Pro Pride Alignment Hack

[Davidwantz]

If you have ever had trouble getting the stinger to align and slide into the receiver on your Pro Pride hitch, this may help.

1. Make a test stinger out of a 2x2 piece of wood. Glue wooden wedges to all four sides to mimic the actual stinger. The wedges make the test unit a bit more snug and properly lined up in the receiver.

2.Target acquisition. Place orange duck tape on the margins of the receiver so you can see it clearly through the back-up camera. Now you will easily be able to line the stinger up with the square opening.

3. Get your orientation right. Stick the test stinger in the trailer's receiver and back the TV up to the trailer. You will clearly see if you are in line or not by looking from the top. The sides of the stinger and test device must be parallel. Move your TV around until the test stinger and the actual stinger are in the same orientation.

4. Now get the elevation. Standing to the side, you can see how much you need to raise or lower the jack to get the tester and the stinger aligned. In the photo, you can see the jack needs to raise the hitch to meet the stinger.

Once you are satisfied, pull out the test stinger, back the TV into the hitch and lock it up. A little white grease will help the stinger slide a bit more easily.

Still working on a reliable way in de-coupling to recognize when the weight is off the TV. I tend to use the breaker bar as a height gauge between the bottom of the hitch and the ground. Most reliable method so far, but always open to a new tactic.

Not all my ideas, I just compiled them for the convenience of other 'streamers looking for tips. Hope it helps.

Dave

[Hans627]

Originally Posted by Davidwantz

If you have ever had trouble getting the stinger to align and slide into the receiver on your Pro Pride hitch, this may help.

1. Make a test stinger out of a 2x2 piece of wood. Glue wooden wedges to all four sides to mimic the actual stinger. The wedges make the test unit a bit more snug and properly lined up in the receiver.

2.Target acquisition. Place orange duck tape on the margins of the receiver so you can see it clearly through the back-up camera. Now you will easily be able to line the stinger up with the square opening.

3. Get your orientation right. Stick the test stinger in the trailer's receiver and back the TV up to the trailer. You will clearly see if you are in line or not by looking from the top. The sides of the stinger and test device must be parallel. Move your TV around until the test stinger and the actual stinger are in the same orientation.

4. Now get the elevation. Standing to the side, you can see how much you need to raise or lower the jack to get the tester and the stinger aligned. In the photo, you can see the jack needs to raise the hitch to meet the stinger.

Once you are satisfied, pull out the test stinger, back the TV into the hitch and lock it up. A little white grease will help the stinger slide a bit more easily.

Still working on a reliable way in de-coupling to recognize when the weight is off the TV. I tend to use the breaker bar as a height gauge between the bottom of the hitch and the ground. Most reliable method so far, but always open to a new tactic.

Not all my ideas, I just compiled them for the convenience of other 'streamers looking for tips. Hope it helps.

Dave

Great idea and I’m going to borrow it. 98% of the time hitching is not a problem. But if the TV is on a slope/angle different from the AS it can be tricky. This should help.

Thanks!

[turk123]

To see if the weight is off the trailer just watch the trailer ball assembly. It will move ever so slightly when you adjust the tough jack up.

[AirMiles]

Just like this 2x2 hack, I just leave the stinger in the Propride yoke and do the same thing. I have a backup camera with a center line. I just align the center line to the stinger, then align the stinger with the hitch receiver with the trailer jack, then connect the stinger to the hitch receiver and back into the Propride yoke. Same concept, just using the stinger as the alignment tool instead of a piece of wood.

I always store my stinger in the yoke and use a lock instead of the pin when stored. So when I start backing up to hitch up, the stinger is already in the position for alignment.

[RedBearded]

I've been contemplating using reflective tape/paint where you put the orange duct tape to help with hitching at night.

[Hans627]

Originally Posted by RedBearded

I've been contemplating using reflective tape/paint where you put the orange duct tape to help with hitching at night.

I did this very thing with white reflective tape and it had worked well. Plus I put a wide strip of reflective tape on top the stinger.

