CamperDaveinPA wrote:
I am trying it figure this out, I measured to the center of my hitch receiver on my motor home it was 26.5 in to the ground (when on a level surface of course). I then measured to the center of my hitch pins on my baseplate it was 16.5 in from the ground (again on a level surface). It seems to me that a 10 inch drop receiver,is what would make my tow bar level, but I read on another post, someone suggested loading the motor home then measure the hitch height, it may drop a few inches. My question is do I order the 10 in drop, and hope the weight of the motor home don't move much? The blue ox manual said its ok to be out of level by 4 in above but 0 inches below, with that said do I just buy the 8 inch drop and leave it 2 in above, or am I just not measuring or think about this the right way. Any help would be appreciated. This is what I have: 2012 Itasca sunova 36 v towing a 2013 honda crv with a blue ox advanta lx bar
Thanks
We ran into the exact same situation with our 2013 Adventurer and our 2004 Jeep Wrangler. Even the height measurements are the same. To further complicate things there's a section in the owners manual that advises against using any more than a 4' drop receiver.
First of all we loaded everything we normally carry into the motorhome. Then I filled the 80 gallon water tank and the fuel tank. The propane tank was already full so at least I didn't have to do that. Guess what? The height of the hitch didn't change more than 1/8 of an inch.
I talked to the Winnebago customer service department at length about the situation, and how they were all but putting themselves out of the market for people who want to tow. As the conversation continued the factory rep admitted there was some leway in the specification. He also mentioned that in the very near future Winnebago would be changing the recommendation from a maximum of a 4" drop receiver to a 6" drop receiver. The other thing they warn against is using a surge brake system on the toad or trailer. They say the force placed on the hitch in a panic stop from a possibly overloaded trailer could cause damage to the drop hitch or the trailer hitch itself.
By the time the conversation was completed he agreed that a 6" drop receiver would work. The main reason was the hitch is no longer furnished by a vendor. It's now made by WInnebago to their own specifications, which according to him are considerably higher than the industry standard.
On our trip to Alaska a few years ago I saw several drop hitches and a couple trailer hitches destroyed because of the height differences and the huge frost heaves in the roads. To help aleviate that problem I ordered a 10,000 lb 6" Roadmaster drop hitch from e trailer. It weighs about 20 lbs, but I doubt it's going to bend or collapse pulling a 3,400 lb Jeep.
We've towed the Jeep now a little over 500 miles with a little less thn 4" height difference between the Jeep and the motorhome. We also use a Roadmaster 9060 braking system on the Jeep to minimize the pressure on the hitch assembly when stopping. The real test will be next week when we start heading back to Alaska.
