Help with hooking up

I am a female in my 60's. These hitch heads are very heavy.

I would get a little red wagon to store the hitch in the garage.

Put a couple boards down in the wagon, and a non-slip shower mat, and set the hitch head with the ball on there.

Wheel it out to the tow vehicle and slide it into the tow vehicle receiver.

Then you would not have to pick it up off the ground or carry it.

I would leave it attached and locked on my tow vehicle while out camping and then remove it when returning back home using the wagon.

Or take the wagon with you.

mkctome - If you're still reading, I'd like to offer my own ideas.

You didn't mention what your setup is (the brand and model of your hitch head and the type of weight distribution and sway control you do or don't have), but I'll do my best.

I agree with the others who earlier said to ask someone for help. Either a neighbor, another camper, or any passerby should be able to slide that in for you at the beginning of the season. After that, just leave it attached to your pickup until you don't think you'll need it again for a while.

Some people disagree with this, but when I had a bumper pull trailer, I just left mine locked to my truck permanently. When I sold that truck, I had to saw off the lock when I couldn't find the key. I was actually rear-ended many many times in L.A. traffic and that hitch saved me from ever having any damage to the truck.

Having said that, the hitch is definitely a hazard and you'll never forget it when you do actually walk into it one day, because it's painful enough to bring you to your knees. Just treat it like a mean dog and try to avoid it.

I applaud what you're trying to do and I hope you manage to make it work for you. Pulling a trailer opens up so many opportunities for travel and camping. I also firmly believe that activities like this keep us sharp and young.

Best of luck to you, and I hope you actually get some valuable and respectful feedback here. It used to be a friendly place, back before we all got so bitter from the covid. Maybe your experience here will be a constructive reminder that we all need to pause before we post, and think about the humans on the other end of the screen.

Wow. This has been one of the most shameful threads I've seen here. Between the trolls, the bickering, and the downright horrible advice, this one truly wins the prize for the worst thread of 2021 so far.

I'm disappointed to see so much chest thumping in response to a 65 year old woman reaching out for help. Maybe we've all been locked up too long to remember how to relate to people.

And even those with seemingly good intentions, y'all posted up some of the worst ideas I've ever seen.

And then there are the trolls like 2oldman who peed in the pool. You guys are senior members who should know better. You guys should be ashamed of yourself. Go look in the mirror and repeat after me: "When a guy as blunt as Grit Dog is actually the voice of compassion and reason and admonishes me for acting like a fool, I've lost all perspective in my life and I need to step away from the keyboard until I can be at least as kind as him."

This used to be a five page thread (or 10, depending on your preferences). Now it's a much shorter thread.

I'm leaving it open in case anybody actually has any constructive advice for the OP (if she sees fit to return).

Grit dog wrote:
Could you guys stop arguing about stuff for more than 5 minutes to help someone out?.

I assume that’s a big negatory good buddy!

dodge guy wrote:
Jeez! Come on people. She's not trying to lift the trailer herself. She needs to lift the hitch and slide it into the receiver.

With at said I would just get a small class C. Much easier and no need to lift anything heavy. The heaviest would be the power cord.

Better idea, IMHO, would be a light duty jack or hoist, mounted on a tricycle carriage would work.

But with any kind of MH, unless she works with towbar, and the weight involved in that, everything that is set up for camp must be moved to go for groceries.

Jeez! Come on people. She's not trying to lift the trailer herself. She needs to lift the hitch and slide it into the receiver.

With at said I would just get a small class C. Much easier and no need to lift anything heavy. The heaviest would be the power cord.

Seon wrote:
Geez Louise, she can't lift the ball mount (receiver) to insert it into the TV and now you suggest she lift and connect it to the tongue ...back up..etc.

I would imagine it'd be best to ask a neighbor to insert the receiver and pin it then never take it off.

Better yet, buy an aluminum adjustable receiver which is light then leave the "stinger" in and remove the ball assembly.

Guessing it’s a wdh. Not sure I’ve seen an aluminum one of those.

Could you guys stop arguing about stuff for more than 5 minutes to help someone out?
And, trying to thread the needle with a stinger locked into a trailer hitch into the truck’s receiver is an act of futility at best and an incident at worst.
OP, just ask someone, anyone, to lift the hitch and get it in your truck’s receiver.
WD bars, depends what you have but using the trailer jack and/or a cheater pipe may be necessary.
If I was closer I’d come help ya. Good news is there’s no lack of RVers in FL. Help can’t be too far away I’d think.

Geez Louise, she can't lift the ball mount (receiver) to insert it into the TV and now you suggest she lift and connect it to the tongue ...back up..etc.

I would imagine it'd be best to ask a neighbor to insert the receiver and pin it then never take it off.

Better yet, buy an aluminum adjustable receiver which is light then leave the "stinger" in and remove the ball assembly.

theoldwizard1 wrote:

mkctome wrote:
I am a 65 yr old female, just bought my first RV. The trouble is, I know HOW to hook it up for towing, but I am not strong enough to lift the ball mount up to put on the truck.

The rest of you need to READ with better comprehension !

An electric jack will lift the tongue of the trailer, but not the ball mount. If it is an adjustable ball mount for a 2-1/2" receiver these things are ridiculously heavy !

Once the ball mount is installed, it should not have to be removed, unless you are a klutz like me and keep whacking it with you shin !

mkctome wrote:
And I don't have the strength to attach the control bars correctly.

The lever they gave you are too short. Get a piece of pipe that will slip over lever and make it longer. Probably need to DOUBLE the length.

Finding someone to help you insert the hitch head into the receiver is a once a season issue...yes, you can probably find someone to help with that. It will take 30 sec and not much can go wrong. Worst case, wave a $5 bill at a passing teenager and I'm sure they would be happy to do it.

Attaching the WDH bars, shouldn't take brute force. With an electric jack on the trailer, once the ball is hooked up and locked in, simply lift the front of the trailer, Eventually, it will be high enough that the bars will go into place with no significant effort.

If you can lift 10lbs, you should have no problem hooking up the WDH unless you want to pull the ball out of the receiver every time you stop.