Hitch height question

[Hitch Pin]

Originally Posted by dennis b

LOL! Coupler sits on top of ball...now lower all the way so its on...now at bottom...right

I give up on this one.

[eldermike]

Back up close to the trailer and level the trailer. Set your hitch ball to something higher than the top of the coupler on the trailer (it's a guess). Hook up and measure; then unhook and adjust your hitch based upon the numbers you got.

I have yet to see a production hitch on a standard truck that would not adjust to a TT.

[Nate]

Hmmm... my dealer did all this for me. They adjusted the receiver, hitch, and equalizer. I didn't even consider doing this first. Maybe your dealer will assist with this?

[North of 49°]

The dealer size they would set up the hitch for me for $75. Too rich for my blood, especially since I can do it myself. But what I will do is email the salesman, explain the problem to him and make him run out to their lot with a tape measure, and I won't accept 31" for an answer.

[Nate]

Oh, I see, I wouldn't have paid for it either. My dealer through it all in with the purchase.

[tjpolsin]

Originally Posted by North of 49°

The dealer size they would set up the hitch for me for $75. Too rich for my blood, especially since I can do it myself. But what I will do is email the salesman, explain the problem to him and make him run out to their lot with a tape measure, and I won't accept 31" for an answer.

make sure you have him LEVEL the trailer on a LEVEL piece of asphalt/ground, then have him measure from the ground to the top of the coupler.

Adjust your hitch to get the top of your hitch ball to be 1 to 1.5" higher. The truck will then squat 2" or so after you hook up. You will then get some of that squat back after you hook up the WD bars. Tilt the hitch head to ensure that bars will be parallel with the trailer tongue when under tension. (at least on my REESE WD hitch).

In the end, the trailer should be level or SLIGHTLY nose down, and your truck should be level (w/in 1/2" at the wheel wells when compared to unloaded heights.)

other than that, contact JAYCO directly and get the specs from their tech department.

Tim

[Hitch Pin]

If you call Jayco they will tell you the hitch height of your trailer, that way you don't have to wounder if the salesman measured it right or not.

I have called Jayco two times and ask them for the hitch height of the last two trailers I've had and they were right on the money.

[North of 49°]

I emailed Jayco originally and that's where the 31.25" number came from. If I call them, I'm sure they'll quote the same number to me. The salesman actually seems like a decent sort and I haven't caught him fibbing to us yet, so I'm fairly confident he'll provide what I need. Of course, it's all subject to verification.

But if anyone out there has a 24FBS and wouldn't mind throwing a tape measure on it for me, I would be grateful.

[homer1959]

Jayco for my 24RBS said 26 inches measured at the top of the trailer ball receiver....I wonder where they take their measurment with my tape measure its 22 inches

[Murff]

After picking up the new 20MRB today, I was also a bit paranoid of ball height. I notice Jayco uses a Lippert brand ball receiver/ trailer tongue and not an Atwood. Lippert places the ball receiver on the bottom of the frame unlike where Atwood locates theirs near the top of the frame. This is the Lippert on our new 20MRB:



I wonder if Jayco used Atwood in the recent past and might explain the high ball height if the new stat wasn't recorded and updated.

Just speculation on my part.

Murff

[North of 49°]

Thanks for the photo, Murff. Different specs for different equipment. I'm also wondering if maybe Jayco measured to the top of the A-frame instead of the underside of the coupler, which seems to be the norm, as shown in this photo from eTrailer:



I fired off an email to the salesman explaining my problem and asking him to verify the trailer's coupler height. Our trailer is being built and isn't available yet, but I'm hoping there's a similar one around their lot somewhere. I'll post back with his response. He's been pretty good with answering my questions so far!

[homer1959]

is this conflictual information ? some site want you to measure the height of the trailer where the ball sits ( top of the ball) on the trailer and the TV

[homer1959]

What is the measurment at the top of the ball on the TV ?

