sype
Member
Got a bit of a scare last week.. First time towing my RV trailer with my 2022 Telluride (did it plenty with my previous 2020 Telluride, with the same RV). During the trip back from our vacation spot (a 5-hour drive), the hitch was rather noisy... not that unusual, but enough to make me stop to make sure everything seemed properly secure. Everything seemed fine. Once I got home, I unhooked the trailer, and when I removed the ball mount from the receiver on the Telluride, I felt the receiver move up! I was easily able to move it up by about half an inch by hand.
I went to the dealership the next day, all the while noticing a noise from the back every time I'd hit a bump on the road. The guy at the dealership checked underneath and was rather surprised.. some bolts on the factory hitch were very loose (you could easily turn them by hand). He said that it was caught just in time and I shouldn't tow anything until the issue was fixed. No idea if or how close I came to loosing my RV trailer on the way home, but definitely not a good feeling
The ride to our camping spot was very, very smooth (to the point I often forgot I was towing a 4-ton trailer). So I'm pretty positive the hitch was solid on the way up. I therefore believe it became loose at some point during our return trip.
Moral of the story: double-check your hitch before any significant towing segment, even if it is factory-installed. Now I know better.
I went to the dealership the next day, all the while noticing a noise from the back every time I'd hit a bump on the road. The guy at the dealership checked underneath and was rather surprised.. some bolts on the factory hitch were very loose (you could easily turn them by hand). He said that it was caught just in time and I shouldn't tow anything until the issue was fixed. No idea if or how close I came to loosing my RV trailer on the way home, but definitely not a good feeling
The ride to our camping spot was very, very smooth (to the point I often forgot I was towing a 4-ton trailer). So I'm pretty positive the hitch was solid on the way up. I therefore believe it became loose at some point during our return trip.
Moral of the story: double-check your hitch before any significant towing segment, even if it is factory-installed. Now I know better.
