pin: lock or no

riptricket · **Posted:** Tue Mar 09, 2010 11:47 pm

I have this great debate over whether to use a locking or non locking hitch pin...
is someone really going to steal my ball hitch?

eyehatetofu · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:47 am

If it ain't chained down someone WILL steal it. That goes for anything and everything!

STINGN · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:52 am

if you like cleaning it out so it does not corrode, then get it...but i voted no, i hated mine (if you loose the keys, your SOL)

riptricket · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:55 am

i have two locking ones and 2 non-lockers...
the locking ones take a lot longer to hook up because there is not much room with the RL rear.

wecwbe · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:56 am

I think the best solution is to store it in the vehicle. That way, nobody will steal it and it won't be out in the weather also. I have to share one horror story from a locking hitch pin. I knew someone that left one in long term and it corroded to the point they couldn't get the key in it. The had a very difficult time when they needed to get it out. :banghead:

Think about all the road salt and grime that will get into the lock if you leave it on there long term.

If you are going to be using the hitch a lot in a given week and you don't want to keep installing it and removing it over and over then go ahead and lock it. Just don't leave a locking pin in long term.

Silverdiesel · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:02 am

Too many keys!! It's a good idea to lockem but through the years I have never lost a drawbar... And I am an old guy...
U-Haul has a silent hitch pin that locks and does not clunk when you stress it pulling a trailer.
I have a hitch on each end of my KJ and they have the D ring ( recovery point ) drawbar and they are not locked.

Roland

riptricket · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:08 am

it has a cover on it that is rubber so as not to rust...
I am really worried that if I have just the bar on there that someone will hook up to it like they did my brothers truck...
Yeah it really did happen, they locked on their truck to his because he was parked way over the line... he just took his bolt cutters out and cut the dudes chain and then drilled out the pin later.

SO yeah paranoia has set in.

tommudd · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:06 am

I have had a hitch on everything I have owned since 1972, have had one locking pin that I had to cut off due to rust. Have never had anything stolen. If I think there maybe a chance I throw it inside. Waste of money

TAHOE · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:33 am

My hitch stays in 98% of the time, locked..... I pull trailers so often, it's just more convient for me. I just use a std 5/8 pin, I drilled out the hole where the slide pin goes and use a small master lock on it( keep it WD40'd from rust).... I'm too cheap to buy and actually locking pin. My hitch is also an adjustable one, little more desirable than a std hitch. I will also state, I did have one of those pins that had the little sliding clip on the end which you could put a small padlock on... I removed hitch, left pin in without lock... it was gone within a week.
Leaving it back there also makes people think twice before tailgating :mrgreen:

I think too, when rust is mentioned, I remove my every few months and clean out the rust inside the receiver/outside of hitch, repaint. I've had to use a large sledge hammer to beat them out before cause they were left in so long and the two rust so bad, they were "fused" together.

InCommando · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:43 pm

tommudd wrote:

I have had a hitch on everything I have owned since 1972, have had one locking pin that I had to cut off due to rust. Have never had anything stolen. If I think there maybe a chance I throw it inside. Waste of money

I had to beat a hardened socket onto my last locking pin and use a breaker bar & pipe to bust it due to rust. Now I keep the insert under the rear seat on the drivers side and just use it as I need it. I have not replaced the locking pin, but I might.

WestyKJ · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:50 pm

I have one of each, only because I have my front license plate on a bracket that fits into my front receiver.

My D-ring on the back receiver has never had a lock on it and never been stolen.

I agree with someone who posted earlier that the key locks are a pain. Particularly if you've been mudding.

HoosierJeeper · **Joined:** Sun Feb 15, 2009 8:23 am **Posts:** 1218

Maybe not a locking pin, but definitely locked...

jay21 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:01 pm

riptricket wrote:

is someone really going to steal my ball hitch?

YEP! Theivin ba$tards

riptricket · **Posted:** Thu Mar 11, 2010 2:09 am

okay polling can stop... i decided that it is worth the trouble of taking it on and off so it will stayed locked. Thanks TO All

pin: lock or no

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