Help w/ Towing w/ a hitch extension and cabover camper

bustout · Post by **bustout** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:05 am

Anyone tow with a cabover camper and hitch extension? I just bought a cabover camper and was told that if I use and extension adapter, I will lose 1/3 of the towing capacity. With that said the hitch rating on my 3/4 ton truck is 1000 tongue and 7500 tow. So my available towing at the hitch w/ extension should be 1000/3 = 333.33 and 7500/3 = 2500 . What size boat can I tow? I have a 20ft nitro that I think weighs at least 4k lbs.

Can anyone give me some advice?

thanks
Jack

ChocoLab · Post by **ChocoLab** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:38 am

I just bought a cabover camper and was told that if I use and extension adapter, I will lose 1/3 of the towing capacity. With that said the hitch rating on my 3/4 ton truck is 1000 tongue and 7500 tow. So my available towing at the hitch w/ extension should be 1000/3 = 333.33 and 7500/3 = 2500

I can't comment as to the accuracy of the above statement as to the loss of 1/3 of your towing capacity due to using an extension adapter, however it does appear that your math is a little off.

If you will lose 1/3 of towing capacity and tongue weight you will still maintain 2/3 of your original capacity. If you lose 1/3 of your tongue capacity you should still have 666 lbs of tongue capacity left. If you lose 1/3 of your towing capacity you should still have 5000 lbs of towing cap left.

Hope that helps.

Mike

bustout · Post by **bustout** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 7:38 am

thanks for correcting the math issue....so at 660 tongue and 5000 tow, I should be ok. Anyone tow with a similar configuration? If would make me feel better knowing others are doing similar or the same
thanks

Fast 492 · Post by **Fast 492** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 8:54 am

I have a 11.5' Lance cabover on an F-350 powerstroke. I have a home made extension with thick walled tubing and I tow a 1996 492VS which is a heavy boat. I have not had any problems with towing, the only thing I recommend would be to add sway chains to either side to compensate for side to side motion at the tongue.. Good luck and enjoy your set-up. Jason Bubier

sswarts141 · Post by **sswarts141** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 9:33 am

I have a lance 825 on my 2008 Toyota Tundra. I tow a 21ft. Nitro 929. No problems at all. I have a heavy duty Reese extension. It is a solid steel extension, I would not trust anything that is made of tubular steel.

Smitty · Post by **Smitty** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 12:52 pm

If you have 1000 tounge weight capacity that is a class V hitch and a 36 inch extension would be no problem for a Bass Boat. I switched to a class IV when I had my Host 9.5 Dual Slide (meaning heavy) camper and it towed all of my boats fine. 20I skeeter, Ranger Z20 and Ranger Z520. If you live in So Cal Accurite Hitch is the best place to have any work done.
Smitty

Ron T. · Post by **Ron T.** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 2:09 pm

At one time I to had a lance 11 footer on my duely. Dont mess around , get an intirely new hitch. The bolt ons from the factory arent worth a S#It . I had a custom hitch welded on and had a SOLID bar extention as well. Call sal at Accurate hitch in Santa Clarita . So. Cal. He can answere all your concerns and show you what the stock recievers look like when over loaded from an extention. Costs a few bucks but $$$ well spent.

Gary Ryon · Post by **Gary Ryon** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:13 pm

Ron T. wrote:At one time I to had a lance 11 footer on my duely. Dont mess around , get an intirely new hitch. The bolt ons from the factory arent worth a S#It . I had a custom hitch welded on and had a SOLID bar extention as well. Call sal at Accurate hitch in Santa Clarita . So. Cal. He can answere all your concerns and show you what the stock recievers look like when over loaded from an extention. Costs a few bucks but $$$ well spent.

Sal is the MAN. Definitely knows his stuff.

nvbasser60 · Post by **nvbasser60** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 1:19 pm

I had a factory hitch with a 30 inch ext. Found my boat almost on the ground at berryessa on a trip from reno. Found the super hitch the rating is better with an extension the class 5 with out one. All the people in our club use them with their cabovers. They are expensive but i can now haul my own boat home from lakes instead of finding someone to haul it back for you from factory hitchs failing.

scottsweet · Post by **scottsweet** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 6:31 pm

You didn't say how old or brand of your truck. If it is earlier than 2008 and a Ford, I would seriously consider getting a new hitch installed. If it is Chevy, I would replace the hitch no matter what. Chevy is notorious for failed hitches. You should see the samples at Accurate Hitch in Santa Clarita of failed Chevy hitches, without an extension.

I have a Ford 2008, 1 ton with a Lance 992 and pull a Z21. I am using the factory hitch and have no problems with my extension.

There are two types of extensions, one made with a tube steel stock and one that is solid steel. I have a solid steel one. The tube extensions are manufactured by aftermarket folks like Eckhart and Titan. My solid steel one was custom made. I don't know if you can get a custom extension that is a tube.

One thing that will happen 90% of the time is that any company you want to buy the extension will insist on installing a new hitch. They do not want the liability of using an extension on a hitch they have not personally installed.

Hope that helps.