Tow hitch question

[horns]

I have a 2012 lr4. I have had the LR tow hitch for a while but just used it for the first time today. I used an old 2"x2" ball mount tube from my prior vehicle. This combo seemed to fit a little loose / slop in it (meaning you can wiggle the mount up and down a bit - not side to side and it is otherwise secured tight).
It has been a while since I towed on another vehicle. Is this how they are supposed to fit?

thanks.

 

[jwest]

I have a 2012 lr4. I have had the LR tow hitch for a while but just used it for the first time today. I used an old 2"x2" ball mount tube from my prior vehicle. This combo seemed to fit a little loose / slop in it (meaning you can wiggle the mount up and down a bit - not side to side and it is otherwise secured tight).
It has been a while since I towed on another vehicle. Is this how they are supposed to fit?

thanks.

2" is 2". Thats basically how they fit. You have to also consider that your old hitch is not going to be exactly identical to all others out there so it may be loose while others are not. Some are painted, some are not so there has to be a little room for margin in the receiver.

 

[Jomcool]

I’ve had a LR3 and now have a LR4 that have both seen a lot of towing. The LR hitch receiver on both have a lot of slop in the up and down direction with every tow bar I’ve used. One of my trailers rattled constantly due to this. I made a small wedge out of starboard(marine plastic material) and wedged it in the backside of the receiver under the tow bar to take up the slack. It stops the rattle and doesn’t impact any of the function. I think all of this comes down to the LR receiver being a cast part with pretty wide tolerances.

 

[toddjb122]

I use an Anti-Rattle Receiver pin to avoid this. There seem to be several devices out there to address this problem, but I got a couple made my U-Haul that work well.

In my case, I use a hitch extender to get my rear luggage tray further off the ground so it doesn't drag when I enter driveways (the LR4 hitch is pretty low). However, since I then have two receivers do deal with (the extender that goes into the LR4, and the rear tray that goes into the upper receiver on the extender) the wobble was significant. So, I use one of these pins in each receiver and everything is snug.

They're also locking pins. The locks are cheap and could probably be knocked off with a minor hammer blow, but they're a good deterrent in any case.

FYI - it looks like U-Haul changed the design. I don't know the difference between the options, but the U-Haul branded one I have looks exactly like this; Aero Silent Hitch Pin

 

[horns]

thank you guys. that's what is awesome about this forum and active owners. - I have reassurance and 2 suggestions to fix this if it bothers me! The trailer was bouncing around making extra noise - didn't sound like what I remember from towing with my old ride.