Rear ended... Again! (pics)

Stopped in traffic at a light on my way to work and noticed a car coming up way to fast behind me. I moved up to give them a bit more room but she slid about 30 feet and smacked me. Went to pull over out of traffic and found that the truck would not move. Gave it a little more gas and the tires spun a little. My hitch was stuck to her car!

Got out of the truck to survey the problem and found this…




I ended up pulling her car along with me (previously she had it in park) out of traffic and the Police officer and I popped her hood see what it was hung up on. We could not see anything so I put the X in 4Low and first gear and while the officer pushed the front of her car down a bit I punched the gas.

This was the end result…









The bottom of the hitch was hooked on the metal substructure of her bumper and you can guess what happened when I gave it a good pull.

My damage… a couple more little scratches on the hitch.


This makes 3 times now I have been rear ended. Twice in the last 14 months. This one was less than a half mile from where I was hit in November 2004

damn, im definitely getting a hitch...stupid drivers deserve that kind of damage to their vehicles

Be sure you have frame stiffeners (i.e. the factory hitch) or you'll be the one with more damage. An aftermarket hitch can act as a lever and bend your frame ends downward where the hitch is bolted on. Found that out the hard way back when I had my 2000 X.

Damn, Idiot Drivers...She was probably on her Cell Phone...I got rear ended one time, by a woman occupied with her cell phone...X looks good though, no damage...

I hate fuckers that leave their ball hitch on at all times...

Maybe she wouldn't have even hit you, if your ass end wasn't sticking out 6-8" beyond your bumper.

I swear I wish they would make this crap illegal. 'Cause you can never see where the rear of the truck really is.

If that had been me, and after I got the car stopped, and saw that it was your hitch that got me, I'd get back in the car, and slam on the gas. By god, I'd get your X if it were the last thing I did...

Damn.....thats a killer hitch!!

You should add some sort of remote Dynamite trigger... that'll stop 'em!

I would also inspect and reinspect and..... that hitch ! You dont want to lose a trailer full of ??????, Knowutimean?

MGJ

I have a D-Shackle in my receiver hitch...and its a pre-bumper.



I was on the way to CT a few weeks ago and some bone head came flying up behind me, noticed the 3 mile line of traffic in front of him, coming to a stop, of which I was the tail gunner apparently...

Slams on his breaks, his nose dives while my tail is rising as I break with the stopping traffic, and, tap?

I ask my son if he felt anything, he said no, I said I thought I felt a tap...he says, maybe we hit a small bump in the road....I shrugged, and we kept going.

I looked in the rearview, but the car was still tailgating me so I could barely see its roof let alone its grill, etc.

A ways later, the car fell back enough to see....and, on HIS HOOD was a very plain imprint of my hitch and D-Shackle.



He went around me, and never turned his head or even gestured.

Nice! Payback's a bitch!

I got mounted by a woman a few years ago while I was driving a plow truck, wound up chaining her car to a guardrail support and had to get a running start.

??

--Man, you guys from Ohio have a real strange interpretation of Interstate intercourse JIMBO

Your truck is a rear end magnet... geez dude, you really abuse that hitch

back before i dislocated my knee this past time, i was taking my bike to work with me and went riding each night afterwards. one morning a guy came right up on me off the on ramp and he was real close to my bike rack for a while so i did a break check and felt a little bump and he slowed way down and pulled over. i kept going and before he got 2 far away, i saw the hole i put in hit front bumper. no scratches but a little blue paint on it.

This is my new signature.

If you ride 6 to 8 inches from someones bumper than you deserve to get you car fucked up.

It's got nothing to do w/ driving that close. It's got everything to do w/ not being able to see where the end of the vehicle in front of you is.

That's why if you're carrying a load that sticks out the back, you're supposed to put a red flag on it; to warn drivers behind you that there is something else that's the true rear of the vehicle, and not the bumper. And it's a visual warning, that moves, and grabs your attention.

Not to mention, whenever asshats have the ball on their hitch, and you try to parallel park behind them, there's either not enough space, 'cause they're hanging over into the spot behind them w/ their hitch, or you don't see it until the last second, and you accidently smack into it.

