Just picked up a really nice 2000 Lance Lite 915 last night. I bought it knowing full well that it wouldn't work with my trailer, but jumped on it because it was in immaculate shape and priced about half of what I think it's worth. I'm wondering about options for extending the hitch on my truck to make it work with my trailer?My truck is a 2012 F250 Super Duty with a factory hitch installed. The trailer I pull for firefighting is pretty heavy, it's about 12,000 pounds, maybe a bit more with equipment loaded. But now, my ball is about 24 inches under the bumper step on the Lance camper. :h I have looked at Etrailer and done some research, and I'm having trouble finding any options other than this:1) Torklift SuperTruss hitch- $6502) Torklift SuperTruss hitch extension- $5453) Curt weight distribution system- $500Ouch, that's $1700 plus shipping (and maybe labor, depending on the difficulty.), to even use my new camper while pulling my trailer.Are there any other options out there for hitch extension for pulling a 12,000 trailer?Camper was priced cheap enough that I will spend the $1700 if I need to, but would LOVE to do something for less if possible.

torklift 24" supertruss with a wt distribution hitch can handle 1400 pounds of tongue weight and 14000 of pull weight. only other option is to get a welded tongue extension on the trailer but that presents other problems with clearing the bottom of the camper when you hit dips or steep driveway transitions.

Depends of what factory hitch you have?My 2017 F350 come with 3" receiver, so for about $40 I bought 4 ft of 3" square tubing. Had to do reduction sleeve for 2" ball mount as tubing had weld inside, add safety cables and trailer wire extension. All together come to less than $100 and my 3000lb boat went behind it just fine.Your trailer is much heavier, but then you need only 1/2 of stinger I had.Bottom line, if you can get factory 3" hitch that would fit your truck, you'd be way ahead of any other designs. I did rough calculation and 3" tubing with 1/4" walls is stronger than combination of 2.5 and 2" stingers for vertical loads and way stronger for horizontal loads.

Rather than extending the hitch consider extending the trailer tongue. The advantage would be much less stress on the hitch.

That's a bunch of weight for a 250.

My 2005 F250 had a 4000 lb camper in the back while towing an 8000 lb trailer. You will find the stock rims and tires will be your first weak point and the suspension will be your second. The truck axle and frame ratings are good for over 9750 lbs. I used the 20k lb rated SuperHitch receiver with the 28" SuperTruss double extension and a Harbor Freight 10k lb WDH. To handle the 8000 lbs of rear axle weight, I ran 19.5" rims rated at 4500 lbs each, PR16 tires rated over 5000 lbs each, upper and lower StableLoad products on the factory camper suspension option and airbags inflated to about 50 PSI.

Hitch extension options? | Good Sam Community

Tom_M1
Explorer
Jul 29, 2020
If you went with a trailer tongue extension it would lighten the tongue weight on the hitch. It would be relatively cheap.
JrStafford
Explorer
Jul 29, 2020
Kayteg1 wrote:
We don't know what original poster hitch is rated for, but rule of thumb says that for 2 ft extension you derate it by about 30% so for 12k trailer it would have to be 18k rated.
I took a picture before of 22k hitch on my F350. The brackets went all the way in front of suspension mount, when lighter hitches hang on rear overhang only.
It would be a shame if OP would try it and come with picture similar to this one.

:E

Good grief, I don't want to recreate that picture. Maybe I need to spend the $1700 and be done with it. Wow!
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Jul 29, 2020
We don't know what original poster hitch is rated for, but rule of thumb says that for 2 ft extension you derate it by about 30% so for 12k trailer it would have to be 18k rated.
I took a picture before of 22k hitch on my F350. The brackets went all the way in front of suspension mount, when lighter hitches hang on rear overhang only.
It would be a shame if OP would try it and come with picture similar to this one.
dwrat
Explorer
Jul 29, 2020
Have a second 2" square reciever welded below your current receiver and then buy this for half price of new.

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/for/d/phoenix-supertruss-super-truss-hitch-29/7162963345.html
Bedlam
Moderator
Jul 28, 2020
My 2005 F250 had a 4000 lb camper in the back while towing an 8000 lb trailer. You will find the stock rims and tires will be your first weak point and the suspension will be your second. The truck axle and frame ratings are good for over 9750 lbs. I used the 20k lb rated SuperHitch receiver with the 28" SuperTruss double extension and a Harbor Freight 10k lb WDH. To handle the 8000 lbs of rear axle weight, I ran 19.5" rims rated at 4500 lbs each, PR16 tires rated over 5000 lbs each, upper and lower StableLoad products on the factory camper suspension option and airbags inflated to about 50 PSI.
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Jul 28, 2020
That's a bunch of weight for a 250.
Tom_M1
Explorer
Jul 28, 2020
Rather than extending the hitch consider extending the trailer tongue. The advantage would be much less stress on the hitch.
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Jul 28, 2020
Depends of what factory hitch you have?
My 2017 F350 come with 3" receiver, so for about $40 I bought 4 ft of 3" square tubing.
Had to do reduction sleeve for 2" ball mount as tubing had weld inside, add safety cables and trailer wire extension.
All together come to less than $100 and my 3000lb boat went behind it just fine.
Your trailer is much heavier, but then you need only 1/2 of stinger I had.
Bottom line, if you can get factory 3" hitch that would fit your truck, you'd be way ahead of any other designs.
I did rough calculation and 3" tubing with 1/4" walls is stronger than combination of 2.5 and 2" stingers for vertical loads and way stronger for horizontal loads.
Buzzcut1
Nomad II
Jul 28, 2020
torklift 24" supertruss with a wt distribution hitch can handle 1400 pounds of tongue weight and 14000 of pull weight. only other option is to get a welded tongue extension on the trailer but that presents other problems with clearing the bottom of the camper when you hit dips or steep driveway transitions.

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