Trouble Towing Trailer with Extended Hitch Shank

maierch · Aug 4, 2011

I pull my 26 Foot Tango bumper pull trailer with my Chev 3/5 Diesel with two quads on the deck. Because of tight clearance between the deck and the trailer when turning (Deck hits the trailer). To solved this I bought a new equalizer hitch that has my hitch ball situated about 10" further back of where it previously was. This has solved my clearance issues enough for it to be manageable but now I'm finding that my truck is having a hard time pulling the rig. I used to be able to cruise down the highway at 120 with no problems now even without the quads on the deck I have a hell of a time holding 110 without having my tranny temp climb steadily. I've attached a picture of my setup with the OLD shorter shank on the hitch so you can picture the gap with the new hitch. It has to be some kind of vortex of air swirling between the trailer and the truck creating this new drag but I don't have any ideas to prevent this from happening except only hauling one quad on the deck which is not really an option.

I'd appreciate anyone's input or experiences.

Summiteer · Aug 4, 2011

i'm no expert but moving the hitch back probably multiplies your tongue weight. try rebalancing your trailer with more weight rearward to reduce the weight on the hitch.

maxwell · Aug 4, 2011

forcing front end up? less arrow dynamic?

maierch · Aug 4, 2011

maxwell said:
forcing front end up? less arrow dynamic?

Thanks for the reply!

I've put airbags in to help level everything out since that pic.
Also I can pull the trailer without an equalizer hitch and get my performance back.

pipes · Aug 5, 2011

In fluid dynamics, the drag equation is a practical formula used to calculate the force of drag experienced by an object due to movement through a fully enclosing fluid.
The equation is attributed to Lord Rayleigh, who originally used L[SUP]2[/SUP] in place of A (with L being some linear dimension). But see Section 7 of Book 2 of Newton's Principia Mathematica; in particular Proposition 37. The force on a moving object due to a fluid is:

$99a6015b6a230860c9b1517b238e5de9.png$

where
F[SUB]D[/SUB] is the force of drag, which is by definition the force component in the direction of the flow velocity,[SUP][1][/SUP]ρ is the mass density of the fluid, [SUP][2][/SUP]v is the velocity of the object relative to the fluid,A is the reference area, andC[SUB]D[/SUB] is the drag coefficient — a dimensionless constant, e.g. 0.25 to 0.45 for a car.

Summiteer · Aug 5, 2011

pipes said:
In fluid dynamics, the drag equation is a practical formula used to calculate the force of drag experienced by an object due to movement through a fully enclosing fluid.
The equation is attributed to Lord Rayleigh, who originally used L[SUP]2[/SUP] in place of A (with L being some linear dimension). But see Section 7 of Book 2 of Newton's Principia Mathematica; in particular Proposition 37. The force on a moving object due to a fluid is:

$99a6015b6a230860c9b1517b238e5de9.png$
where
F[SUB]D[/SUB] is the force of drag, which is by definition the force component in the direction of the flow velocity,[SUP][1][/SUP]ρ is the mass density of the fluid, [SUP][2][/SUP]v is the velocity of the object relative to the fluid,A is the reference area, andC[SUB]D[/SUB] is the drag coefficient — a dimensionless constant, e.g. 0.25 to 0.45 for a car.

Air(which is the fluid) has a density of approximately 1.22521 kg/m[SUP]3[/SUP].

arff · Aug 5, 2011

That may max out the rear axle and frame. I saw the rear frame bend down from the added force from the extend leverage of the hitch moved back.

Ryeser · Aug 5, 2011

I have a large camper and either pull a trailer with quads / sleds or a horse trailer. I also use the extension hitch and had the same issue until I installed airbags. You may also want to get an equalizer hitch to help take some weight off of the tongue, or if you have an equilizar hitch already, you can stug it up I believe...

DaveB · Aug 5, 2011

I have an extended hitch for my old truck for exactly the same reason...sled deck/trailer/quad in the back. I had to go to the next size bigger equalizer bars (another 500lbs heavier I think?)...but other than tht it pulled the same. Ran that set up for many years.

maierch · Aug 10, 2011

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'm going to weigh my truck loaded and unloaded to make sure the Axle isn't overloaded and calculate whether my current equalizer bars are adequate.