Or, because the asshat can't see the hitch behind them, they forget when they're backing out of said parking space, and slide the ball right onto the person behind 'em. And don't realize what they've done so they pull off.

Or when an asshat leaves a ball on, and they pull into a regular parking space, but they're overhanging into the driving lane 'cause they don't realize they've still got some jiggly hanging over.

Or when you're driving in city traffic, and the asshat in front of you pulls out in front of you, because they *think* they have enough space; not realizing they're shit is hanging back a good bit behind their bumper. But they're too damn stupid to remember and/or think about it.

This is one of my biggest pet peeves; seeing somebody riding w/ these things still hooked up.

It makes me WANT to rear end them... To shove that ball up into their throat. I guarantee my truck won't swerve first...

You're talking like the hitch sticks out 2 feet. Even if it sticks out 6 inches or so it's not gonna make it or break it, so to speak. You're saying that in city traffic they cut in not thinking about their ball hitch, well, if it's enough to make a difference, it means that you are too close on their ass, or they are being dumb asses and cutting in too close.

If you say that you can't judge distance to the vehicle when you're pulling up behind them, that means that you're pulling up too close to them and too fast in order to judge the distance cerrectly.

I honestly don't see a problem because with decent vision you can always see it on the back of someone and just back off a little. You know it's there so give yourself some more room. 6 more inches are not gonna killa ya.

I do agree on your point of people backing into spots with them on. I live in the city and there's nothing but parallel parking around here. I've gotten backed into numerous times when I used to drive a Sentra and later a Maxima.

If they were going fast enough to have that hitch go into their bumper like that, 8" would not have been enough space for them to stop.

Furthermore. If 6" - 8" causes you a problem in telling where the end of the vehicle is then you are following way to close.

:rolleyes:

I hate to agree with porsche on anything... but I do on this one.

I thought it WAS illegal to drive around with a ball installed in the receiver... but maybe not.

And anyway, why not remove the hitch pin and take the damn thing out rather than ripping the front of this lady's car off? I'm sure there was a less-damaging way that it could have been removed.

The liberally-applied-on-XOC high and mighty attitude of "that dumbass deserves whatever happens to them" just sucks. If I had gotten what I deserved everytime I got away with something stupid I wouldn't be sitting here... and neither would anyone else. You just have to try to remember the stupid things you did and try not to do them again.

Sometimes Darwin takes a vacation.

What about the lady paying attention to traffic and not trying to mount the Xterra from behind? That would have caused less damage to her car.

Wow.

Are you running a fever?

The thing I don't get, is a hitch ball causes more damage to the vehicle in the rear, whether it's a rear-end and their fault, or whether it's a backing-up, and it's the truck's fault.

But that much damage could ALL be prevented, if just the owner of the truck wasn't so freaking lazy to take 2 seconds out of their day, and take the damn thing off.

I've been rear-ended, several times, when I used to drive a dodge dakota. Of the 3 times, not 1 of them did enough damage to my truck, that I couldn't just bend the bumper right back into shape. None of them ever caused a lot of damage to the car behind me. But if I had been an ass enough to ride around with a ball, it could have easily punched through their grill, and then through their radiator & oil cooler, and caused WAY more damage than what should have happened.

So what does that do? It causes insurance companies to have to pay more per accident, because some driver was too damn lazy to take off their ball. And then, since insurance companies aren't about to take a loss on something, it causes everybody's insurance rates to go up just a smidge, because some asshat was lazy.

So this little fender bender you were in now has turned into a much bigger ordeal, because you left the ball on. Most likely, considering how little damage was actually done to that car, NOTHING would have happened to either your truck or the car, if the hitch hadn't been there.

But congratulations. You got your big to the person that hit you. And you got to post a thread & some pictures to show how "great" your truck & hitch are, because it completely fucked up some person's day.

2 seconds to remove a ball. For the love of god, quit being lazy and take the damn thing off.

What about the lady actually trying to get stopped, and almost being successful, but the joker in front of her had a hitch on, causing an accident that she almost avoided in the first place.

And what about that justifies putting the X into gear, and darn near ripping her front bumper off?

How about just disconnecting the ball, turning it 90 degrees, and removing it from the grill w/o causing any more damage.

