I just bought a slide in pickup camper with full bathroom. I have a long bed but the camper is 11' long because of the bathroom. In order to haul it and the horse trailer I need a hitch extention. My stepfather wants to build me one and i'd rather buy it and whatever stabalizer i might need instead.
Anybody have any knowledge on the subject? The camper and trailer together are well within my towing capacity and its not something i plan on doing very often.
I actually had this exact thing. You need next next class of hitch and a stinger, you will much safer if you also use a stabilizer hitch in addition. The hitch that comes with your truck is not strong enough for the length!
I had this same set up years ago. Our camper was 11ft and my trailer was a 3 horse. The extended hitch was like 3 ft long and had stabalizer bars and was rated for 10k pounds. IF you go with a home made hitch for this set up and happen to get in a wreck via hitch failure you will be at fault no matter what with no recourse. I sure wouldnt chance it. At least with a factory hitch, the factory would be liable, not you.
I actually had this exact thing. You need next next class of hitch and a stinger, you will much safer if you also use a stabilizer hitch in addition. The hitch that comes with your truck is not strong enough for the length!
Thank you! Any chance you can post a link showing what you mean? Sorry I'm just completely clueless on all this...
ThreeCorners, I agree COMPLETELY! Another reason i would rather buy what i need :)
Posted 2014-04-03 4:42 AM Subject: RE: Hitch extensions...
Serenity06 - 2014-04-02 4:45 PM
I just bought a slide in pickup camper with full bathroom. I have a long bed but the camper is 11' long because of the bathroom. In order to haul it and the horse trailer I need a hitch extention. My stepfather wants to build me one and i'd rather buy it and whatever stabalizer i might need instead.
Anybody have any knowledge on the subject? The camper and trailer together are well within my towing capacity and its not something i plan on doing very often.
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The camper has nothing to do with your towing capacity ... it is your bounce and sway capacity you need to be concerned about. You are already top heavy and if you try to run highway speed or take curve or make a move too quickly.... you are a gonnnnnner!!
You will probably bottomed out on your springs of your truck which makes the nose of your truck rise up and lose it's true steering capacity due to weight transfer to what is hanging off the rear of your truck and the tongue weight of what you are pulling. When you get off center with your weight load you are a danger to yourself and anyone close to you.
With the sissy trucks they are building these days ... I doubt if you can order a camper pkg and a towing pkg on a truck today like I did on my 1997 ram 3500 dually ... 5 spd manual. Matter of fact it will be for sale in a few weeks..
Here is a welder building an extension hitch but no guarantee it has any weight transfer to it back to the front end of the truck ... this will get your attention how strong it needs to be ... .. I would question the strength of his welds looking at the dirt dabber beads he is drawing and I dang sure would not feel safe with those push out pins up under the truck to be dragged off even in medium tall grass or weeds and let a pin fall out ..... lol .. http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/23444655/sr...
Then here is a factory built super hitch hung on a truck after replacing everything that came from the factory. NOTE THE SQUAT IN THE REAR SPRINGS AND THE HOW HIGH THE NOSE IS ON THE WEINIE TRUCK EVERYTHING IS LOADED ON. .... LOOK AT HOW LOW THE TONGUE OF THE TRAILER IS SITTING ... doubtful if you can get across a speed bump with out whacking it and dragging tongue on it. ...
The other calamity I have seen myself .... is the high center drag and hang ups with these rigs when entering or leaving service stations .... the least amount of incline//decline and they need a wrecker to come drag them off of high center ... ...
Saw one wrecker guy flip the truck and camper due to it being top heavy by trying to drag it and the 2 horse trailer it was dragging without unhooking the trailer first ...
As everyone knows ... they will take everything under the sun and load everything beyond capacity and wonder why they ran off the mountainside when they ended up with overheated brakes or pushed the semi into the intersection at a red light .. lo .
Be ready when you are rolling down a good flat straight stretch of highway to catch on to some ocean waves in the road ... when the trailer starts to bucking and you lose your steering control ...... you are going to need some depends ... lol ... .
Posted 2014-04-03 5:46 AM Subject: RE: Hitch extensions...
Sock Snob
Posts: 3021
They have all types of spring helpers and air bags to keep trucks level with a load. Someone who sells trailers visit them get ideas go online get other ideas. I run an auto shop and a dealer for major hitch company and sell several hitches every month. You have a lot of options but would try to buy a hitch the calls for like 12 k them you can pull your 3 horse with fear you just dont wont problem spending an extra 150.00 now to save problems later. Its like some of these lq trailers coming with truck or 10 ply tires they need to be 12 - 14 ply yeas they cost more but when you are broke down on the highway that extra money is small in comparison.
Posted 2014-04-03 9:02 AM Subject: RE: Hitch extensions...
Elite Veteran
Posts: 1165 Location: California
Thanks everyone!
Yes I'm aware that its not just my towing capacity thats going to be affected and I dont plan on driving over 50-55mph. I do know i have more to worry about then the hitch extension and stabalizer, but those are the 2 things i'm clueless about so thats why i was asking about them. My truck isn't a new prissy one either. lol. Its a 97 F250 7.3 disel that already has added things to help with towing. The safety of my horses and other people on the road is NOT something I take lightly.
This set up is pretty much mainly just to move with and probably wont be done again very often. Loading and unloading the camper is WAY too much work for 1 person and I really dont like the whole idea. Just trying to figure out the safest way to do it :)
Posted 2014-04-03 11:22 AM Subject: RE: Hitch extensions...
Friendly horse swapper
Posts: 4122 Location: Buffalo, TX
We do hitches everyday in our shop....I would buy a 2 1/2" tube instead of the normal 2" tube and combine it with a good weight distribution set up that matches the tongue weight of your horse trailer. Stay away form a home made thing. What you need is called a hitch box extension. The total cost shouldn't be more than $600.
Hitch extensions...