Summitric · Aug 10, 2011

I think with the extended tongue you will find your 3/4 ton will be overloaded, by a mile.......

Extending the trailer "v" isn't that expensive. I've heard of a few guys that have done this, and rave that the whole trailer even pulls/handles better. A good trailer shop can have it done in a few hours, i understand? I think that would be worth looking into.......

Caper11 · Aug 10, 2011

What is the tongue weight of that trailer?, and is the extension rated for the trailer. Because I don't believe you can use a set of weight distribution bars to increase the capacity of the extension. I could be wrong and if I am let me know because I have on in my garage I'd like to use.

maierch · Aug 10, 2011

Summitric said:
I think with the extended tongue you will find your 3/4 ton will be overloaded, by a mile.......

Extending the trailer "v" isn't that expensive. I've heard of a few guys that have done this, and rave that the whole trailer even pulls/handles better. A good trailer shop can have it done in a few hours, i understand? I think that would be worth looking into.......

I'll do the weighing and report back. You may be correct. Extending the 'V' May be something I'll look into.

Caper11 said:
What is the tongue weight of that trailer?, and is the extension rated for the trailer. Because I don't believe you can use a set of weight distribution bars to increase the capacity of the extension. I could be wrong and if I am let me know because I have on in my garage I'd like to use.

The tounge weight on my trailer is only 520lbs. I'm not using an actual extension. I'm only using a longer shank than I was before. Here are two pictures of what I had before (the rusty one) and the new one. It does extend the hitch further back giving the trailer more leverage on the rear axle which could have me overloaded. Like I said I will run over the scales unloaded and loaded and post the differences.

RMK Junky · Aug 11, 2011

I use to haul mine like that. I now load them from the side. It's alittle tricky, just gotta be careful. I find the unit travels better with less sway. The 800 to the front and the 500 on the rear. I know what I weigh all loaded up and there's not much left. Btw, my trailer is a 31'. The turning radius is still tight but still manageable.

eclipse1966 · Aug 11, 2011

I am glad to see this thread as I was planning on buying a deck this fall and two quads next year and tow our 32 ft trailer. I never considered the turn radius so good to know this in advance. Now to hear what the solution is

campingnut · Aug 11, 2011

When I had a deck with 2 quads I used this hitch with an 18" extension (both for sale lol...) http://www.torklift.com/t.php?w_page=superhitch. My hitch was a Pro-Pride 3P hitch also and I had no problems towing a 31' trailer. It towed the same wether the extention was in or not.

Caper11 · Aug 11, 2011

maierch said:
I'll do the weighing and report back. You may be correct. Extending the 'V' May be something I'll look into.The tounge weight on my trailer is only 520lbs. I'm not using an actual extension. I'm only using a longer shank than I was before. Here are two pictures of what I had before (the rusty one) and the new one. It does extend the hitch further back giving the trailer more leverage on the rear axle which could have me overloaded. Like I said I will run over the scales unloaded and loaded and post the differences.

Ok I understand what you have now. I have the exact same hitch and don't have a issue it took a bit to figure out how much spring tension to use, but other than that my trailer tows nice, even with the quad on the deck.

supermax · Sep 5, 2011

I pulled my 22 ft trailer with two Rubicons on the deck with a 9" extension for three years without a problem. Truck was a 2003 K2500 8600 GVW. Firestone air bags kept the rear end up and it pulled like a dream. Don't know what your issue could be.
I'm using the same setup now on my new 2011 2500HD Duramax without airbags but they are going to be installed as soon as I can locate a set. They seem to be quite new to the market and hard to find.

maierch · Sep 6, 2011

I went to heavier equilzer bars done up a little tighter and have noticed an improvement. I appreciate everyone's help!

kbrunlees · Sep 6, 2011

I was not aware that there are different ratings for equilizer bars, how does one know if you have the right set?

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