proper hitch draw bar...

[rasbury]

I just bought an explorer (new to me 06) and it has a class II hitch receiver which is well within range of my Tahoe boat weight. I need to get a drawbar for it. Now then, I've been towing the boat with my Ranger off the bumper. My Ranger was an Edge which has the bigger wheels so the trailer never rode "level". I can get the draw bar that is straight or has the curve down which would lower the tounge some, but, I guess my question is, is it suppose to ride level, slightly up or slightly down? I've never read anything about it anywhere.

thanks
Rick

 

[H20Rat]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

level... Tilted down is preferrable to up though. Tilted up can be dangerous, unstable, and also lightens the tongue weight.

 

[109jb]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

Ideally, the trailer frame should ride level or nearly so.
http://www.etrailer.com/faq-ballmount.aspx

 

[oldjeep]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

OK, I'll bite. What kind of Tahoe boat is within the rating of a class 2 hitch?

 

[beason]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

OK, I'll bite. What kind of Tahoe boat is within the rating of a class 2 hitch?

well he was pulling it with a ranger before. Must be pretty small.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

well he was pulling it with a ranger before. Must be pretty small.

Not neccessarily, I used to pull a car trailer with a 4.0L Ranger that was tow rated for 7500lbs. Not much problem to get a class 3 hitch on a ranger (or explorer for that matter). Class 2 is only rated for 3500lbs, and its pretty tough to get a runabout on a trailer with fuel and stuff in it for under that weight.

 

[Splat]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

Tilted down is preferrable to up though. Tilted up can be dangerous, unstable, and also lightens the tongue weight.

Incorrect. Level is best, but if the trailer has to be unlevel, slightly high tongue is always preferable. A low tongue will lead to excessive and some times uncontrollable sway. Bill

 

[oldjeep]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

Incorrect. Level is best, but if the trailer has to be unlevel, slightly high tongue is always preferable. A low tongue will lead to excessive and some times uncontrollable sway. Bill

That is just the opposite of my experience.

 

[Titanium48]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

Not neccessarily, I used to pull a car trailer with a 4.0L Ranger that was tow rated for 7500lbs. Not much problem to get a class 3 hitch on a ranger (or explorer for that matter). Class 2 is only rated for 3500lbs, and its pretty tough to get a runabout on a trailer with fuel and stuff in it for under that weight.

Really? I'd suspect that most sub-20 foot outboard powered boats would come in under 3500 lb, along with the smallest ~16 foot I/Os.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

Really? I'd suspect that most sub-20 foot outboard powered boats would come in under 3500 lb, along with the smallest ~16 foot I/Os.

He's got a 3.0L I/O in a 2007 Tahoe of some sort. Boat probabally weighs at least 3200lbs dry with no trailer.

 

[109jb]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

Why not just look it up. If he has a Q4 the boat/motor is 2270 pounds. The trailer, what about 600-700 pounds. Fuel-20 gallons= 120 pounds. Still under 3500.

That is for a current model boat. Don't forget that tahoe used to make outboard powered boats too.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

another thing to consider is that a lower tongue will load and launch better at the ramp as the trailer will be closer to level with the water...... in my experience the height (within a few inches anyhow) of the tongue makes no difference in stability... . Most of my trailers now have 2 or more axles so they need to be level but with a single, level is good but in my experience not critical.....

O/P, what model of boat do you have? If it is on a single axle 3500 lb trailer and the trailer is not overloaded then the hitch should not be overloaded either.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

Incorrect. Level is best, but if the trailer has to be unlevel, slightly high tongue is always preferable. A low tongue will lead to excessive and some times uncontrollable sway. Bill

That is just the opposite of my experience.

simple physics dictate that a slightly tongue low is better than tongue high. A tongue high trailer not only has less tongue weight, but will tend to give the trailer more leverage to start swaying. (pivot point is further from the thing that is keeping you going straight down the road, the contact patch of your tires. Of course, every case could be different, and if you push the limits of either, you are asking for trouble. Given the choice of being 5 degrees tongue low vs 5 degrees tongue high, you ALWAYS want tongue low, if for no other reason than the increased weight.

 

[109jb]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

As far as I'm concerned the biggest concern is for multi-axle trailers which need to be level so that each axle carries an even proportion of the load. This is especially true for torsion axle trailers, but also important for leaf spring trailers so that you don't exceed the capability of the spring equalizers.

For single axle trailer, unless the trailer is grossly out of level, the affects are going to be pretty small. I'm not going to debate the physics on a forum (been there and its useless) except to say that the physics could care less about the trailer frame angle, shape, or anything else. The physics only care about the hitch, tire, and center of gravity locations of the loaded trailer. The frame just connects those 3 points and could be any shape and the results would be the same.

 

[woosterken]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

here is the diagram that came with my draw bar.

woosterken

 

[robertstone9]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

another vote for lower tongue best for towing easier for launching plus it keeps the rear from dragging coming out of driveways

 

[mwmike270]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

id vote for level first , low second and high last. tounge weight is the bigest issue with a single axle trailer. if your too light on the tounge it will be all over the place even banging around on the ball. if its grossly over on the tounge weight you also can create a problem. the bigger heaver the truck that is pulling makes some of the issues go away

when i tow, i try to have about 10% of the weight as tounge for a single axel.

 

[rasbury]

Re: proper hitch draw bar...

Well, thanks for al the input- I work at a Ford dealership, someone traded in a truck with a class II, I yanked it, put it on and it rode pretty level and rode well. The Explorer did a much better job towing it for sure. My tahoe (irony, an exploer towing a tahoe) is a 2007 Q4 with is 19'6" amd is right around 3000 lbs so the class II was fine although I'd feel better with a class III. The 2006 was the last new body style for Explorer and the hitch is built "into the bumper" so it is kind of high....the trun down in the draw bar leveled it out find so no issues....boat on!!

Rick