Sure, she's at fault for hitting the X in the first place.

But if I were an insurance adjuster, I'd blame the X driver, for causing more damage to the vehicle, by slamming into gear and driving forward. One stupid thing (rear end) doesn't justify doing another (ripping out).

You speak like it is his fault some idiot was not paying attention to their driving and caused and accident.

Put the blame where it belongs , the dumbass who was not paying attention while operating a 3k pound car.

If she slid 30 feet and he already moved up some then how much coddling do you want to give this person?

While the way he disconnected himself from her bumper may be extreme why should he be made to take a course of action that (from the way it looks) would not have been successful unless you removed the grille from the car?

I would guess that with the police at the scene and directing events after the crash that the police did not want to waste time jacking with her bumper any longer.

So now we can blame the police too!!!!

I seriously thought you were joking when I read your first post. I've gotta agree with everyone else, if your head is too far up your ass that you get that close, the problem is you, not the hitch.

You either have to have your eyes checked, your actually pay attention. Or do you forget so quickly that as soon as the hitch is out of your line of sight, you forget about it? I parallel park almost daily for one thing or another, and have never hit somebody's hitch. I notice it before I pull into the spot, and don't get close enought to hit it. Maybe I'm better at parallel parking, maybe I'm better at judging distances, maybe a have a better memory, but more likely I just don't have my head up my ass.

Then the problem is not the fact that they have their hitch on there, the problem is that they were too dumb to remember it.

Now, all that said, I think it's dumb to leave the ball hitch on in at least 90% of the cases. I see only 2 reasons to: 1) You tow a lot, and you don't feel like taking it on and off, and 2) Most frequently, because people think it looks cool, like the people that lift their trucks but never take them off pavement. I can understand why this might be a pet peeve, but if it's the other car that does something stupid, you don't have to blame the guy with the hitch. If the guy with the hitch just happens to be a dumbass, he's gonna be a dumbass whether or not he has a hitch. In this case, I think it's pretty clear that the car was the dumbass, not the guy with the hitch.

Pfft when I had a hitch and it was snowing and icey I made sure it was on.... if some dip shit is following me too close I am gonna fuck his car up. I even hit my brakes hard at times just to scare em off .

And now I have even more steel back there!!!!!! AHAHAHAHHHAHHHAHAHHHAAAAAA I am gonna fuck some stupid retards vehicle up for following to close!!!! ***

*** This Xterras bumper is tested and proven to stop another vehicle without damage to said Xterra... and very serious damage to anyone who hits it.

Let me explain a few things to you... I commute every day on a motorcycle. I parallel park my motorcycle in a spot that is ONLY wide enough for a motorcycle, as that's what it's intended for.

Whenever an jerk parks in the spot directly in front of this, and has a ball hitch attached, that extra 8" into the motorcycle space ELIMINATES the space for being useable. AKA, I have to now walk 6 blocks to work, because the ONLY motorcycle parking space anywhere nearby my work is now useless because a jerk was too lazy to take off his hitch.

The other situation is this. When my bike is parked, and a jerk parks in the space in front of my bike, and happens to have a ball-hitch on their truck, my bike is now BLOCKED from being removed, until said jerk gets back into his truck and leaves. Let me tell you how appreciative I am at 5:30 in the afternoon, when I'm waiting for some jerk that parked to close to come out and move, so I can go home... A motorcycle sits on its sidestand, which means I have to tip it upright before I can drive away. Which means I have to, literally, tip it into their ball hitch. No thank you.

Evidently, there are a lot of arrogant jerks around here, that don't understand they aren't the ONLY one using the road... I don't have my head up my arse. I just don't see how screwing up the roadway for other users, is my god-given right when driving my truck. If y'all would see how OTHERS have to interact with your freaking lazy arses on a daily basis, maybe you wouldn't be so slow at taking the darn things off.

edit: I realized I was cussing way too much, so those words have been edited.

need ya some bumper nuts. ive seen lotsa blue balls hanging off of hitches around here. saw some the other day at work and one of the guys said, man that trucks got some balls. it was a chevy = no balls. anyway, i dont like to leave my ball mount in if im not towin. not because someone might hit it, its that fact that it might get stolen.

