Towing

Yeah it does too much. That photo was taken when I was test fitting. It wasn't too hard to load at home especially using a long tube in the lower socket so I had a ramp to walk up, but I needed to make sure I could load by myself AND only using stuff I take with. I cut my wood ramp short so it would fit on the bumper between the jacks. With that config I needed help to load/unload. The rack was one a friend used on their class c and it had been backed into the ground a few times and is bent and beat up and she gave it to me when she sold her dirt bike.

The first test run was last May to the Overland Expo. I used about 6 ratcheting tie downs to tighten it up. By the time the Glacier Park Rally happened it had gotten pretty wobbly. But I'd figured out it was going to work pretty well. So back to my welder to design a new rack for the bike. He designed a rack that has a pin and can rotate....so the idea is when loading. You pull the pin and it tilts downward on on end and up higher on the other end to make it easier to load, once you roll the bike up and the weight is on it it will tilt back and latch with the weight of the bike. He test loaded some giant street bike and it made him decide it wasn't strong enough and told me he need to beef it up a bit. Then when we picked up the Jeep and towed it we realized that not only is there a little too much slop but also the "rise" is not enough to keep the bike rack above the towbar if we go through a deep dip. So now additional modifications to the rack to rise it a little more (I think it will angle up some). He's also going to weld in some shims into the tube (which he verified is legal/acceptable for engineering standards). He may be done already but I need to call and check.

I tell you what, having a seriously good welder is worth his weight in gold! Speaking of weight though, I DO wish he could do everything in aluminum. I reached a point with weight that I can't really add weight without removing weight elsewhere for me to stay at my target weight (the GVWR of a 5500 which is 19.5K). I have a list of a bunch of mostly small welding changes he is going to do at some point soon.....adding a second fill spout on the passenger side recessed into the flatbed and doing the same to the driver side....replacing my forward lower boxes with shorter ones that are wider (more tire space and a better fit for the big 8D batteries)....better front tow loops.....a front pair of receiver hitch tubes....more D-rings for tie down on back....the stabilizer chains to go from the top of the X-riser we were talking about....etc. it is pretty beefy but thinking of it as a Frane-extension rather than a hitch extension helps understand. I tell you what though, when I am towing my dump trailer with skidsteer on the extension plus riser in addition to the riser/extension it's nice to know it is strong. I have bent two different extension in the past. It was also comforting a bit when you are getting that while rig towed on a low-boy semi-trailer that was too short for my rig...very spooky to see the rear axle if the trailer hanging off the back of the semi and all tied down, but the pulling backward force of all that must have been pretty huge. Long story on that one - we were 15'8" tall and it was a long tow!

Sorry if we have gotten off topic too much, but I guess it fits in pretty well....

That is quite a beefy extension support! :B You must be pulling a very heavy trailer to need that much framework. It looks nice. :)

I see what you're doing with the X-riser. Does it wobble with bike up so high? Must be fun pushing the bike up there too!

OK, found them.

The center "tube" is a solid bar to the point where it becomes a "socket" at the rear. It is still pinned into the stock Reese Tow Beast. The extension is not welded in any way to the frame OR to the existing Tow Beast. It's bolted in, with bolts/nuts that go in opposing directions. If I were to remove it, I'd have to pull the bolts, the pin, quick disconnect the lights and the 7-way and remove the air-valves from the angled pieces. Those air valves are emergency fill ports for the rear air-bags....I can turn a cutoff right there, and then fill if I had a leak in one or both of my air systems that can fill the bags.

There was one screw up in width which meant he had to put an additional 1/2" (I think) of plate to fill between the frame and the extension which makes it look a little rag-tag but is no less strong.

The Tow beast was already modified some when the Kelderman Air-Ride was put if I recall right, it is now an integral part of the suspension pieces. In other words, the Tow Beast can't be taken off without removing/releasing the rear spring mounts.

The rear-most cross piece is back to back channel, and the 7-way plug will be recessed into that cross bar (along with a giant DC hot/ground connector) so that the "shelf" will be completely flat and can hold several of the platic totes that carry various gear.

















I can't seem to find one of my extension that has the over/under receivers, but you can see it in this photo where the "X" of plate steel kind of shows up. I was experimenting with loading ramps and such in this photo, but you can see the height of the bike above the "normal" hitch height is. I have a long tube inserted in the lower opening to use to help test load. May be hard to see this one very well....

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
That is a very nice setup on your Kodiak. Do you have better pics of the structure of the hitch extension unit and how it mounts the truck frame/bed?

I do SoCal; I should have brought my laptop to work today because it is pretty slow and I have been working on a set of pictures to post a "tour" around my chassis since I just did a updating project on my bed. Since I took the Lance off for some transmission and service work, I decided it was time to tear off the old plywood and 4x6's, sand down the rust, repaint, and replace with some different stuff. I took a number of pictures around the chassis and thought I'd put something together so I can point people there when I get questions about the bed, how it loads, how it's tied down etc. So I am hoping to get that done soon.

I'm still waiting on some work from my welder who is doing some updating to it.....additional D rings and tie-down points and a set of tension chains/turnbuckles that go from the upper tube in the short extension back on an angle to the frame extension....the plates to cover the "steps" and protect the tank. Hopefully without much interference in loading stuff onto that shelf. That will not only tighten the slop side to side, but also from up and down since it is 14" above the level of the ball/drawbar.

Actually come to think of it, I might have some from when I first built it.......I'll look. I actually meant to consult with you a bit when I got it built, but the guy that did it has done this stuff professionally for a big company here in Denver so I just said 'get er done' to some degree.

