Broken weld on trailer hitch

I just noticed this:


What are the implications of using the hitch in it's current state? The welds on the back other end of the hitch (toward the front of the truck) are ok, as is the same weld on the driver side of the hitch.

 

It looks like the paint is cracked not the weld.

 

Warranty work!
Might be OK, might not, depends on the load, driving conditions, etc.
Looks like it was impacted, they may balk at warranty, you could always take it to a metal shop & have them lay down another bead.

 

looks like a bad weld ...

 

I'm pretty sure it's cracked, it's still hanging on at the bottom though. A couple of guys at work weld so I may ask them to re-do the one side for piece of mind.

 

Take a wire brusk or something and try to get the paint off. That is the only way to tell if its the weld or the paint.

 

torch will also work well

 

Thanks for the replies, I'll wait until my welding buddies are ready before I delve too deep into a repair. I'll ask the dealership tomorrow and see if warranty is a go or not.

 

mwild said it right . If you take a torch to it your putting way to much heat to it thus weakening the metal . I would have it replaced if possible .

 

i didnt say to heat it up burning the paint off and getting metal hot is 2 dif things paint burns easily

 

That's a lot of rust for an '09... If the weld is indeed broken, have it warranty repaired.

 

I find it hard to believe that Toyota didn't weld it all the way around, and add a support to the top and weld there too. But I'm not an expert on welding and metal strength, so it could be fine how it is with a good weld.

 

We use a lot of salt here for the roads in winter. I have the truck oil sprayed every year, but still get some rust happening.

 

If you are still within the 3/36 warranty period and the hitch is part of the factory or dealer-installed towing package then I'd guess it's under warranty and they could just quickly replace the hitch with one in stock. However, it looks to me like someone has been hammering on that hitch, so they might balk at a warranty repair, citing "wear and tear."

That's just a bad weld but it would only take a welding shop about five minutes to fix it, and most of that time would be in grinding off the old weld. I spent an afternoon of my hunting vacation last fall fixing my brother-in-law's horse trailer, which had about twenty welds that looked just like that.

 

I spoke to the dealership. Since I'm out of my 3yr/60k warranty, they said that it wouldn't be covered. No big deal, the dealership have been great so far so I didn't argue.

Instead, I headed out to one of my supervisor's places and took off the hitch. He ground down the bad weld (that's what it was) and ran another bead.

Turns out that it wasn't as big a deal as I first thought, since that weld (and the one on the other side) only holds on the support bracket for the two bumper bolts. I still feel better for having it repaired though.

Thanks for the replies.