Towing with a 10 footer

[andytruck]

With my camper in it is as long as the end of the tailgate down. How do you tow? The trailer tongue is too short to reach under the tailgate (extended camper rear) and not hit the camper in turns.
Two options - longer trailer tongue, or longer hitch extension.
The extension from receiver is easiest, but more torque on the frame could crack the truck possibly. anyone have experience?
Making the trailer tongue longer is best, but much more involved than buying a box extension.
I have a Dodge Ram 2500. Towing rated at 10,000lbs. maybe the frame is strong enough?
I have a 2,000 lb cargo trailer, empty, 14 foot long, 5 wide.
thanks

 

[redthies]

I have a 10' camper on my 3500 and am in the process of fabbing up a new trailer. It is around 16' long with a 10'6" deck and racks overhead for my 14' Jonboat, and underneath the boat will be a quad or side by side. I couldn't find what I needed, so I built it.

 

[SoCal Tom]

If the trailer weighs that much, I'd have the tongue extended to reach under the tailgate. Look at the total weight rating of the truck, it probably can't tow 10k and carry a heavy load in the bed.
Tom

Sent from my Lenovo A7600-F using Tapatalk

 

[andytruck]

sorry, the towing is rated at 13,400 lbs. My truck camper does not weigh too much. 2,000 is light for a trailer, loaded it will be heavier.
Im thinking about building a bolt-on tongue extension for the trailer.
Big question is- with a hitch extender (not trailer tongue extender) how much trailer weight etc is too much and how much can the truck frame take before cracking? And, Im not talking about the rated weight handling on the hitch extender sticker either.

 

[wirenut]

My camper is over 11' long. I tow using a Torklilft Superhitch and a Supertruss 48" extension. It takes the entire 48" extension to get the ball back past the rear bumper on the camper. The extension is rated for 6,000 pounds of trailer without a weigh distributing hitch and a 12,000 pound trailer with one. I used it to tow my 4,500 pound boat and a cargo trailer that was of similar weight. I had no problems, it works great.
The Superhitch alone is rated for, I think, 17,000 pounds towing and 1,700 pounds of tongue weight even without a WDH. It's a beast and it works good.
The problems with building a long tongue on a trailer are many: what if you want to tow a different trailer? You will have to crawl under the truck to hitch and unhitch. Going thru a "dip" in the road could cause the tongue to come up and contact the rear of the camper since the pivot point will be forward of that.

 

[andytruck]

nice

Torklilft Superhitch looks very nice. That maybe answers the question… My friend had a custom hitch extension welded to his RV frame and after many miles broke the RV's frame. He was weary of me putting on an extension like this. I'm a little more confident since my hitch is rated at 10,000lbs and his RV frame not meant for what they did to it, though he probably had a 10,000 lbs hitch on there at one time too.
That looks like something I could fabricate up using a long extension, this looks like it will work, thanks

 

[Lance990]

When using a hitch extension you must cut the tongue weight capacity in half. With an extension you are creating a great deal more leverage on the receiver than without it. We all know what you can do with a long pry bar, right? Also, you have to look at the Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) of the truck, not just the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR).

For example, my truck's GVWR is 10,000 lbs. I carry a 3,800 lbs truck camper in the bed of the truck and that puts me right at my GVWR limit. With my E4OD transmission and 4.10 differential gears, the GCWR of my truck is 18,500 lbs as rated by Ford. Since my truck already weighs 10,000 lbs with the camper loaded, this means I can only tow a maximum of 8,500 lbs with the truck camper loaded (18,500 - 10,000 = 8,500). But, wait a minute, not so fast.

I have a Class V receiver in the rear which is rated for 1,200 tongue weight and 12,000 tow weight. I have to use a 48" extension to clear the rear overhang of the camper so my maximum tongue weight with the extension is 600 lbs (1/2 of 1,200). So, in reality, I can really only tow about a 6,000 lbs trailer because of the tongue weight limit with the extension. Gross Tongue Weight (GTW) is usually about 10% of the total weight of the trailer so 10% of 6,000 is 600 lbs.

