Baja man. I’ve spent a bit of time trying to source extended shank hitches or short hitch extensions for 2.5” receivers. All to no avail. They virtually or realistically don’t exist that I’ve found. Also less common to find that type of hardware for 2” hitches than it used to be.
Same issue almost. Also couldn’t lower the tailgate with our TH hooked up. But worse, the hitch shank (non wd) was so short the trailer would hit the truck in normal sharp turns with the first (nice aluminum) stinger I bought. I found a Reese or something that had the pin about 1.5” further back and dropped $300 on a second stinger to just barely be able to turn the trailer.
I’m confident your wd stinger is a bit longer so you basically have the best you can do with readily available resources.
And correct. Resist the urge to use the reducer sleeve for the reason you mentioned. It’s real and it happens.
