Hitch extenders.....

[92F350CC]

Just a question that popped into my mind after seeing one of these. I've never been in or never will be in a situation to use one, but, i want to know.
Are these things safe?
I saw a pickup at the gas station yesterday(no surprise there). It was a 99-03 F350 with a slide in camper in the bed. It was a larger camper that stuck a good couple of feet out the back of the bed, making use of a regular receiver hitch out of the question. He was using what looked to be a 3' or 4' extender in his receiver. Seemed like it was just a 4' steel bar inserted into his receiver hitch, with a ball setup on the end. He also had his wires extended to the end of it. His chains were just hooked up there to the end of the bar instead of to the frame of the truck. I'm no expert on this kind of thing, but it just seems to me like this would create undesireable changes to the distribution of weight on the truck, with the hitching point being that far back from the rear axle. It also seems like a safety issue could be created here. What if this thing fails or has too much play in it?

Anybody with experience have input?

 

[towcat]

hitch extenders are a necessary evil when you have a slide-in camper.
supposedly, you loose 1k of total towing capacity per foot that is sticking out of the receiver tube.

 

[gatorman21218]

There are also ones if you have a 37 inch lift that drop the ball a foot or two so you can hook a trailer up.

 

[gonecrazyi]

I've got a bumper that actually extends a foot or so from the back of the bed. Its mounted pretty far up the frame to help offset have the bumper/hitch extended out.

 

[gatorman21218]

I have also seen things that allow you to haul 10-16 foot boards or angle stock etc that fit in the hitch and have a 5 foot wide bar that you adjust to be level with your bed.

 

[ocnorb]

I used one with an 11 1/2 foot cabover for a few years. The hitch material is about 3 times thicker than most slide in hitches, plus I built a box mount on my camper bumper to add some strength from side to side.

Never any issues, but I was always a little leery of the thing.

 

[92F350CC]

Hmm. Still seems like I wouldn't want to run one then, even if i had to. I do see a lot of funny stuff since I spend a lot of time at the gas station. I've seen a guy pulling his 20'+ speed boat with a 2wd 90's Tacoma. He looked like a yuppie. I bet he had a fun time at the boat ramp. I've seen a few tundra's with 5er's too. Not a very smart thing to do.

 

[gunz]

between the hitch extenders and the extreme drop drawbars out there, I dont follow near vehicles towing anything now days.
Saw a guy with a lifted SD with a drop drawbar that had to be over 14 inches. Saw him again several days later pulling a 4x8 trailer with a 4 wheeler on it and the drawbar was flexing several inches when he stopped and started. Definately not safe in my mind.