Trailer Hitch Set-up Option

[Buckaroo_Billy]

Hello, i'm new here and have a question.
I purchased a 20ft trailer, hooked it up and brought it home.
I hooked it up just like the person I purchased it from to my Nissan Frontier. I have towed many trailers in different configurations over the years so I understand most of towing.
Now, my question is do you think it would be ok to remove the head from my hitch and turn the hitch upside down with the "L" sticking up vs. down. Currently it wants to drag and is to low however, if inverted, no more drag and trailer would still set about right.

Thanks
Buckaroo Billy

[BenK]

Ditto what Barney said, but think your existing bars won't be at that high level

You did ask to raise your TV's back end to solve scraping the shank on the ground during maneuvers and copied replies below

Did say within your rating's

From the looks of your bars, there seems to be more tension that it will take and again, within rating's

That is the whole point of WD Hitch systems, plus a level of anti-sway (yaw) built in...and notice you have TWO anti-sway friction bars (a good thing)

By leveling the setup (both trailer & TV), it WD's weight from the TV's rear end to the TV's front end. Think of standing on the trailer tongue and lifting up on the two WD bars. That is like lifting the hand bars of a wheelbarrow and lifts. Since standing on the tongue, some of the weight lifted off of the TV's rear end, goes back onto the tongue.

Here is a picture of my Nissan Frontier. Do not tow with it...yet. That is what the Suburban is for. Have had the Frontier's bed loaded up with 40 bags of potting soil and guessing around 1,600 lbs and my Frontier's rear dropped about an inch or so. Made sure most of them were ahead of the rear axle. So think your Frontier should handle this well


Click For Full-Size Image.

My K3500 Suburban


Click For Full-Size Image.

BenK wrote:
Think flipping your drawbar/shank will have the WD hitch head too high

Does your drawbar/shank have a couple more holes above where you top hitch head bolt pokes through ?

If yes, then move the hitch head up one or two more holes.

If no more holes higher up, then look for another drawbar/shank. Something like this, where there are holes higher up


This one is for a 2” receiver (the part that bolted to the TV)
https://www.etrailer.com/Drop-Hitch/Fastway/FA49-00-5900.html

https://www.etrailer.com/Drop-Hitch/Fastway/FA49-00-5900.html



This one is for a 2.5” receiver (the part boltes to the TV)
https://www.etrailer.com/Drop-Hitch/Fastway/FA49-00-5925.html

https://www.etrailer.com/Drop-Hitch/Fastway/FA49-00-5925.html


No matter which one you use (yours, or the ones I posted links to), you will have to cut off the bottom

How much is up to you and think it should be long enough to protect your WD spring bars

I have a 2007 Nissan Frontier Crew Cab, but don’t tow much with it. The Suburban is my main TV

As only some have advised, follow your TV’s manual/label ratings information

Decide if you believe in the ratings system or not

If not, then do whatever you wish to do

If yes, then weight everything, axle by axle. Both empty and fully loaded

Orientation of the whole setup is to have the TV drop as per the manual. Most will say return the front axle to either unweighted height or some poundage

The trailer should be level at it’s highest pointing and personally have mine pointing slightly down. Trailers follow better when they are level or slightly pointing down

Good luck and tell us how it goes

BenK wrote:
Looked at your picture again and you might try this before spending $$$ on new whatevers

Depending on what the spring bars are rated for and how your TV is in reference to its ratings...


Try LOWERING your hitch head one drawbar/shank/stinger hole and increase the tension on the bars


That will transfer more tongue weight from the TV rear axle over to the TV front axle. Some of that tongue weight goes back onto the trailer tongue, which will raise the TVs rear bumper.


This can also be accomplished by tilting the hitch head backwards toward the trailer. The increase the tension bars reach, therefore more links can be hooked up...but from the looks of your picture, the hitch head is already tilted back. Maybe there is more to go?


This is why knowing your weights & where they are is important to dialing a setup in


A hand held hacksaw and several new blades can cut through that shank/drawbar/stinger...jut lots of elbow grease & time

[BarneyS]

Too much tension results in spinning the tires at every stoplight or on a wet or gravel surface. It has also resulted in broken trailer A frames for some members. That generally results from putting too stiff bars on lightweight trailer A frames.
Barney

[Buckaroo_Billy]

BarneyS - I see, that is how we hooked it up when I towed it home.
I believe I need to raise it Higher than we did in order to get chains hooked in a link closer to the where it connects to the bars, than where we had it. I trust this will give me better tension as long as I don't go to far with the links.
Wish I would of taken a better picture!
Can you have to much tension? Results?

[BarneyS]

Buckaroo Billy wrote:
Thank you BarneyS I like that method, seems to be a good way to hook up, I never thought of hooking the chain ends first and then pressing / pushing the curved ends of the bars into the head. May see if I can get the machinist at work to cut that stinger off.

Thanks again

BB,

Please read again what I posted. You still put the WD bars on and couple the trailer to the ball.

Then raise the tongue with the jack way higher until you can easily put the chains on the hook. Once you hve the chains hooked up you can let the tongue back down which will tension the chains as it goes dowh.