You have GOT to be kidding. It's 8 inches! What if the fucking car was 8" longer. There is no way you can convince me that 8 extra inches will block you in. God forbid if I was standing there with me johnson hanging out. You'd really be SOL then!

Tell you what. I'll take a picture of it the next time it happens, if I have my camera around.

A fucking dually pulled this crap on me YESTERDAY! So yeah, it DOES happen. And yeah, when the parking spot is only 3' wide, and you're taking away 22% of it by having your balls hanging out, you're damn straight it's a problem.

I doubt your dick would be a problem, though. As soft as that little limp thing is, it would easily just be bent and pushed out of the way.



edit:

This is the bike I own.

http://www.motorcyclejournal.net/models/triumph2001/trophy.html

Notice it's 31.1" wide, w/ the hard saddle bags. Now, let's do some math, and realize that 36" minus 8" leaves 28", which means my ass is having to walk 6 blocks, 'cause some jackass with a ball hitch just took up my space...

If his rig were 6" longer, or if he was parked differently (aka, not in their space), then I'd be bitching about people that can't park. But no, the problem is they can park, and their vehicle IS in their own space, but their balls hang over 6-8", 'cause they don't know any better.

So bite me. You don't know what you're talking about.

This thread has inspired me to look into getting a hitch, with frame-stiffeners, and a ball-hitch.

Can I get a 10" long hitch? maybe 6-8" will not stick out far enough to protect my bumper from idiots that try to rearend me!

Yep... But any decent speed of impact, and they're still gonna' hit your rig. I've got a 10" drop ball for my truck; it sticks back about 10" or so. Not for sure, exactly how much. But it's almost at a 45 degree angle, so if it's 10" down, then it's got to be 10" back, with the ball on it.

Porshe, just park your motorcycle in a regular parking spot, like all people do around here. Besides, I barely ever see a motorcycle parking spot anywhere.

Park like a car and you'll have no problem leaving your spot.

I don't have a hitch, or a ball on it, for that matter, but if I did then I'd leave it on.

If some asshole can't drive right and slams into me, you bet your ass his car better be fucked up. Maybe that will teach him a lesson next time to watch the road or not to follow too close.

I would love to park in a regular spot. Problem is, PARC won't let me. Regular spots are 2-hour only, w/ meters. So if I can't get my regular space, I have to park down at the baseball stadium (6 blocks away), and catch a trolley into work, or else huff it. Parking in downtown Louisville is not easy to come by during the day.

Thing is, a ball hitch offers about as much protection as a brush guard. Sure, it looks like it might do something, but all it does is cause more damage for a low impact, that may not have caused any damage in the first place. If a car hits you at speed, they're gonna' be skewered by the ball, but they'll still be smacking your arse a good bit.

That explains it.

I really don't see how a ball hitch would cause more damage in a slow collision (comaping it to a brush guard?). It might screw someone esle, but most likely not you. High speed, high impact collisions are a different thing. In that case you are fucked anyway so it really does not matter what you have and is irrelevant to the subject.

I see you point on why you dislike balls left on hitches, but a bit of protection on your rear end when you're driving an X is nice, you have to admit that. every little bit counts and as witnessed by the pics looks like it helped this time. The lady's car would have been fucked anyways because of not the the hitch she would have slid up under X's bumper thus screwing up the lights and possibly bending the hood. I do not agree with you sayin that those 6 inches made a difference in this case. She still would have hit.

I admit, some people are idiots when it comes to driving, parking or anything that has to do with operating a vehicle. Chances are those are the people that block you in wht the hitch ball when you ride your bike to work. It's only a matter of paying attention and being courteous to other people if you have one on.

I'm glad this lady's her car was f'd up by the hitch.

She should pull her head and her cell phone out of her a$$ and start paying attention.

It all sounds innocent when bitching about scratches, a few dents, etc but if this guy was not in an Xterra but instead on a motorcycle she would have run him down completely. As it is, she barely saw a freaking Xterra in time.

I say, this should be a "lesson learned" for her. I'm sure she will sue though because of the ball hitch being left on and it's having beat the piss out of her bumper.

