I know many of you have said in the past you have trailers with tongue extensions instead of a hitch extension. So those of you who do this how long is your tongue and how much does your camper overhang. What is your setup?

deltabravo wrote:Look for the video of the guy that has destroyed at least two Ford trucks with his heavy Okanagan camper and extremely long trailer tongue.https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28079284/

If you don’t understand the physics....

I'll sing a bit different tune than Delta. Currently we have 17 trailers..so I'm new at this. But...I have a 48" extension on the TC truck. It puts the joint right at the rear of the camper overhang.Four of the trailers get pulled by the TC rig. One's a boat; narrow front end, standard tongue, works great. One is a short snowmobile trailer (box). The tongue is approx. 5' long stretching from the 'V'. Works great..and it was standard.The other snowmobile trailer is a blunt front end; we extended the tongue 24". Without it, the trailer would hit the camper while turning in a lock turn. Trailers literally create a 90 degree corner, even while going forward. The last trailer is our 'support' rig (lack of a better term). 20' box, I had the thing built with an additional length, which is 6' total(it's a standard upgrade/option when ordering). That allows the same movement needs as the others.Without the adjustments (extensions) the trailers would hit the camper in tight turns, which of course would be a given backing up too. There is no down side other than a slightly longer trailer. When one gets up around 34'+, it really doesn't matter.I have considered and would if needed, go longer and shorten the extension some. It would allow a slightly higher tongue weight (shorter extension) but there are things to watch for that also.For towing, most won't notice the difference if the joint is directly at the rear of the rig, or in a foot or so. Backing...it changes things a bit but I dare say most don't get into situations where it would matter.That's clear as mud, yes??

Reality Check wrote:I'll sing a bit different tune than Delta. Currently we have 17 trailers..so I'm new at this. But...I have a 48" extension on the TC truck. It puts the joint right at the rear of the camper overhang.Four of the trailers get pulled by the TC rig. One's a boat; narrow front end, standard tongue, works great. One is a short snowmobile trailer (box). The tongue is approx. 5' long stretching from the 'V'. Works great..and it was standard.The other snowmobile trailer is a blunt front end; we extended the tongue 24". Without it, the trailer would hit the camper while turning in a lock turn. Trailers literally create a 90 degree corner, even while going forward. The last trailer is our 'support' rig (lack of a better term). 20' box, I had the thing built with an additional length, which is 6' total(it's a standard upgrade/option when ordering). That allows the same movement needs as the others.Without the adjustments (extensions) the trailers would hit the camper in tight turns, which of course would be a given backing up too. There is no down side other than a slightly longer trailer. When one gets up around 34'+, it really doesn't matter.I have considered and would if needed, go longer and shorten the extension some. It would allow a slightly higher tongue weight (shorter extension) but there are things to watch for that also.For towing, most won't notice the difference if the joint is directly at the rear of the rig, or in a foot or so. Backing...it changes things a bit but I dare say most don't get into situations where it would matter.That's clear as mud, yes??So do you use the hitch extension with the trailers that have extended tongues?

Cargo trailers with tongue extensions | Good Sam Community

stevenal
Nomad II
Jan 24, 2020
Tongue weight? Assuming the weight of the added metal is negligible in relation to the overall weight, the added lever length will work to decrease tongue weight. If the trailer in question isn't flipping end over end, the sum of the moments is always equal to zero. If it should decrease too much, you may be able to adjust the axle(s) position(s) to compensate.
time2retire
Explorer
Jan 24, 2020
I made a 30", 3/16" thk. 2"x 2" piece of square steel tube with a hole for the ball and one for the pin. It fits right in the factory hitch. It was less than $30 and is stronger than the trailer tongue. My camper sticks 16" out of the bed of the truck. It works great albeit I'm only pulling a 14' aluminum boat. It was an "engineering marvel" LOL.
zcookiemonstar
Explorer
Jan 24, 2020
Thanks everyone for your replies.
zcookiemonstar
Explorer
Jan 24, 2020
burningman wrote:
Seems many who replied misunderstood the question. This isn't about hitch extensions.

No, a longer trailer tongue will not make the trailer tow "wonky', it'll make it tow straighter and more stable.
A longer tongue will not increase tongue weight. And depending on your setup, it takes a pretty extreme angle to hit the camper.

