You did such a great job of answering my last question that

[Dragonryder]

Okay, I have another question. This is really a follow-up question to my earlier "is my tongue long enough" post. Okay, Okay, I mean my trailer tongue!!!

I have been doing a little research and have found something called a hitch extension. I have found them anywhere between 12" to 18" long. They seem to be getting great reviews. Does anyone have any experience with them? Or have any opinion about them, good or bad .

Thanks for any help with this.

[Steve_Cox]

Okay, I have another question. This is really a follow-up question to my earlier "is my tongue long enough" post. Okay, Okay, I mean my trailer tongue!!!

I have been doing a little research and have found something called a hitch extension. I have found them anywhere between 12" to 18" long. They seem to be getting great reviews. Does anyone have any experience with them? Or have any opinion about them, good or bad .

Thanks for any help with this.

Opinion: You might need a hitch extension if you're not Gene Simmons

[bobhenry]

"Give uth me a lever and I will move the world".

The hitch extention greatly adds to the load on the tow vehicle. Need a test stand on the ball and have someone measure the squat of the vehicle. Install the extention and perform the same task. You will notice that the lever advantage you have gained has the same weight ( yours ) exerting greater force at the hitch point ( ball) . This is not all bad if you have a light trailer and a larger tow vehicle it will be fine. You will not gain the advantage of easier backing in fact you will find it a bit more difficult because the extended length exagerates each steering wheel movement.

[planovet]

Opinion: You might need a hitch extension if you're not Gene Simmons

Or Ron Jeremy sorry

[brian_bp]

Imagine a tug and trailer hooked up, then imagine them moved a foot further apart. Now there are two choices to couple them back up:

extend the trailer tongue - ball is at the front of the one-foot extension
extend the hitch - ball is at the back of the one-foot extension

The two are very different, because the ball position is the pivot point, and that's critical.

Extend the trailer, and the tug has a longer lever to use to control the trailer; extend the hitch, and as described above the trailer has a longer lever to cause problems for the tug.

The extensions are a lousy and temporary way to extend the hitch, but even if they were done well, they would still be entirely undesireable from a trailer stability and suspension loading point of view. If you're using a one-ton dually to tow a teardrop, and you want to extend the hitch to allow room for a bike rack, then go for it; if you have a normal towing situation, I suggest extreme caution if considering a hitch extension.

[brian_bp]

...
I have been doing a little research and have found something called a hitch extension. I have found them anywhere between 12" to 18" long. They seem to be getting great reviews...

What good things are those reviews saying is the effect or the benefit? I can't imagine anything good about these, other than providing clearance for something mounted on the back of the tow vehicle.

[Arne]

If you have 90# on the hitch ball, and extend the ball mount, you will increase the apparent weight on the ball mount/hitch due to leverage.

In my case, I found I could shove the ball mount 2" further into the hitch and re drill the hole for the pin and unweight the twisting moment on the hitch even more... which is what I did.

I would be very reluctant to put it further out than is necessary. I can already see bending movement in the hitch when I bounce on the trailer tongue. I don't want to make it even worse.

[Larwyn]

If you have 90# on the hitch ball, and extend the ball mount, you will increase the apparent weight on the ball mount/hitch due to leverage.

In my case, I found I could shove the ball mount 2" further into the hitch and re drill the hole for the pin and unweight the twisting moment on the hitch even more... which is what I did.

I would be very reluctant to put it further out than is necessary. I can already see bending movement in the hitch when I bounce on the trailer tongue. I don't want to make it even worse.

[Alphacarina]

Generally, the closer the hitch ball is to your rear axle, the better

When going forward, it makes the trailer more stable with less sway . . . . this is why 5th wheel trailers tow so much better than conventional trailers. With a conventional trailer, whenever you turn the tow vehicle to the right, the trailer begins by turning left because the hitch ball moves left when the nose of the car moves right . . . . this is exagerrated the farther aft of the axle the hitch ball is - This is what initiates sway . . . . the tow vehicle turning one way and the trailer turning the other. With a 5th wheel, when you turn right, the trailer turns right also, because the hitch is ahead of the axle, so sway is almost non-existant

When backing up, it's lots easier to back in a straight line if the hitch ball is closer to the axle - The AMC Gremlin was the best thing to tow a small trailer with for this reason

I can't think of a single good thing to say about hitch extensions, so I just can't imagine anyone giving an 18 inch one 'great reviews' - Post a few of those for us to read please

Don

[sleepercatcher]

My tow vehicle is a Chevy S-10 longbed and it has the 4.3 V6. I purchased the receiver at the junkyard and it came off an S-10 blazer so I thought it would work. It is the correct width. The problem is the bumper mount for the truck is further under the truck than the blazers so my receiver is about 8" from the bumper. I thought of the extension but I'm not sure they make one long enough so it would have to be custom made.

Jeff

[brian_bp]

My tow vehicle is a Chevy S-10 longbed and it has the 4.3 V6. I purchased the receiver at the junkyard and it came off an S-10 blazer so I thought it would work. It is the correct width. The problem is the bumper mount for the truck is further under the truck than the blazers so my receiver is about 8" from the bumper. I thought of the extension but I'm not sure they make one long enough so it would have to be custom made.

Jeff

Extensions are normally a lot more than 8" long, so that part shouldn't be a problem. There might even be long ball mounts long enough to do this.

The problem: at least in a a weight-carrying mode (no weight-distribution system), the extension would radically reduce the capacity of the hitch, even if it puts the ball in the right place relative to the truck (so it tows fine). Rather than pay for an extension which adds another rattling connection to the hardware and reduces capacity, I would find the right hitch receiver... I'm guessing that they are common for S-10s. A long ball mount would have similar capacity issues.

[Gary and Cheri]

I put an aluminum tongue box on my tear and attached the tear to my tow vehicle (Saturn Vue). Took the combined package out into the neighborhood and did a U-turn. Found I had enough clearance, but only with a couple of extra inches. Went to Cabelas and got a short extention to get a little clearance (I believe packaging warns that your tongue weight is cut in half when using the extention). The handling changed for the worst and milage was also affected slightly. Got rid of the extention and wouldn't reccommend them to anyone. Certainly not on any tow vehicle that is more car like than truck.

Gary