What doe's this do??

[farmboy70]

We were working on a 07 Dodge 1500 truck and after removing the bed we noticed this. It seems to be mounted in rubber and turns about 90 degrees. The crash book lists it as a trailer hitch reinforcement. Maybe I'm missing some thing simple but I can't come up with one logical purpose for this. Any engineers want to explain this to a dumb farmboy?

[Rare_T_A]

My only guess would be a shock absorber for the hitch of some sort??

[426HEMI]

That sounds right.  Without a hitch I do not see a reason for it.

[farmboy70]

The thing is that the roller is mounted in rubber but where it bolts to the bracket on the hitch is welded so what shock is it aborbing?
Dave

[torredcuda]

It looks like it triangulates(probably not a real word) the hitch and frame and maybe somehow keeps the frame rails from flexing too much when a large force is put thru the hitch?

[JS27N0B]

It helps reduce NVH(noise,vibration,harshness) There are lots of weights on newer mopars that are rubber mounted and placed on frames, exhausts, etc to cancel out problematic resonance.

[ViperMan]

It helps reduce NVH(noise,vibration,harshness) There are lots of weights on newer mopars that are rubber mounted and placed on frames, exhausts, etc to cancel out problematic resonance.

I'm going to agree with that - and also to help absorb/limit the twisting of the frame.

Jeff