Towing F-150 with a Hydralift installed

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