Patent ID: 8366136
Filing Date: 2013-02-05
Classification: B60D

Abstract:
1. An adjustable trailer hitch assembly capable of exceeding SAE J684 (Revision 2005) and V-5 testing requirements for a Class IV, 10,000 pound GTW rated trailer hitch ball mount, comprising: a reversible support member made of a square tubing steel support tube welded at a first end perpendicularly to a steel U-shaped connection bracket having a U-shaped internal configuration, and a singular, generally triangular steel gusset plate having one of its sides welded to said support tube and one of its sides welded to said connection bracket; a reversible ball mount member made of a square tubing steel drop tube welded at an end perpendicularly to a steel base plate having a hitch ball receiving orifice formed therethrough; two Grade 8, ⅝ inch bolts with four correspondingly sized washers and two nuts sized for threaded engagement; wherein said support member is affixed to said ball mount member by mechanical connection with said bolts, washers and nuts; wherein said drop tube and said support tube are made of ¼ inch thick steel and have a 2 inch square external configuration, and wherein said connection bracket is made of ⅜ thick steel and has a 2 inch square internal configuration that matingly houses said drop tube; wherein said gusset plate has two sides of a substantially similar length and is ¼ inch thick steel; wherein said connection bracket has two parallel sides each with two aligned bolt hole orifices sized to accommodate said ⅝ inch bolts, and wherein said bolt hole orifices on the same sides of said connection bracket are aligned along a linear axis of said sides and are spaced 1 1/2 inches apart from their centers; wherein said support tube has two sets of hitch pin orifices aligned on parallel sides of said support tube, wherein said hitch pin orifices lie along longitudinal axes of each parallel side and are sized to accommodate a ⅝ inch diameter hitch pin; wherein a length of said support tube is 10 1/4 inches and said hitch pin orifices are formed at 6 3/4 inches and 5 1/4 inches from said first, welded end; wherein said drop tube has a length of 10 1/4 inches and has five sets of bolt hole orifices aligned on parallel sides of said drop tube, wherein said bolt hole orifices lie along longitudinal axes of each parallel side and are sized to accommodate said ⅝ inch diameter bolts, and wherein said bolt hole orifices are spaced 1 1/2 inches between centers from their adiacent bolt hole orifice; and wherein the trailer hitch assembly further comprises: a coupling base made of a generally planar coupling plate with an Isosceles trapezoidal configuration having a raised peripheral flange extending normally from edges on two of non-parallel sides and a shorter contained side, and an oval adjustment ring cutout that extends through a center of said coupling plate, said adjustment ring cutout flanked, evenly spaced, on either side by one of a set of two parallel stabilization bars that extend normally from a bottom side of the coupling plate, and an oval adjustment ring having a hitch ball orifice formed therethrough along a linear axis of said adjustment ring.