does this hitch look okay

[84Monaco]

Re: does this hitch look okay

I have a Jeep Cherokee that I tow my Sea Ray 207 20" w/ V-8 350. The Jeep is about 3500 lbs. and the boat/trailer is about 4500 lbs. The Jeep is rated to tow 5000. I'm only 9 miles from the water, but I can't imagine trying to drive it w/o trailer brakes.

I've got surge brakes, but I also have a weight distributing hitch, which improves the braking some and handling a lot.

There's a big difference between just getting by, having sweaty palms anytime you think about hitching the boat to go somewhere and having a system that will allow you to safely get there w/o getting an ulcer.

If you can at all afford it, it is worth having brakes. Just wait til you try a panic stop with the boat and you'll be a believer...

 

[fat fanny]

Re: does this hitch look okay

Make up your own mind from all the sound advise you have recieved from this thread. But your responsibility starts when you pull out of that driveway with a vehicle I believe that is not intended for towing being outwieghed by what your towing and with no assist brakes. Your vehicle and the best assist brakes you can afford for the trailer. Your trailer and a bigger well suited tow vehicle 3/4 ton @ least. One retard will ruin a 10 to 15 minute tow trip to the lake. It will always stay the same (FAILURE TO STOP WITHIN ASSURED CLEARED DISTANCE) on the ticket when you rearend someone even if it is not your fault

 

[willieboy]

Re: does this hitch look okay

Where are you finding that? Two Tie-down disc assemblies and a surge coupler come out to $600 here on iboats.

The electric brakes shouldn't be that much though, even in Canada. 10 inch electric brake assemblies and hub-drums are currently selling for $50 each ($100 / wheel total) at the local Princess Auto. When I put brakes on my trailer I needed a new axle which cost me $275 including the 7 inch electric brakes. Hydraulic would have been $25 more, plus a coupler.

Those brakes will not last a season, even in fresh water. The solenoids that drive the magnets will be gone after the first launch or two. There is a reason that boats use hydraulic brakes... The whole system is sealed and water resistant. Electric brakes are made for trailers that see the road, not trailers that get dunked under water.

You can get electric actuated hydraulic brakes, but the problem still remains if the tongue ever ends up in the water. That should not happen, but I have seen instances when it does.

 

[willieboy]

Re: does this hitch look okay

That Hitch will be marginal at best. It is rated for a total weight of 4000 lbs. By a Reese, or Hidden hitch from JC Whitney, Etrailer, or maybe even Iboats (I have not looked for hitches there). They will be rated for 5000 total lbs. Just an FYI: Curt is fairly well known for having non standard class weight ratings. Case in point, almost every ClassIII hitch is rated to 5000 lbs. Yet the Curt you linked to is only rated to 4000 lbs.

 

[bpmcl00]

Re: does this hitch look okay

interresting read willie boy. do any of you all know where i can go get get my boat and trailer weighed>>??

thanks

 

[84Monaco]

Re: does this hitch look okay

The attached photo is of two hitches with the same rating (5000 lbs. weight distributing) for the same vehicle (Jeep Cherokee).

One has only two vehicle contact surfaces that are roughly 1.5" x 8", the other has two 2" x 18" vehicle contact surfaces, plus a third mounting point in the center.

Even with the same specs there can be a huge variation in actual design strength. The wimpy one started to tear my unibody even though I was within specs. Those small flanges just didn't spread the load through a large enough portion of the unibody.

No problems with the beefy one...

 

[84Monaco]

Re: does this hitch look okay

FWIW the wimpy hitch in my photo is from Northern Tool. Not sure of the brand of the other hitch - it was on an other Jeep that I had - I pulled it and repainted it when the photo was taken.

The heavier duty hitch took about twice as long to install also...

I decided after that not to buy any hitch that I couldn't see a photo of. I noticed the webpage from the original post disclaims the photo as not being representative (the hitch pictured looks decent though).

 

[Titanium48]

Re: does this hitch look okay

One has only two vehicle contact surfaces that are roughly 1.5" x 8"

My class I hitch has more load spreading contact area than that (1.5 x 10 inches).

 

[bpmcl00]

Re: does this hitch look okay

nice post monaco.

actually when deciding between the curtis hitch and drawtite hitch,

i noticed that the draw tite (5000lb) hitch didnt not require drilling and only used 6 bolts.

My curt hitch(4000lbs) has a 8 bolt system and required a little drilling i looked at instillation for both and the curt uses all possible holes required while the draw tite didnt.


although the curt is rated lower im under the impression that it is much more sturdier then the draw tite i was looking at.