MorRyde w/ ET hitch

[Big5er]

That is unistrut tray. Use it a lot for instrumentation and electrical

Thanks Glenn. I found it in the scrap pile at the RV repair shop where I live...along with the awning rod and the square tubing I used for the handle. One of their guys was welding on some aluminum one day and I asked "Hey, can you weld some stuff for me?"

The rest is history. It's amazing what you can find in the scrap pile....as long as you get there before the scrap man.

[GlennWest]

You can get made of stainless steel also

[phoenix2013]

Good morning gentlemen.

 

Looks like the solutions to this problem abound on this forum. The original handles that come on the round Binkley heads are made from flat bar 3/8" x 1 1/2". The handles on ET are laser cut but the portion where you engage the handle either with the breaker bar or some other extension remain the same size 3/8 x 1 1/2. In the past many people fashioned the extensions from (I would guess) 1 1/4 ID aluminum or thin wall steel tubing flattened to go over the handle. I like Carl's solution, it is by far the most elegant I have seen. I also have another suggestion.

 

 

We use it in the shop on the heads we build, it's probably the "daintiest" 1/2 inch breaker bar you could own. 3/8 breaker bar coupled to a 3/8 to 1/2 inch conversion socket. Perhaps it could work if inserted from underneath. We purchased both items at Auto Zone for under $30.

 

Now for a bit of the history. The handle has been a challenge on ET from the beginning. The handle on the round Binkley heads we use has to be cut down in order to keep it from hitting the sidewalls when the head articulates from side to side. The challenge on the Super Binkley is even greater.

 

In order to increase the head's capacity and accommodate the high tech bearing in the design it had to grow in size in few places and reduced the space for the handle. It is even more challenging on the smaller ET Jr.

 

Note where (in this version) we had to grind down the forward edge of the handle in order to work.

 

Larry, I have to apologize here publicly for being a bit curt when you called me. I have been working on the handle issue (from right to left) for years.

 

I think I finally have something that works and here comes Moryde throwing a monkey wrench into the design.

 

I have been an engineer since 1967 (half a century next year) which is a long time to gain experience and lots of opinions. Among those 49 years I worked 9 years for huge companies, Raytheon and Lockheed. The rest of the time I spent in small engineering and manufacturing companies from 3 to 30 people. In small companies all engineers and people running things are either very good to brilliant (you hire on this basis only, or you perish). In large companies you have some brilliant people, but not all (small companies grab most of them), so the rest of the engineering slots are filled with average engineers, to marginal, to idiots. This is probably is not fair but last time I visited Moryde it was a large company.

And then there are couple of recent examples.

Yours is one where they arbitrarily increased the size of the pin plate to accommodate their rubber snubber gizmo, without regard whether it works in all instances.

Second, was the recent work I had to do on their pinbox to work at a proper height (an industry standard).

 

Let the engineers in this group decide whether this design was conceived by designers who were brilliant, average, or idiots.

 

Again I humbly apologize, but I hope you understand why I was less than forthcoming when you mentioned name Moryde.

 

JC, I'll be more than happy to send you the drawing of latest handle design, there is nothing proprietary about it. The reason you haven't heard from me (after doing a bang-up job on the parts) is because my local steel supplier in order to increase his income purchased both laser cut and water jet cut machines and offers parts made on these.

[SuiteSuccess]

Henry,

 

Thank Bill Burton for my tool design. I copied his.

[Larry&Donna-AK]

Henry, thank you for the in-depth explanation, I'm a little surprised of the number of "work around" extensions out there in use for your handle. However, I can understand the difficulty of "one-size-fits-all".

 

For my application I'm liking the dog leg design, #3 of your photo, and extending the handle exposing the 1/2" square hole. Thinking an angled cut in the middle of handle flipping the end and adding the extension, 2 welds and the square hole is exposed for my breaker bar. My question, how many inches can I extend the handle before it interferes with the mechanics of the ET.

 

Also, thank you for the apology but it wasn't necessary. Just trying to solve a problem to make my life easier.

[phoenix2013]

Larry, Looking at the picture of the Moryde plate on the Super Binkley you have it seems it wouldn't take much to expose the square hole by extending the handle. you could go to the end of the square top plate of the head or maybe a little beyond. The limiting factor is the articulation of the head from side to side. As you tip the head from side to side (against the springs), it comes closer and closer to the platform and the sidewalls of the hitch. You could make some temporary extensions patterns out of cardboard, tape them to the handle and push the head from side to side and see if the cardboard hits anything, that will tell you quickly how far you can extend the handle for use with the breaker bar.

 

My further annoyance with Moryde is that it is not necessary with an ET hitch, the ET has a build in geometry to soak up and significantly reduce the chucking forces, a straight, standard pin box is all you need with an ET. There are two ways Moryde pin boxes end up on RVs, either the customer request one, or more likely they are supplied as "standard" (read, you pay for it) by the dealer or a manufacturer. Similar to air pinboxes that were supplied as standard on many heavy fifths by some manufacturers. I have nothing against air pinboxes, they work, but only on lighter trailer, they are worthless on heavy pin weight trailers since you have to inflate them to 80-90 psi, or even beyond.