True. It "helped" the X in this instance. Whethere there would have been any damage to either vehicle w/o the ball is questionable, but yeah, she probably would have slid underneath his bumper, anyways.

It's just when I see trucks (and even some cars) w/ ball hitches mounted all the time, I get iratated. 'Cause they don't understand how that can effect others; especially when they forget that the ball is still on there.

But I'll drop it, now. 'Nuff said on this from me, already.

I don't think Porsche likes it when people leave their hitches in.

While this thread is off and running...

If somebody does park you in, and the hitch ball is in the way, why not just take the damn thing out? As previously stated, it only takes a few seconds.

Whether or not you decide to put in back in, leave it in the street, leave a note, etc... the problem is easily solved. No need to wait for them to return.

You know I have a hitch with a 2" ball in it and I have been hit a few times, and each time it fucks thier car up and leaves mine fine and you know what I say to that? FUCK THEM DONT HIT ME!!! Porsche I dont think anything you said is correct, How could more very durable steel protecting your truck cause more damage? Doesnt make sense. If they had ones that stuck out and up with a big orange sticker on it that says STOP ASSHOLE, then I would get that. But until then I am going to leave my hitch in, and never take it out. If I back into someone, I will take that responsibility, but until that happens tell them fuckers to stop hitting me and maybe I will remove it. There is your quest, have the idiots stop rear ending people, then maybe we would remove them....

SO you think the problem is people with hitches and not people who drive like idiots. I don't see the insurance companies adding fees cause I have a hitch, but they do care how many "harmless fender benders" I've had. Does having a lift make me more more liable cause you're more likely to slide under my bumper causing damage to your hood....

Leaving my hitch in may make me a lazy asshat, but my rear is protected from people who can't pay attention to the road. As someone who drives a motorcycle I would think that should be your reason to preach.

You real issue is with your parking space, not people rear-ending hitches. Oh yeah and you're whining way to much about having to walk 6 blocks. You act like you get bad weather or something......you wouldn't be riding a motorcycle if it wasn't nice enough to walk. Quit whining you sissy bitch

Hey Porsche, I can’t imagine what you would think if somebody with a bike hitch (w/their bike on the hitch) park next to you. I take my bike hitch off every time I’m not carrying my bikes just because it would cause significant damage to both vehicles if I were rear-ended and I don’t want anybody walking into it. I don’t see any problem with the ball hitch sticking out, but I have seen people driving around with their bike hitch on without any bikes on them. Now that is something you could bitch about!!

Quote:

Originally posted by Kaiser:
And anyway, why not remove the hitch pin and take the damn thing out rather than ripping the front of this lady's car off? I'm sure there was a less-damaging way that it could have been removed....

Gotta agree with Kaiser on this one. You probably (with instructions from the officer) tripled the amount of $$ damage by ripping the entire front end apart. What might have been a "minor" fender bender may have just turned into a large dollar accident.

Even if it wasn't your fault in all these wrecks your insurance company might use the "we know it wasn't your fault, but you're always at the wrong place at the wrong time and we're gonna drop you or raise your rates" excuse...

Anyway, yeah, she probably deserved it...but no need to make the situation worse if you didn't have to.

Yeah no shit, although it might sound "cool" to post something like this on the board, in actuality that was a retarded way to get get your vehicles unhooked. As previously stated unhooking your hitch wouldn't have done you any harm and might have reduced the damage that occured.

"*** This Xterras bumper is tested and proven to stop another vehicle without damage to said Xterra... and very serious damage to anyone who hits it."

Yeah it might not look like you had any damage but whens the last time you had your rig on a frame rack. Even with frame stiffeners a hitch is still a lever.

From personnal experience, good for you that you ripped the bumper. So many people have hit me in the hitch and thank god i had my ball on it or they might have hit the bumper. I know it sticks out, but if you too blind to notice it or even not get that close to the car, then i hope you do go into the ball. So many people dont really pay attention when they drive. But its a great wake up call when a ball goes through their bumper. The hitch is a great investement and i will always keep my ball on whenever around town because people are fools.
Also for that lady to slide and hit you hitch, thats gotta be one stupid drive to not notice a truck in front of her and brake that late. Next time she will probably look at the road and not at her shopping list when driving.

