Lately it seems like everyone is parking way too close to my rear bumper, in fact so close that I cannot even open up my rear tailgate! So today, I gave them something to hit, I purchsed one of those solid steel hitches, with the three different sized towing ***** welded to it. This thing is solid & weighs at least 35Lbs, & is locked on with one of those stainless steel sleeves, from Master Lock! I tow about twice a month so I'll get some use out of it also, it sticks out far enough to stop idiots from getting too close.....Since I put on a new Roush Exhaust, I want to protect my tailpipes which exit from under the rear bumper........just let them hit that thing.... ...

 

 

Have the exact same ball and leave it on 24/7 for the same purpose. Your right about the weight of those things. I have seen what they will do to a toe if dropped, it wasnt pretty

 

I have one of these, i have had two encounters in the drive-thru with it already

 

I had a friend accidentally get out of his car while he was parking and he forgot to put it in park. He was parking behind his dads dually and the truck had those huge towing *****. Needless to say he had a huge hole in the front of his BMW after.

 

ouch... good idea!

 

I always leave my hitch in. I got one with an extra long neck so it sticks out like 6". You will love it untill one day you walk around the back and BAM hitch to the shin.

 

It leaves a permanent scar by the way.

 

I just use a 2" Drop utility platform, with a 2" ball mounted on it. It encourages the tail gaters to stay back. It has collected a Toyota, an Nisssn, and a Chevy Celeberty (spelling). The chevy was the only one not to drive away, and she only did $160 in damage to my Expedition, with the dealer fising it. The F150 never collected one. With the back up sensors, I could park my truck and get the ball within 2" of another car, and never touch them. It always stays on the truck.

 

It takes less of a shot to the drawbar/hitch than you'd think to cause frame damage. Just FYI.

 

Some one at wal mart must have banged their shin on a buddy of mines, he came out to find his hitch thrown thru his windshield! good idea to lock it on.

 

Looks like I will have to buy one for the same reason.

 

Mine never leaves my truck. Hitches save bumpers. I've been rearended two times and both times they got that in their bumper. One time I was backing out of a drive way on a blind turn and saw a car come flying around the corner. I stopped but it was sticking out just far enough He hugged the turn real tight and it scared the whole right side of his car. He even tried to blame it on me.

 

hitch through the windshield, talk about causing more problems than solving...holy hell.

 

On my Escape, before I sold it, some freakazoid decided to rear end me with a Hyundai Tiburion (sp?!) at a stop light. I had freshly installed my Reese Class III hitch, with trailer brake system, and I had a chrome 2" drop, extender hitch on it. It basically stuck out from the bumper a good foot or so. So you can imagine what it would be like if you decided to rear end me.

Well, that Tiburion had rear ended me doing 25 mph, scratched my bumper but it bent my unibody a little bit, but that hitch went through is bumper, through the transmission radiator, through the engine radiator, through a plastic fan, and into the engine block pushing the engine up to the dash... which messed up his dashboard, pushed his steering wheel up 3 inches, sheared the bolts connecting his engine to the transmission, and his exhaust system was bent in a "V" from the cats to the rear.

The idiots car was totalled, and he got 3 tickets.

Well, long story short, that Escape never acted right after that, and I took the insurance money and traded the Escape for the F150.