Thoughts on adjustable drop hitch—

[smiley]

I don’t have a reason to defend aluminum or steel. I just know from experience steel is stronger all things equal. That steel one posted looks like it broke at the weld. The aluminum ones I have seen broken break without warning. You can do whatever you want but aluminum is known for issues in the rancher/ farmer forums I have looked at when shopping. I don’t use mine as much as them and I try to run stuff built for bigger than I’ll ever need. I run a 14,000 rated curt with my Yukon that is rated for 8,200. I like the comfort of overbuilt.

 

[corneileous]

I know that would cause it but I don’t think I it looks loose in the picture. Do you mean using 3/4 inch shank ball in a 1 inch hole? That would certainly make sense as it would be hard on it.

Judging by the looks of the diameter of the exposed part of the shank bolt, it looks to be a one inch shank but, I can’t tell by looking at the picture.


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[corneileous]

This is because the ball rusted and the aluminum didn’t.

I see the rust but then again, it looked like a groove cut into the hitch from the flange of the ball. Maybe it is just a line separating where the rust is. We got us an optical illusion goin on here. lol.


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[BossHogg]

Is billet aluminum stronger than forged aluminum?

In all honesty, this question is above my pay grade. I have a free standing 45 foot aluminum antenna tower that supports an antenna that has 15 square feet of wind load (ham radio). It is rated up to 110 MPH winds, its been standing for several years and we do get strong downbursts.

Out of curosity, I googled steel versus aluminum, seems there are several different formulations for each of the metals, some can equal the strength of steel.

I also googled "weight safe failure" and came up with nothing.

Good luck with your choice. Like I said before, all the manufactures you are looking at are quality.

 

[corneileous]

In all honesty, this question is above my pay grade. I have a free standing 45 foot aluminum antenna tower that supports an antenna that has 15 square feet of wind load (ham radio). It is rated up to 110 MPH winds, its been standing for several years and we do get strong downbursts.

After a quick google search, according to what they’re saying here:

Metallurgists agree that a forged piece of aluminum is stronger than cast or billet. The reason being, when the material is shaped under pressure, its 'grain' follows the same shape as the part. As a result, the product manufactured is stronger due to the continuous grain characteristics allowed by the forging process.

...forged is definitely stronger than billet. Now, this is in reference to a lower receiver on an AR 15 rifle but I have no idea how this applies to a billet aluminum or forged aluminum receiver hitch...

Out of curosity, I googled steel versus aluminum, seems there are several different formulations for each of the metals, some can equal the strength of steel.

I didn’t think all aluminum metals were created equal, but I have heard many times that at least with aluminum alloy, it is a strong as steel but steel will bend and not break whereas if aluminum tries to bend, it will a little bit, but near as much as steel before it breaks.

I also googled “weight safe failure” and came up with nothing.

Yeah, I did too and the only thing that I came up with was supposed reported failures with that little scale that’s on the side of the hitch.

Good luck with your choice. Like I said before, all the manufactures you are looking at are quality.

Yeah, I don’t know… LOL. It may be a while before I decide on a hitch because I still can’t point my finger on one that I want. Much too much to think about. I really like the B&W, but I don’t like the fact that you have to pull the hitch completely out of the tube just to remove the slider. That, and even if I just go with the two inch and the 2 5/16 option of that hitch, you’re still going to have the unused ball on very bottom of it causing the whole hitch to hang down lower than it should be. That’s why I like the Weigh-safe, because the one with the scale doesn’t have that problem. Don’t really need the scale, and if it ever leaked all the oil out, or failed in any way, I could see myself warranty’ing it the first time but if it ever happened the second time, I’d just leave it. Put a piece of tape over it and forget it’s there, unless having no fluid resistance below that ball could cause issues. I could just go with the 180 WS since it has no scale but you’re right back at the same problem with the B&W. At least both the WS’s come apart much easier for storage since I’ve about determined I’m not storing the hitch in the receiver tube.


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[corneileous]

Decided to call Weigh-Safe just a little bit ago to ask them what their aluminum hitches are made and they told me they’re made out of billet aluminum.


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[Nick Redmond]

I’ve got the b&w hitch and Love it! I leave it in year round and constantly abuse it and it has never let me down. BTW they bend at 19,000lbs. I tested that a few months ago. It bent about a 1/2 inch and I’m still using it and it still works perfectly. I would highly recommend any b&w hitches

 

[corneileous]

I’ve got the b&w hitch and Love it! I leave it in year round and constantly abuse it and it has never let me down. BTW they bend at 19,000lbs. I tested that a few months ago. It bent about a 1/2 inch and I’m still using it and it still works perfectly. I would highly recommend any b&w hitches

View attachment 172197

I see you got a halfton... what drop did you go with, the 5” drop or the 7” drop? I’m looking at the 6” drop on the Weigh-Safe, I figured that’d be about perfect but I don’t know if I need to go with the one less or one more of I went with the B&W.


