Big and Heavy (hitch) Balls
 

I had some trouble finding a Ball rated for over 10K lbs. I figured others might as well.

http://www.hitchfinder.com/trunnion_WD_hitch.htm
http://www.hitchfinder.com/hi_pef_trunnion_bar_wd.htm

I just bought a Reese High Performance Weight Distributing hitch with an attachment called a Pole Tongue Adapter, which bolts the tongue of the trailer, and spreads the WD bars out to an A shape. This is made to be compatable with surge brakes. The chains will allow forward movement of the trailer.

www.etrailer.com
(I think the website is having issues today.)....
is where I found balls rated for 14K lbs, (in chrome), and get this... they have a 30K lbs Ball in black as well.

Big thanks to Adam/Thunder32 (Now Adam with the big pretty 358 Sonic), for pointing me in the directon of Hitch Finders. Stewart, there, is VERY easy to work with.

I just recently purchased a new class V hitch, ball mount and ball from them, they sent the wrong hitch, a class III, and were very easy to deal with to get the correct hitch.
I was also suprised at how high their stuff is rated... The stuff I bought l is rated WELL above the weight range I will be towing, just piece of mind. good people to deal with..

Let us know how well they work with Surge brakes.
I have really thought about this.
But since my trailer is painted steel I do not want to 'try' it and then not have it work.
I just put air bags on my rear axle and it really helped alot.
But I feel adding something like this would be the finishing ticket. :)

I was the same way!! I used a 5000lbs. receiver hitch for years before I realized what I was doing!! Now I have one of the SOLID one's rated for 12000lbs!!

I bet most people don't realize that there is even a solid one available!!

Brian,
If you order one order me one in the chrome and i will pay you when we leave for the trip. Thanks

Brian,

I had the weight distribution hitch when we had the big Sea Ray. It will not take sharp turns. Had a couple of times where coming off the highway to get fuel, had to make a hard turn and one of the levers would pop off. I could hear it dragging by its chain.

Good luck pulling your new baby back.

Bill

Re: Big and Heavy (hitch) Balls
 

Sydways, After seeing yours do you think there is a way to mount the chains to a I-Beam trailer? I want to buy one but i'm not sure i'll be able to attach it to the trailer so i hate to order it without seeing one first.

Sydways, what does "SOON" mean on your avatar:p ;)

www.etrailer.com is back up.

Jeff, I dunno, but it is now a lot sooner, as I closed today on the financials.... HMMM; warranties or superchargers... decisions, decisions. :D

Ofshore, you have to buy one of the Pole Tongue Adapters listed here midway down the page:
http://www.hitchfinder.com/trunnion_WD_hitch.htm
.... also pictured below.

Hugh, I would go ahead and order the system I did; the Draw-Tight or Reese Pole Tongue Adapter, the High Performance Reese Weight Distribution hitch. and then you need to determine which drawbar you need for lift/drop. I went with the Reese R54970 2" x 2" Adjustable Hitch Bar - Std. Cast for 1¼" drop OR up to 6" lift; adjustable. Worst case, you dry fit all the parts and the PTA to your trailer by wrapping your tongue in duct tape, and try everything out.

Adam has been towing with his for 2 weeks, with surge brakes, on a Myco trailer under his 358 Sonic. He said towing is MUCH improved over a Weight Carrying hitch setup.

Pole Tongue Adapter:

Brian-
It's the only way to go.....bar none.
I can turn the Myco 90 degrees if I want to without the chain issue as stated in an above post.
I pull it with a F-250 V-10-
35' Sonic
35' Myco with tandum axle (12,000lbs)

I would post some pics but the boat/trailer is about 30 miles from me at the marina.

Just as Brian stated, I did alot of price checking and hitchfinders.com had the best deal for me.

HUGE difference in towing with the weight distributing hitch, and now it's legal towing:eureka:

Bill and everyone, thanks for the well-wishes.


etrailer.com is OOS on the 14K ball. They expect more next week.

Hitchfinder.com had 1 left; and I bought it. They also expect more next week, and I will get another for you BobbyB.