 

[andytruck]

This is what I have come up with so far. I had to special order the extender, but Uhual had it for $31. I added chains on the sides for lateral support by welding on some Unistrut brackets (home depot) to the tip of the 18 inch extender, The Unistrut is really great because it is thick and already has holes drilled in it. Then, in the first photo, is my shackle that just slips into the sides of the receiver unit, which happens to be the same 2 inch i.d. box section that receives the hitch. The shackle sits in the box tube at an angle, but no matter as long as it is in there. Tension on the chains hold it in, so no need for mounts. Rusty metal to start with and I kept it rusty (I am so used to my scrap pile of rusty metal).
I may weld a flat strip of metal to the tip of the extender and stretch to the bumper for vertical support. I figure weld it to an unused ball and just bolt it in the bumper hole. Not sure if that is necessary though.
I also wired up an electrical extender and bolted it on the side.

Two of these, one for each side. The extra metal on the left there is bc I let the flat bar move when welding it, so I had to add a little to square it up in the hole.

Not sure if I should have the chains very tight, or just tight enough. Not sure what happens on the road when the trailer bumps it hard. If it is too tight maybe the chains just snap?

This is looking from the rear corner of the truck at the side of the bolt-on receiver.

 

[zb39]

You are going to over load your stock hitch. Be safe and get a super hitch and extension. They are built for what you are wanting to do.

 

[boxcar1]

I'd be for extending the trailer tongue. No added leverage to the truck.....
So this makes the weight a moot point.
If the trailer has a square tube tongue it is as easy as fabricating a hitch extension. Just buy the correct size tube to slip in to the tube that the tongue is made of, then pin it just like your hitch.
If rec tube this can be a bit tougher but still an easy fab job.
Your hitch extension looks good ( nice job ) but does nothing to help the load capacity of the hitch. It actually decreases it expedientially due to the added leverage.

 

[Lance990]

It sounds like your hitch is a class III with a 2" receiver. There are two types: Weight Carrying (WC) and Weight Distributing (WD). Not all hitches are rated for both. The WC hitch is rated for a max 6,000 lbs towing and 600 lbs tongue weight (TW). The WD hitches are rated at 10,000 lbs towing and 1,000 lbs TW. You need to find out what yours is rated for. It may be rated for both WC and WD. If so, your tongue weights with extensions will be 300 lbs and 500 lbs, respectively.

The reason I installed a Reese Titan Class V hitch with a 2.5" receiver was because I HAD to use an extension with the truck camper loaded in the bed. My camper has a floor length of 11' 3" which means I have almost 48" of hitch extension before I can tow anything. Reese Titan or Torklift's Super Hitch are great options. If I had it to do over again, I would have installed the Super Hitch since it has more capacity.

 

[andytruck]

I wanted to extend the trailer, but the problem is that I have a truck camper hanging out that distance so going through a dip would cause the trailer tongue to impact the camper and ruin a trip, or the top front of the trailer could hit the top back of the camper. Also in sharp turns I would have to be careful that the trailer does not hit the camper - it would probably tag the corner of the camper if I came anywhere near to jack-knifing.
Yes, the leverage will increase the effective weight of the tongue. That is why I was thinking to put another extension from the top of a trailer ball which would be bolted to the bumper (higher than the receiver) and run down to the too of the extender. This would transfer stress to the bumper and back to the frame and off the receiver. This way the load is shared by the bumper and the receiver. All the stress is on the frame, but the frame looks more than adequate to handle the weight, it is not the weak link.
These extensions have been on the market for years and I have not been able to find where someone has broken a hitch, maybe need to look further to find the breaking point of this system. Theory is one thing, but I am interested in real-life instances.
For now I will try to balance the trailer so weight is on trailer wheels as much as possible.
I am taking a very small trailer this weekend on this system, but it is so light is not going to tell me much.
thanks

 

[boxcar1]

I like your idea. ( upper attachment to the bumper.)
I also see your point with the tongue extension.
Load wisely and keep it safe.
Remember , we need to be more concerned with the other people on the road than ourselves.
They didn't have a choice in the design......