I'm pulling a 2014 Arctic Fox 25r with a 2015 Silverado 2509 HD.Sometimes I scrape the tailight of the truck on the fiberglass nose cap of the trailer when backing it in to my driveway. Its a narrow street and I'm not 100% consistent in nailing it in on the first try without jacknifing. Will going from a 12" long shank to an 18" long shank buy me a bit of extra clearance between rear corner of truck and nose cap and better backing control?

It will help. To hit the nose cap of the AF on the tailgate, you must be pretty much jackknifing the trailer, eh?

Won't that make for a longer "lever" as far as the hitch goes? Meaning, you will be putting more strain on the trucks hitch to get the same WD. But, if the hitch is up to the task, sounds like it'll help with your ability to turn tighter.Do you remove the WD bars before doing the task?I have to do that with my TT when I park it at home.. Just because of the angle of the driveway I have to go up, there is an extreme angle as the trailer goes up the driveway while the truck is still on the street.Good luck! Mitch

deltabravo wrote:It will help. To hit the nose cap of the AF on the tailgate, you must be pretty much jackknifing the trailer, eh?Doesn't seem so, but obviously I'm cranking it too far.

MitchF150 wrote:Won't that make for a longer "lever" as far as the hitch goes? Meaning, you will be putting more strain on the trucks hitch to get the same WD. But, if the hitch is up to the task, sounds like it'll help with your ability to turn tighter.Do you remove the WD bars before doing the task?I have to do that with my TT when I park it at home.. Just because of the angle of the driveway I have to go up, there is an extreme angle as the trailer goes up the driveway while the truck is still on the street.Good luck! MitchOh yeah, i remove the wd bars when I do tight backs. Questions answered on e-trailer.com seem to indicate that wd won't be affected as long as the tongue weight is within the limits of the shank's capacity. It's made by equal-izer which is the wd system on the truck.

What do you think about putting a front hitch on?

How does a longer shank affect backing? | Good Sam Community

Whangler
Explorer II
Aug 07, 2021
deltabravo wrote:
It will help. To hit the nose cap of the AF on the tailgate, you must be pretty much jackknifing the trailer, eh?

Doesn't seem so, but obviously I'm cranking it too far.
MitchF150
Explorer III
Aug 07, 2021
Won't that make for a longer "lever" as far as the hitch goes? Meaning, you will be putting more strain on the trucks hitch to get the same WD. But, if the hitch is up to the task, sounds like it'll help with your ability to turn tighter.

Do you remove the WD bars before doing the task?

I have to do that with my TT when I park it at home.. Just because of the angle of the driveway I have to go up, there is an extreme angle as the trailer goes up the driveway while the truck is still on the street.

Good luck! Mitch
deltabravo
Nomad
Aug 07, 2021
It will help. To hit the nose cap of the AF on the tailgate, you must be pretty much jackknifing the trailer, eh?

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How does a longer shank affect backing?

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