[ken56]

Excuse me but from looking at your picture turning the shank to point up will not allow the hitch head to be in the same position as it is now. Looks like it will be too high and thus the trailer will be nose high. You do not want to tow nose high. Things should be level or as close to level as you can get it. I might have missed a similar comment but generally flipping the shank is not problem as long as the hitch head can be positioned to allow for a level setup. As mentioned, cut it off first.

[Buckaroo_Billy]

Thank you BarneyS I like that method, seems to be a good way to hook up, I never thought of hooking the chain ends first and then pressing / pushing the curved ends of the bars into the head. May see if I can get the machinist at work to cut that stinger off.

Thanks again

[BarneyS]

Buckaroo Billy wrote:
Benk Thanks for the info.
I don't see how lowering the head one set of holes will raise the stinger all said and done. I have 3 links hanging on the bar chains, so if I do that do you suggest going with 4-5 links etc... hanging? Not sure I can muscle that much tension to lift and lock those bars but maybe I'LL give it a try.

BB,
You don't need to muscle those bars around at all. I see you have an electric tongue jack. Just hook the bars up in the chain link you want (you should have a minimum of 4 or 5 under tension between the bar and the hook). Don't pay any attention to the number of links "hanging". What do you if you have longer chains?

After hooking up the bars with at least 4 or 5 links on the hook, make sure the ball is locked into the coupler and just raise the front of the trailer with the electric jack until you can easily put on the WD bars. Makes it very simple and easy and safe.
Dont be afraid to lift it way up. It won't hurt anything.

One you have the bars connected (again-with minimum of 4 or 5 links between hook and bar) raise the tongue jack which will lower the tongue and put the bars under tension like they are supposed to be.

Whole process is much simpler to do than say. Try it a few times and you will be a hitch-up pro!:B

As far as the L part of the shank hitting the pavement, I would take the shank to a machine shop and have them band saw off the amount you need taken off. Looks like you could remove at least two or three inches. I think I would take if off just short of the angle brace were it mine.
Barney

[Reisender]

Buckaroo Billy wrote:
No I have not tried it without the WD hitch.
Haven't even taken it out since I purchased it and brought it home.
Have a weekend trip planned in a few weeks and just want to make sure I'm ready.
I might try and tow it home from the camping trip with just the receiver and see.
It's only a 100 mile trip back home.

I hope it works out for you. We pull a similar sized trailer. Maybe a little heavier loaded at around 3450 ish pounds. 340 pounds or so for hitch weight. Tows well with no WDH and our SUV only squats 3 or 4 centimetres. Our SUV is a little heavier than most and has a low centre of gravity so it makes for a well behaved combo.

I might have missed it but what trailer are you pulling?

[Buckaroo_Billy]

No I have not tried it without the WD hitch.
Haven't even taken it out since I purchased it and brought it home.
Have a weekend trip planned in a few weeks and just want to make sure I'm ready.
I might try and tow it home from the camping trip with just the receiver and see.
It's only a 100 mile trip back home.

[Reisender]

Buckaroo Billy wrote:


Thanks for the photo Link!

Here is the set-up as I backed into my drive way.
The bottom of the hitch dragged the driveway.

I just don't really see an issue if I turned that hitch "up" vs. "down"

That's a class III hitch and the receiver is rated at 4000lbs. trailer weighs about 3000lbs.

Thoughts?

I guess one thought is do you even need a weight distribution hitch. Our trailer is around 3400 pounds. Typical 10 percent hitch weight. We pull with an SUV. Really very little squat and it pulls very solid without an WDH. Have you tried it without? Seems like lots of stuff to hook up.

Just my thoughts.

Safe travels and have a great camping season.

[Buckaroo_Billy]

BenK good description-Thanks. I'll look into that concept and see what results I get. This could be a good idea, you saw how low those bars were hanging. Having them higher couldn't hurt.
Thanks again for your reply.

[BenK]

As long as there is enough travel for the bars, lowering the hitch head & tilting it farther back towards the trailer will allow the bars to be tensioned more

When the bars are tensioned, it lifts the TV’s tail end in order to “WD” the weight off the TV rear axle and moves that weight to the TV’s front axle.

Flipping the drawbar/stinger/shank will have the hitch head too high and the trailer tongue will be pointing up into the sky. A bad situation, as trailers follow best when level or pointing slightly down

Key is if your bars have enough tension rating to do this & enough room to be tensioned that much

[Buckaroo_Billy]

Benk Thanks for the info.
I don't see how lowering the head one set of holes will raise the stinger all said and done. I have 3 links hanging on the bar chains, so if I do that do you suggest going with 4-5 links etc... hanging? Not sure I can muscle that much tension to lift and lock those bars but maybe I'LL give it a try.

[Boomerweps]

Buckaroo Billy wrote:
Funny all these years I never heard of it called a "Stinger"
10-4 on the tailgate.
I'll have to monkey with it and see if I want to turn it over or just cut some of the bottom off. Don't have a metal band saw or a torch. So we will see....

I never did either until I got my first Weight Distributing Hitch. When you’re maneuvering the beast of a hitch into the receiver, calling the part sticking out a stinger makes some sense and it’s better than a vulgar alternative around the grandkids 😉