I have a 1500 Avalanche TV. I will be towing a 30'AS. I want to take a motorcycle or scooters in the bed of the truck. They only fit with the gate down. I think I can work it out with only a 6" to 12" extension. Does any one have any experiance with this or simimilar set ups?
Thanks Phil
An extention will lower the weight rating of a hitch alot, check with the extention manufacturer for rating and allowable tounge weight. your trailer dry weighs about 4640 pounds with a tounge weight of 415, check it when loaded and make sure with the extention you will be within rated limits
Good luck.
... They only fit with the gate down. I think I can work it out with only a 6" to 12" extension...
That's a cool question that I never considered.
Since you have a relatively low tongue weight (compared to nowadays), if your weight distributing bars are equal to the task I think you could swing a horizontal extension which puts your Airstream further away from the tow vehicle.
The way I'm seeing it, proper weight distribution somewhat negates the distance the towed load is from the tow vehicle.
Look at the extension as a load extended out on a lever arm. Small changes in weight and distance can and will move mountains - ask the Egyptians. May not sound like much - 6" or 12" - but factor in the weights you are dealing with and the vehicle dynamics (road conditions, momentum, force in turns, etc...) and the end result could be dangerous for you and other vehicles involved.
The extensions I have seen were for bike racks and such - NOT TOWING AN AIRSTREAM. Having someone manufacture one only leads me to ask - if there is a market then why hasn't anyone else done it?
I say - don't do it. There are tail gate cable stops to allow you to open the tail gate partially without letting it down onto the jack.
Clancy_boy would get my vote. Folks that have used the AirRide hitch have mentioned abandoning it due to the significant flexing brought on by the extra length.
A more serious issue comes with failures and GM hitch receivers breaking. Extra stress sure can't be good for them! You may need to look further than this link, but I have been seeing it mentioned occasionally this last year.
Can you mount a front hitch? Wally did. Carried a scooter.
I was considering it until Irolled my truck. No Motorcycle for me for a while.
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Moving the pivot point of the tow package back 12 inches will increase the torque put on the unit when a truck passes. This will make the unit more likely to be pushed into a sway situation and cause a torque to try and push you off the road. I would not use it even if you put a antisway hitch on the rig.
I would be very cautious about considering a draw bar that moves the hitch head further from the rear axle of the tow vehicle. Even the modest extra length of the Reese drawbar that was designed to move the hitch head rearward far enough to permit the LP tanks to clear the rear mounted spare on my G2500 GMC Van when encountering tight turns created instability issues. When I upgraded to a full-size Jeep Grand Wagoneer, the instability went from a small concern to a large concern -- as the "twitching" became frequent. I couldn't believe that such a seemingly small amount of extra length could make that much difference; but when an experienced Reese hitch installer looked at my system, his first question was "Why are you towing with the drawbar designed for vans and SUVs with rear door mounted spares?" The difference was tremendous when the hitch was switched back to the normal drawbar.
The Jeep was later replaced by a K1500 Z71 Chevrolet pickup, and somehow I managed to get the old van's setup installed on the Z71, and it was even worse than the Jeep from the standpoint of instability -- again, switching back to the standard drawbar significantly improved the towing characteristics.
Good luck with your investigation!
Kevin
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Last edited by overlander64; 11-20-2006 at 10:57 PM..
I have a 1500 Avalanche TV. I will be towing a 30'AS. I want to take a motorcycle or scooters in the bed of the truck. They only fit with the gate down. I think I can work it out with only a 6" to 12" extension. Does any one have any experiance with this or simimilar set ups?
Thanks Phil
I'm not familiar with the Avalanche tailgate set up. Is it like a regular pick-up? Could you simply remove it, or do you need the tailgate to support the bikes? Or as posted earlier, leave it partially open.
The consensus seems to be (and I agree) that you may be adding too much leverage with an extention. If you head that direction, make sure you research it thoroughly.
Dave
Phil, I have a 86-32' excella about 7800 lbs, TV 93 -454- burb. 7 3/4" of my hitch bar is captured by the female receiver mounted to the truck. 14 1/2" from the reciever to the center of the ball. The receiver is rated for 10K weight distribution, I have an old Eaz-lift set up. round bars and chains. The hitchbar was extended to allow opening of the two rear doors of the burb while hooked to the AS. I have NO ILL handling at any time while pulling, NO SWAY, NO SUCKED IN BY SEMIS, NO CROSSWIND MOTION.NO BRAKING PROBLEMS NO PROBLEMS AT ALL!! This is working for me. True Story Tim
In regards to the tailgate/bike I need the extra length to fit the bike. I can do it with the scooters but the motorcycles are too long. I am considering cutting a tailgate in half just for this set up. I was also thinking about cutting or removing the jack off and bringing a floor jack? I also thought that the Avalanche's very short bed puts the hitch closer to the axil and the effects my be less than other trucks with longer beds. As for the front hitch, I have not been able to find one that is made for the Avalanche. I had one made and I am having it strengthened and it will be fine for light loads like a light scooter, bikes and such.
Thanks for the replys, I have been reading other threads as well and there are a lot of considerations that would not have occured to me!
How much does the motocycle weight? You only have a 150 light duty truck. With the hitch weight of the Airstream added and also extended back further, you are really going to be putting alot of weight on the back wheels and lightening the load on the front steering wheels, unless you really overdo the Weight distribution weight shifting. Even with that, you are still overdoing the lateral loads and the 150 does not have very stiff sidwalls on the tires and the wheel base is not the best. Don't do, it unless you are only driving less than 50 mph on side roads with no trucks passing you.
The moment arm you care about could be taken two ways; either from the front axle, or the back axle.
Now that I think about it, you'd take it from the front axle and measure the reaction at the rear axles. So say the wheel base is 10 feet, and the hitch is 3' behind the back axle, and the hitch weight is 400lbs. You have a moment of (10+3 feet)*400lbs = 5200 ft-lbs. The vertical load on your back axle from this is then 5200 ft-lbs / 10 feet = 520 lbs.
OK, so you move it back a foot. Now your moment arm is 14 feet * 400 lbs = 5600 ft-lbs, and your vertical reaction at the back axle is 5600/10=560 lbs. So in the vertical plane it's basically nothing.
For stability, you'd have to do the same math but side to side. Your truck is supported at the front and back axles. It's basically like a big beam hooked at the front and trying to sweep the back around. You could also look at it as pivoted at the back axle and trying to sweep the front around. I'm not sure what the critical values are, but this is the basic math of it. Hope it helps a little
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