Buddy had one on his jeep cherokee towing over it's rating. At a steep ramp, it would actually lift the rear wheels of the jeep off the ground as the boat decended the hill (with the jeep still on the top of the crest). Kinda funny to watch. Had to use 4 wheel drive or unhook the whole thing to get into the water. Had to unhook it to get out though.

Thanks Brian.

i HAVE BEEN USING WEIGHT DIST. SET UPS FOR THREE YEARS NOW, AND i LOVE THEM. THEY GET RID OF THE BACK END BOUNCIES. i WAS READiNG A POST LAST WEEK ON PEOPLES TRAILERS COMING OFF THEIR BALLS WITH NO EXPLANATION. That thread got me wondering if an older trailer with a worn out coupler would come off with a weight dist. hitch? When you jack up the trailer when tightening the chains, it it putting all the presure on the bottom of the coupler and ball, right? If that gets all wallowed out over the years, whats the chances of the coupler popping off the ball?
Sorry for the first couple lines, The caps lock was down.

I have in stock 2 5/16 x 1 1/4 shank 10,000lb crome
and can get the 14,000 lb but can only be used with the Drawtite Titan system. The Titan system is a 2 1/2 square system. It's rated for up to 12,000 lb weight-carrying and 14,000 weight distribution system. Also the weight dist syste puts a LOT of strain on the surge brake coupler.

There is NO hitch system with a 2" bar rated for more than 10,000 lbs, after that is the 2 1/2" bar that is rated for 12,000 lbs weight carrying.

BE CAREFULL WITH WHAT YOU HAVE!!!!

Go to www.Draw-tite.com and read the info about surge brakes and weight-dist systems.
They have a note that it is NOT recomended.
I sell Draw-tite products, also.

Yeah, your avitar kinda looks like........

ScottC,
Thanks for the insight. PM me a # for you when you get a chance please.

I ordered a full WD hitch, with the adapter for my trailer. Only problem is if the boat is 12K lbs, a 10K lbs ball is not going to cut it. According to the shaft specs, it will fit the hole/WD hitch bracket that I bought. I should have it all in a couple days. A ball is a ball in my understanding.

My main thing is being legal. The Avalanche 2500 is rated for 12,500 lbs on a WD hitch. Even if I upgraded to a a Titan-V Reese, is that really going to legally raise the tow rating of my truck to a 12K+ lbs Weight Carrying capacity? I dunno. I suspect no one knows, until an insurance company refuses to pay a claim. People are pulling loads over 12,500 lbs with just the factory Class-III W/C hitch. I am not too afraid of the hitch ripping off the truck as such.

Perhaps you can tell me... Will the Reese Titan-V 2002 Chevrolet Suburban 2500 hitch fit my 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche 2500? They are the same EXACT frame. I just dunno if the bumper config will interfere.

I read all the notes about Surge Brakes. They are saying you can't use Anti-Sway-Control bars with Surge Brakes. I am not going to have a Anti-Sway-Control hitch; just WD. I know I would be apt to having sway problems with a short wheelbase vehicle and/or a lot of weight behind the rear wheels of my trailer, i.e. camper or car trailer. Anyhow, the longest two tows we will be using BobbyB's dually anyhow... bringing it home from LOTO, and taking it to FL this winter. :D :D

A truck upgrade is in the planning stages. We shall see.
Anyone know a single hot chic with a Dually? Send pics of Dually. :D :D

US1Fountain, you are correct. I am buying that boat. :D

Yes They are interchangable :D

Titan #45103
Ultra Fram #41925

Thanks for clarifiying that Brian-

Hey Scott C don't scare anyone off the WD hitch with surge brakes. You are INCORRECT about Reese not recommending them with surge brakes. Read the print- not recommend anti-sway bars, not the WD hitch.
The chains on the WD hitch allow movement for the surge coupler- so no strain on the coupler.
I thought the same until I contacted Draw-tite directly and they clarified this for me before my purchase.
It does put stain on the ball and shank I think- I had to retighten the ball on the reciever and use loctite to keep it on eventhough I have a loc washer under the nut.
It's the only way to go if you tow over 10K.