I'll give it to Moryde, they are careful not to claim that this will eliminate chucking altogether, they just say it will "reduce it" and again they don't tell you by how much. I suspect that DRV installs them standard as a bandaid to help out all the pickup guys who want to pull these 43-44 foot, 20K fifths with their F350s. You hook up 44 foot, 20K fifth behind an 7K pickup, you gonna have chucking like there is no tomorrow and golf ball size knots in your neck after the first 200 miles. So you install a Moryde unti-chucking pinbox and tell the pickup guy everything will be OK. BS! Nothing but a sugar pill!

[Larry&Donna-AK]

Henry, thank you for the history and lesson. There is no doubt you are manufacturing a superior hitch and have a "handle" of my problem.

Also, thank you to group for all the photo examples and sharing. I definitely don't like what I've been doing to disconnect the hitch and have some ideas to solve my problem.

[Larry&Donna-AK]

Here is a prototype handle.

Remembering my original problem; there is NO room to a 1/2" drive Ratchet or Breaker into the release handle when the handle is closed and I having to jam a pry bar between the handle and head to release the hitch.

I found a steel1/2" square head bolt and came across a 4 foot 6061 aluminum .375x1.5 round edge flat bar, and thought lightweight, easy to work with hand tools.

Hand bent, drilled two holes, and filed two notches. It works okay, however still tweaking.

[Larry&Donna-AK]

Second ​Photo

[phoenix2013]

This bunch is just too clever for me!

[Darryl&Rita]

When I was in the planning stages for our deck, I asked about the relative merits of mounting in a trough vs. mounting on a flat surface. There wasn't a conclusive opinion offered, so I went with aesthetics, and dropped the rear of the deck. It cost a little height on the storage bays, but means I have a clear shot to the hitch handle. The addition of a flat stomach and average length arms means it's no problem to work the hitch handle, for myself, or Rita.

[rickeieio]

Hmmmmm. Amoungst the junk I inherited when I bought my shop, is a small air cylinder (1.5 x 6").

[Nuke-E]

Hmmmmm. Amoungst the junk I inherited when I bought my shop, is a small air cylinder (1.5 x 6").

 

Hook it up with a solenoid valve, and you can unhitch from the driver's seat without even slowing down!

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Deleted....

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

 

Hook it up with a solenoid valve, and you can unhitch from the driver's seat without even slowing down!

That would help with tailgaters...

[Ronbo]

Larry what us that small fitting on the air line?

[Larry&Donna-AK]

you

This bunch is just too clever for me!

 

Henry, we're not too clever, we're just improvising until the master provides a solution. it's disappointing that you've provided many handle photos to solve the problem but let this tiny glitch in your design to continue to exist on a GREAT Hitch.

[phoenix2013]

Larry what us that small fitting on the air line?

It's a shutoff valve to the supply line.

There is also a dump valve on the other line.

I installed these for a future modification.

As you guys might remember I was working on a mod to deal with units with low pinweight.

That project stalled when I had to go for the knee operations.

I will be resuming it when I am back to normal.

[Jack Mayer]

The addition of a flat stomach and average length arms means it's no problem to work the hitch handle, for myself, or Rita.

 

I only "wish" that I had a flat stomach.... But the breaker bar works in my case, so I can keep eating.....

[Jack Mayer]

it's disappointing that you've provided many handle photos to solve the problem but let this tiny glitch in your design to continue to exist on a GREAT Hitch.

 

The problem is that there are so many variations of facctors that it is pretty hard to come up with a singular answer.

[Big5er]

The issue is a combination of the bed, the trailers hitch AND the hitch on the truck. If we all made our beds and trailers identically, then the issue would be easy to solve. But as long as we all build unique and different trucks, how can you expect a "one size fits all" fix on the ET?

[Larry&Donna-AK]

The problem is that there are so many variations of facctors that it is pretty hard to come up with a singular answer.

The issue is a combination of the bed, the trailers hitch AND the hitch on the truck. If we all made our beds and trailers identically, then the issue would be easy to solve. But as long as we all build unique and different trucks, how can you expect a "one size fits all" fix on the ET?

I completely understand, Just trying to solve an inconvenience in design for my configuration. I like easy.

[Big5er]

I completely understand, Just trying to solve an inconvenience in design for my configuration. I like easy.

I almost said that if you want it "easy" then just let Donna do it.

Obviously I have been single too long and I corrected myself before I actually typed it. Wow...what was I thinking to even have that thought?

[noteven]

I still say torch the corner of the Mor/Ryde plate off so it's out of the road. A little grinder action and it will look all factory....

 

Glenn West or Brit would have that done before the coffee was brewed...