Forum Discussion

mkirsch's avatar
mkirsch
Nomad II
May 27, 2014

Double tube hitch extension for heavy trailer

My camper overhangs the back of my truck bed by 18", and extends approximately 12" behind the end of the receiver.

For the last few years I've been towing my enclosed utility trailer using a custom 12" extension and a standard 5000lb shank. Here it is in prototype stage, before I added some 15,000lb D-rings and safety chained it to the truck:



When I tow my big flatbed to a tractor show, I use a standard length shank directly in the receiver. This puts the tongue of the flatbed under the camper, and dangerously close to the underside of the camper. All I need to do is hit a hump wrong going into a gas station.

To whit, I have come up with an idea to utilize my existing extension along with a custom extra-long shank as a tube-in-tube extension:



This is for use with gross loads of <8000lbs. That covers most of my hauling needs. Heavier than that I would use the standard short shank.

Feel free to pick it apart.
  • mkirsch wrote:
    Feel free to pick it apart.

    You and I have been on here a long time. I won't pick it apart, but I will tell you what happened to me.

    Years ago, I had Reese's biggest ClassV hitch running a 24" extension, and I would regularly haul my 20' ski boat (hence my screen name). Nothing extraordinary, double axle trailer with brakes, ~4000-ish lbs.

    Went in to get Torklifts installed/welded onto the rear. They refused to do the work because they found a LARGE crack extending from one of the mount bolts on the hitch. One of the 4 bolts holding the hitch on was basically attached to completely cracked steel and worthless. First question they asked - are you using an extension?

    I looked under there, and I kid you not, **I turned white** when I saw this crack. I immediately plunked down for a SuperHitch.

    You've been TC'ing for a long time, so I would only say inspect your hitch VERY regularly.
  • There was a formula floating around of how much you have to de-rate your tow hitch per inch of bar length... but I can't find it. The real answer is how it handles and what the numbers are at the CAT scales.