Okay, what is wrong with this photo? Reader Tom Speirs spotted it and sent it along. We’re in a minor state of shock, at least at first glance. We suppose whoever concocted this setup had his or her reasons, but wouldn’t you agree that this is an accident waiting to happen if it was used to tow something on a public road or highway?
Now, there could be a logical explanation. Perhaps someone needed to tow a lightweight utility trailer around his or her farm, off road, for short distances … with little chance for any sort of serious mishap. If that’s the case, then … probably no big deal.
Still, we’d think that the minor cost of a proper hitch would be a wise investment.
But as a way to tow a travel trailer or other towable on a public road, this looks dangerous. It appears the hitch is below the bumper of a tow vehicle.
What do you think? Please leave a comment. If you can explain how this might NOT be a stupid thing, please tell us your reasoning.
##RVT1004
should reinforce it with the super-strong double-sided tape featured in the ad below the photo. lol
It’s for towing today’s RVs that won’t last as long as the wooden hitch!!! 😉
This is the up and coming idea of renewable trailer hitches.
I think this person is using this hitch setup to tow their blue boy to the dump station. There is no other logical reason except mention earlier, farm work?.
It’s a joke and Tom Speirs fell for it.
Tom “fell for it” just because he thought it was interesting enough to take a picture and send it to us? Maybe he took the picture because he knew it was a joke, or at least that it was unusual and wanted to share. Have a good day, Jim. 😀 –Diane
Yep, thanks.
It’s a cheap way to tow a Blueboy to the dump station. If I didn’t already have a hitch ball set up on my Jeep, I’d do this.
When I saw that I thought it was a joke. Some people will do silly stuff, but this is way past that.
Might not be stupid if used rarely and for short distances, such as moving trailers around on a farm. Still, I cannot imagine that buying a hitch would have lower costs than required to craft this from wood.
It’s a joke. 2″ x 2″ Pine cut down to 1″ for the ball would crack & or split on the way out of the driveway.
Maybe he has a wooden trailer with wooden wheels.
That’s been around social media for some time: I suspect it’s a joke. But what does “the hitch [being] below the bumper of the tow vehicle” have to do with anything?
Click Bait!
But, isn’t everything? Why would anyone post anything if they didn’t want it to be clicked on? Just sayin’. Have a good day, Dr4Film. 😀 –Diane
I guess I think of clickbait as negative stuff, like the “worst city” or “scariest bridge” lies/deception that I assume Google slaps in these newsletters. Those two are always in whatever state I happen to be in since I’m constantly tracked by Google. That kind of stuff is WAY different than actual valid and relevant info…or a good joke! 🙂 Those are valid clicks…not clickbait lies.
Gotcha, Spike. Click bait in the negative sense of the word, I think, is mostly sensationalism. We try to get people’s attention, of course, and be informative with our titles without being too “out there.” But sometimes the topic is way “out there” so we might add an appropriate title. We try to keep everything within reason, however, since we’re not a tabloid like you see at the grocery store checkout. Have a good night. 😀 –Diane
I tow a small fiberglass 5th wheel. Obviously, towing is done from the bed of the truck. For weight reasons, I constructed a stinger made out of wood to fit in my truck’s receiver. It does not have a ball, rather it has a hook. I use it to tow a portable waste tank from a campsite to the dump station. One cannot assume the intentions of others.
Shouldn’t it be held in the receiver by a wooden peg?
Askin’ for a purist.
I agree that this is a photo just to product comment simply because it couldn’t even stand the weight of a garden tractor trailer.
It won’t rattle!
I believe this is a joke picture that someone staged to get comments. It surprises me so many this is a hitch someone actually used. First give away is the fact it is new wood with no weathering.
If going to this much trouble to machine a piece of would to fit the receiver why not go a little further and and machine a wooden ball, that “woodent “ be hard in a lathe. Lol
We once had the highway patrol drive up next to our class c pulling our towed fiat. He stayed for miles in that position with the drivers side door parallel to our tow bar. We could see everything in the rear camera and all looked fine. He never pulled us over just watched us for probably 10 miles. I wonder if he had pulled something like this over at some time in his career
Nothing surprises me anymore!
I “wooden” suggest doing that!
This reminds me of one (of many) eventful sailing trips with my brother towing his 23-ft Aquarius sailboat. We made a pit stop just before the bridge approaching Charleston South Carolina and I got out and did my typical walk around to check out the trailer. I noticed that the trailer tongue had split up the sides and was just moments from snapping off… behind the chains! Since he and I are both quite handy, we took some u-bolts and bought a crowbar off of a guy at the gas station and bolted it underneath the tongue and wrapped it with a chain. We were able to slowly get to the marina and offload the boat and took the trailer in to get a new tongue installed.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/6sJzpXcT127m8cvD7
Just the design of that trailer is a accident looking for a place to happen. Lol
I think he put it there for people to bash their shins on, just like everyone else who leaves their hitch in the receiver.
