matter how hard I tried to remove it. At this point, I figure the hitch can just go with the truck when I get around to trading up.

Oh, and there used to be 2 different midsized sedans around the northside with so-so brakes and nice hitch-sized dimples in their front bumpers. Sucks to be them, but it most definitely saved damage to my truck!

 

[96firephoenix]

I've got a steel bumper, so my receiver is pretty much a secondary bumper by itself, and I'm not too concerned about the damage to the steel bumper. I'd rather not forget about it back there and put a ball-sized hole in the car behind me while parallel parking.

 

[mrjarrell]

Mine comes out, unless I'm going to be hauling something. No sense making a snack available for would be metal thieves.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

Its a mini bumper for my bumper and a reminder some days to pay attention to where I am walking

That ****ing hurts. I think I have a scar from a hitch being were I'm walking.

 

[rotortech]

I take mine out to avoid busting my shins and to avoid getting it stuck in the receiver. Some may say who cares if it gets stuck? I sometimes use one of those platforms that plugs into the same receiver. Can't plug it in if the hitch is rusted in there for good.

 

[Lost Californian]

You didn't have the right choice for me, so I didn't vote.

I am too lazy to change the balls on the hitch, so I have 4 different hitches to swap between. Generally, one gets put in and left until I whack myself, or I need a different size ball. The one I prefer to leave in is the weight distribution hitch because it is a nice, massive unit that will stop just about any vehicle from making contact with the truck. Sweetie (bless her heart) just doesn't care for that idea, even though I use a locking pin.

 

[HoughMade]

I leave it in during the pre-fair and fair season because I'm hauling a mini horse around a couple times a week. Other than that, I take it out.

 

[MAJB Retired]

I usually that it out. I have several trailers and both an SUV and a Truck. I also have several different height hitches, but have interchangeable balls, so I keep the selection of hitches and balls in the garage, available for what ever vehicle I'm using for a particular trailer. Also keeps them from rusting up. It's a real PITA to try and change out a ball that's rusted.

 

[dusty88]

I take mine out because of the aforementioned shin-bustin'

BTW, shin-bustin' also coincides with dropping the groceries you were carrying all over the sidewalk.

 

[ModernGunner]

Its a mini bumper for my bumper and a reminder some days to pay attention to where I am walking

Been there, done that, (painful) lesson learned!

I use an alternate 'pre-bumper bumper' (looks like a 'T') that keeps those infernal 'drive by touch' types well away from my actual rear bumper. What, did these yabos take their driving test in braille?

With the way the new plastic bumpers are on vehicles today, someone 'bumps and scrapes' it they're payin' for a whole new set of bumper parts (internal and external), paint, rental vehicle, and whatever else. Don't like that, don't 'bump' the car and learn how to f***** drive!