Hitch extension or longer trailer tongue?????

[Troyby]

Hi Everyone, This is my first post here... I'm picking up a new Host Cascade in two days and trying to make plans for pulling my enclosed Trailer. My truck is a 2013 chevy crewcab dually cab&chassis. The trailer is a heavy duty snowmobile/car hauler. GVWR of 10,000. It will have 2 rzr's in it total trailer weight of 8000 lbs.

SuperHitch does not make a hitch that will fit my frame and they want my truck for two days and $1600.00 to make a hitch for me. Thats a no go as I live in SLC Utah. My truck has a curtis class V hitch on it now.

Here's my question. Should I have my hitch converted into a two receiver like the superhitch and buy their extension or should I have the trailer tongue lengthened? I'm not sure how much extension I need yet but I'm guessing its about 24"

The trailer has an adjustable Coupler that is bolted on and can be raised or lowered. I'm thinking of adding the extension there.

Whats everyones thoughts on this? Do you see any problems that may arise?


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[Yosemite_Sam1]

Troyby wrote:

dirtyhandz wrote:
I use a stinger to tow my 8,000 pound cargo trailer with my Lance on the truck. I cant see how an extended trailer tongue can work unless you are only going to be towing where it is pretty darn flat. I mean the way I see it, if the front of the truck go's up, the back comes down, and with that trailer tongue under there, CRUNCH gos the camper.

That’s a good point dirty hands. When I get the camper tomorrow I will have to really look at the angles involved. There may be clearance issues.

There must be a technical and engineering reasons why tongue's length is not much longer in bigger rigs, lol.

[Troyby]

Isn’t that a picture of a super hitch in your post? It doesn’t look anymore heavy duty than the Curt’s hitch I already have. Looks like the same plate thickness and my cross tube is 3”. Where’s the beefed up part?

[Bedlam]

If you have a cab and chassis version of the GM truck, it should use the standard 34" width frame rails. Since Torklift makes a SuperHitch for both Ford and Ram chassis cabs, you should be able to find the one that fits closest and modify the side plates to fit your truck. Just welding a second receiver to your existing one does not make a SuperHitch - Torklift uses much larger side plates and cross tube to counter the leverage of an extension.

If you make a SuperHitch and SuperTruss fit your GM, you will need a weight distribution hitch for anything over 600 lbs tongue weight. Your v-nose trailer may make it difficult to add spring bar hangers to the tongue for such a setup.

You may be able to extend the tongue of the trailer if you keep it low to the ground to avoid contacting the camper on uneven ground. I suspect you will need at least 2.5 additional feet to keep the trailer far enough away from camper.

The Cascade will be around 5000 lbs when loaded and then you will be applying about 1000 lbs of trailer tongue weight - Make sure your rear axle and tires can handle that load since your axle only has a 10-11K lb rating.

[Troyby]

dirtyhandz wrote:
I use a stinger to tow my 8,000 pound cargo trailer with my Lance on the truck. I cant see how an extended trailer tongue can work unless you are only going to be towing where it is pretty darn flat. I mean the way I see it, if the front of the truck go's up, the back comes down, and with that trailer tongue under there, CRUNCH gos the camper.

That’s a good point dirty hands. When I get the camper tomorrow I will have to really look at the angles involved. There may be clearance issues.

[wanderingbob]

Say a three foot extension vs a three foot longer tongue , would the stress be the same . Seems like the truck and trailer would not know the difference !

[dirtyhandz]

I use a stinger to tow my 8,000 pound cargo trailer with my Lance on the truck. I cant see how an extended trailer tongue can work unless you are only going to be towing where it is pretty darn flat. I mean the way I see it, if the front of the truck go's up, the back comes down, and with that trailer tongue under there, CRUNCH gos the camper.

[jaycocreek]

I am a firm believer in having a good welder take care of my towing needs.They fix things that break for a living and know how to prevent trouble before it happens.

I would ask someone in your area that welds for a living, what they think.

[guidry]

I use a 48” extension for towing my boat. I’ve attached a chain from the end to my torklift bracket for support. Picture of hitch

[Kayteg1]

When extending trailer tongue might be good option, looks to me like you have 3" cross beam on your hitch.
My new Ford has 3" receiver and I just bought another stinger as the 1st I bought is short. I think any good welding shop can upgrade your hitch to 3"
3" tubing per rough calculation is stronger than TL stinger and cost about $11 per foot.