Reese hitch receiver tubing undersize

[Skyco]

Went by TSC today to look at the receiver stock like I bought. Yep- made in China. Tried a test fit and lo and behold some of the Reese drawbars will not go in the Reese receivers. In fact I got one stuck about an inch in and couldn't get it back apart
I took some crappy (really crappy!) cellphone pics below. Notice the radius of the internal corners in the tubing. Look closely at the 2nd pic upper right corner of the tubing The one I bought was nowhere near this bad, but still wouldn't accept some 2" drawbars.

 

[Deerlope]

I hope you jamed as many of them together as you could find. Like drop them on the floor. That should get your point across.

 

[Ford850]

My local TSC had a pile of Reese brand tubes like this marked down to half price a couple months ago. I wonder if they had this same issue and they were dumping them. I was looking for the small 1 1/4" size, but almost bought one of these since it looked like a great deal.

 

[Skyco]

I bought The same tube at TS about a year ago mine fit OK.

Yeah I've bought several over the years making stuff, never had a problem before.

 

[joes_427_vette]

Why would a person buy high priced Chineese steel products for a receiver hitch? Go to your local steel yard and find two 1/4" pieces of tube that slide together. The hole you drill will fit perfectly. With a total of 1/2" of steel your never going to experience a failure. Now you have stock to build a half dozen more !

 

[bobodu]

I did exactly that.However...I wish I had used a commercial hitch to get the proper placement of the hole through the receiver because they won't fit the tube. Can't get the pin through the hole.Fortunately,that was for the Jeep and I just use a 2' ball on that.Got MUCH smarter on the one I made for the dump truck...
HINT* If there is a possibility of using a tri-ball...drill both set of holes before mounting it on the truck. You can guess how I know this.....
Be sure to wrap the end of the tube with some 3/8 flat stock too.

 

[Skyco]

Why would a person buy high priced Chineese steel products for a receiver hitch? Go to your local steel yard and find two 1/4" pieces of tube that slide together. The hole you drill will fit perfectly. With a total of 1/2" of steel your never going to experience a failure. Now you have stock to build a half dozen more !

I've explained in previous threads that receiver stock isn't a common thing in steel yards. No steel yard locally has it in stock. The 2 in sq tube for the drawbars, yes they have that, and I have most of a 20' stick of that out in the shop. Proper receiver stock has a .238 wall/rounded corners and is flash removed on the inside.

Steel Flash Removed Square Tube 2-1/2 x 2-1/2 x .238 (Grade A500) | Buy Small Quantities Online | Allmetalsinc.com

 

[Scotty370]

Metal Supermarket has it, and it's called 'Trailer Structural'. Just don't know where you are! I've got one about two blocks away, and it's like a "Big boy, DIY, Candy store". ~Scotty

Metal Supermarkets

 

[Skyco]

They opened a store in Columbia, SC recently so I'll have to go check them out.

 

[Runner]

I had a similar problem with the cheapie HF receivers, but this was due to the seam on the inside of the tube. Took a big, long flat file and worked on it until the drawbar went in.