by Barefoot » Fri Sep 03, 2010 3:51 am
The weather has cooled, well, at least briefly in the mornings and evenings, and as promised, I set out to hook Towed Hall to the car. By the way, the hitch weight is 150 pounds but I haven't had the axle weighed yet.
As expected, with the frame lifted for clearance under the dropped floor (see first few posts and responses), the coupler came out too high and, with the car's hitch being somewhat lower than usual anyway, the difference was a full four inches with no weight on it! I considered a tall tow bar plus a tall ball but that would surely wind up denting the tailgate. I kept staring at and measuring the trailer coupler: suppose it would fit under the tongue instead of on top? You see the result. Kinda' proud of that. Yes, the latch works fine.
That 2-1/2" plus a 1/2" nut under the ball got the gap down to 1"and unloading the V-6 engine I had in the back of the car (duh!) brought it up enough that the weight of the tongue brought it all to a pinch nose-down, just the way it looks the best. Whew.
The good old HF trailer wires were too short to reach the connector just five inches off-center, but the car wires were long enough to move them to the middle. Problem solved, along with the usual yank and sag while turning. Oh, and I did have to move the jack back after all, but blocked firmly in place (note fancy wood scraps) it doesn't twist the frame even there, half-way between any supports.
As expected, with the frame lifted for clearance under the dropped floor (see first few posts and responses), the coupler came out too high and, with the car's hitch being somewhat lower than usual anyway, the difference was a full four inches with no weight on it! I considered a tall tow bar plus a tall ball but that would surely wind up denting the tailgate. I kept staring at and measuring the trailer coupler: suppose it would fit under the tongue instead of on top? You see the result. Kinda' proud of that. Yes, the latch works fine.
That 2-1/2" plus a 1/2" nut under the ball got the gap down to 1"and unloading the V-6 engine I had in the back of the car (duh!) brought it up enough that the weight of the tongue brought it all to a pinch nose-down, just the way it looks the best. Whew.
The good old HF trailer wires were too short to reach the connector just five inches off-center, but the car wires were long enough to move them to the middle. Problem solved, along with the usual yank and sag while turning. Oh, and I did have to move the jack back after all, but blocked firmly in place (note fancy wood scraps) it doesn't twist the frame even there, half-way between any supports.
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Barefoot - Teardrop Master
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