I stretched my trailer tongue four feet. It has plenty of clearance below the camper. It works great, and is much safer and better than putting the hitch four feet behind the truck.
You don't have to install and remove any heavy junk every time you load or unload the camper.

Nobody pulls heavy trailers on four foot hitch extensions without a camper on their truck, ever. It's obvious why not. Its no different when you do have a camper on. People do it because its the store-bought, bolt-on solution and stretching a trailer tongue is custom work.

Wow I am so glad I asked this question. I didn't even think about my sewer line under the rear of the camper. In the right or wrong situation I think that tongue would hit. Thanks Burningman you always seem to be able to understand my poor writing and answer my questions.
deltabravo
Nomad
Jan 24, 2020
Kayteg1 wrote:
One thing to mention - truck long stinger not only adds like 200lb to the rear,

My extension does not weigh 200 lbs. Even the longest Torklift extension doesn't weight that much.
deltabravo
Nomad
Jan 24, 2020
Kayteg1 wrote:
Dletabravo completely misunderstood why the truck in picture broke.

No, I didn't misunderstand anything about that busted truck. That issue has been hashed and rehashed multiple times on many forums dating back to when the guy broke his first truck 5+ years ago.
wnjj
Explorer II
Jan 24, 2020
burningman wrote:
Seems many who replied misunderstood the question. This isn't about hitch extensions.

No, a longer trailer tongue will not make the trailer tow "wonky', it'll make it tow straighter and more stable.
A longer tongue will not increase tongue weight. And depending on your setup, it takes a pretty extreme angle to hit the camper.

I stretched my trailer tongue four feet. It has plenty of clearance below the camper. It works great, and is much safer and better than putting the hitch four feet behind the truck.
You don't have to install and remove any heavy junk every time you load or unload the camper.

Nobody pulls heavy trailers on four foot hitch extensions without a camper on their truck, ever. It's obvious why not. Its no different when you do have a camper on. People do it because its the store-bought, bolt-on solution and stretching a trailer tongue is custom work.

You correct on most points but you're leaving out a few other reasons why people don't just stretch the trailer tongue:

1. Stretched tongue means crawling up under your camper overhang to couple/uncouple the trailer. That may happen several times with the camper & "heavy junk" staying on the truck for longer periods.
2. They may borrow other people's trailers.
3. The trailer may just fit in a garage with the standard tongue.
burningman
Explorer II
Jan 23, 2020
Seems many who replied misunderstood the question. This isn't about hitch extensions.

No, a longer trailer tongue will not make the trailer tow "wonky', it'll make it tow straighter and more stable.
A longer tongue will not increase tongue weight. And depending on your setup, it takes a pretty extreme angle to hit the camper.

I stretched my trailer tongue four feet. It has plenty of clearance below the camper. It works great, and is much safer and better than putting the hitch four feet behind the truck.
You don't have to install and remove any heavy junk every time you load or unload the camper.

Nobody pulls heavy trailers on four foot hitch extensions without a camper on their truck, ever. It's obvious why not. Its no different when you do have a camper on. People do it because its the store-bought, bolt-on solution and stretching a trailer tongue is custom work.
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Jan 23, 2020
In life you will always find something that will surprize you.
I have 2 TC in the same 12' length and similar height of rear bumper.
But Lance has side entry and foldable step cage sticks down few inches.
The cage was bend when I bought the camper and even I straight it up, it did not take long to have it bend again.
I guess that design would rule out long tongue on the spot.
Bedlam
Moderator
Jan 23, 2020
Extending the tongue length on the trailer reduces the hitch weight even though that extra length adds material weight to the empty trailer. A longer tongue will make a trailer track inside a turn more than a shorter one. With about any trailer, you want the distance from rear corner of the camper to the front corner of the trailer to be more than half the width of the widest camper or trailer measurement. You need to add at least 1/2 a foot to the length to compensate for uneven ground.

Extending the receiver will swing a trailer wider in turns than without the extension. The outward swing will not be more than rear of the camper but is noticeable. Backing up a trailer using an extension will make the trailer respond quicker to steering input as if it was a shorter trailer due to the extra swing.

Some campers have little hanging bellow bed level and better suited for longer tongues directly connected to the receiver others have a step down to carry generators or propane in the rear wings plus have dump plumbing and generator exhaust hanging even lower. Remember that when taking dips out of driveways, you are also turning and may contact something to the side of the tongue rather than the camper floor.