How to attach high trailer?

[garykk]

OK, this is good. And cheaper.

Would the drop in the leverage be transferred to the trailer tongue if I used that drop?

IE: A drop/extension on the Jeep would apply leverage to the Jeep. Would a drop/extension on the trailer apply leverage to the trailer?

It’s the extension not the drop that puts extra load on the Jeep hitch.

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[Jim1964]

Drop or rise extensions in some ways are worse than a straight extension. This is because the forces applied when accelerating or braking are no longer level with the vehicle receiver. They are applied above or below it, therefore apply forward or reverse rotational torque to the receiver mount.

It’s basic physics, anything you do that increases the moment arm between the mounting points of the receiver and the connection point of the trailer increases leverage.

Whether you go up, down or straight back will determine which direction the torque will be magnified, but it will be magnified.

An off road trailer will be applying a lot of force in every direction to the tow point.

 

[richk225]

I thought about that but there's two problems. First is that I'm being cautious because, without being an expert, I think a hitch that size would put additional stress on the mount. If my tongue weight was like 100lbs I think I would be fine. But since it's 300lbs and the max is 350lbs, I'm wondering if it's a good idea. Plus, the tongue is 300lbs and I haven't even loaded the trailer yet.

The other issue is that I don't think that would fit in a rise state. It's late, I'm tired, it's been a long day, so maybe I'm just wrong. But I went and measured from the top of the hitch receiver on the Jeep to the bottom of the spare tire. I got like 4". The tire sticks out about 7.5". So that in theory my work, depending on the dimensions of the hitch. If it did though, I wouldn't be able to open the tailgate.

I hear you. If you check one of their links they have a trailer hitch with a higher load capacity.
You may have to use both along with the mount that raises your spare tire

 

[Drytellsr]

Just remove the Spare tire when your towing and mount it back on at your destination. I do that every time I Tow

 

[GATORB8]

I hear you. If you check one of their links they have a trailer hitch with a higher load capacity.
You may have to use both along with the mount that raises your spare tire

Holy cow, the Draw Tite is rated at 675/4500? Be nice to have a little head room with trailers with >10% tongue weight. Looks like it's almost twice as heavy as the Mopar one.

Any experience with it?

 

[nU7OuxIx]

Just remove the Spare tire when your towing and mount it back on at your destination. I do that every time I Tow

That's what I did to get it home. The tire just about fits in the cargo area and I need to stuff a 100lb dog back there, leaving not much room for the dog.

I have a few more ideas that people have shared. I looked at lock n roll and they have a drop receiver that fits into the trailer. I figured I could use that with a straight through on the Jeep side.

Another idea was somebody mentioned they used this on their Jeep

http://www.towsmart.us/products/12-12-adjustable-ball-mount-1-hole-w-clip-5000-lb/

So there are a few different things that can be done.

 

[nU7OuxIx]

Holy cow, the Draw Tite is rated at 675/4500? Be nice to have a little head room with trailers with >10% tongue weight. Looks like it's almost twice as heavy as the Mopar one.

Any experience with it?

Is swapping the receiver out an option? I presumed that the 350lbs/3500lbs is more a limitation of the Jeep frame and axles and not the Jeep receiver.

 

[GATORB8]

Is swapping the receiver out an option? I presumed that the 350lbs/3500lbs is more a limitation of the Jeep frame and axles and not the Jeep receiver.

It's kind of tough to get the numbers right. Really, I'm not interested in pulling >3500 lbs, and would rather keep it capped at 3k or so. But regardless, it would be unlikely you could hit 4500 without blowing GCWR.

All 4 doors (to my knowledge) have 850 lb payload stickers, and are rated at 3500 lbs towing. To some extent, Jeep's pulling a CYA and just rated them all at the lowest common denominator. But the tow rating isn't necessarily indicative of capacity of the frame and axles, the SAE test takes into account cooling, braking, etc. From what I've heard, cooling is the issue, and that's what they had to adjust to get the Gladiator rating up.

Using our Rub 4xe as an example.

GCWR (Jeep +Payload + Trailer) is 9,200
GVWR (Jeep + Payload) is 6,400
Curb Weight (Jeep) is 5,222
Payload (GVWR - CW) is 1,178

So with a 3500 lb trailer, we're limited to 478 lb of payload before you hit GCWR (GCWR - CW - 3500), regardless of hitch. This actually aligns pretty closely with the 850lb payload rating and a 10% tongue weight.

I would have two concerns at this, one we're dead on max tongue weight and we have like a 7" drop to get ours low enough which adds some pressure.

