Sidewinder Pinbox Troubleshooting

Updated 01/26/2015 | Published 01/24/2015

Question:

Yes my dad and me both have sidewinder hitches. His is three bolts mine is four bolt. When unhooked you can not push or move my arm but his you can move. I dont see a problems with his moving easier than mine just wanted to check with you. It is possible his lower wear plate needs replacing?

asked by: Stacy P

Expert Reply:

There should be no play in the arm so you want to take care of the problem. There could be a couple reasons your Sidewinder has some play in it. First you would want to check the turret bolts on the top of the turret. If you have a 3 bolt setup they should all be tightened to 80 ft lbs of torque. 4 bolt systems would need to be torqued to 45 ft lbs. I have attached a drawing that shows where these bolts are located. The drawing is of a Sidewinder with 4 bolts. The location is the same on a Sidewinder with 3 bolts.

Another possibility is that the wear bushing inside of the turret has worn out.

The wear plate could also be worn.

Unfortunately, there is not an easy way to tell which part is failing until you tear into it. This can be a tough job. If you want to let me know what the make and model of his Sidewinder is, I can see if we have any parts available that can help fix the issue.

expert reply by: Jeffrey L