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[Nick Redmond]

I see you got a halfton... what drop did you go with, the 5” drop or the 7” drop? I’m looking at the 6” drop on the Weigh-Safe, I figured that’d be about perfect but I don’t know if I need to go with the one less or one more of I went with the B&W.


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I’ve got the 7in drop and it works great for my truck. I’ve got a 4in lift with 35in tires on the half ton. And I swap it to the 1 ton dually every once in a while. It’s factory ride hight and works great it that truck also. It will drag going trough ditch’s in the 1ton. But I’ve never had it drag in the half ton. Look on eBay for one I got mine for 87$

 

[corneileous]

I’ve got the 7in drop and it works great for my truck. I’ve got a 4in lift with 35in tires on the half ton. And I swap it to the 1 ton dually every once in a while. It’s factory ride hight and works great it that truck also. It will drag going trough ditch’s in the 1ton. But I’ve never had it drag in the half ton. Look on eBay for one I got mine for 87$

I won’t ever be dragging a trailer through a ditch, I don’t think but I guess first and foremost, I really need to get my truck and trailer out on some level ground to figure out how much drop I need in the first place to make it ride level. The five inch drop will probably be plenty and suit me fine for what I need being that I don’t have any kind of lift and am rolling on factory tire sizes.

I’ll have to give eBay a look but when I buy stuff like this, I’d just rather buy new so that I get the warranty.


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[corneileous]

Well, I just looked, and in order to get my little utility trailer to ride level where I’d like it, it sounds like I only need about a 5” drop so, this B&W TS10048C would be perfect. I just wonder if saving myself 15 bucks there, rather than at B&W is worth any issues of warranty stuff since I wouldn’t be buying it directly from them...



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[Nick Redmond]

I won’t ever be dragging a trailer through a ditch, I don’t think but I guess first and foremost, I really need to get my truck and trailer out on some level ground to figure out how much drop I need in the first place to make it ride level. The five inch drop will probably be plenty and suit me fine for what I need being that I don’t have any kind of lift and am rolling on factory tire sizes.

I’ll have to give eBay a look but when I buy stuff like this, I’d just rather buy new so that I get the warranty.

I won’t ever be dragging a trailer through a ditch, I don’t think but I guess first and foremost, I really need to get my truck and trailer out on some level ground to figure out how much drop I need in the first place to make it ride level. The five inch drop will probably be plenty and suit me fine for what I need being that I don’t have any kind of lift and am rolling on factory tire sizes.

I’ll have to give eBay a look but when I buy stuff like this, I’d just rather buy new so that I get the warranty.


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a 5in would probably work great. The only time I use the lowest position is when I pull a horse trailer.

Mine was new in the box when I got it I think they listed the price wrong because when I got it the receipt for 367$ was in the box where they ordered it from Uhaul and shipped it directly to me so I think they screwed up and forgot a 3 in front of the 87$

For only 15 bucks I’d order it from the manufacturer.

 

[GsRAM]

Man those photos of the hitch failures are just plain scary. Never had that happen thankfully...pray I never do...

agree with buying stuff over needed capacity. I do the same with tires, trucks with payload capacity, but that's just me. I like to have more margin than most.

 

[corneileous]

Still in search of a hitch but now I’m sorta aiming my sights on this one.... kinda starting to think it’s hard to get any better than that without going super extreme. 12,000 pound max trailer weight and 1200 pound max tongue weight. Solid forged receiver tube even. 6 inch drop.

Thoughts?




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[corneileous]

a 5in would probably work great. The only time I use the lowest position is when I pull a horse trailer.

Mine was new in the box when I got it I think they listed the price wrong because when I got it the receipt for 367$ was in the box where they ordered it from Uhaul and shipped it directly to me so I think they screwed up and forgot a 3 in front of the 87$

For only 15 bucks I’d order it from the manufacturer.

Hey, can you do me a favor? I really would like to get a measurement between the two green arrows on the picture that’s attached to the bottom of my post, of your B&W in its furthest down position, and with the 2-5/16 ball on the bottom(in other words, set up to use the 2” ball).

I’ve looked all over Google, and I cannot find anywhere, any measurements on that particular hitch.

I know you said you have the 7 inch drop but I figure 2 inches minus whatever your measurement is, oughta get me the info I need. I’m trying to figure out ground clearance.

Thanks.


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[corneileous]

Man those photos of the hitch failures are just plain scary. Never had that happen thankfully...pray I never do...