You know what?? Any time you want to ram into some one for having a ball in their hitch then come and find me. I always have mine in there for just that reason. I live in Norfolk and we have lots of damn tunnels where 99% of the time most people don't let you merge into the lane even though they know when and where lanes need to merge or they are riding behind you so close because they want to be a dick to the guy that is trying to merge into the lane that all it will take is one hard hit of the brakes and they are going to nail you.

If it does more damage to the dumbass because he wants to be a dick to someone else by not letting them in and they hit me then so be it. I'm sorry but if you can't see a damn ball on the back of someone's truck than you need to get the f**K off of the road because you are blind as hell and shouldn't be driving in the first place.

I know that when I have a couple of people that want to tail gate me then I make sure that I can safely do a brake check to them without getting hit and then pull up enough so that they see that they will have a ball go through their radiator the next time they get to f**king close to me and I have to stop in an emergency situation.

It's all about being smart enough to maintain the 2 second rule but most people out there are just to stupid to apply it and so they hit someone. I've almost gotten t-boned by the dumbass drivers here in Norfolk that are to busy talking on their phones that they don't pay any attention to what they are doing so that's another reason that I have sliders on and welded to the frame. So if some dumbass hits me in the side it will hopefully protect the body and f**k up their ride instead. So if I have sliders and someone hits me and causes a lot of damage to their car does that make me a dumbass and a lazy f**k for not taking them off after each time that I offroad. Hell no.

John, your way to excited about someone leaving the drawbar on their truck man. You tailgate me, your gonna hit my ball. Tough luck for you.
Granted I pay a price for leaving it on sometimes, its a hell of a shin bruiser!

Ramness, sorry you got nailed man but dang, tough way to get you 2 apart! Simple damage is now major.

Me?, excited? You must mean some other "John" who posted earlier... my post was pretty tame compared to some of you other hitch ball nazis.

(My ball is frequently on too, and yes, I have the marks on my upper leg to prove it. )

Bummer....But I think I know the real reason this accident happened....Brian was just pissed that this woman has a much better located alternator for water crossings than his Xterra.



And so...he thought he'd teach her a lesson.

Seriously tho....I am not to say that a hitch ball is wrong to leave on all the time. I've never thought about it to the degree that porsche obviously has.....But damn, you guys seriously did *f* some stuff up on the separation of the two rides. I think I may have tried to think of a somewhat less destructive option. But then again, I wasn't there, and am Monday morning quarterbacking a bit.

Sorry your X got tagged again, Brian.....This new X is bad luck for you....I'm telling you.

Yeah, I believe he was referring to porsche....whose real name is John.

Gotcha. Damn "Johns"!
Carry on then!

So say I remove the reciever from the hitch, there's still a lot of the hitch out there. In the case shown the plastic grill would have taken the hit. The car's bumper would have been well below the X's bumper. The whole argument is moot.

theoretically, couldnt the hitch itself (which sticks out and has a step on it) go right through the grill and radiator if a car hit the backend with enough force?

Come to Texas. Where most of our trucks have "balls".

porche is a whiney bitch.

I'd love to... I'll be in Fredericksburg, Richmond, Viginia Beach, & Roanoke sometime at the end of the month, visiting family.. Care to setup an appointment? Your ball won't save you from my truck. My bumper would be cruising through your rear hatch.



Sorry, Kevin, it's just a pet peeve of mine, to see people w/ the ball in place. I just can't stand people that think they're an "enforcer" on the road, and it's their mission to "enlighten" other drivers about their bad habits, so they'll leave their ball in place... If you really think that ball is gonna' save your ass, then so be it. Personally, I don't mind if somebody rear-ends me... That's free $$ from their insurance company to buy more toys.

Just to add to the bitch-at-porsche...

If you are following someone, you *should* have about 2 full seconds between you. AND when you are pulling up behind someone, you SHOULD be able to see their tires over your hood.

If you don't...you're too close.

Nice truck dude. You getting a winch put on that thing?

Now that is a pet peeve of mine. Why get a winch bumper if you are not going to get the winch?

