Thoughts on adjustable drop hitch—

[MADDOG]

The current version has been updated from ^^^that^^^ one, which I purchased in 2015.

https://www.etrailer.com/Ball-Mounts/Fastway/FA42-00-2925.html

 

[corneileous]

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

Nice. Thank you for your review.


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[Nick Redmond]

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.

I’m 200 miles from my truck right now but I’ll be home tonight and I’ll measure that for you
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[corneileous]

I’m 200 miles from my truck right now but I’ll be home tonight and I’ll measure that for you

That would be great, and highly appreciated.

Just for clarification, I need the measurement between the arrows, just as the hitch is in the picture with the slider all the way down, but with the 2 inch ball on top, not the 2-5/16 on top.

Thanks and much obliged.


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[Nick Redmond]

That would be great, and highly appreciated.

Just for clarification, I need the measurement between the arrows, just as the hitch is in the picture with the slider all the way down, but with the 2 inch ball on top, not the 2-5/16 on top.

Thanks and much obliged.


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Its 12 1/2 inches.

 

[Redheadhunter21]

I’m just curious but, why did you choose the Anderson hitch over the BW hitch? I myself don’t think I’d really get a whole lot of use out of the tongue scale system on that particular model of the Weigh-Safe but just because it’s there it doesn’t mean you have to use it.


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Sorry been busy

At the time I was more familiar with the Andersen and wanted the grease-lease caps, as the stainless ball ends up greasy and rusty looking in no time. If mine starts to looks bad I polish it back up. With the Andersen you can always get a single ball if your worried about dragging it

 

[corneileous]

Its 12 1/2 inches.

View attachment 172928

Thank you. So, do you think it would be safe to say that if your hitch was the 5 inch drop that it would be roughly about 2 inches shorter than that one, making it about 10, 10 and a half inches total? That’s only about 9 inches clearance....


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[corneileous]

Sorry been busy

At the time I was more familiar with the Andersen and wanted the grease-lease caps, as the stainless ball ends up greasy and rusty looking in no time. If mine starts to looks bad I polish it back up.

Yeah, those greaseless caps are nice. Fortunately with the rarity that I tow and that it’s even rarer that I tow anything heavy enough to justify greasing the hitch ball, that luxury wouldn’t really be of no need to me.

With the Andersen you can always get a single ball if your worried about dragging it

I didn’t think Andersen sold a flat-bottom hitch like that but after looking into it further on their website, it looks like if you don’t want to use the double ball, you’ll have to either buy the 180 hitch as it comes, and then spend another 39 bucks a piece on whichever size ball you need, or buy all the individual pieces separately from Andersen’s website. Hopefully they’d just let you custom-order a kit that substituted the double ball for whatever individual ball or balls you wanted.


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[Nick Redmond]

Thank you. So, do you think it would be safe to say that if your hitch was the 5 inch drop that it would be roughly about 2 inches shorter than that one, making it about 10, 10 and a half inches total? That’s only about 9 inches clearance....


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Mine from the bottom of the 2 5/16 ball with it in the lowest position to the ground is 10in and I have only had it drag twice but both times I was in very rough terrain with a trailer

 

[Nick Redmond]

yes a 5in should be about 2 1/2in shorter Mine from the bottom of the 2 5/16 ball with it in the lowest position to the ground is 10in and I have only had it drag twice but both times I was in very rough terrain with a trailer

 

[corneileous]

Mine from the bottom of the 2 5/16 ball with it in the lowest position to the ground is 10in and I have only had it drag twice but both times I was in very rough terrain with a trailer

yes a 5in should be about 2 1/2in shorter Mine from the bottom of the 2 5/16 ball with it in the lowest position to the ground is 10in and I have only had it drag twice but both times I was in very rough terrain with a trailer

Well, even if it the 5” inch hitch was only 2 inches shorter than your 7” hitch, that’s 9 inches of ground clearance between the 2-5/16 ball and the ground. And something else I didn’t realize until now- yes, I have the 4-corner air ride, but if ground clearance ever became an issue, I can put my suspension in “Off-road 2” mode and give myself an extra 2 inches of clearance, just like that, in a matter of seconds.

