On other vehicles, I've always dealt with a little hitch rattle. My trailers are light, so there's not a lot of tongue weight when empty. The trailer to the ball is tight, but the ball mount rattles in the receiver hitch. So, I bought a U-bolt style clamp (first pic) that tightens the ball mount to the vehicle's receiver. Has worked great for years, with no problems. Enter the Renegade (Trailhawk, factory hitch). The hitch is taller, so a drop ball mount is required, and its gusset interferes with my U-bolt clamp. Okay, so there's another style that could work (2nd pic, with silver ball mount), but the hitch is tucked in to the body so well, it looks great, but doesn't have any room at the top of the receiver tube. If you flip it over, maybe I need to grind the chain loops (a little). Any pictures of what products you're using for this? Anybody have experience with the ball mount pins that have anti-rattle clamps internally (within the tubes)? Thanks! Sorry for the huge pics. I'll do better next time.
The fancy hitch stabilizer looks like a unistrut window clamp... https://www.grainger.com/product/22...!?cm_mmc=PPC:+Google+PLA?campaignid=175663197 I guess I never noticed the rattle...
W E L C O M E ! ! ! to the forum! Great tip, what a good idea. Thanks for posting. I haven't noticed any rattling either... but it doesn't mean that there isn't any. What are you driving? Do you have any pictures of your ride?
FatKid - good catch! Ed - I bought my wife a '17 Trailhawk. She's an adventurous type who needed a vehicle to match. I'm impressed with its stability, handling & design.
Hello. Can I bring this one back? I too sometimes tow a small trailer with my Renegade with the factory hitch. It is very noisy! Every little bump sounds like you dropped a stack of lead plates in the trunk. (it only does this while towing my trailer) I assume the sound is transmitted through the uni-body and that's why it is so noticeable. I haven't tried any fixes, but have been wondering what other people have tried. (My first post/comment, so far )
W E L C O M E ! ! ! to the forum. Noisy hitch fix... click here Heavy Duty – Anti-Rattle Hitch Coupling clamp.
Thank you!! Although, I'm not sure if these will fit with the factory hitch. There isn't much room in there.
I ended up using a clamp like what what posed by IDomyOwnRacing. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, to make it work, I did some grinding on the chain loops on the sides of the receiver tube, to make it fit. Some black paint later, everything looks and works just fine.