Surely you did not get it for more protection of your truck. Cause if you rear ended someone you would cause a hell of a lot more damage to their car than if you kept your factory bumper on.

Just think how much everyone insurance would go up just because you had to have a bumper that gave your truck more protection. Of course if you were in a high speed accident it would not make much differance. But in a slower speed accident you would cause more damage to someone elses car and walk away with a few scratches on your bumper.

You are as bad as those assholes that have their ball hitch on all the time.

bla bla bla... :rolleyes:

Edit. Nice topper.

That pic is about a year and a half old. yes, I have a winch in that thing. And have used it on several occasions. I bought the bumper, used, and put it on while I was waiting for the winch to come in. Incidentally, that bumper's been around the block a few times... It used to belong to the owner of our "favorite offroad" shop in Ohio... It's been on 3 different trucks, so far.

I also don't have the cheesy side graphics on anymore; thanks to a car side-swiping me, insurance paid to have those things removed when they replaced both passenger side doors.

The truck has changed a good bit since that pic. But that's the most current one I could find, online.

Carlton, can't tell if you're mocking the softopper or not, but I will say, it's been a great add-on. Had it for about 2 years, now. Even convinced AC to start selling them. Folds up like a convertible soft top, and can be removed completely in just a couple minutes.

As to the front bumper... Yeah, I know; it'll hurt somebody else's car a lot more than my truck... But it doesn't see the road very often. I'd say I put on about 50 miles a month, tops, unless I'm going on an offroading trip, or if I've got to drive a long distance for work & the wife's car or the jeep are indisposed at the moment. It's just a toy.

I dont think John (porsche) is bitching about anything, he is simply voicing his opinion much like all of us do here. I personally dont like to leave my hitch ball on my hitch either. If you are not towing, put the damn thing away. I have had my share of knee busting encounters with these damn things (including mine at times) and it is no fun. Beside if it is on there it looks stupid and it is prone to theft.

Let me ask you guys this...Do you walk around in public with you dick out all the time? Of course not, it is put away when not in use. You idiots!

BTW, whoever challenged John to a rear end raming...sorry to say but I think your gonna loose, that Calmini bumper is gonna end up in your back seat.

Well, some people are waiting for a winch. Maybe others are just using it to get a better approach angle but don't necesseraly need the winch as of this time.

I don't have a winch and I use mine to get better approach angle and yes, to have more protection on the front end. I really don't care whether I case more damage to someone else at a slow speed collision. Deer and stupid drivers in the city and burbs... approach angle, recovery points and protection off-road.

I really like those.. Wanted one for my old Hardbody but they did not make them for the Nissan back in the day.

I'm not saying I'm and enforcer or trying to enlighten other people. I just don't trust people that read the news paper while driving, or the person trying to find "that one song" on their iPod. If they don't notice a 6 1/2' suv with three red lights directly in front of them, maybe we should all conect the horn relay with the brake lights.

Wow! Sounds like someone really hates trailer hitches! What’s the matter? Did you rear-end someone with their ball in and total out a previous car?

In or out the lady still would have hit my trailer hitch, the ball just kept her a little farther away from my bumper. Without the ball in place I would probably be replacing my bumper again but instead the ball going in to her grill and hitting bumper supports stopped her from getting close enough to do damage to mine.

True I could have just removed the hitch from the receiver and found a way to unhook it but at the time none of us thought of that until after the fact. We were more concerned about getting the vehicles off of the highway at the time. If you look at the second to last picture you can see the gouge in her bumper from when she hit the nut on the bottom of the hitch ball and it slid across her bumper before crashing through her grill. All of the parts that were damaged, were damaged to the point of needing to be replaced when she initially hit me. When I pulled the truck off of her car it just damaged the same parts a little more.

Is your location right? Are you in Snellville? If so, then it doesn't surprise me that you get rear-ended a lot. Drivers around Atlanta a freaking crazy!

My sister is a pediatrician in Monroe. She lives about half-way between Loganville & Monroe, so I've been through there many, many times.

Same thing happened to me last year in my 2000 X. I calaimed $500 for a new hitch, even tho the old one was not damaged!

The insurance company settled like 5 days after the accident because I didn't claim more than the $500. Deffinately see a Chiropractor on their dime if you have even the slightest back or neck ache.

