New Truck with a bigger hitch...

LIKE2BUILD wrote:
Get a 2 1/2” drop shank. There is a lot of slop created when using the adapter sleeves.

Yah - that seems to be the majority opinion... I tried a sleeve with my old shank and was instantly unhappy with the amount of play. Then I quickly discovered that my old shank just plain could not give my hitch head the drop I needed and so that made my decision easy. Worth the money and one less thing to loose!!! :)

Set it up and took it out for it's first test tow of about 40 miles last night.

I might have to tweak it a little more, but, it's really close.

All I can say right now is that I am amazed at how much better the new truck tows. I mean - I knew it would, but... Yah. The family will be pleased. I am thrilled beyond words.

Get a 2 1/2” drop shank. There is a lot of slop created when using the adapter sleeves.

Got the new shank today and I can tell without even hitching it up yet that I made the right call to go sleeveless :-). Much less play. It was darn expensive, but the right thing to do.

My old shank won't drop far enough, so, the new one is supposed to get here tomorrow and hopefully I can get it set up take a test run to make sure it's dialed in before our July outing.

When using a sleeve, I shimmed it by tack welding a thin piece of steel to it.

Farm Camp wrote:
After several years of trouble free towing our "Blue Monster" crossed the 100K Mile mark and started showing signs of age. My oldest kid also grew 3 inches in 9 months and started to out grow the back seat...

So - We've upgraded to a new truck and now I have a 2-1/2 inch hitch. My Equal-i-zer hitch is on a 2 inch shank. I either have to buy a new shank or a sleeve - thoughts and opinions on a direction?

I started out thinking I'd just get a sleeve, now I'm unsure after reading around...

I upgrade my equalizer to the 2.5" hitch, and keep the sleeve around for my little utility trailer on the 2" hitch.

I didn't like the idea of the hitch pin bending, which seems to be common when using the sleeve with heaver trailers and W/D hitches.

Wasn't cheap (150 bucks or so on e-trailer.com I think), but worth it to not have to deal with the sleeve every time I install the equalizer. And I've had no deformation of the hitch pin.

Some new trucks now have 3" receivers and 3/4" pins.

There have been reports of the pins bending when using a sleeve with a 2 1/2" receiver. I got rid of the sleeve and eliminated much of the play.

Actually - I can't decide so I'm going to go at this both ways. Ordered a new shank and will also go see if I can set it up with the old one and a sleeve just in case.

Camp-n-family's comment about the rounding is worrying me more now... Hummm. I need to go measure again. The new truck is so much taller that I might have to get a new shank in any case to get the drop I need... $200 Bucks for a new one... Ouch! LOL.

None of my local RV parts places keep the 2-1/2 shanks in stock. The parts dude I talked to at one place said "everybody just uses a sleeve"... I'm always the oddball...

I'll go re-measure and see if I could reuse my shank with a sleeve and just set it up to see if so... I don't tow much besides my camper, but, Neschultz makes a good point about being prepared.

Thanks folks.

I got the bigger shank...not as sloppy and seems better for WDH. Carry the old 2” one though. If something happens to your vehicle, you might need it for a temporary tow by someone else.