Today we are going to review part number AM3468 from Andersen Manufacturing. This is their rapid hitch. First off, it is a made in the USA product and it is a ball mount designed to be adjustable to match the height of your trailer. This is designed to fit on 2 inch receiver hitches. This kit does come with 2-5/16 ball and also the 2 inch ball. The rapid hitch is rated at 1,500 pounds and the total trailer weight is rated for 10,000 pounds. However, the hitch balls do limit your towing capacity. For instance, the 2-5/16 ball is good for 10,000 pounds but the 2 inch ball is only good for 8,000 pounds. This adjustable ball mount is constructed out of high quality aluminum alloy with the hitch balls themselves constructed out of zinc plated steel. 0:44
Alright, we will go ahead and pull it out and show you the shank and more details. You can see here, it is constructed entirely of the alloy aluminum. It has two hitch pin holes. So, it gives you a little adjustment in or out, depending on the hitch and bumper combination. We can go ahead and reinstall this and we can use a regular locking hitch pin or a regular simple hitch pin and clip. Next, we have the hitch ball assembly. Alright, and we will show you how to operate that. You have this little clip and pin. Pull out the clip. Pull out the pin. And then we can go ahead and adjust it up or down. You can take it off. And also, for instance, if we want to go from a 2-5/16 to a 2 inch ball, you just take it off and flip it over and then reinstall our pin at whatever height you need. And then reinstall our clip. 1:33
If you need a different size ball or one of these got damaged or whatnot, the hitch balls themselves are replaceable. First thing we need to do is pull off our hitch ball assembly. And then on the inside here, the threaded part here is a good old 1/4 inch standard thread. And what we can do is run a bolt inside there to pull out the pin. And we are just using a carriage bolt we found just laying around in the shop. We just thread it into place and then we can pull it out. And it comes apart. And then it is just the reverse procedure to reassemble. Just line up the holes and reinstall the pin. And we will take our bolt out and we can reinstall it onto the ball mount. Alright and there you have it for part number AM3468 from Andersen Manufacturing, the rapid hitch.
Today we are going to talk about ball mounts: what they are for, and what they can do for you. As you can see here, we have a variety of different types. And we are going to start off with the most basic type and go all the way up to the most advanced ones with the most adjustability to them. First, we will start off with a typical ball mount. And this configuration here is for a 2-inch receiver and also is a drop version. Basically, it is going to be 4 inches. Also, some models will have a gusset on the bottom, here, to give them a little bit added strength. Some of the typical straight ones will not have this, of course. And, depending on the materials it is made of, some will have the gusset and some will not. One other thing about ball mounts is, we have to talk about rise and drop. Basically, how they measure that is from the top of the shank down to the bottom of the plate here, that is considered the drop. And the rise position is considered this way - from the top of the shank again - well, to the top of the hitch - to the top of this plate here. And that gives you your rise measurement. So, in this case, we actually have from here to here a 4-inch drop, and then from here to here we have approximately about a 2-3/4 inch rise. And those rules apply to any ball mount out there. 1:04
