Question:
I have a 9 ft. p/u camper that I would like to use along with my 16'
stock trailer but the hitch isnt long enough to avoid hitting each
other. Does any one have experience with getting an extended hitch. My
primary concern is safety of course.
Answer:
We travel with an 11 ft. fully self-contained camper (complete with full
bathroom) on a 1-ton 4-door dually (460), and haul a 3-horse steel slant
load trailer. The camper hangs beyond the truck bumper 3 ft., making the
towing rig 24 ft from bumper to bumper. We have a custom solid hitch
extension and a seriously reinforced receiver on the truck. The hitch
extension has an attached extension of the plug-in system so we can either
plug in the trailer at the truck bumper (camper-less), or plug in at the
rear of the camper without crawling under the camper or having unsafe slack
in the cord. The hitch extension also has an attached safety chain set-up
that runs back to connect on the truck. Because the extension is nearly 4 ft
long, it is set up with an EZ lift hitch to reduce sway problems. (I would
not consider it remotely safe to haul the trailer behind this big camper
without the EZ lift.) We also added an air bag suspension system - operated
from the truck cab - that we adjust according to how many horses and whether
the camper is on the truck. Our truck tires are 10-ply.
We've been hauling this way for about 5 years now, and only recently have we
replaced a few worn plug connections. And it appears we've now got a slow
leak in the air bags that needs repairing. We've never experienced any
actual hauling problems with this set-up on the flats or in the mountains.
We tried to plan ahead to avoid problems ... and it seems to have worked,
other than we now need 3 beds hauling to distant horse shows, and the camper
only provides 2. And the add-on room under the awning isn't reliable in all
weather conditions. ;-/ But to set up with truck, trailer, and camper
(oversized or not) .... you just need to take into consideration what you're
towing with, what you're towing, how will the camper on the truck change
things ... and determine what to add / change for acceptable safety
measures.
We've sure enjoyed having a camper along to use during various horse-hauling
situations. Our rig has been used for horse camping, changing room at local
shows / parades / etc., living quarters at distant horse shows, and a
convenient place to change my grand-daughter's diapers at such unusual
locations as a mounted Search And Rescue operation
