issues towing with lifted vehicle

[boatman37]

not boat related but my daughter has a 2016 Wrangler Unlimited with a 3.5" lift and 35" tires. she has a small (about 6x8) utility trailer that she pulls her quad on but yesterday she was bringing the trailer down to haul some of her bedroom furniture to her new house. She had pulled this trailer several times with no issue but yesterday the coupler came off the ball 3 times on the way here. No harm done as it was empty and the chains did their job and it was at low speeds but still unnerving. When she got here I tried jacking it up and it lifted the back of the jeep off the ground so it was definitely latched. The only thing that changed from last time she pulled it is that she put aftermarket Smittbuilt bumpers on that had the hitch receiver already installed so they removed the factory hitch. This new receiver is a couple inches higher than where the original one was. She had about a 4" drop insert and the back of the trailer was pretty close to the ground. I towed the trailer back to her house with my stock Ram 1500 and all was good. My thoughts are that the angle at the hitch was too steep and the couple wasn't sitting correctly so the latch didn't completely lock into place? Or maybe the coupler hit on the hitch insert and the action pried it up off? She said each time it happened was just after she hit a bump. I can't see her having it improperly latched 3 times then got it right the last time? I ordered her an 11" drop insert and a new ball. Yes, I did make sure she had the correct size ball. It was the same insert and ball she had always used with her jeep and has pulled that trailer pretty far before with no issues.
The center of her insert is 26.5" off the ground. The trailer sitting level is about 14" off the ground at the coupler. An 11" drop should get it pretty close to level.

Anyone ever seen this?

 

[Scott Danforth]

long drop hitches are common with lifted vehicles to get the trailer to sit level.

you may want to inspect the coupler. it may have been tweaked having the ball pried out 3 times

 

[fhhuber]

Standard is 17 inches from the ground to top of the ball if the vehicle is parked on level smooth pavement. You can go slightly higher, but you lose ground clearance at the back of the trailer.

If you had to pry the hitch off the ball due to the angle... you damaged the hitch.

 

[boatman37]

Thanks guys. I didn't have to pry it off, I just suspect that there may have been a prying action due to the angle. I had it hooked to my truck and it was latched tight. I jacked it up for verification then took it around the block and hit every bump I could find. After that I towed it to her house 20 miles away.

I measured my truck but forget what it was but I'm thinking it was 16.5" to the center of the insert tube. It was still too high even with my truck but much better than with her jeep. I had about a 3" drop insert in mine.

 

[ahicks]

There's no such thing as a standard ball height for a trailer. They're ALL over the ball park! Each time you set up a new tow vehicle or new trailer, ball height needs to be determined for both sides and proper hardware selected/used to allow for reasonably level towing.

If that coupler came off the ball 3 times on a trip without tearing anything up, I'd be wondering if it were actually fully latched. Does she use a locking pin of some sort on the latch?

On some lighter trailers with that lever type latch, there's an adjustment underneath. There's a lock nut tightening on a fairly heavy spring. That spring tension controls how hard that latch is "gripping" the trailer ball. I've never seen one so loose that it could come apart easily, but anything is possible I guess....

 

[oldjeep]

You sure she doesn't have 1 7/8 ball and a 2" coupler?

 

[boatman37]

the first thing i checked was to be sure it was the correct ball size so that was good.

it was properly attached when she got here. i find it hard to believe she did it wrong 3 times then right the 4th time when it was here. and yes, there was a locking pin in it as i had taught her when she first started pulling the trailer. so it was the right size ball and was hooked up properly (even had the chains crossed so no damage when it came loose). the only difference from the other 10 or 15 times she pulled it was the new bumpers were on with the integrated hitch that was about 2" higher than the original hitch. still the same insert and ball as before.