Yeah, they are. I would just really like to know the full story about each one of those before I gave them complete and undeniable credibility. I have no idea about why that B&W hitch broke and why that fixed, short-drop aluminum hitch that was talked about but this failed Andersen Rapid Hitch, is dated all the way back to 2008. I would sure hope that even if this is more of a neglect thing, rather than a quality thing, that hopefully a lot has changed in its design in the last 11 years.

A couple of the main things that I really like about that Andersen hitch is that for one, the only internal moving pieces it has, is that pin that holds the double ball in place on the inside of the slider hitch that you really don’t even need to mess with, and two, I like how these have the greaseless cap options on the balls. None of the other ones I’ve seen have that.

To be honest, the greaseless hitch really isn’t a make-it-or-break it, “gotta have” feature since I really don’t tow that much, nor do I tow that heavy but it’s still a nice option that none of the other competitors that I’ve seen, has.


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[corneileous]

I an adjustable drop hitch I got from eTrailer.com some years ago.

I like having the dual ball configuration (most guys do, right? ) in case I have to tow something that uses a different ball size than my trailer.

So which hitch did you get?


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[Arth]

So which hitch did you get?


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I purchased the weigh safe hitch with the 6 inch drop and used it to haul 8800 pounds from Florida.

Loved that little scale it helped me keep the weight perfect on the tongue.

 

[corneileous]

I purchased the weigh safe hitch with the 6 inch drop and used it to haul 8800 pounds from Florida.

Loved that little scale it helped me keep the weight perfect on the tongue.

How long have you had that weighsafe? How many times have you used it? Is the scale holding up well? How far was your trip with that enclosed trailer?

I’m not sure if you thumbed through the whole thread or not but just in case you didn’t, I mentioned earlier that I’d love to have that particular hitch that you have, I just don’t have the use for the tongue scale. I’m probably never going to be ever pulling anything that heavy in the first place. It’s always possible yes, but if I was ever to pull anything like that, that size or that heavy, it most likely would be done with a weight distribution hitch. But speaking of which, how did your halfton do with that enclosed trailer without using a weight distribution hitch?

I mean, it’s almost to the point that if I did happen to get that hitch, I probably wouldn’t ever lose a wink of sleep if that scale ever all the sudden quit working. I know that scale is only warrantied for one year and if anything ever happened to it within that year, I’d probably go ahead and have it repaired because it would be on their dime but if it happened the second time, I’d probably just put a piece of tape over it forget it was even on there. But because of the fact that it’s flat on the bottom for ground clearance concerns, only uses one ball at a time, has an option for the stainless steel balls, comes with a locking pin for the slider to the shank and can be stowed just as the B&W hitch can, that’s what originally drew me to it.


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[Arth]

How long have you had that weighsafe? How many times have you used it? Is the scale holding up well? How far was your trip with that enclosed trailer?

I’m not sure if you thumbed through the whole thread or not but just in case you didn’t, I mentioned earlier that I’d love to have that particular hitch that you have, I just don’t have the use for the tongue scale. I’m probably never going to be ever pulling anything that heavy in the first place. It’s always possible yes, but if I was ever to pull anything like that, that size or that heavy, it most likely would be done with a weight distribution hitch. But speaking of which, how did your halfton do with that enclosed trailer without using a weight distribution hitch?

I mean, it’s almost to the point that if I did happen to get that hitch, I probably wouldn’t ever lose a wink of sleep if that scale ever all the sudden quit working. I know that scale is only warrantied for one year and if anything ever happened to it within that year, I’d probably go ahead and have it repaired because it would be on their dime but if it happened the second time, I’d probably just put a piece of tape over it forget it was even on there. But because of the fact that it’s flat on the bottom for ground clearance concerns, only uses one ball at a time, has an option for the stainless steel balls, comes with a locking pin for the slider to the shank and can be stowed just as the B&W hitch can, that’s what originally drew me to it.


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So I towed that enclosed trailer with that hitch five or six times without issue. I've only had the weigh safe for about a month or so. The scale has survived thus far without issue. The trip with the trailer loaded was about 500 or so miles.

Now pulling this trailer was a dream. I did not use a weight distribution hitch because I was able to adjust the height of the hitch and knew how much tongue weight I have for a safe and even load while keeping the trailer level. Also my truck has the factory air suspension so the truck would level itself out. According to the scale I had about 1200 pounds of tongue weight. I was pulling roughly 8800 pounds, including the trailers empty weight, grossing 15k between the truck and trailer according to my weight tickets.

The entire trip wasn't bad at all. I was always able to maintain the speed I wanted and only one hill outside of Birmingham caused my oil temps to spike up a bit but nothing ever got out of control. Once I was over that hill everything cooled back off and I kept on trucking. I do have 3.92 gears.

I bought the hitch off Amazon and got a locking pin, locking keys for the adjustment part, and covers for the hitch all as one set.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CSKDF8D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1