Towing F-150 with a Hydralift installed

I'll add what I found out today. Called Blueox and they said the tow bar was about 3' behind the hitch where it attached to the base plate and the swivel point 8-10" aft of the hitch. I briefly looked up hitch extensions and the Curt versions said the extension reduced the rated towing capacity by 50%. Since the Hydralift is rated to tow 7000#, 50% is not enough to tow a nearly 5000# truck. However on the Reese site the drop down extensions were rated at5000# and no mention of reduction to tow rating. Those also said for 4 wheel down towing only. Those didn't specify if they extended or just dropped.

I am figuring I will need another 12-18" extension in order to be able to tow the truck and not have truck to Hydralift contact but will need at least 5000# capacity.

drwwicks wrote:
We have a 2007 Itasca Horizon 40FD with a Hydralift installed to cary the motorcycle. Last trip we towed a Ford Escape on a KarKaddy tow dolly with no issues. Thinking about going to a new Ford F-150 4WD since it readily flat tows. Concerns I have is clearance with the Hydralift support arms and the truck.

When connecting a tow bar such as the Blueox, how far behind the hitch does the tow bar connect to the vehicle? How much of an extension to the hitch can be added without losing safety and integrity of the hitch system?

Don't want to invest in a new truck if it's not going to work. The advantage to this truck is it's the daily driver when not on the road also. Saves having a dedicated "toad".

drwicks,
In reality, the distance from the receiver that's built into the Hydralift, to the front grill/hood/fender corners, etc. on ANY vehicle that will be used as a toad, will be the same. We had the same exact concerns when I originally installed my Hydralift on the back of our '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the C-7 330HP CAT. We were to tow our '04 Jeep Rubicon while carrying our Honda Goldwing.

Well, as a test, I had my son and his fiancé ride in the Jeep as a test-pull so that he could view up close, just how close things came when I was in turns, dips, dip & turns etc.

His report was that everything is fine with the exception of dips & and turns. As you approach and enter a dip, while turning, your coach tires dip and, so does the Hydralift. And that means things get a bit dicey at the corners of the fender of the Jeep (in your case, a new Ford truck).

But, I had intended to increase the distance between the receiver on the coach and the attachement point of the tow bar by using my Ready Brake unit. That adds around 14" - 16". That was waaaaay more than enough for any and all potentially critical close-call conditions that would come up.

You asked just how much of an extension could be used before you compromised safety and or, towing geometry? Well, I already stated that I added the length of the Ready Brake system so, if you're not using that type of braking system than, you could easily use a 16" extension without fear of compromising your towing operations.

The tow bar distance is standard. Some are maybe an inch or two longer than others but, by and large, they're all pretty close to the same length, fully extended and locked.

On my setup, I had installed Hydralifts "Floor" that normally is used for their "NO touch garage/cover". Long story I won't go into now but, sent that cover back and kept the floor. The floor was two pieces of diamond deck aluminum. One for each side of the tire rail. That floor made for really nice foot placement when loading and off loading the bike.

Anyway, hope I've at least answered some of your thoughts and questions. Good luck.
Scott

Scott, I read an earlier post about your Hydralift garage and the floor you put on. I plan to fabricate something along those lines to help keep the bike cleaner. Not familiar with the ready brake unit but will research it. A reese extension gave a different rating, still less than 5K but it was referring to towing weight and weight distribution. Anyway I sent an inquiry to Hydralift for their input also.. Thanks for the input.

David

drwwicks wrote:
Scott, I read an earlier post about your Hydralift garage and the floor you put on. I plan to fabricate something along those lines to help keep the bike cleaner. Not familiar with the ready brake unit but will research it. A reese extension gave a different rating, still less than 5K but it was referring to towing weight and weight distribution. Anyway I sent an inquiry to Hydralift for their input also.. Thanks for the input.

David

David,
You're certainly welcome. I forgot to add in my post that, when towing our "then" toad, the lifted Rubicon Jeep, the towing attachment height is much higher than that of the coach so, a riser had to be inserted to get the tow bar closer to level while towing. Well, that meant I had another approximately 18" added to the total length.

So, there is the receiver built into the Hydralift, then the riser, again about 18" or so, then, the Ready Brake actuator, then the tow bar. I think all in all, I was close to about 5-6' from the tip of the Hydralift receiver to the front bumper of the Jeep. Maybe more. But, being that far away seemed to pose no towing issues that I can recall.

As you would surmise, the actual lateral leverage from tight turns is exaggerated. In other words, if you were to take a birds eye view of a somewhat normal towbar to receiver distance and, make a full 90 degree turn, the amount of leverage applied to the front end of the toad while making the turn is considerably less than what I had on that Jeep setup.

On 90 degree tight turns, I was kind of "scruffing" the Jeep ( almost forcing the front tires to slide sideways) as I was making a tight turn. Knowing that, I was always cognizant of that situation so, I tried to keep my ultra tight turns very limited while towing.
Scott

P.S. I wasn't ever concerned about the tow rating of any of the additional components I had to use when towing that Jeep 'cause I've been a steel fabricator most of my life and knew what would and would work and take stress.
Scott