Drop receiver length increase

[tjwolf]

Have a motor home receiver height of approx. 24" and toad height of 12" at each coupling centerline. Using the adjustable Blue Ox drop receiver (@ 8-10")and Aventa LX tow bar puts the ball coupler at about 24" beyond the bumper and around 12" off the ground. Worried about dragging the ball housing on every driveway and slope. Any suggestions other than buying an optional 8" (vs std 12") hitch connector? The shorter unit would seem to be only a slight improvement. Has any one cut off the receiver connector and re-drilled the pin holes or found a good/safe solution?

Tom

[tjwolf]

Have a motor home receiver height of approx. 24" and toad height of 12" at each coupling centerline. Using the adjustable Blue Ox drop receiver (@ 8-10")and Aventa LX tow bar puts the ball coupler at about 24" beyond the bumper and around 12" off the ground. Worried about dragging the ball housing on every driveway and slope. Any suggestions other than buying an optional 8" (vs std 12") hitch connector? The shorter unit would seem to be only a slight improvement. Has any one cut off the receiver connector and re-drilled the pin holes or found a good/safe solution?

Tom

[GaryKD]

Hi Tom,
This may come down to accepting the lesser of two evils. For me, the tow bar being "dead" level is the most important item. This means you may need to approach entry/exit of a roadway in a creative way.

Consider consulting with a truck & trailer type business. With their experience, they may have some creative solutions.

[Sixpack98]

First of all my coach has a 2" square receiver and not a ball mount. My toad was about 4.5" lower than coach. I purchased a 4" drop receiver and like you was worried about dragging. I redrilled the holes on both the drop receiver and tow bar stinger after consulting with Roadmaster. The stipulation from Roadmaster was the new hole locations as long as it was 4" or more from existing holes. You may want to contact Blue Ox and see what they have to say. RM also said that there would be much less stess and strain on the towing assembly by relocating the holes and shortening the towing assembly. I went from about 24" down to about 14" and it was easier to tow but still kinda loosy goosy because of the slop introduced by the drop receiver. I installed receiver brackets which helped a little. When I had the M&G brake system installed they told me to get rid of the drop receiver and that 4.5" was ok with proportional brakes and much less strain on the towing assembly. They, and others, have said aux brakes really reduces the stress on the brakcets and tow arms. They cautioned that the toad brackets should not be higher than the MH receiver and only ok for stinger/receiver assemblies and not ball mount. Also, RM tech support did not poo poo my losing the drop receiver. So, I think you should be ok redrilling the holes but would certainly get the blessing from Blue Ox.

[Blue Ribbon]

I just went from a '04 to an '08 Vue which is lower. Roadmaster says that centerline receiver and centerline on swivel pins (3/4" or whatever) can't be more than 3" difference. so I had to go from a 4" drop to a 6" drop, and I still have about 4" difference.

Very first time I drove with 6" drop, in a SMALL dip, drug the receiver. Solution was a plastic skid. The cutting boards sold in Walmart are UHDPE (ultra high density polyethylene). I cut a strip 2 3/4" wide and about 15" long (had to make a ship out of same board about 2 3/4" X 6") and I used hose clamps about 5" apart on the front of the tow bar where it comes thru the receiver.

Now when I drag, it is on the plastic, which is very high impact resistance high lubricity and won't crack, even at low temperatures. So hopefully will slide through the dips. There is still the problem about putting the reverse load on the hitch, i.e. the road pushing UP on the hitch. Much of a bang on the pavement, would be just the same as putting a few thousand pounds tongue, only the opposite direction.

I still have to be very careful what I go thru, but I will not be grinding off iron. If the plastic starts to wear out, I'll just add on another strip. If this works well, I'm going to permanently fasten the UHDPE on with some 1/4" bolts threaded into the receiver and/or front of the tow bar.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[Glenn and Kathy]

I cut and redrilled the holes on mine. Had to cut it off because my receiver was not deep enough. Only saved about 3.5 inches because had to leave room for a hitch mounted bike rack.
used a 4" drop and my arms set dead level.

