Rusted Hitch Receiver

[CrazyCain]

Recently my 2011 Chevy 1500 was rear ended as i sat at a red light. The guy behind me slammed into me because he "dropped his water bottle cap" and was looking for it on the floor. Um, yeah..............( think texting) anyway after the sheriff wrote up the report (he got a ticket btw) i took the truck to the collision shop.

Long story short, they discovered my hitch receiver (Factory installed) was twisted also, but the main thing about it is that it had rusted through on the back side of the bar and he said at anytime this thing would have snapped off while i was pulling my trailer.. ,, I guess it was a blessing that this happened, but damn......btw the truck was undercoated...

[JRTJH]

Scarey circumstances, both with the accident and "probable texting" as well as the rusted receiver.

Having lived in the UP "rust belt" for years, there's a couple of considerations about undercoating that I believe are important. Undercoating, depending on whether it's a "shield layer" (tar or more sophisticated spray coatings) or a chemical barrier (oily compounds intended to prevent oxygen from getting to the metal), if the owner doesn't "stay up on maintenance" the undercoating can make things worse rather than better...

In the case of spray on coatings, in many cases, if there is a small "void" or a "missed corner" when the vehicle is undercoated, the rest of the coating can act as a "bowl" to hold salt and moisture" against the steel, causing more rust than if the coating had never been installed.

In the case of chemical barriers, if they aren't reapplied and maintained, they either "drip away, wash away or wear away" sometimes in very short time frames.

I know this isn't a solution to your rusted receiver, and it's not intended to be. Rather a "lead in" for the question:

I wonder if the undercoating may have actually caused your rust problem to be worse and progress faster than it would have without the undercoating?

[CrazyCain]

Great point John, never thought of that. It was undercoated when I bought. Gotta love the Michigan salt fields right! Sure glad I was pulling at the [email protected]