extended bumper hitch

[bobzdar]

So I picked this '73 F350 super camper special up a couple of weeks ago to haul my Cayo C-11 camper on it, and one of the interesting features it has is an extending bumper hitch to allow towing with the bed camper installed. It looks like it extends 3-4' (it would need 3' to completely clear the Cayo) and is rated for 6000lbs/600lbs tongue weight.

Has anyone ever used one of these? It'd be neat to be able to tow my '67 overlander along with the Cayo for 1 or 2 trips this year where we have guests coming. I've never seen anything like it, but then again until around 3 weeks ago I never knew the super camper specials with the extended wheelbase and ridiculous GVWR existed. The truck will certainly have the capacity to do so - it has a payload approaching 5000lbs and the Cayo will be under 2500lbs, the airstream has around 500lbs tongue weight and is around 5000lbs fully loaded for camping so I wouldn't be at the limits of either the truck or hitch. Of course, I don't think I'd be taking the setup cross country, but I can't find any info on these style hitches. Looking underneath the truck it's certainly beefy looking and the truck was ostensibly built specifically for this kind of thing from the factory, I just don't know how it'd all work in actual practice .

http://www.airforums.com/forums/atta...1&d=1488408791

http://www.airforums.com/forums/atta...p;d=1488151662

[Mollysdad]

I doubt the truck has much gross vehicle weight rating left after the camper is in the bed.
Although that camper is pretty cool!

[xrvr]

Thise extensions are common in the truck camper world. I'd get in a truck camper forum of some kind to get mire info. I know they must be triangulated to get proper support.

[bobzdar]

According to the door tag, it's 9000lbs gross weight (front 3700, rear 5900!) with a weight of ~4400lbs, so around 4600lbs payload. I believe the '73-'79 super camper specials were the highest single rear wheel gvwr trucks ford ever built. So, payload shouldn't be an issue .

[bobzdar]

Originally Posted by avionstream

Thise extensions are common in the truck camper world. I'd get in a truck camper forum of some kind to get mire info. I know they must be triangulated to get proper support.

Can't find much of anything on these older trucks. The information I've found mostly relates to the capabilities of the truck itself (which says it was basically a medium duty chassis/cab truck with a bed fitted) but nothing on the hitch.

[wahya]

Originally Posted by bobzdar

Can't find much of anything on these older trucks. The information I've found mostly relates to the capabilities of the truck itself (which says it was basically a medium duty chassis/cab truck with a bed fitted) but nothing on the hitch.

The hitch is probably aftermarket is why you cant find info on it.
2 min on a google search turned up information on extended hitches. This is a link to one company that makes them. http://www.torklift.com/index.php/pr...tch-supertruss. This one has 14000 towing capacity ,1400 tougue weight and can extend 60".

[bobzdar]

It's nothing like that style, it's a bumper hitch that slides out from the frame rails. There are two square tube brackets on each side welded to the frame that It slides in, with bolts on the front set of brackets to lock It in place. I'll have to take some pics of It, but it's in effect a frame extension. It could be aftermarket but I can't find any identifying info on it other than the weight ratings on it. I did read that some of these trucks were factory outfitted with an extending bumper for towing with a bed camper mounted but couldn't find any other info on it. Just trying to see if it's good to use or if they were somehow failure prone or don't provide good control of the trailer etc. It's very beefy and looks like a trailer hitch with a bumper covering it from underneath, ie it's not relying on the bumper for strength.