I don’t buy the ‘use for light duty’ explanation. Even if the wood is scrap there is still time and effort to cut it to size and drill the bolt hole. A light duty hitch is cheap and readily available, just buy one.
https://www.harborfreight.com/ball-mount-hitch-with-2-inch-drop-94902.html?cid=paid_google|||94902&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=&utm_content=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwiqWHBhD2ARIsAPCDzak0B5UXAxMcP2tTL-LYpTuxFC07G3pMv3K4_aipW6acAYBFaJTaYA4aAmuXEALw_wcB
Wow,talk about lazy……They didn’t even carve a trailer ball,got a store bought one!
OK, just guessing here. He’s got wood imediatly available, doesn’t have a proper ball mount and needs to reposition a trailer in his back yard. One would hope he’s not planning on taking anything weighting over a hundred pounds or so any further.
Not an issue if he has good plastic safety chains
It looks a lot stronger than the one I made out of paper mâché.
I don’t really believe that someone made this to use! I think it was made to do exactly what it is doing, stirring the pot!!! It sure has a lot of people talking and quite a few laughing!!!!
Many years ago, my dad was following a car towing a trailer up a hill. The trailer suddenly broke away from the car, and demolished my dad’s car, but fortunately he survived. Maybe the {bleeped} was using a wooden hitch, who knows?
Or the paper mache one.
Maybe Airstream is using it to show how light their trailers are. lol
There are people out there who will craft such a creation to make your head explode….
Is this what you call a Redneck Uhaul.
No a redneck would hook the trailer using baling wire or twine.
My goodness how crazy is this person!?!
It should at least be painted black. 🙂
Yea, that would make it a lot stronger and very safe.
If it was painted black we wouldn’t be commenting on it.
Hard to say unless we know what’s being towed. No RV, I hope – the wood will crack at the step just ahead of the hitch.
You know your a red neck…
I try not to judge intentions without the full context, but, at first blush, this is very worrying. Hopefully this is only for pulling the waste tote!
For weight reasons, I also created a wood stinger with a hook for the sole purpose of dragging a waste tank to the dump station. Since I have a 5th Wheel, I did not want to carry 20 lbs of steel when I could utilize less than a pound and a half of wood with a steel I-bolt. We can’t assume intent when we see something like this.
Someone having fun and getting a lot of attention
I put the the owner of this in the same “camp” with those who don’t use a tow car brake system. Perilous.
The person who did this is part of a splinter group that wood never pine if it broke.
Good one Mike, I laughed
He forgot the duck tape. But there is some thinking going on here, I just don’t know where.
I call BS
This is the sorta thing the guy who uses cruise control to take a nap would use to haul a trailer.
I’ll bet it was a joke, if not someone is just stupid or dumb. Got to garage sale, almost every single one I have been too, has at least one 2″ stinger for sale, usually 10 or less.
Looks like on a farm and it’s the old truck (Unlicensed) used to move equipment around
“Stupid is as stupid does”. Only someone who wants to hurt or kill another person would do something like this. This isn’t even funny to take a picture of because someone without any common sense would actually try this.
I try and give people the benefit of doubt but in this case….nah.
That picture has been circulating for years. None of the commentators since know anything about it. How was it used or is it just a joke? It always causes a multitude of ridiculous comments.
No pun intended but could this be the redneck way of doing things? Who knows what this person was thinking but I would love to see it done. Just let me know when you are heading our way so I can stay off the road.
I think he accomplished exactly what he was going for. To get reactions just like this!!
I’d like to see the person who made it.
Thats pine. You should always use oak if youre going to tow an rv.
Ash would be better than oak, but with the poor wood working skills displayed in that photo either would be a waste of good wood.
At the price of any kind of lumber these days, this ‘joke’ would be way expensive now. 😛
Obviously for towing wooden trailers!!
I have to think it was just somebody having fun in his woodshop
I could have more quickly run to any number of stores and bought a hitch with obviously better quality, than the time it would have taken to make that.
Glad to see they used a high grade hardware bolt for the hitch pin. I wonder if there’s a lock nut and washer on the other side?
Not the first time I have seen a DIY that went too far. Wood or Steel? Hmmm which is stronger? Dumb. Personally, I have seen wood crumble in my hand.
Come on. Surely nobody is ever going to hitch a camper to that…
Hope it’s treated wood…. LOL