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Hitch - Ball Height

ness5575

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ness5575 Enthusiast

ness5575

Posted
Posted

taking the first trip with the new suburban and will be pulling the popup camper for the first time with it.

my camper calls for a hitch height on the truck of 14" from the ground to the top of the ball. the distance from the ground to the middle of the 2 1/4" opening is 24" + 3" for the ball = 27". so i need something that drops 13".

 

I am having some trouble finding something that drops this much. there are some adjustable ones out there that get close but they are pretty pricey.

 

what are you guys using?

jrrod2004 Senior Enthusiast

jrrod2004

Posted
Posted

are you sure it says from the ground??? that is way to low imo. you hit a rut, bump, pothole or something else, I think your rig will bottom out...mine sits about 24 inches off the ground but that is with the truck rear end having been dropped 2 inches with the drop shackles.

ness5575 Enthusiast

ness5575

Posted
  • Author
Posted
are you sure it says from the ground??? that is way to low imo. you hit a rut, bump, pothole or something else, I think your rig will bottom out...mine sits about 24 inches off the ground but that is with the truck rear end having been dropped 2 inches with the drop shackles.

i am positive - i read and reread the manual about 4 times. this is a popup camper, so the tires are pretty short and this thing is about 16' long.

you are right - at 14" to the top of the ball the bottom of the hitch is only at 10" off the ground - the bottom of the ball shaft is only about 8". but I had that height on my old trucks - the suburban just starts out so much higher...

jrrod2004 Senior Enthusiast

jrrod2004

Posted
Posted

hmmm, then you may want to see if there are any hitches that 'drop' the receiver and then find a 4"-6" drop. I have multiple ball mounts with different drops. it is gonna cost you though to get the right setup.

blankey Enthusiast

blankey

Posted
Posted

Something doesn't sound right. I'm assuming you have a stock height Suburban and you need a 13" drop hitch? I pull our ATV trailer that has about the same size tires as a pop up and I just have a standard 2" drop hitch.

ness5575 Enthusiast

ness5575

Posted
  • Author
Posted

thanks for the input - you arent kidding about it going to cost me. i pick up the camper from storage tomorrow, so I am going to have to see how bad the camper looks with the 8" drop that I have now before I spend this kind of money on a new one.

 

i am not sure what the new pickups look like, but the new suburbans have the hitch in the middle of the bumper instead of below like most trucks do. It is very high...

jrrod2004 Senior Enthusiast

jrrod2004

Posted
Posted
thanks for the input - you arent kidding about it going to cost me. i pick up the camper from storage tomorrow, so I am going to have to see how bad the camper looks with the 8" drop that I have now before I spend this kind of money on a new one.

 

i am not sure what the new pickups look like, but the new suburbans have the hitch in the middle of the bumper instead of below like most trucks do. It is very high...

 

 

youre right, I forgot that they did it like that. ours are below the bumper

95Sierra2500 Senior Enthusiast

95Sierra2500

Posted
Posted

Why they raised the hitch so high on SUVs is beyond me. Most trailers don't sit that high, and very few popup campers are that high in the air. If you only use a 2" drop you're probably going to drag the bumper on the ground. Your 8" drop might get you somewhat close to level, but you may have to actually LIFT the front of the camper to get it on the ball. I had an old travel trailer that was too low even for my '95 pickup without having an addtional 2" under the jack to get it high enough.

csheatz Senior Enthusiast

csheatz

Posted
Posted

There are a lot of options for droping the ball height, google search would prolly be the best start. you know what you need there might be a drop hitch that is close to that, or is that amount of drop. I know the adjustable ones might work but im sure you know they cast close to $200. it would almost be easier to help you if you have a WD hitch, you can get almost endless ajustments with differnt shanks for those. sorry

gvbhunt Enthusiast

gvbhunt

Posted
Posted
Why they raised the hitch so high on SUVs is beyond me. Most trailers don't sit that high, and very few popup campers are that high in the air. If you only use a 2" drop you're probably going to drag the bumper on the ground. Your 8" drop might get you somewhat close to level, but you may have to actually LIFT the front of the camper to get it on the ball. I had an old travel trailer that was too low even for my '95 pickup without having an addtional 2" under the jack to get it high enough.

They did it to make it "prettier" by hiding the receiver behind the rear facia. They figure that most people that have a SUV will not use it for towing like people with trucks will so a little inconvenience would outweigh the design.

 

Also it could be that by design the SUV will sit a bit lower in its normal form (not HD, not bigger tires, things like that) so it may help a bit by raising it. But that is just my opinion.

HawkScot Enthusiast

HawkScot

Posted
Posted

Old 1998 Yukon, 14" from ground, new 2008 Denali Yukon XL, 21" from ground. Certainly a problem when you tow with both rigs like we do. I used a 10" shank for WD hitch setup, it seems to be good so far. Have you had any problems getting the hitch cover to stay on? I install it very careful, looks like it is hooked on top, bottom latches engaged, then it is hanging down later.

jrrod2004 Senior Enthusiast

jrrod2004

Posted
Posted

crap, that might be a deal breaker for me. I wanted to get a Tahoe but I dont want to even mess with it. might have to get an SD instead. By the way, what does WD stand for?? (Never got that)

jrrod2004 Senior Enthusiast

jrrod2004

Posted
Posted
WD = weight distribution. Hitch that has some spring bars that help keep the bumper from dragging..

 

Oh, thanks. I guess I never used WD when I tow

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