Charles Machine Ditch Witch, model year 2018. Filed by Charles Machine Works Inc and reported to NHTSA on 18 October 2018. 96 vehicles potentially affected.
What the notice says Charles Machine Works Inc (Charles Machine) is recalling certain 2018 Ditch Witch VT14, VT20 and VT24 trailers with HX30, HX50 or HX75 vacuum excavators equipped with an optional jib boom. The jib boom on these vehicles can become loose from the latching pin mechanism, allowing the boom to swing outside the trailer …
Is your vehicle included? Check with your VIN at NHTSA, or ask a dealer. This page is an independent copy of the notice, kept so you can see what changed after it was published. It is not the authority, and the authority’s own text is the one to act on.
Charles Machine's own number for this recall: ID0502488. That is the number on the owner letter and on the dealer paperwork. 18V727 is the number NHTSA gave the same campaign, and the number this page is filed under. They are one recall, written two ways.
What owners ask about this recall
- Which vehicles does recall 18V727 cover?
- Charles Machine Ditch Witch, model year 2018.
- What is wrong with them?
- Charles Machine Works Inc (Charles Machine) is recalling certain 2018 Ditch Witch VT14, VT20 and VT24 trailers with HX30, HX50 or HX75 vacuum excavators equipped with an optional jib boom.
- What can happen if it is not put right?
- If the jib boom swings outside the trailer while it is being towed, it can increase the risk of injury or a crash.
- Is there a fix yet?
- Yes, and it is free. Charles Machine will notify owners, and dealers will replace the latching pin with a hook mechanism that goes over the top of the arm, securing it to the trailer structure, free of charge. The recall began October 22, 2018. Owners may contact Charles Machine customer service at 1-800-654-6481.
- What should I do now?
- Check your own vehicle by its VIN with NHTSA, which is the record to act on. Charles Machine calls this recall ID0502488, which is the number on the owner letter and the dealer paperwork.
Answered from the register this site holds. NHTSA is the record to act on.
What the authority says can happen if this is not fixed: “If the jib boom swings outside the trailer while it is being towed, it can increase the risk of injury or a crash.”
affected
in the notice
caught
| Campaign | 18V727 |
|---|---|
| Filed by | Charles Machine Works Inc |
| System at fault | Structure |
| Reported to NHTSA | 18 October 2018 |
| Model years | 2018-2018 |
| Vehicles named | CHARLES MACHINE DITCH WITCH |
What the notice says today
The consequence
If the jib boom swings outside the trailer while it is being towed, it can increase the risk of injury or a crash.
The remedy
Charles Machine will notify owners, and dealers will replace the latching pin with a hook mechanism that goes over the top of the arm, securing it to the trailer structure, free of charge. The recall began October 22, 2018. Owners may contact Charles Machine customer service at 1-800-654-6481. Charles Machine's number for this recall is ID0502488.
What it said before
This campaign is in the register but not yet in the dated wording archive, so we cannot yet say whether its text has moved. It enters the archive on the next pass.
This is one of 901 notices in the record whose component field names structure. Across that group the median wait before owners were written to was 42 days.
Last checked . No change has been recorded in the wording.
The models named here, across their whole recall history
How to cite this record
Quoting the wording on this page means quoting a version, so the date belongs in the citation:
CarsMultiverse, recall 18V727, wording as read on 16 September 2026. https://carsmultiverse.com/recall/18v727/
The cross-border matches used on this site are deposited as a citable dataset: doi:10.5281/zenodo.22087136. The recall wording itself is published by the national authority named above and is theirs, not ours.
The recall record and its wording are published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and are US Government public domain. The dated archive, the comparison and any before-and-after above are CarsMultiverse. How fresh every engine behind this page is, is public on the status page. To check a specific vehicle, use NHTSA’s own VIN lookup.
Other Charles Machine notices we hold
- 19V490: 2018 Ditch Witch VT17, 2018-2019 VT20 and VT24 trailers
- 19V487: 2018-2019 Ditch Witch VT9, VT12, VT14, VT17, VT20 and VT24 trailers
- 16V541: model year 2016 Ditch Witch T14MV trailers manufactured June 23, 2015, to July 01, 2016
- 15V435: model year 2014-2015 Ditch Witch T14MV trailers manufactured December 1, 2014, to June 22, 2015
- 15V159: model year 2002-2015 Ditch Witch T26 trailers
All 6 Charles Machine campaigns we hold · Every manufacturer in the record
The fingerprint of this notice
We take a SHA-256 of each of the three blocks of text the authority publishes and keep the first eight characters. As we last read campaign 18V727 on 23 August 2026, they were:
- Defect summary
f076bb77 - Consequence
0fca992c - Remedy
7b683d9f
We first read this notice on 21 August 2026. It has not moved since. If it ever does, these characters will not match, and the change will be dated here.
The wording we hold for 18V727 · how the whole register is watched
This notice names one vehicle among several registers that have written about it. Every notice this site holds for the Charles Machine Ditch Witch, in all seven, is kept on that vehicle's own page, with the newest in each.
Put this notice on your site
A small badge that links here and names the register's reference. It costs one line of HTML and needs no key.
The badge is free to use. It links to this page and nowhere else, and it never shows advertising.
Owners of these cars
No register publishes what happens after the letter. Owners do: tell us, in two taps.
Anonymous: no account, no cookie, nothing you type is stored beyond these choices. Figures appear once 3 owners have answered, and are published with the record under CC BY 4.0.