SO you think leaving my hitch in makes me an "enforcer"? DO people with hitches drive around backing into people or slamming on their brakes enticing accidents?

SO who's the one trying to "enlighten people about their bad habits"...even though its not a bad habit?

Nothing like admiting to two counts of insurance fraud in a public forum.

Not necessarily.

Visually it may have looked fine, but what happened if it failed while he was towing a 5,000 pound load of bricks on a trailer down a two way highway, and the hitch broke and slammed into a bus full of nuns coming the opposite direction?

No, I'm saying that based on the comments in the entire thread, people that are leaving the ball in on purpose are saying things like:

or

If those aren't "enforcer" attitudes, I don't know what is. Not too good with the reading comprehension, are 'ya?

As to this genius comment you made earlier:

You're a complete idiot. I ride a motorcycle year round, in every type of weather Louisville gets. From nice sunny, 90 degree days in the summer, to cold-as-hell, freezing rain/hail/sleet 10 degrees in the winter. You ever walk 6 blocks (that's a mile and a half, in case you're too stupid to know a city block is .25 miles long) when it's 10 degrees outside? Not to mention the wind that Louisville gets, since we're on the Ohio River? Sissy bitch? Lets see you get your balls out in the weather like that, and then you have a right to talk. Until then, STFU. You don't have a clue what you're talking about.

Dude, you are a douche. I run my truck with a ball 24/7 for the very same reason everyone else here does.

It shows a complete lack of inteligence to say that it was his fault that she ran in to him. She violated several laws.. reckless driving, following too close, innattention, and the list goes on.

The law doesn't say anything about driving with a hitch.

I suppose it would have been better if she did equal damage to his truck even though it wasn't his fault? God, it's pansy motorcycle driving asshats like you that are my pet peve. Keep bitching, in the end, there isn't anything you can do about it.

If you can't stop, smile as you go under..
<--Tailgaters

I haven't once said it was his fault. I have said the damage would have been much, much less, if the ball wasn't on there.

Go back, read through the posts, drink a beer, then think about what all's been said before you speak again. It'll do you some good.

we don't go under... we go beside... lane splitting is a blast. (and perfectly legal in most states, too)

I guess I'll shut up about the ball hitch. At this point, I've said my piece. Everybody's got pet peeves...

Thanks to all the fuckers that tried to make it personal, and sling the mud! That's what makes XOC great...

I'm gonna' go now, and drift quietly into the madness.

:p

I think it's legal, but doesn't it say somthing about having to use a blinker when you drift in and out of each lane? I heard that from somone, nobody does it, but there are always anal officers running about.

if you dont' like the ppl that leave hitches on... just take the hitch... most ppl don't lock it on..

i don't really think its a problem though.. but you could be like the masked hitch bandit... lol

worst 1st post ever?

I 2nd that DBAX...not a good way to start Boaks... :rolleyes:

Nah.

That would be "Hi. I'm Chia . . . "

Mine is purposely locked just for that reason. To keep people like you from trying to take them.

I also agree not a good way to start off here.

You can lock the ball mount into the receiver, but what about the actual ball?

I think if someone carries around a wrench large enough they could have it easily, but it is like a $3 item at walmart. I would not be too woried about locking it.

I moved my hitch lock up to the tire carrier, I would be BS if that got stolen.

You can try to spread a little JB weld on the threads, that what I did with my tool box on my trailer. Now I'll have to use a sawz all to get it off.

Loctite does wonders, If I need a new size ball or more drop I'll be getting a new hitch. If you plan on sawing it off, better have some time on your hands, stainless is tough stuff.

The saw would be for the box on my trailer.....the torch would be for the trailer ball. But I probally would just grab one off my other truck first.

Got a phone call from State Farm Claims Services Yesterday morning. Apparently they had just gotten a copy of the accident report with my phone number on it. Since I had never called them to file a claim they wanted to know if I had any damage from the accident that they needed to take care of. The lady on the phone seemed rather surprised when I told her I didn’t have any damage at all. I also asked out of curiosity how much damage was done to the lady’s car that hit me. Are you ready for this! $3800! I was rather shocked!