ProPride Hitch failure

LiftedAWDAstro · 09-04-2018, 07:20 PM

As awesome as this hitch is at giving a 100% smooth tow in any condition...I have had a failure in mine. Not sure why. I emailed Sean @ ProPride on a Friday night and he replied within the hour! No questions asked, they are rebuilding it. The only bad part is I need to ship the hitch head to him. No big deal really as I will only be out that cost.

It has been getting bad for a while now as I have heard a lot more noise from it most of the summer but never really paid that much attention. I noticed it was bad around 310 miles from home when hitching up to come home. I noticed one of the bearing caps were loose. Pulled it off and the tapered roller bearing was mostly gone! Hitched up and it made the trip home no problem and controlled sway as it always does. I'll let the pics speak for themselves.

Note for ProPride (and maybe Hensley) owners, check for any play in the hitch head pivot point bearings. There is water and rust starting in the others too.

LiftedAWDAstro · 09-04-2018, 07:23 PM

I have has the hitch exactly 5 years and never thought about pulling the hub bearing caps (all 4) to check anything. There is no mention of any maintenance needed so I didn't bother. The grease zerk you see is for the weight distribution bars themselves. I am going to ship it out tomorrow and will call Sean and see about having them add zerks to the pivot point bearings and make that an annual maintenance item.

K2tiger · 09-05-2018, 03:29 AM

Out of curiosity, and not that it should be at all necessary, do you cover the hitch when in storage? I ask because I keep mine covered 98% of the time and I'm wondering if it is a rain water collection issue causing rust and degradation.

Seann45 · 09-05-2018, 07:32 AM

My HA let go same way 18 months ago.. I had bought the unit used from a fellow camper but was smart enough to buy the warranty from HA and got it replaced for just the shipping charges. I agree there should be zerk fittings on those caps.

LiftedAWDAstro · 09-05-2018, 07:03 PM

I do not keep it covered. I just figure it is going to get wet while towing so why bother covering it. Just something else to keep stored when towing. Seems to me that if there isn't a way to grease the bearings, then they ought to be 100% sealed...guess not!

I did not get a chance to ship it out today so tomorrow it is. After that I will call Sean and discuss the mods.

jsallman1 · 09-06-2018, 09:44 PM

Please keep us posted. Unfortunate situation, but it looks like in normal fashion the customer service was there from Sean. Definitely interested if they do any modification.

LiftedAWDAstro · 09-09-2018, 07:08 AM

Hitch head is supposed to arrive back to ProPride Monday. I will give Sean a call later Monday or Tuesday and talk about mods.

LiftedAWDAstro · 09-23-2018, 07:01 AM

Update: I called and talked with Sean. I asked about modifying the pivot points for grease zerks and he said they thought about doing it but they are sealed. He is afraid the owners would simply pump too much grease in and blow out the seals. He said he sees 2 or 3 failures a year and most are at the 5 year mark. He said out of 25,000+ units sold that is not a high enough failure rate to warrant the mod. He did say that since I understand the importance of not over greasing, I could go ahead and add the grease zerks so I can do maintenance on it myself easier.

I should be receiving the head back Tuesday and will get it modified and installed hopefully before our next trip Columbus weekend. I will post pics of the mods once done.

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