Yesterday was the last decent day for open water fishing that we’ll get up here in Connecticut for a while, so I planned to tow my boat down and fish the lower, tidal section of the Housatonic River for striped bass. When I went to put the hitch into the receiver on my Jeep, the dogbone lock on the hitch receiver was frozen!  The less than one year old, supposedly stainless steel, thoroughly WD-40ed lock:

 

The key would turn fully, but the pin wouldn’t disengage and pop out from the end of the lock. I tried giving it a fresh shot of WD-40 and jiggling the pin with the key, but the tip of that  just broke off in the lock:

Yes, I probably shouldn't have yanked on it with pliers. 

 

Now, how would you remove a broken hitch receiver lock? Cut it with a reciprocating saw, a grinder or a torch? That's what I was thinking, until after lunch, when a buddy reminded me that I have a 45 ounce deadblow hammer. It took only a couple of minutes to figure out the right angle to hit the lock, but, when I did, it popped right off :

When that hammer was given to me, I thought that The Mighty Mjolnir was a little bit too much for me. Now, I feel kinda manly, or godly, even.  I really wish that my wife weren't out of town on a business trip! 

 

Of course, I woke up, this morning, to the sound of snowplows clearing snow from the road in front of my house:

And a couple of buddies who actually made it out onto the river, yesterday, boated almost 100 fish, including one keeper! Stupid lock. . . . 

That really stinks.  Rich Z has been reporting good fishing up there as well.

Just now, J Francho said:

That really stinks.  Rich Z has been reporting good fishing up there as well.

 

Rich is the buddy who reminded me about the hammer. He's also the one who caught the keeper. Of course.

The man, the myth, the legend!

7 minutes ago, J Francho said:

The man, the myth, the legend!

I always chuckle when I meet fishermen who don't believe his reports. They can't accept that he's so much better at catching fish than they are. But he really is. 

B.F.H., the universal wrench. 

I had a SS one rusted once.  Cut it off with a grinder.  Now I only install the lock when the hitch is in.

18 hours ago, S Hovanec said:

I had a SS one rusted once.  Cut it off with a grinder.  Now I only install the lock when the hitch is in.

That’s the new plan.