New Truck with a bigger hitch...

[Farm_Camp]

After several years of trouble free towing our "Blue Monster" crossed the 100K Mile mark and started showing signs of age. My oldest kid also grew 3 inches in 9 months and started to out grow the back seat...

So - We've upgraded to a new truck and now I have a 2-1/2 inch hitch. My Equal-i-zer hitch is on a 2 inch shank. I either have to buy a new shank or a sleeve - thoughts and opinions on a direction?

I started out thinking I'd just get a sleeve, now I'm unsure after reading around...

[Farm_Camp]

LIKE2BUILD wrote:
Get a 2 1/2” drop shank. There is a lot of slop created when using the adapter sleeves.

Yah - that seems to be the majority opinion... I tried a sleeve with my old shank and was instantly unhappy with the amount of play. Then I quickly discovered that my old shank just plain could not give my hitch head the drop I needed and so that made my decision easy. Worth the money and one less thing to loose!!! 🙂

Set it up and took it out for it's first test tow of about 40 miles last night.

I might have to tweak it a little more, but, it's really close.

All I can say right now is that I am amazed at how much better the new truck tows. I mean - I knew it would, but... Yah. The family will be pleased. I am thrilled beyond words.

[LIKE2BUILD]

Get a 2 1/2” drop shank. There is a lot of slop created when using the adapter sleeves.

[Farm_Camp]

Got the new shank today and I can tell without even hitching it up yet that I made the right call to go sleeveless :-). Much less play. It was darn expensive, but the right thing to do.

[Farm_Camp]

My old shank won't drop far enough, so, the new one is supposed to get here tomorrow and hopefully I can get it set up take a test run to make sure it's dialed in before our July outing.

[mooky_stinks]

When using a sleeve, I shimmed it by tack welding a thin piece of steel to it.

[Fordlover]

Farm Camp wrote:
After several years of trouble free towing our "Blue Monster" crossed the 100K Mile mark and started showing signs of age. My oldest kid also grew 3 inches in 9 months and started to out grow the back seat...

So - We've upgraded to a new truck and now I have a 2-1/2 inch hitch. My Equal-i-zer hitch is on a 2 inch shank. I either have to buy a new shank or a sleeve - thoughts and opinions on a direction?

I started out thinking I'd just get a sleeve, now I'm unsure after reading around...

I upgrade my equalizer to the 2.5" hitch, and keep the sleeve around for my little utility trailer on the 2" hitch.

I didn't like the idea of the hitch pin bending, which seems to be common when using the sleeve with heaver trailers and W/D hitches.

Wasn't cheap (150 bucks or so on e-trailer.com I think), but worth it to not have to deal with the sleeve every time I install the equalizer. And I've had no deformation of the hitch pin.

[Lynnmor]

Some new trucks now have 3" receivers and 3/4" pins.

There have been reports of the pins bending when using a sleeve with a 2 1/2" receiver. I got rid of the sleeve and eliminated much of the play.

[Farm_Camp]

Actually - I can't decide so I'm going to go at this both ways. Ordered a new shank and will also go see if I can set it up with the old one and a sleeve just in case.

[Farm_Camp]

Camp-n-family's comment about the rounding is worrying me more now... Hummm. I need to go measure again. The new truck is so much taller that I might have to get a new shank in any case to get the drop I need... $200 Bucks for a new one... Ouch! LOL.

None of my local RV parts places keep the 2-1/2 shanks in stock. The parts dude I talked to at one place said "everybody just uses a sleeve"... I'm always the oddball...

I'll go re-measure and see if I could reuse my shank with a sleeve and just set it up to see if so... I don't tow much besides my camper, but, Neschultz makes a good point about being prepared.

Thanks folks.

[neschultz]

I got the bigger shank...not as sloppy and seems better for WDH. Carry the old 2” one though. If something happens to your vehicle, you might need it for a temporary tow by someone else.

[camp-n-family]

I’ve been using the factory sleeve that came with the truck because I cant get a 2.5” stinger for my Hensley but it leaves extra slack in the hitch which is rounding out the pin hole on mine.