I dunno, that b&w is starting to really look like it may be the one. I’m gonna try to take my little trailer out to an empty parking lot this weekend so that I can get more of an accurate measurement on what drop it will need to make it ride level and go from there.

***EDITED TO ADD***

Once more, thank you again for taking the time to put that tape measure on your receiver hitch for me and take that measurement. I decided to call up B&W to ask them some other questions and while I was at it, I decided to ask them what the measurement was between the top of the shank, to the bottom of the 2 5/16 ball when it’s on the bottom of the hitch and, they pretty much said that with the top of my receiver tube being 19 inches to the ground that I’d have about 9, 9 1/2 inches of ground clearance so your measurement helped out a lot.


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[corneileous]

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

I didn’t think to ask you about it at the time, but when you pull that enclosed trailer of yours, do you pull it with your hitch set up all the way down to the full 6-inch drop?

Even if you do, you probably wouldn’t ever have to be concerned about ground clearance with your hitch because yours is flat on the bottom with no other ball below it but in order for me to be prepared for if I ever need to have the full 6 inches of drop, that ground clearance might be an issue. I mean, I have air suspension too and can squeeze another 2 inches of clearance if need be but if I could survive without that much drop, I’d rather just get 4 inches of drop from anything else, or have the 5 inches from the B&W hitch.


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[Arth]

No I never had to drop it that low. With the air suspension leveled out I was maybe two or three from the bottom.

I didn’t think to ask you about it at the time, but when you pull that enclosed trailer of yours, do you pull it with your hitch set up all the way down to the full 6-inch drop?

Even if you do, you probably wouldn’t ever have to be concerned about ground clearance with your hitch because yours is flat on the bottom with no other ball below it but in order for me to be prepared for if I ever need to have the full 6 inches of drop, that ground clearance might be an issue. I mean, I have air suspension too and can squeeze another 2 inches of clearance if need be but if I could survive without that much drop, I’d rather just get 4 inches of drop from anything else, or have the 5 inches from the B&W hitch.


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[6.7CumminsDrvr]

I’ve got the 10” drop weigh safe and love it.

I also have a 6” B&W Multiball which served me well (still have it sitting in the garage).

Reason for the change was due to needing more drop when I did the lift and honestly at stock height, the 6” drop was barely enough for my little utility trailer.

Trailer below is not mine but......

 

[corneileous]

No I never had to drop it that low. With the air suspension leveled out I was maybe two or three from the bottom.

So if your slider was two or three holes up from the bottom of the drawbar, that would put your hitch being setup in either the 3” or 4” drop. The post of yours where it shows your hitch, and then your truck with the trailer on it, as your hitch sits with four holes showing on top, that means it’s in the 4” drop position.

But anywho, that’s good to hear that you didn’t need the full 6” of drop. That makes me feel better about not necessarily having to worry so much about ground clearance with any of those other hitches that have the flip-over trailer balls.




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[corneileous]

I’ve got the 10” drop weigh safe and love it.

I also have a 6” B&W Multiball which served me well (still have it sitting in the garage).

Reason for the change was due to needing more drop when I did the lift and honestly at stock height, the 6” drop was barely enough for my little utility trailer.

Trailer below is not mine but......

View attachment 173043

View attachment 173044

How much lift did you add to need 10 inches of drop?

But uh, unless B&W did something different in the past, their adjustable hitches are 3, 5, 7 and 9....

You sure you have a 6 inch B&W?


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[6.7CumminsDrvr]

How much lift did you add to need 10 inches of drop?

But uh, unless B&W did something different in the past, their adjustable hitches are 3, 5, 7 and 9....

You sure you have a 6 inch B&W?


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Well it might be the 5” then.......

Only did a 4” lift and 35’s. at stock height, the B&W still had my trailer sitting a bit nose high, even heavily loaded. I’ll see if I can find a pic.