I just went through this as well while setting up my '04 Avalnche 2500/8.1L/4.10 to tow my 35' Mistress. I ordered thru HitchFinder/Drawtite-hitches.com as well. One of the boxes that should have contained the hitch ball and shank arrived empty, but they promptly shipped me a replacement - no questions asked. I just ordered some additional parts, a coupler lock, etc and requested 2nd day shipping. They were nice enough to promptly call me and notify me that one of the items was out of stock, but could be drop-shipped in 2 days. Alot of company's wouldn't make that kind of effort...

I bought the Draw-Tite 12,000lb/1200 WD trunnion bar setup, PN:7903, but I used a 2 5/16" 14,000lb rated Titan ball, PN:74905. It fits the 12,000lb Reciever Head/Ball Mount just fine and gives the pice of mind of knowing that every component is rated for the task at hand.

As mentioned, you CAN use WD hitch systems with surge brakes safely, but not sway control sysems.

Monty, thanks for your info. Exact same plan I have.

Ready to go ;)

Todd-

LMFAO

what kinda hitch on the travel trailer??? :p

I didn't want to put too much strain on the trailer. So I ran extended safety chains from the tongue of the boat trailer to the truck hitch to take up the tensile load. I hitch I found on www.acme-hitches.com ;)

BTW for additional braking I added a remote control to the boat trailer tongue jack and equipped the lower pad with a custom brake shoe. :eureka:

I use the 30,000 lbs ball for my trailer !:D

I am a draw tight distributer too . Among many others .... Weight distributing is about the only way to go when hauling something alittle bigger then you should be anyway !
I install them almost every day .

It DOES put a heavy twist on the surge coupler and DOES somewhat limit it's freedom to slide also causeing more and faster ware . But if the system is adjusted right , you will be able to use it OK. Most people should not be installing this them selves ! They and /or hitch dealers for the most part ,do not understand how to set it up properly or what it is really suposed to do .....
Someone stated that it fell off ........ That means it was installed wrong or is broken ! It is imposible to fall off otherwise .

All these ratings can drive you crazy ! They should stop building everything except heavy duty !! Throw all the other junk away !!:hothead:

I have a guy that wanted a 30k lbs ball to put on his 5k lbs hitch head ,to go into his 4k lbs hitch ...........:rolleyes:

And yes ,they make heavy duty hitch heads too ! I have one rated for 2000 tongue weight and 13000 towing !!:eek: problem is , it's only a 2" shank that fits a standard hitch ! WHich most hitches are only rated for 5000 or 7500 lbs if you are lucky !!

No matter what you buy from some "expert ", something will probably be wrong !
Either the ball is too light , the head is too ligh , the hitch is too light , or the Volkswagen you are towing with can't REALLY handle 30,000 lbs like the dealer said it would !!! :rolleyes:

IF you buy weight distributing , get the "trunnion "set up . NOT the "round bar ". The round bar is an "L" shaped bar that goes up inside from the bottom . They are lots of trouble ...

Get them set up properly ,and if you make EXTREME sharp turns , the bars can hit the trailer and rip off ! If you have to turn that sharp , take them off while doing so .

Good luck sydwayz ! If you got any questions , call me .
Joe

ToddW, What in the world are you thinking !!:D That is some picture ! WHat is the towing capacity of your "CAMPER" ? Or did you just rap a rope around the spare tire and hook it to the boat trailer !:D :D

I have the Reese Titan Class 5 hitch on the F-350 and their 2-1/2 inch ball mount, all rated at 13, 000 lbs and a 16,000 pound ball. That is the best I am been able to find and is just withing the limits of what I tow.

However like all of you I worry too much about it, which is a good thing.

Just yesterday a good friend calls me at the office around noon to tell me that his 32 Fountain just came unhooked from his truck not a mile from my house.

He has an F-250 Ford, a nice aluminum trailer and I just sold him all new bearinsg and seals and he just replaced the brakes on both axles. He like us tries to keep his equipment in tip top shape. I might add that he also is in the grading business and his very use to towing heavy loads.

Needless to say he was very upset. The had just pulled out on the main road and was picking up speed when he saw the bow of the boat going left out the rear view mirror. As he begain to slow the brake chain on the trailer locked the brakes down and he got stopped without the boat contacting his truck. The only real damage was to the trailer jack which was a total loss.

