rickhise wrote:
Excuse my wording, Is there a minimum or acceptable
ground clearance between the bottom of the
Hitch an the ground , once your camper is secured on the ball.
rule of thumb. Thanks
Hi, I can tell by the answers which are sort of all over the map, we do not understand your question. Please give us more info what you are asking with some specifics.
You asked about "minimum" ground clearance between bottom of the "hitch" and the ground.
If you mean a weight distribution hitch, we need to know the brand and type of hitch you have to give a better answer.
If you happen to have a Reese, trunnion bar hitch with the dual cam, if you start getting much lower then 6" from the bottom of the cams to the ground, sooner or later you will touch the ground if a pot hole etc comes you way. 5" will hit often, 6" will usually only touch down if you drop in a hole.
If you happen to have a round bar WD hitch, then the curved bars under the hitch head can be the bottoming out point. This also happens with a large drop shank regardless of the hitch. Again, 6" is around that same area. You go much lower and the bars can hit if the truck does a bounce and your transitioning from level to up hill on the truck at the same time.
Also the truck suspension type and the loaded trailer tongue weight comes into this answer. A 1/2 ton truck with a 500# loaded TW camper will bounce lower then a 3/4 or 1 ton truck with a 500# loaded TW. So you can get away with a lower drag point on the heavier suspension truck if you have a lower TW in relation. But a 1,500# loaded TW camper on a 3/4 ton truck can be in the same problem as the 1/2 ton with a 500# TW. There is no one size fits all rule on this.
These answers may be some of what you are talking about but may be way off base as we need more info on your setup and question. You where getting answers on ball height of the camper which did not seem to fit what your question was when you stated "hitch".
Hope this helps
John
