Dropdown hitch use with W24 chassis

[Nonno]

The May 2005 edition of MH mag had a letter submitted by a reader in the P.O. BOX section titled "Towing Tips" (pg 13). This was a word of caution based on a friend's experience. He writes "The dropdown hitch should not project below the motorhome rear bumper drag guards. Unless the rear wheels of the motorhome are very close to the hitch, this arrangement will drag on any small depression or hump in the road - and may cause the hitch to drag, break and lose the tow. The more the overhang, the more critical the situation."

So far the only thing I've towed behind my W24 chassis was a small u-haul on a 550 mile trip to PA, without any problem. The overhang on my MH is approx 12 1/2 feet with no visible drag guards so it appears the Class III hitch is the guard. Now that the snow is melting I'll be towing my LW300 as much as possible. For it to be level the bottom of the dropdown needs to be approx 8" below the bottom of the receiver.

Sooooooo after having said all this, has anyone had a problem with their dropdown hitch dragging or breaking? If this is a problem, any suggestions short of putting 22.5" tires on my toad?

Bob

[Nonno]

The May 2005 edition of MH mag had a letter submitted by a reader in the P.O. BOX section titled "Towing Tips" (pg 13). This was a word of caution based on a friend's experience. He writes "The dropdown hitch should not project below the motorhome rear bumper drag guards. Unless the rear wheels of the motorhome are very close to the hitch, this arrangement will drag on any small depression or hump in the road - and may cause the hitch to drag, break and lose the tow. The more the overhang, the more critical the situation."

So far the only thing I've towed behind my W24 chassis was a small u-haul on a 550 mile trip to PA, without any problem. The overhang on my MH is approx 12 1/2 feet with no visible drag guards so it appears the Class III hitch is the guard. Now that the snow is melting I'll be towing my LW300 as much as possible. For it to be level the bottom of the dropdown needs to be approx 8" below the bottom of the receiver.

Sooooooo after having said all this, has anyone had a problem with their dropdown hitch dragging or breaking? If this is a problem, any suggestions short of putting 22.5" tires on my toad?

Bob

[CAD-Man]

I have a W22 chassis, which should be the same height as your W24. I use a 4 inch drop towing a 2004 Saturn Vue. I have never had the drop receiver drag. There was a gas station not far from my old residence that if I did not take the exit driveway at an angle, I would drag the factory receiver but I never had a car in tow when I used this station.

One question, are you sure you need an 8 inch drop?? The most I have ever seen on a W22 is 6 inches.

[DriVer]

I use a 6 inch Blue Ox Drop Bar available at RVUpgrades.com.

[Nonno]

CAD-Man
It is 6" to the ball but it's 8" to the bottom of the bolt extending below the hitch.

I also try to keep alert to how I enter or exit areas that have a pitch to them. Those may be the situations that article was referring to. I took it as meaning a potential problem when driving down the road.

[Edmund A Skibinski]

Bob, I have a 6" drop receiver on my coach, towed vehicle and coach level. Ed.S

[Bobg43]

I just purchased a new Itasca with the W-24. I have a 2000 Saturn wagon and had to go with the 8" drop hitch to keep the tow bar level. I have not had any problems on the road but do have a little bit of an issue in my driveway when I back out. I have been able to navigate without dragging the hitch if I back out at an angle. Blue Ox does sell a small wheel adapter which attaches to the bottom of the hitch which I think will roll the hitch on the ground if it does slightly touch.
I am switching to the Alexus tow bar and may go with a 6" drop if it is in "spec".

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bobg43:
... and had to go with the 8" drop hitch to keep the tow bar level. I have not had any problems on the road but do have a little bit of an issue in my driveway when I back out. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Bobg43, You know the tow bar doesn't have to be perfectly level.

I run the tow bar slightly higher on the coach side so that I don't have to overly concern myself with hard grounding the drop bar. So far so good and the 6 inch drop does the trick. If you look at my towbar setup it's practically level but not quite!

The bottom of my 6in drop bar BTW does have scrape marks on it but it would definitely be worse with a 8 inch drop.

[Dry Rot]

I just thought I would call your attention to the fact that there is 2 weights of ball mounts, a 5,000 lbs and a 10,000. The physical difference is that the 5,000 has a tubular shank and the ball is positioned on a 3/4" strap. The 10,000 ball mount has solid shank with the ball sitting on a 1" strap. The heavier ball mount can found at a utlilty trailer shop for about 50% more than the lighter one.

I broke three sides of a 5,000 ball mount tube once and have never used one since. If your coach might drag on the ball or you just want to sleep better, get the heavier one no matter what you pull.