Binkley heads

[Darryl&Rita]

So, it looks like we're in the market for a new head for our Trailer-Saver air hitch. Anybody got a lead? I'm going to take ours into a machine shop for a look see. The pin for the fore-aft movement on the drivers side spit out, so I'm expecting to see some hole wallowing. Seeing as this is an issue, along with the way the pins bear the weight on them, I'd love to hear from a resident genius that his Super-Binkley was a retrofit kit, but I'm not sure if he has the engineering or manufacturing abilities.

[Ronbo]

Just upgrade the whole hitch. The et junior is a direct replacement for the trailer saver and a vast improvement. All it took to convince my wife was for her to see how it floats and the explanation that at 85 lbs our air bags were too small for our load.

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Contact Comfort Ride hitches. The owner, (Dave?) is the guy that built Trailer saver before he sold to Hensley. They ca either replace the head, or head and rocker box.

[Darryl&Rita]

Just upgrade the whole hitch. The et junior is a direct replacement for the trailer saver and a vast improvement. All it took to convince my wife was for her to see how it floats and the explanation that at 85 lbs our air bags were too small for our load.

You contributing?

[TreyandSusan]

Call TrailerSaver (1-800-410-6580) they can easily replace the head - I think the cost would be about $500.

They could probably even send you a new head and you or a mechanic could replace it. It is not a difficult replacement. The main tool you need is a big wrench for the bolt on the back and this could be borrowed.

For a very short time the main fabrication shop is in Hardinsburg, KY. Dave the original owner and hitch designer will be retiring in a few months and fabrication operations will move up to HQ in Michigan.

 

The important thing with the head is to lubricate the pins on the side frequently per instructions from Dave the hitch designer.

 

Of course the other options are good options as well. It is your choice.

[phoenix2013]

SAF-Holland, the manufacturer of most of the commercial semi hitches manufactures the Binkley head, it's known as their model FW0001. Trailer Saver must buy them directly or through a distributor like everybody else. The Bikley has been around for probably 30 years long before TrailerSaver and all other hitch manufacturers who did use it or are still using it existed. Everyone buys FW0001 and then welds on the bottom section to adopt it to their lateral swivel design.

There are two Hensley Mfg companies, the result of an ugly split years back. TrailerSaver corporate and ownership history is "colorful" to say the least for those who know the company and the "players" from its inception. There is very little respect for intellectual property.

Holland had the patents on the head and made some improvements over the decades but never addressed the weak point in the head which is inability to grease the main swivel shafts. This result over the years in significant wear (with heavier trailers, it's fine with lightweight trailers) in the shaft saddles. Once the wear reaches certain critical point, things progress rapidly to the point of failure described above. One of the older hitch manufacturers actually warns their hitch owners to be on the lookout for that after the swivel pin failed in the Binkley in one of their hitches. You can get new shafts from Holland but it will not help you, these are hardened and don't wear out it's the saddles in the hitch which wear out and enlarge way beyond the diameter of the new shafts. The head is basically an unrepairable junk, but I would be interested in it for the other parts in it.

You could cut off the swivel section that TrailerSaver welded on it and have it re-welded onto a new FW0001 which you can purchase from Nuera, they are distributors for Holland and have several stores all over the country.

 

Or, I could talk to a "guy" I know who can fix you up with a new ET Jr. These have Super Binkley in them and do not have the problem described.

[GlennWest]

Henry makes a great hitch. Glad I have one.

[phoenix2013]

Here's the "story of woes" in a typical old Binkley head and why they fail with time. This one was in a TrailerSaver, I think 8 years, the trailer was not that heavy, maybe 18K. The shafts were still in the saddles, I torched off the retaining pins to take out the shafts and take out the swiveler.

The swivel ears are 3/4 inch mild steel, the shafts are hardened, you can see minimal wear on the shafts.

Different story on the ears, lots of "daylight" between the ears and the pins.

 

 

Once there is that much space things speed up dramatically because you are not dealing with just wear due to friction, you are dealing with impact which hammers on that soft steel and enlarges the hole in short order.

[Darryl&Rita]

Henrys' pics explained the issues, as I see them. Add in the pins are in single shear, and it's not a very robust system. In a perfect world, we'd be running an ET already. I've seen them up close and in person. Henry also has the pics of it. But given the current exchange rate, I can't see a whole new hitch.

The machine shop I talked to on Fri. is willing to look at boring out the ears, welding them smaller, and finish honing the final diameter. They said they could also add some tempering for a small amount extra, but I didn't think to ask if it was a through-hardening, or just surface hardening. The holes in the hitch don't look too bad, right now. The wear seems to be in the rocker yoke itself. I wonder how hard it would be to add a grease ring, grease path and zerk to the hitch rocker yokes. Still stuck with single shear, though.

[phoenix2013]

When I was still using the Binkleys I had a thought of modifying them new before installing them on the ETs. Drill a small hole (grease way) from the top flat part of the swiveler all the way down to the shaft hole in the ear, Enlarge the top of the hole with a cone bit. You can purchase small hand grease gun and one of the accessories (besides the zerk fitting tips) is a rubber cone tip. Drill holes in the top of the Binkley head above those holes so you can reach the cone holes and force the grease into the shaft holes and around the shafts. Easy to do is you are going to have the whole thing apart. Once I got the Super Binkleys going I decided "why bother".