[Paintinfool3]

Well for me it is easier to measure the lower surface of the tt where the ball goes in and not that hard to measure right above the hitchmount where the ball mounts.... when you begin to try to figure out where the ball will ride inside the tongue then it gets sort of questionable... either way it should be a plus or minus 1/2 inch measurement

[Scoutr2]

Almost all manufacturers of weight distributing hitches say to ensure your trailer is parallel to the ground, front to rear, measure from the ground to the top of the coupler, then install the hitch head so the top of the ball matches that dimension.

This is copied and pasted directly from the instructions for the Equalizer brand WDH: "With the trailer parallel to the ground, measure from the ground to the top of the trailer coupler."



You will find this on page 10 of the Owner's Manual, here: http://www.equalizerhitch.com/pdf/eq...anual_0111.pdf

This is a pretty simple measurement and removes all the guesswork of what to measure and where. It does not need to be exact, but probably within 1/2".

[Hitch Pin]

Originally Posted by Scoutr2

Almost all manufacturers of weight distributing hitches say to ensure your trailer is parallel to the ground, front to rear, measure from the ground to the top of the coupler, then install the hitch head so the top of the ball matches that dimension.

This is copied and pasted directly from the instructions for the Equalizer brand WDH: "With the trailer parallel to the ground, measure from the ground to the top of the trailer coupler."



You will find this on page 10 of the Owner's Manual, here: http://www.equalizerhitch.com/pdf/eq...anual_0111.pdf

This is a pretty simple measurement and removes all the guesswork of what to measure and where. It does not need to be exact, but probably within 1/2".

Jayco told me this is how they measure hitch height as well.

[Hitch Pin]

Originally Posted by North of 49°

Thanks for the photo, Murff. Different specs for different equipment. I'm also wondering if maybe Jayco measured to the top of the A-frame instead of the underside of the coupler, which seems to be the norm, as shown in this photo from eTrailer:



I fired off an email to the salesman explaining my problem and asking him to verify the trailer's coupler height. Our trailer is being built and isn't available yet, but I'm hoping there's a similar one around their lot somewhere. I'll post back with his response. He's been pretty good with answering my questions so far!

I saw this on e-trailers web site, it was just telling you how to determine the drop or rise when buying a ball mount. This photo was only part of the photo's in their instructions.

[eldermike]

If you level your trailer, then back up to it and assemble your hitch using only your eyes to measure you might hit this on the first try. Just remember things are going to drop some when you hook up even with the WD bars adjusted. Use the tape measure to verify your trailer is level. Also use the tape measure to verify your WD bars are doing their job. You need your top of wheel well to ground numbers before and after hookup.

[tjpolsin]

Originally Posted by tjpolsin

make sure you have him LEVEL the trailer on a LEVEL piece of asphalt/ground, then have him measure from the ground to the top of the coupler.

Adjust your hitch to get the top of your hitch ball to be 1 to 1.5" higher. The truck will then squat 2" or so after you hook up. You will then get some of that squat back after you hook up the WD bars. Tilt the hitch head to ensure that bars will be parallel with the trailer tongue when under tension. (at least on my REESE WD hitch).

In the end, the trailer should be level or SLIGHTLY nose down, and your truck should be level (w/in 1/2" at the wheel wells when compared to unloaded heights.)

other than that, contact JAYCO directly and get the specs from their tech department.

Tim

We all have different brand hitches, and initial set up info that each can provide for future forum members will be a bonus.

For REESE hitches, the hitch height is measured to the top of the hitch ball socket. See these links for both round bar and trunion bar hitches.

<http://www.hitchpro.net/application/support/instructions/n67509.pdf>
<http://www.hitchpro.net/application/support/instructions/n66073.pdf>

[Scoutr2]

Here is the Installation Instructions manual for your Curt WDH: https://www.curtmfg.com/masterlibrar..._17330_INS.PDF

As I looked through it, it says to measure from the ground to the top of the coupler. So I would say that assembling your WDH before you get the trailer might get you home OK, but you will have to tweak it again when you get it home. To get it correct, you will have to have the trailer there so you are working from the dimensions you observe, not from what someone else is telling you.

Remember, you can only safely torque and re-torque the shank bolts a few times before you start stretching the bolts and threads. So a ballpark setting will get you home, but you might want to wait until you actually measure your trailer's coupler height before even torquing the bolts the first time.

just my opinion.