Thanks for the info on the Curt. That's what I'm going to go with. Four bolts secured to the frame of the vehicle as opposed to one metal bar that somehow came out of the slot seems to be a much safer system to me.

Of course I now have to spend a few hundred dollars having the tailgate repaired and repainted.

I've been looking for a heavier anchor for my boat so I guess the OEM Land Rover hitch gets a second life.

 

Is it possible that the grinding you did to the hitch took away some needed material and that's why it disengaged?

I have one and am now scared to use it!

 

That's what she said.

 

Anything is possible but I don't think that's the case. When I finally got it to lock in place the pin that goes into the slot to lock it was firmly and substantially in place.

Looking at it I think it is just inherently a bad design. 1) You only have one small metal bar holding it in place. 2) Based on the design the trailer is constantly pulling down and back, which is exactly the direction you don't want the hitch to be pulled.

I'll be installing the Curt hitch which has four (4) bolts that will be bolted directly into the frame. To me this is a much simpler and safer method.

 

Yeah, the hitch does look sketchy. Thanks for the reply.

 

I see you're parting out your LR3. You don't happen to have the lower lift gate in Java Black to replace the one my boat slammed into last Saturday do you?

 

Sure do! I'm bringing it to my tear down bay tomorrow. Let me confirm that it's clean and I'll send some pics.

Email me your address, PM is a PITA.

aaabeyta@mac.com

 

Hey guys.
Started reading this thread, decided that maybe my hitch is getting a little harder to operate, and likely needs a good clean and lube. Sure enough... so I'll jump on this thread.
Turned out it was pretty nasty, tired grease and mighty dirty, nothing moving easily. A little surprising considering it's only couple years old, and is never on the truck unless I'm actually towing but there...
Anyway, as mentioned, it was pretty gummed up, took some getting apart. The main locking pin was particularly difficult to remove, and now that I'm reassembling it occurs to me that I didn't notice where the detent ball sat in the 'mounted' postion. The ball was pretty hard to move anyway, but now everything free and lubed.
It seems to work either just inside the housing, or just outside - or even half and half as attached.
Anybody have one they can take a look at to confirm?
Too many tales of lost trailers out there to take a chance.

 

Seems to be about where mine was hitting. I don't think it ever was completely outside, which could be part of my problem. It sits so low and under the vehicle that I think it catches pretty much anything that hits it.

Picked up my LR3 last night and the Curt hitch looks much better and to me will be a much better way of towing. I'll get a picture taken and post it showing the new hitch.

 

Plenty of hitches available.