Glenn

[Tom N]

My Roadmaster Sterling bar came with two holes in it. I can move it in or move it out. I keep it in to keep my total length down a little.

-Tom

[tjwolf]

I re-measured the bumper to ball coupler and was actually worse off than I thought, actual measurement was nearly 27". A disaster even on any small incline.
My MH receiver hitch does not have a through hole so I (machine shop) cut off the 2" solid bar for the drop receiver, then re-drilled the pin hole, to gain about 5.5".
I also re-drilled the Aventa hitch connector as close to the lock plate as possible, and gained about 7.5 inches. I did not cut this off (yet) and for the time being going to allow it to stick through the drop hitch receiver.
I won't have the Grand Vitara in town for about a week. I'm still not comfortable with the ground clearance and distance of the ball coupler behind the MH @ approximately 14". I may move the adjustable receiver up and live within the 4" height tolerance band that Blue Ox suggests, rather than trying for a straight line connection. Also, will probably cut off the Aventa hitch connector to get rid of the tube protruding through the drop hitch receiver. Just another item to scrape on the roadway.
Thanks to all who responded!
Tom

[mickey53usa]

I see several posts where people had to put a hitch drop on the Motorhome to get the tow bar level. Am I the only one that needs to go up? Went from a Miata as the "TOAD" that was level with the Motorhome hitch to a Jeep Liberty that is 7 3/4 inches taller (MH 13.5 Jeep 20.75) am going to try an 8" Drop/Riser to try and cure this problem. Just never seen anyone post about that issue.

[JC2]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by mickey53usa:
I see several posts where people had to put a hitch drop on the Motorhome to get the tow bar level. Am I the only one that needs to go up? Went from a Miata as the "TOAD" that was level with the Motorhome hitch to a Jeep Liberty that is 7 3/4 inches taller (MH 13.5 Jeep 20.75) am going to try an 8" Drop/Riser to try and cure this problem. Just never seen anyone post about that issue. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That is interesting. Our current toad, 04 Chev Cavalier required a 5 1/2" drop from the MH to make a level hookup. We just bought a 2006 Jeep Liberty Limited, 4x4, AT that we are going to set up for towing. Haven't remeasured the height of the MH and the Jeep yet so we'll see.

[offthewall]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by mickey53usa:
I see several posts where people had to put a hitch drop on the Motorhome to get the tow bar level. Am I the only one that needs to go up? Went from a Miata as the "TOAD" that was level with the Motorhome hitch to a Jeep Liberty that is 7 3/4 inches taller (MH 13.5 Jeep 20.75) am going to try an 8" Drop/Riser to try and cure this problem. Just never seen anyone post about that issue. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

We have a Jeep Wrangler, we had to go "up". I used a 4" drop receiver upside down. See here for some pictures.

[SargeW]

I had to use a 6" drop upside down for my 01' Wrangler. The new 08' has the baseplate under the bumper so it is much lower. I may be able to do away with the 6" raise altogether. Still fine tuning the hook up, just haven't had time to fool with it yet.

Sarge

[thebings]

I just received my new Aventa LX tow bar and was amazed at how far it sticks out from the receiver. I see in the instruction sheet that this hitch bar is 12.69" long. There is an optional one that is 8.69" long, part number 61-6106. Wondering if I could get Blue Ox to trade me for this shorter one. Also, with this long extension and with a 4" drop receiver, when I fold up the tow bar to stow it behind the bumper it hangs way down and back from the bumper. I am in the process of installing the Blue Ox base plate on a 05 Honda Civic which is supposed to be 6" lower than receiver. I am not happy about this set up and just wondering what others have done.
'98 34J Bounder, 05 Honda Civic, Blue Ox base plate, Blue Ox Aventa LX tow bar, Blue Ox 4" drop receiver, Bake Buddy
Don

[Ken Lenger]

Silly me. I thought all these leveling problems would go away when I got rid of my 5th wheel and got a MH.