carolinacamper
Active member
I recently took an interest in TC. I found a dealer that had new and used Lance campers. To our surprise the used 1130 was a very well planned out unit. Dry Bath, 40gal. FW, 2-30# propane, 32-35gal B&G. We didn't like the new ones as well even with a slide. More floor space but less general storage. So we bought the '02 1130. BUT this is a large TC. She weighed 3900# wet and loaded, 11'6" floor plus 7' overhead queen bed, 18'6" overall This means my rear overhang is 42".
The dealer made sure I had an adequate truck 2005 Dodge 3500 Quad Cab dually payload of 4400#, added 5000# Air Lift Springs, for increased stability, Happy Jack tie downs, and cabover struts. Drives great.
I looked into hitch extensions and found that extensions 41" long are for 2 1/2" receivers. Tow Beast by Drawtite. So I priced the Tow Beast receiver and extension it's about 620 bucks. Plus receiver installation 100 bucks? Now the weight rating for this setup is 5000# gross tow weight. Typically what you want to tow a toad or med. boat. Which would be the most common setup.
However, I'm looking at an enclosed 5x8 MC trailer at Colony Cargo to trailer my MC with me. The empty weight is 700# and CCC is 1500# but with my bike and other cargo maybe 900# used. So we are looking at 1600#. I think I don't need that much hitch (Tow Beast). At 41" out how tight is the fit, any wobble?
So somebody stop me if this don't sound like a good idea. I found fabrication parts at etrailer.com. For 120 bucks including shipping I bought a 48" extension flat connector with cover, D-ring for safety chain, 2" solid shank 18" long, 2" receiver tube 36" long that one fits inside the other and overlaps about 10" Once welded together I intend to drill through the tube and shank further back and run a bolt through as a back up in case the weld failed it wouldn't slide apart. With an extension this far back from the frame receiver there is going to be more slop in fit than I feel comfortable with. I don't want the tail wagging the dog, not good. This would eventually wear the frame receiver excessively. So my solution is to run 2 pieces of 1 1/2" angle iron bolted to a center point about 30" out on the 36" tube and bolted to each side of the truck frame forming a "triangle" for added stability and support. This setup should handle 1600# (10% on ball) safely shouldn't it? After all you can typically tow 2000# on a truck bumper. Just saying, no comparison intended.
I don't expect anyone to try to "weight rate" this. I'm just trying to get "gut feeling" from fellow RVers or anyone who has seen a setup like this for lighter trailers or anyone who might realize something I'm overlooking. Like, design concerns or weakness. Just hit me, maybe I should chain the truck receiver to the extension tube? Are there laws against using homemade hitches? Do they have to be DOT certified?
Thanks for your thoughts... Darrell (carolinacamper)
The dealer made sure I had an adequate truck 2005 Dodge 3500 Quad Cab dually payload of 4400#, added 5000# Air Lift Springs, for increased stability, Happy Jack tie downs, and cabover struts. Drives great.
I looked into hitch extensions and found that extensions 41" long are for 2 1/2" receivers. Tow Beast by Drawtite. So I priced the Tow Beast receiver and extension it's about 620 bucks. Plus receiver installation 100 bucks? Now the weight rating for this setup is 5000# gross tow weight. Typically what you want to tow a toad or med. boat. Which would be the most common setup.
However, I'm looking at an enclosed 5x8 MC trailer at Colony Cargo to trailer my MC with me. The empty weight is 700# and CCC is 1500# but with my bike and other cargo maybe 900# used. So we are looking at 1600#. I think I don't need that much hitch (Tow Beast). At 41" out how tight is the fit, any wobble?
So somebody stop me if this don't sound like a good idea. I found fabrication parts at etrailer.com. For 120 bucks including shipping I bought a 48" extension flat connector with cover, D-ring for safety chain, 2" solid shank 18" long, 2" receiver tube 36" long that one fits inside the other and overlaps about 10" Once welded together I intend to drill through the tube and shank further back and run a bolt through as a back up in case the weld failed it wouldn't slide apart. With an extension this far back from the frame receiver there is going to be more slop in fit than I feel comfortable with. I don't want the tail wagging the dog, not good. This would eventually wear the frame receiver excessively. So my solution is to run 2 pieces of 1 1/2" angle iron bolted to a center point about 30" out on the 36" tube and bolted to each side of the truck frame forming a "triangle" for added stability and support. This setup should handle 1600# (10% on ball) safely shouldn't it? After all you can typically tow 2000# on a truck bumper. Just saying, no comparison intended.
I don't expect anyone to try to "weight rate" this. I'm just trying to get "gut feeling" from fellow RVers or anyone who has seen a setup like this for lighter trailers or anyone who might realize something I'm overlooking. Like, design concerns or weakness. Just hit me, maybe I should chain the truck receiver to the extension tube? Are there laws against using homemade hitches? Do they have to be DOT certified?
Thanks for your thoughts... Darrell (carolinacamper)