I have a 25 inch extension on my tow beast in order for me to pull my CRV with my Lance 1010/ Silverado 2500HD Truck Camper.
I run a chain from the back of the truck chassis( on either side ) towards the end of the extension. At the end of the chain I use a 3/8" x 6" eye to eye turnbuckle to keep the chain nice and snug and to prevent the extension from moving a little left to right and VV.
After driving some 20 miles the chains on both sides are hanging loose and the eyes of the turnbuckles are not eyes anymore but hooks.
I picked up these 3/8" turnbuckles at Harbor freight and they look and feel pretty solid. I do not know what their break point is listed as though.
When these eyes open up I can feel a little bit more fishtail at the back of the camper and that I think is due to the shaft of my toad's towbar moving a little left to right in the hitch opening. Turnbuckles come in a lot of different strentghs I guess and although these feel very solid they might be too weak. This is just my opinion. I am not very mechanical.
Any ideas on this to prevent the little bit of fishtail?
* This post was
edited 05/16/08 10:22pm by jendiro *
Use higher-quality turnbuckles made of grade 5, or better yet, grade 8, US steel. Chinese steel is real junk. Sometimes there are truely great deals there on some pretty descent stuff, but often times at Harbor Freight, you get what you pay for.
You can weld those shut in pinch. As was stated earlier those are more of the same Chinese junk. There steel has a fraction of the strength of US made rigging. When your safety and our economy is at stake buy American.
If you go for chain binder, look at the ratchet type vs. the flip over type. The rachet's are much easier to adjust the tension. I user to carry a small cheater pipe to get more leverage when hauling equipment. As I got older the pipe would have to get longer.
I would toss the chains and just use the extension the way Reese designed it. I use the same extension to tow a 7500 lb trailer and it's as solid as a rock back there.
brian
2003 Dodge Ram 2500 Quad Cab, Hemi, 5 speed manual, 3.73 gears, Tow Beast hitch with 24" extension.
28 ft race car hauler, Lola T440 Formula Ford, NTM MK4 Sports Racer
2004 Travel Hawk 8' Truck Camper - Roll at 16K combined weight
I often thought that if I had to use a hitch extension, I'd use a pair of Torklift tie-downs (Fast Guns) to stablize it. Haven't checked into it yet, but I bet they'd work pretty well.
Jon Loman
Jon & Anita Loman
2006 Chevy Silverado 2500HD
Ext. cab, 8 ft. bed, 6.0 liter, 4sp auto
Timbrens, Torklift tie-downs w/Fast Guns
1991 Fleetwood Caribou
2-2002 Sea Doo GTX RFI's
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