Are you towing with a flatbed?

[mt-ed]

Greetings all, I'd like to know if anyone has mounted their truck camper on a flatbed, and also has some arrangement for towing as well? It seems that all I'm finding are hitches for regular bed pickups.

I'll also throw out there, that I have a Ford F550 as well, and I suspect that throws another wrench into the works too.

Thanks in advance!

[Bedlam]

It is not just the double truss that gives you a good tow capacity. Look at the diameter of the SuperHitch cross section and the depth of the side plates on the frame rails. My side plates run from the back of the frame all the way to the rear spring hangers.

[Reality_Check]

Bedlam nails it; frame rails are the same. 34" I believe. Torklift products are pretty straight forward, probably just have to drill a few holes.

To argue with a few, truss trumps single of similar size. We're running a 48", which is pretty common with the larger campers. To Grit Dog's comment, a light trailer is probably quite fine with a decent extension. Tongue weight is our nemesis; the lateral loads are pretty easy to deal with.

[noteven]

My 2" + 2" TorkLift Super Truss extension flexed more in the vertical than my fabricated 2-1/2" extension that fits the hitch already on the truck does now. Same trailer.


Not measured using scientific instruments. Just lookin in the mirror.

[Bedlam]

Chassis cabs don't vary much in frame year to year so upfits will work with them. You may need to drill the side plates if the OEM mounting holes moved, but not much more. My 2015 Ram 5500 was not on the list but fit without modification on the older MY receiver.

[Grit_dog]

Ok that helps. Nice setup btw.
So presuming you have an 8.5-9.5’ long flatbed.
The pics of the CM RD beds I see have a fabricated hitch receiver and CM rates them at 18,500lbs.
If this is the case for yours (although it seems your hitch is fabricated into the back plate, I can’t imagine a light duty hitch on a flatbed suited for a class 5 truck) and your theoretical boat is not super heavy, (Another important detail) I’d get a heavy wall tubing extension built and plug it in and go.
You could fab lateral stabilizers from the extension back to the flatbed (like super hitch extension) but imo the bigger concern would be tongue weight. Lateral loads are pretty small unless heavy trailer, no trailer brakes and panic stop in a tight turn.
Small boat, sub 5klbs including trailer and not a lot of tongue weight I’d make an extension.
Big load say 8k and up, I’d be thinking more research needed and calculations of bending moment on extended tongue.
I’d also find the hitch rating from CM if it’s not what they show on their website.
Nice part is you have enough truck to haul that camper and about anything g you’d want to tow, easily. Beyond that you may need a fab shops advice if you’re not comfortable deciding what to build.
BTW , what part of the beautiful state of MT do you hail from?

[mt-ed]

Grit dog wrote:
Buddy, you gotta throw the crowd more than a couple bread crumbs if you want real assistance.
You're about 99% vague on what you're asking about.

Sorry Grit dog, didn't mean or intend to be vague. My original intent was to reach out to see if there were others that successfully fitted their flatbed with a hitch and extended tow bar to reach out beyond an over hanging truck camper. I really really appreciate ALL of the responses I received, and have made contact with individuals that had rigs configured similar to what I sought.

FWIW, what I'm dealing with is a 2021 Ford F550, sporting a CM, RD model flatbed (which already has a hitch mounted on a vertical rear plate. I also have an Eagle Cap 1160 camper which extends 36" from the existing hitch. As far as what I want to tow, most likely nothing heavier than a boat (which I do not even have yet). I started out looking at Torklift, but they have informed me that the last hitch for the F550 was designed for 2016 models, and have not made any mods to that hitch since then, and cannot confirm or deny that that hitch will fit a 2021! TL did send me the mounting instructions for the old model to see if it "might" work, but I cannot be sure there will be sufficient clearance, based on these instructions?

So, initially I did not know who might have what, and how long they've had it, or what age vehicle they were working with, so I intentionally cast a broad net to see what responses I got, and see if I could gather some valuable solutions.....I know there are some really super inventive folks on here, and hoped I'd get lucky!

I've had numerous people suggest I just take my rig to a local fabricator and see if they can "beef up" the existing hitch. I really hesitate to do this. After considering the potential ramifications of a failed hitch, I prefer to have a hitch that is actually engineered for this purpose, and not take a chance on some shade tree fabricator producing a "that otta work" rendition of a hitch.

Hopefully this provides a bit more clarity of what I'm attempting.

Thanks again everyone for your generous inputs, suggestions, and help!

[Grit_dog]

mt-ed wrote:
Do you know who manufactures that arrangement Mike?

Buddy, you gotta throw the crowd more than a couple bread crumbs if you want real assistance.
You're about 99% vague on what you're asking about.

[mkirsch]

mt-ed wrote:
Do you know who manufactures that arrangement Mike?

What, specifically, are you looking for here?

Do you need an extension to tow heavy? Are you just looking for a receiver period?

[Bedlam]

I typically tow 8k lbs using a 30k lb SuperHitch and 42" SuperTruss.

[noteven]

I can't post a picture at the moment.

I've hauled 2 campers on my F-350 cab & chassis (straight frame rails back of cab 34" apart) with an aluminum flat bed. The Cirrus 820 required a 36" extension from my 20,000lbs 2-12" x 2-1/2" Curt receiver. I had an engineer develop a spec for a fabricated extension made with 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" by .250" tubing sleeved inside with 2" x 2" x .250" tubing, leaving the hitch end unsleeved to form the receiver. Sway chains and turnbuckles extend back to the ends of the receiver on the truck. It works well.

I ordered a 7way to 2 x 7way "Y" adapter - one for the camper one for extension cord to trailer.

I tow about a 500lbs tongue weight 4500lbs gross enclosed trailer on this extension.

I like how the extension reduces the off tracking of the trailer to the inside of a turn. It follows much more closely to the truck tracks in sharp turns.

[notsobigjoe]

Some of you guys have some really nice rigs

[mike_kellie]

First, thanks Jim for the help. I know what I did wrong. As someone mentioned earlier, it's made by Torklift and a 48" extension. We flat tow a Jeep and if we're traveling with just the camper and bicycles, the hitch and bike rack just clear the back of the camper.
The twin over/ under receivers are signature to Torklift and it's frame mounted. Quite stout!

[mt-ed]

Do you know who manufactures that arrangement Mike?

[markowwes]

I just extent the trailer hitch instead of a receiver extension, that works fine for me.

Wes