While most of the trailer manufacturers (at least RVs) are getting all the way down to 10% tongue to maximize the vehicles that can tow them, 10-15% tongue weight was the industry standard. For a 3k gross trailer, that's 300-450 lbs tongue weight (uh oh).

That's where I see this coming in handy. Looking at a 3k loaded trailer with 400 lb TW (13%) I come up with these:

GCWR-CW-3000 = 978 payload
Calc'd payload - 400 TW = 778 payload remaining
Spec'd payload - 400 TW = 450 payload remaining

TLDR, The 3500 should govern anyway, but that's probably all you can realistically tow and stay within GCWR. But, this upgraded hitch may increase your headroom for tongue weight.

 

[richk225]

I have seen and had happen to me in the past on an older Jeep when using a drop hitch
The older Jeep had a 1 1/4 hitch with a 5" drop and with a 5`x8` landscape trailer and a hard/emergency stop because someone pulled out in front of me it and it resulted in the force on the drop hitch it bent the rear frame tube to the point I had to use a jack to straighten it out. I never towed again with that Jeep
My JKUR and my JLUR and both 392`s I have used a riser hitch and have pulled a boat/trailer combo that weighed in at 3300 pounds and the main thing is that the trailer had hydraulic brakes on it. I never had a problem since and it is a 5" rise hitch
I have also seen Jeeps with custom made braces going to the hitch to help it avoid wanting to twist upward or downward

 

[Rubigone]

All 4 doors (to my knowledge) have 850 lb payload stickers, and are rated at 3500 lbs towing. To some extent, Jeep's pulling a CYA and just rated them all at the lowest common denominator. But the tow rating isn't necessarily indicative of capacity of the frame and axles, the SAE test takes into account cooling, braking, etc. From what I've heard, cooling is the issue, and that's what they had to adjust to get the Gladiator rating up.

The export wranglers are rated at 5,500lbs just fyi so id assume the jeeps in the us can handle that too.

 

[BUSHRVN]

Personally, I’d modify the trailer to lower the coupler down so that it reaches under the spare at the height of the receiver so that the draw bar/ball is at the height and as close to the receiver tube. This creates the least amount of twisting and dead weight leaverage on the receiver.
I modified the trailer pictured below to suit my Ram3500 without having to do a raising receiver draw bar and this also allows the tailgate to be opened while connected as well.
If you can’t do the cutting and welding check a few local welding/fab shops to see what they’d charge. May very well be cheaper than replacing the factory receiver etc.

 

[GATORB8]

The export wranglers are rated at 5,500lbs just fyi so id assume the jeeps in the us can handle that too.

Euro tests are super low tongue weight (3-7%) and max of 60 mph.

EDIT: They also have like a 2' bumper hanging off the front to balance it off, lol.

 

[GATORB8]

The export wranglers are rated at 5,500lbs just fyi so id assume the jeeps in the us can handle that too.

Does yours have door jamb weight stickers like ours with weights? Be interesting to see.

 

[GATORB8]

Personally, I’d modify the trailer to lower the coupler down so that it reaches under the spare at the height of the receiver so that the draw bar/ball is at the height and as close to the receiver tube. This creates the least amount of twisting and dead weight leaverage on the receiver.
I modified the trailer pictured below to suit my Ram3500 without having to do a raising receiver draw bar and this also allows the tailgate to be opened while connected as well.
If you can’t do the cutting and welding check a few local welding/fab shops to see what they’d charge. May very well be cheaper than replacing the factory receiver etc.

You know, I was thinking a channel drop pintle setup when I saw this, but kind of wrote it off because it ends up as expensive as the Lock and Roll. This made me wonder how different the cost would be.

That's when I came across this on Lock and Roll's website under the trailer side: https://locknroll.com/shop-now/trailer-side/pn-505-8-hole-height-adjustment-channel/.

$67 and it could probably be used with L&R, a Lunette for a pintle, or a channel ball mount.

 

[richk225]

I see how welding and putting the receiver/ring mount lower would help. He would need to do the opposite because the trailer is higher than the Jeep hitch

Personally I have never seen a trailer with a receiver as the connecting point for the ball coupling.
I have had boat trailers with the fold away front section of the frame to allow you to fit it in the garage or just give you more walk around room

Another option would be a hitch extender with a ball riser hitch, I would go with the shortest possible extension and the shortest riser hitch available. Also do you have a picture of the trailer? We used to put our one race car on the trailer with the rear end of the cat at the front of the trailer to balance the load out

https://www.etrailer.com/faq-high-low-adapter.aspx

https://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Adapters/MaxxTow/MT70024.html


You could easily raise the spare tire with the smittybilt spare tire relocator or one from another company 100% bolt on

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