Hauling wood on rear hitch

DutchmenSport wrote:
Putting aside the issue of transporting firewood, I think you're asking about the weight on the rear of the camper. Not knowing what kind of camper you have, how long it is, and without doing the math to figure out how much tongue weight you'd loose, its really kind of hard to say what the impact would be.

My new Outback came with the 1 inch? receiver hitch on the back, already installed. Warning labels give a weight limit, which isn't all that much, but is adequate to carry a basket-cage that slides into the receiver. Although I had to get the step-up receiver, from the 1 inch? to the 2 an 1/4?? standard receiver, the carrying cage works pretty well. However!

All that weight hanging on a single post, with the width on both sides, causes the cage to wiggle back and forth, a lot! If you add something like this, for whatever you carry, it will probably have a lot of wiggle back and forth also.

In order to stop the wiggle, I attached 2 2x4 boards bolted to each end of the cage that catches on the top of the square bumper. So, the actual hitch carries the weight, and the 2x4's stop the rocking back and forth. No weight on the bumper, it's just used for balance. Too bad, I don't have a photo.

So, in your consideration of a single receiver hitch, take into account the rocking back and forth, because of the slack in the hitch and the shaft that goes into the receiver. I think that will be a bigger problem than the weight you're loosing on your tongue, especially if your trailer has any length at all.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck .... and please do rethink transporting firewood. In Indiana you can transport and even bring it into the state parks now, but the bark has to be removed and subject to inspection. So the rules are lifting in some places.

Good luck!

Good point about the wiggling back and forth. I actually was thinking about that. I was trying to even figure a way in which I may be able to attach eye bolts to the hitch frame and use ratchet straps to secure it.

Oh and by the way yes I was asking about the effects on the tongue weight. I probably should have posted in the OP but the trailer is a 2013 Dutchmen 265BHS which I believe it is 29'10" but I don't know for sure if that is the length of the box or from bumper to hitch. Like I said before the axles are about 2/3 of the way back from the hitch so the hitch end would still hold the leverage. Not saying it won't effect it at all just saying I don't think it will be to a 1:1 factor.