Unsafe to Tow! Articulating Hitch Installation

[@bobdodge6727]

I have two Jeeps. Both have oversized spare tires in factory location and on factory mounts. 2003 Rubicon. 2016 Rubicon. No hitch extension. Open the tailgate. Pull trailer forward by hand. Attach hitch. Close tailgate. Done!

[@DunnageGarage]

Thanks for sharing your method! That's a great work-around.. However on both of my trailers I couldn't open or close the tailgate with the trailer attached. That's why I had to also extend my hitch lengths too.

[@XtremeXJ]

Raise the Jeep spare, ie a true tire carrier... move the low hanging trailer spare or resize the trailer spindle to the same lug pattern as the Jeep and run the same size tire and remove the trailer spare all together. A longer trailer tongue made out of receiver tube would allow you to fine tune the tongue length for both on & off-road situations. some type of articulating hitch is a must for off-roading... Congrats. on a nice looking rig...

[@DunnageGarage]

@XtremeXJ Great ideas, in my case I did raise the spare tire to fit an oversized tire, it just wasn't enough for the trailer. I would love to swap the spindles to match the Jeep. However, the trailer tires are almost too big at 29" for the trailer. The Jeep runs 35's so a second spare is still needed. Thanks for the comment!

[@brandonmorrison-q3b]

I had my eye on a $600 setup but after seeing The max coupler for half the price I will pull the trigger on it. 👍

[@DunnageGarage]

I'm glad the video helped. Thanks for watching.

[@adambatchelder4121]

That's one Way, I might have just moved the pair tire in the jeep up a few inches and gotten rid of the extender . I would have probably found a new location for the trailer spair as well to reduce the tongue weight and increase the ground clearance. But That looks like it worked out well for you being able to open up the back door.

[@DunnageGarage]

Interesting ideas, they would have worked for relocating the weight. However, when I am on the road, the Jeep is packed pretty tight. Putting the spare tires in the Jeep isn't an option for me. Thanks for the comment though.

[@adambatchelder4121]

@DunnageGarage not inside just reworked the bracket to move it up a few inches and create the room around your receiver.

[@kentonseydellaolcp4785]

E trailer sells a Heavy Duty WDH receiver Hitch by Drawtite for the JKU that is bolt on and quite beefy .it extents further back to help with spare tire clearance.

[@DunnageGarage]

I'll have to check that out, thanks.

[@patricksullivan9713]

Nice work!

[@DunnageGarage]

Thank you!

[@powderriver2424]

One additional thing I would do is go back to your receiver and have it straightened if it was bent, and reinforce that. There isn't much to receivers anymore and I would just have a welder toughen that up. Just my two cents. Good video pretty informative.

[@DunnageGarage]

I'm glad you found the video helpful, thanks for the tip. I did check the receiver on the Jeep, it looked to be good.

[@2-old-Forthischet]

The deal breaker for me is the single axle trailer. A tire failure would be catastrophic. Yes, I have a two axle trailer and had a complete tire failure and never even noticed it until another motorist flagged us down.

[@DunnageGarage]

@2-old-Forthischet thanks for commenting, for me a tandem axle isn't practical.

[@DunnageGarage]

The pintle hitch has a lot of slop, this set up doesn't. Great question, thanks for the comment.

[@reloadnorth7722]

Perhaps the addition of spring boosters or airbags would help

[@DunnageGarage]

My issue was the weight bending the receiver extension. Air bags or stiffer springs would help with the rear suspension droop.

[@thereadinesschannel7610]

I planning on adding one of these to my build In progress mainly for the theft prevention it provides by removing it from trailer. Question is, I will use 2x3 stock for the trailer side of hitch and wondered how did you go from that to the 2x2 receiver so cleanly on yours.

[@applesbighatranch6906]

I drive a half-ton pickup and tow a 2500 lb "squaredrop" cargo camper conversion. I put three 77 lb AGM batteries on the floor of the trailer directly over the axle. The trailer galley is going behind the axle, with the sleeper bunk foward. Even before the bunk was built foward and the galley completed aft, the tongue weight was 175 lbs. That's the most I ever want but the truck can take 500 tongue weight if ever necessary. I hope it isn't. My point is that anything heavy should be mounted as close to the trailer axle fulcrum as is humanly possible, ergonomics be damned. I do have my eye on an articulating hitch setup like the one you show, if only! for protection of the tow vehicle if the trailer were to roll over. When using a conventional ball hitch, a flipping trailer will flip the tug too. Have seen far too many examples of this. Cheers.

[@DunnageGarage]

Sounds like a great build. Unfortunately, there isn't much room to move things around on the teardrop. But I am doing the best I can. Sounds like you have quite the build going. Good luck, and thanks for watching.

[@grywolf1973]

I've been using a Lock N Roll articulating hitch for years

[@DunnageGarage]

I looked at that hitch too. Thanks for watching.

[@jasonh4167]

Putting your added weight behind the trailer axle will solve tongue weight.

[@DunnageGarage]

We looked at adding a couple of RotoPax fuel cans back there on longer trips.

[@mikehenry4743]

After a few years my max-coupler developed a lot of slop in the pivot bolt on the vehicle side of the hitch. It got so bad I stopped using it. The company provided no customer support what so ever.

[@DunnageGarage]

Sorry to hear about your experience with the hitch. Thanks for commenting.

[@thomasswearingen6971]

If you were to take it apart they should have used a bushing. Most bushings are a soft metal and they need to be replaced. The rule is if it needs grease or moves. It's either a bushing or bearings. Play would make me think bushing. Nylon is the fastest wearing bushing style and the easiest to replace.

[@niveknospmoht8743]

So why is this better than a Pintle hitch?

[@applesbighatranch6906]

Tighter, less slop, quieter, and [Edit:] more than likely lighter. A pintle hitch coupler, mount plate, donut, can be pretty heavy, at least the ones we were using at work were. Cheers.

[@thomasswearingen6971]

It's able to keep the trailer from rolling forward and back when you start and stop. It also has the ability to not slide your vehicle to the side when the play is taken out. My 14k dump trailer slides my truck around when stopping if I forget to turn up the brakes so that the trailer is stopping the truck. And trying to back is impossible when it shifts. Yes I can do it just always have to pull forward when it shifts because most of the time you will not be able to turn out of it.