That is a very nice setup on your Kodiak. Do you have better pics of the structure of the hitch extension unit and how it mounts the truck frame/bed?

rooney77 wrote:
Man I'd love to find a big truck like yours to build off of. Nice looking setup.

Thanks - they are out there and can be found pretty cheap. I saw a big 4x4 IH sell at an equipment auction out here that would have made a great TC/MH chassis for something crazy......10K maybe? Plus it had some equipment attached that could have been sold off to recoup much of the cost of the chassis. If I was going to build something different, that's probably what I'd do. I've seen some crane trucks and drill trucks and things like that where you could buy it, sell the attached equipment and get a great setup for very cheap. Just need some space, time, and money to do the big build. We are way too happy with what we have at this point to even think about going another route. We have 6 years 78K miles and 400+ nights in our camper (to go along with 32K miles and 330+ nights the former owners put on it on the trip to South America.) Of course big trucks cost more to maintain. Just spent $2500 on tires, $6000 on a transmission/driveline repairs/upgrades and nearly $2000 on a new radiator. $10.5K in the last month!

Man I'd love to find a big truck like yours to build off of. Nice looking setup.

From what I understand, you technically need each segment that is "removable" (i.e. an extension) to have it's own set of changes. In other words, you need chains going from the truck, to the end of the extension, and then another set of chains going from the end of the extension to the trailer/Jeep being towed.

I don't have pictures handy, but I had an extension built that bolts in super-securely to the end of the frame.....so it doesn't need chains. At the back of that I have the big D ring weld-on loops. On my extension I have the "B" shaped bracket at the end. So one set of chains go from the frame to the end of the extension. Then another set of chains goes from that same B bracket and connects to my trailer tongue.

Now that I am flat towing a Jeep behind, I have a similar setup to Joe B's, except it isn't the lighter weight telescoping shafts, it's a tow bar made by Curry Enterprises that has regular solid bars. But it has chains that attach to the tow hooks of the Jeep, and then run along the towbar and are attached to the "B" ring on my extension. I didn't setup the Jeep flat tow stuff, it was already a part of the Jeep we bought.

It's my understanding that each 'separable' segment of the extensions need their own chain. I started to use one chain from my hitch all the way to the trailer but was told that is technically not legal. I like it better that way anyway because each item (extension, towbar, ?) each has it's own set of chains so you never have the wrong pieces or length of chains no matter which combination I use.

Here's a picture of my "frame extension". The top flat surfaces will have diamond plate or expanded metal and then covered with horse stall mat rubber. The rear facing exposed stuff (the wires and fuel tank) will have diamond plate for protection. It makes a great stairway to climb into the bed. It is also removable but via about 12 large bolts and I have the camper on 90+% of the time anyway. I leave it on for laziness and ease of access to the bed.



Here's the Jeep end of the chains.



And what the whole setup looks like. You can see the two separate segments of chains hanging:



The extension also has a high tube, that I mount my XR650R on that keeps it above the tow hitch stuff for the Jeep. I actually haven't towed the Jeep AND carried the XR yet as I am doing some additional modifications to the extension to add tensioners and get the "slop" out. Each separate piece you add adds slop.

The Jeep basically tows like there isn't anything there. I have the Brake Buddy setup but I haven't actually used it yet because I really hardly need it with the braking power I have with the big truck and the exhaust brake and I want it to be super quick and easy for us to jump out and disconnect, raise the tow bar and drive the Jeep away. My compromise for being willing to tow is to be able to disconnect anytime anywhere, very fast.

I guess I need to update my sig with the new Jeep in tow.....

So far, about 6,500 miles towing with the Ready Brake, I am pleased with it. For any not familiar with the Ready, it is a cable actuated surge type brake. It really helps in getting the rigs slowed down. It could create a problem if a person tried to back up, but as we all know that is not something any of of do while towing.

Not sure if I am accelerating brake pad wear on the Jeep any more than any other auxiliary braking system would do. I towed the Jeep using the Ready Brake over Monarch Pass in Colorado both directions this summer. By using the Allison in tow-haul mode, the exhaust brake activated and the cruise control set at 45 mph, and the Ready Brake installed, I didn't have to tap the truck brakes but a couple of times on the way down.

The Ready was an easy self install, doesn't need electricity to work and short of forgetting to connect to connecting pull cable to the toad, not much can go wrong with it. Nothing to set in the floor, nothing to store when not in use. Everything stays with the tow bar on the TC when using the toad.

SoCalDesertRider wrote:

06Fargo wrote:

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
What is a kiniffle?

From first hand experience: It's the piece of rigging (related to a skyhook) that's missing when you attempt to cross the safety chains to prevent the trailer from grounding if it uncouples, while at the same time extending the chains to the tow vehicle frame. Thereby requiring a 30 min drive to town and going to 6 places to buy $100 worth of shackles, b**tch links, pins, connectors and such, none of which fit...

My crossed chain rig up/chain extensions/ shackles and bits was a thing of beauty to behold when my DW comes along and says "How many things have to break at the same time for that Super Truss thing to fall off the truck?" Me: "Um,1,2 5/8" pins, 1, 2 3/8" pins so that's ummm four! Not counting the sway chains1" DW: "Like you're not going to notice that and stop?" Me: "Ummm ya I guess so..."

So it's a removable chain link? Or a shackle? A picture would help.

It's under a foot of snow in the bush west of the garage where it landed...