Anyone have or used one of these? automated safety hitch

[lc0338]

automated safety hitch

I have a 2001 dodge diesel 4x4 3500 dually with a hoswel haybed. The haybed weighs about 2000# itself. With my solar generator loaded on the back of my truck and hooked to my 3 horse slant horse trailer with living quarters I'm kinda at the max and a little over on gvwr. Kinda weighing my options if I should go ahead and move up to a 4500 / 5500 ram. I saw this automated safety hitch. There are pros and cons. Biggest con I see is having another axle on the ground and having to the upkeep on 2ea more tires. Maybe that would be less cost than upgrading to larger / newer truck. Just undecided. I know there are a lot of discussions on tow vehicles being too small. Maybe this would help someone else.

[gijoecam]

K Charles wrote:
If you need to pull a 5th wheel and you don't have a pickup maybe.
I saw a big DP pulling a 5th wheel rubble decker car trailer with one, I guess that would be the only way to do it.

I've also seen this several times. Lots of racers use them at the drag strip around here. (OK, a handful, but they're not a rare sight) You can get a whole 'nother car in a triple-axle 5er stacker compared to a tag trailer.

[christopherglen]

newman fulltimer wrote:

christopherglenn wrote:
They like to call it a safety device, and say it is exempt from length limits, but in reality it is either a load carrying frame extension, or a converter dolly. Depends on the judge. If it were permanent to the tow vehicle, it would be a load carrying frame extension, but in their ads they show dropping it with the trailer attached, moving the TV, and recovering it with the load still attached - in which cast it would be a converter dolly.

dot approved it as a extended frame seeing it attaches at three points and the tires swival not the frame

As I said, depends on the judge.

[Learjet]

just what I would not need...to make my total length longer and harder to back.

Also, I would rather have the weight on the truck to add stability and control.

NOOOO WAY 🙂

[newman_fulltime]

christopherglenn wrote:
They like to call it a safety device, and say it is exempt from length limits, but in reality it is either a load carrying frame extension, or a converter dolly. Depends on the judge. If it were permanent to the tow vehicle, it would be a load carrying frame extension, but in their ads they show dropping it with the trailer attached, moving the TV, and recovering it with the load still attached - in which cast it would be a converter dolly.

dot approved it as a extended frame seeing it attaches at three points and the tires swival not the frame

[christopherglen]

They like to call it a safety device, and say it is exempt from length limits, but in reality it is either a load carrying frame extension, or a converter dolly. Depends on the judge. If it were permanent to the tow vehicle, it would be a load carrying frame extension, but in their ads they show dropping it with the trailer attached, moving the TV, and recovering it with the load still attached - in which cast it would be a converter dolly.

[newman_fulltime]

Calicajun wrote:
Wonder if the police would think of that as double trailering?

no it is dot approved as a unit because it attaches at three points to the truck frame

[Calicajun]

Wonder if the police would think of that as double trailering?

[newman_fulltime]

They run 10,000 and if you have a 3500 and a heavy trailer due to the lack of tongue weight you loose traction when at take off and up any heels.

I know this one of my vendors had one fought it two diff trucks gave it back to them.You also need a large turning ratious

[Cummins12V98]

You just need one of these with factory rear air auto adjust. 5,900# sitting on rear axle in pic.

[carringb]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Funny how the 'aftermarket' will come up with a product to try and correct NOT buying the right tool in the first place.

THIS fits that category IMHO

For the RVer who only tows a small fraction of the year, an extra few feet of wheelbase could be burdensome the rest of the time. (note, the OP doesn't necessarily have a capacity problem, but more of a space problem). I've also seen one used behind a Class-8 truck because the flatted was too tall for his fifth wheel, and it also allowed him to haul a smart car on the deck.

Finally, not everyone want to be stuck driving a pickup. Sure, they do some things (haul) well, but there's a lot of things they aren't great at.

[K_Charles]

If you need to pull a 5th wheel and you don't have a pickup maybe.
I saw a big DP pulling a 5th wheel rubble decker car trailer with one, I guess that would be the only way to do it.

[Hannibal]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Funny how the 'aftermarket' will come up with a product to try and correct NOT buying the right tool in the first place.

THIS fits that category IMHO

Just one more bandaid tool with it's own issues/upkeep PLUS adding to overall length, one more thing to maneuver/store, one more thing to ETC.

Buy the right tool

I agree. I prefer to keep things as simple as possible.

[Old-Biscuit]

Funny how the 'aftermarket' will come up with a product to try and correct NOT buying the right tool in the first place.

THIS fits that category IMHO

Just one more bandaid tool with it's own issues/upkeep PLUS adding to overall length, one more thing to maneuver/store, one more thing to ETC.

Buy the right tool

[carringb]

Neat concept, but $$$. I think it runs about $12,000 now plus options. You should be able to buy a decent 4500 cab/chassis for under $20,000. It may have more miles, but the chassis and powertain are built for that. It's actually the cabs that wear out first (drivers seat first, then you start getting squeaks and rattles).

I've considered one on the past, but my biggest concern is traction off-road. You're moving the pin-weight off the drive-wheels, and adding even more total weight. Not a good combo for dirt and gravel IMO.