 

[Nick Redmond]

Well, even if it the 5” inch hitch was only 2 inches shorter than your 7” hitch, that’s 9 inches of ground clearance between the 2-5/16 ball and the ground. And something else I didn’t realize until now- yes, I have the 4-corner air ride, but if ground clearance ever became an issue, I can put my suspension in “Off-road 2” mode and give myself an extra 2 inches of clearance, just like that, in a matter of seconds.

I dunno, that b&w is starting to really look like it may be the one. I’m gonna try to take my little trailer out to an empty parking lot this weekend so that I can get more of an accurate measurement on what drop it will need to make it ride level and go from there.

***EDITED TO ADD***

Once more, thank you again for taking the time to put that tape measure on your receiver hitch for me and take that measurement. I decided to call up B&W to ask them some other questions and while I was at it, I decided to ask them what the measurement was between the top of the shank, to the bottom of the 2 5/16 ball when it’s on the bottom of the hitch and, they pretty much said that with the top of my receiver tube being 19 inches to the ground that I’d have about 9, 9 1/2 inches of ground clearance so your measurement helped out a lot.


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You’re welcome. Also I wanted to add the only time I use the very bottom holes is with a horse trailer that has drop axles under it. But with all the other trailers I leave it about 3 holes up depending on weight

 

[corneileous]

You’re welcome. Also I wanted to add the only time I use the very bottom holes is with a horse trailer that has drop axles under it. But with all the other trailers I leave it about 3 holes up depending on weight

I decided to take my trailer out today to an asphalt parking lot to get some more accurate measurements. Also, since my truck’s air suspension does some weird things sometimes, I figured while the truck was idling, I might oughta go ahead and recheck that measurement from the ground to the top of the inner part of my receiver tube and it’s actually 20 inches, not 19. Last week when I measured it, it had been sitting for a while and this air ride will sometimes lower or raise itself to level itself....

So since my receiver tube sits at 20 inches and not 19, I re-measured my trailer and with it perfectly level, it’s only 13 inches from the ground to the bottom of the coupler meaning I need a 7” drop....

But to get it to sit about a little bit over an inch higher in the front than in the back, I gained an inch under the coupler meaning I’d need only a 6 inch drop to achieve that.

Do I need a 6 inch drop hitch, or would I be fine with just 5 from that B&W or 4 inches from anything else?

I think partly the reason why I need so much drop is because I don’t think the tongue on my trailer is exactly straight inline with the rest of the trailer. When I had it level, the torpedo level was still showing the tongue to be down to low in the front.


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[Nick Redmond]

I decided to take my trailer out today to an asphalt parking lot to get some more accurate measurements. Also, since my truck’s air suspension does some weird things sometimes, I figured while the truck was idling, I might oughta go ahead and recheck that measurement from the ground to the top of the inner part of my receiver tube and it’s actually 20 inches, not 19. Last week when I measured it, it had been sitting for a while and this air ride will sometimes lower or raise itself to level itself....

So since my receiver tube sits at 20 inches and not 19, I re-measured my trailer and with it perfectly level, it’s only 13 inches from the ground to the bottom of the coupler meaning I need a 7” drop....

But to get it to sit about a little bit over an inch higher in the front than in the back, I gained an inch under the coupler meaning I’d need only a 6 inch drop to achieve that.

Do I need a 6 inch drop hitch, or would I be fine with just 5 from that B&W or 4 inches from anything else?

I think partly the reason why I need so much drop is because I don’t think the tongue on my trailer is exactly straight inline with the rest of the trailer. When I had it level, the torpedo level was still showing the tongue to be down to low in the front.


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To be honest with you I would do the 5in. The trailer doesn’t necessarily have to be perfectly level it just needs to be close and you want it to sit a little higher in the front when empty so when it’s loaded it’s level. So for example my 20ft Equipment trailer hooked to my half ton with the tongue of the trailer sitting about 3in higher then level when I put the Tractor on it with the front loader and attachments it sits perfectly level. Trailer weight is around 12200lbs loaded and 3600lbs empty