He wanted to know what I thought and because we are very good friends I told him I thought he got in too big a hurry and did not get the tongue down on the ball properly.

He inspected his tounge and the inner workings and all looked good, but he is going to change out everything to be on the safe side.

One thing he did discover is that his 2-5/16 ball only measured 2-1/4 inch. I would say that this could be a big problem and he bought a new ball yesterday.

Have any of you seen a problem where a trailer came off the ball that was properly locked down?

What maintanence to you guys think needs to be done on the trailer lock?

Personally I have changed by ball out almost every year. Probably not necessary, but it makes me feel better.

No Seriously, the camper towing the boat is a joke.

I tow with a Titan Heavy Duty Class 5, 2-1/2 receiver, 2-5/16" 14,000 lb ball.

Full update after WD Hitch installation:
 

Before:

Re: Big and Heavy (hitch) Balls
 

After:

Re: Big and Heavy (hitch) Balls
 

Notice Surge Brake Coupler in full compressed position, and angle of chain to allow front/back movement of Coupler.

Re: Big and Heavy (hitch) Balls
 

Notice Coupler now in full extended (forward towing, no brakes applied) postion, and angle of chains to allow front/back movement. No, I have not noticed any brake dragging. I have checked coupler movement via tape measure with and without the WD bars in place. I also regularly check my brakes, hubs, and tires with a Laser Pyrometer Gun at every stop when towing. No ill effects (or signifigant heat buildup by dragging brakes).

In picture 3, you can see how I added a second tongue jack, adding much more stability, plus it looks cool. Its also a helluva lot easier to lift the tongue this way, and greatly reduces trailer twist when on the stand. I did have to notch the forward flat I-Beam connecting strip of aluminum on the trailer, which was very easy with a sawzall and cold chisel.

I am very happy with the way it tows. I can definately tell the difference when towing, and even helped with wind gust control when passing 18-wheelers. Best part is I am legal, and it tows great, and still stops just as well as it did before the installation of the WD bars.

Re: Big and Heavy (hitch) Balls
 

When I arrive at the ramp, I remove the WD bars and stow them. They go back on before the tow home. I also remove them when backing the boat into its spot at home, and install the WD bars when leaving the house, after the boat is out of the yard, and out on the street. I did not think I would use them for local towing, but just the piece of mind knowing I am set up correctly when they are installed is worth the 60 seconds of hook-up time.

Re: Big and Heavy (hitch) Balls
 

Putnam XDR has the highest wieght carrying rating of any 2" hitch. Have 2" drop solid ball mount and big dia. shank, 1" rise, solid raw heat treated 20K ball on it. Don't forget the big balls :D are available with rise bases to fine tune your hieght. I did, and it is perfect. :)

Re: Big and Heavy (hitch) Balls
 

"I've got the biggest...balls of them all" AC/DC :D

Re: Big and Heavy (hitch) Balls
 

http://www.ultrahitch.com/perfect_drop_bar.html

These fit a standard 2" reciever and are rated to 14,000 lbs.

Re: Big and Heavy (hitch) Balls
 

Do the holes in the frame of the truck from the factory hitch match the holes for the new hitch or did you have to make new ones for mounting the heavier duty hitch?

Re: Big and Heavy (hitch) Balls
 

Bajaboat,
Its the factory Class III hitch still on the truck. Rated for 7k lbs Weight Carrying and rated for 12.5k lbs Weight Distributing.

Your drawbar and your hitch ball can be rated to tow the Moon if you want, but if your hitch on your truck is still the original Class III, you are only legal for what I listed above, or close to it.

The only way to go to a heavier load; Weight Carrying, without going to a Weight Distributing Hitch setup like I have, is upgrade to a Reese Titan V (5), hitch reciever on your truck, with a 2.5 inch drawbar shaft. I was not convinced this was the correct setup for me.

Re: Big and Heavy (hitch) Balls
 

overkill on the drawbar and ball is just another way to eliminate weak links. Have you seen the discussion about the crosspins, load stress, and the metallurgy(sp) involved in that little part of the program? The XDR is 1500 tongue/15000 lbs. wieght carrying.

Have you seen the "Trailer Trapper"? to prevent couplers coming off for any reason.