It definitely helps, especially when it is dark.

[extiger]

I have reflective tape on mine. It helps.

[Davidwantz]

Originally Posted by turk123

To see if the weight is off the trailer just watch the trailer ball assembly. It will move ever so slightly when you adjust the tough jack up.

This simple statement was a big deal for me. I had to watch several times before I realised that this was a fool proof way to see if the weight was off the hitch.

I had been using a rod the measure height off the gorund. My wife was sure the weight was off when the corner of the truck bed was at nose level. And then there were the false positives and the CLUNK when the stinger came out of the PP hitch.

Thanks for this info. I may have to take a video and post it for the other schlubs like me who need to know this

Dave

[lsbrodsky]

Well, that really never worked for me so I put a piece of tape on the wrench at the right height for "disconnect". That has served me well for 5 years now.
Larry

[jpaine4]

Don't understand the need for the fake wood stinger, just do the same alignment process with the regular stinger. No problem. It will self align as you snug it up.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Hitch'n Rods an O ring and a finger tip.

Rod's & O ring self explain.

Place one rod centered on top of the stinger and the other centered on the PPP...when aligned vert one in front of the other back slowly.

After releasing the over center locks, going from park to neutral to get a very slight roll.
Place a finger at the arrow as you slowly raise and lower the tongue at the slightest felt movement stop and drive away.👍

Bob
🇺🇸

[white laker]

I have a set if Rock Tamers on my truck. After I take the load off of the hitch by slacking off the adjusting screws, I simply 'rattle' the Rock Tamers ,up and down, until i see the hitch assembly relax. Then I use the tool provided to pry the stinger from the hitch box. Easy peezy! I also have a piece of reflective tape on the top of the hitch box. If my front jack ever dies, I want to replace it with a new one that has a remote. That would be the answer to the back and forth trips to and from the hitch. Generally speaking the only time I ever have trouble hitching is when I have people come over to watch how it works! It never fails......Pete

[mythbuster88]

Originally Posted by jpaine4

Don't understand the need for the fake wood stinger, just do the same alignment process with the regular stinger. No problem. It will self align as you snug it up.

Because its a lot less work to use a piece of wood than the 40 pound stinger.
And some day, when a quadzillion years old, you look for the easy way.

[rmkrum]

Originally Posted by mythbuster88

Because its a lot less work to use a piece of wood than the 40 pound stinger.

And some day, when a quadzillion years old, you look for the easy way.

Oh, amen to that!!!

Less lifting of heavy objects translates to less chance of serious injury. Especially at my age...and I plan to get a lot older, BTW.

[Gsmblue]

All good stuff!

I subscribe to the method of watching the trailer ball assembly, it s pretty clear that there is a point ay which the ball hitch will rise above the 3P assembly.

I also have a level mate install inside. This allows you to store the last hitch position, so when you unhitch, you press save in the app. Then you can use the tongue jack to level the trailer and camp. When you are done camping you can use the app to find the previous hitch position and you are good to go!

May be to much tech for some..

[ROBERT CROSS]

My, 'never throw anything out' MacGyver storage and mount tool...to be up-graded with a ratcheting tie down strap.😂

Bob
🇺🇸

[rmkrum]

Nice. Looks a lot like the one I’m going to build soon. From ‘spare parts’ and scrap wood laying around in the garage.

[Hans627]

Originally Posted by Gsmblue

All good stuff!

I subscribe to the method of watching the trailer ball assembly, it s pretty clear that there is a point ay which the ball hitch will rise above the 3P assembly.

I also have a level mate install inside. This allows you to store the last hitch position, so when you unhitch, you press save in the app. Then you can use the tongue jack to level the trailer and camp. When you are done camping you can use the app to find the previous hitch position and you are good to go!

May be to much tech for some..

I too have the Level Mate but didn't think of using it to determine the unhitch and hitch height position. In fact I never used the fore and aft leveling feature normally but will start using it as you stated.

Great idea. Thanks for sharing!