3 inch shank for E2 hitch....Need Advice

[Mark Campbell]

Greetings!

I should be picking up a new Bigfoot 25RT in the coming weeks. My tow vehicle is a 2021 F250. This truck has a 3 inch hitch receiver. I was planning on using an E2 hitch when I pick up my trailer. However, I just found out that Fastaway does not make a 3 inch shank at the present time. They have plans to make one in the future. So my options are use two sleeve adaptors to reduce the receiver to 2 inches. This would allow for the use of an extended shank that would enable me to open the tailgate while still hitched.
How much "slop" would I have using two sleeve adapters?

I have the option of using just one sleeve and a 2.5 inch shank. The downside to the 2.5 inch shank is that the shank does not have much length. So I might not be able to open my tailgate fully while hitched with the 2.5 inch shank. There are obvious advantages to having the ability to fully open a tailgate while hitched.

I have never used a WDH or towed a trailer as large as a Bigfoot 25RT. Can I use a 3 inch shank from another source with an E2 WDH hitch? I might be able to have a machine shop make one for me if I can not source a shank that would work with an E2 hitch. Any comments on considering having one made?

I have read that you do not need a WDH towing with an F250. But I like to err on the side of safety. I am driving to CO from PA to pick up my trailer. So I will be doing some mountain driving, and I will be a long way from home. I would be interested in hearing comments on driving without a WDH hitch. I would purchase one when the 3 inch hitch became available.

Are there other WDH hitches from other companies that come with a 3 inch extended length shank that could meet my needs?

Thanks in advance for your guidance!

Mark

[tractors1]

Several companies make a reducer from 3 to 2 inch; this is just one from a Google search: https://www.amazon.com/Curt-Manufact...86885139&psc=1

[Mark Campbell]

Thanks Charlie. I already own adapters, so I know I can make the 2 inch shank of the E2 hitch work. I am just looking for info on how much slop or play and noise will be present using the adapters. If I was Fastaway I would already have a 3 inch shank available for the E2 hitch to meet the needs of the customer. Anyone with a newer F250 or high truck would be interested in using the 3 inch shank.

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by Mark Campbell

Thanks Charlie. I already own adapters, so I know I can make the 2 inch shank of the E2 hitch work. I am just looking for info on how much slop or play and noise will be present using the adapters. If I was Fastaway I would already have a 3 inch shank available for the E2 hitch to meet the needs of the customer. Anyone with a newer F250 or high truck would be interested in using the 3 inch shank.

I bought the same trailer about a year ago from Trailer World in Denver and towed it home to Massachusetts with my F-150. I have max tow and max haul and my door sticker says 3049#. My 150 ends off where a stock 250 starts off so you should no problem towing with your 250.

Why don't you put up with the tailgate issue until you get home, I did. That was a crazy trip right at the beginning of Covid last march. I read someplace that if you turn the smart jack around or sideways that you will be able to open your tailgate. I don't know this for a fact.

My BigFoot has the cargo box so it is a couple of feet longer. Keep that in mind when you are evaluating my advice. I solved the tailgate issue when I installed a Pro-Pride hitch as it adds at least a half a foot. The trailer was very stable without a WD hitch but it is so much better now with the Pro-Pride that I don't think I would tow without one now. If your trailer wheels get into a shoulder or off the edge of a new lane of tar you can pull it back with scarcely a wiggle

The only downside has been that I have lost about 50% of my backup assist because the camera looses sight of the target. I have yet to experiment with some different target locations though. I hope this helps.

[Mark Campbell]

Hi Thomas:

Thanks for your input. I have reached out to two other Bigfoot 2500 series owners about the advice for rotating the smart jack. In an ideal world I will have things sorted out prior to heading to Trailer World. I like to avoid making compromises if I can. It seems finding a three inch shank with an extension will prove to be a difficult task, maybe impossible. I now know I can use a 2 inch shank from Fastway with both reducing adapters. That will provide the safety I desire from the start, give me the ability to open my tailgate, and not cost an arm and a leg. I might be able to use a Hitch clamp to reduce the play in the hitch with both adapters. This might turn out to be my short term solution.

The 2.5 inch shank from Fastway costs 50 bucks more, and does not come with an extension, so I might not be able to fully open the tailgate. If I could use the 2.5 inch shank and rotate the smart jack to be able to fully open my tailgate, I will go this route. This option has the ability to only use one adapter to reduce the play. I am hoping someone chimes in on their experience to see if my F250 tailgate would fully open. I did order the cargo box option on my Bigfoot 25RT.

One big issue is that Fastway is out of stock of shanks, so that is why I am attempting to sort out the issue now, before I head to Denver. I called Fastway thinking they would have a 3 inch shank I could order. They have plans on making them in the future, but they are out of all sizes of shanks at the moment. I wanted to avoid arriving in Denver and having limited to no options.

I thought through some research I could find a 3 inch shank that I could use with the Fastway E2 hitch, But after spending a few hours online I am losing confidence that I will find the proper shank to meet my needs.

I have the time that I might be able to have a 3 inch shank custom made with an extension. I have some Amish neighbors that are talented in metalwork and welding, so I plan to talk with them today.

You Pro-Pride hitch is awesome, but in another price realm.

[CharlesinGA]

The vertical portion of the shank that the hitch head attaches to is standardized between the hitch manufacturers. It is a 2 inch wide bar with 3/4 holes spaced 1-1/4 inch apart.

I have researched this previously for other threads and while I can find 2½ inch shanks, I am yet to find a 3 inch shank for a weight distributing hitch. Ball carriers, yes, WD shanks, no.

Only 3 inch shank I found is the Bulletproof line of hitch products. These are quick change ball carrier type with different amounts of drop, but you can remove the ball carrier and add a WD hitch head adapter and you are set. Just take your bank president with you to vouch for the money as they will want lots of it. ;>) Follow both links, first is for the shank and weight carrying ball and adapter, second is for the WD hitch head adapter to fit the first one in place of the ball.

https://www.bulletproofhitches.com/c...ns/3-0-hitches

https://www.bulletproofhitches.com/c...tproof-hitches



This is actually a good idea. When you want to haul a trailer that is not using the WD hitch, you pull the two pins and remove the WD hitch still bolted to the adapter (make note of what holes you had it in) and then reinstall the ball and ball carrier that came with the shank.



Charles

[Mark Campbell]

Hi Charles:

This is the info I was looking for when I started the thread. The information you supplied is very valuable. I visited a large trailer company yesterday (not RV) and the one salesperson brought up the liability issue when you mix and match hitch parts from 2 different companies. I had not thought about that issue.

In a perfect world I was hoping to find a 3 inch shank connected with a vertical weight distribution being the appropriate size where I would not need to spend the extra 150 bucks for the adapter.

I think I will call Fastway to inquire about the liability concern. Fastway does have plans to make a 3 inch shank in the future. Right now they are sold out of shanks due to a steel supply issue. When I spoke to someone a few days ago the person said Fastway would be focused on getting the inventory of existing products up to par before manufacturing new products. I did not get an answer when I questioned how long he thought it would take to get a 3 inch shank for the E2 WDH.

After spending a considerable amount of time I am not confident I can find what I am looking for at a reasonable price at the moment. I am leaning on using the 2 inch shank from Fastway (that has an extension) along with the two sleeve adapters when I pick up my Bigfoot next month. Then I can wait until Fastway manufacturers their own 3 inch shank. I would think the cost for a 3 inch shank from Fastway should be much cheaper than purchasing the Bullet Proof hitch and adapter.

I think I will forward your pictures to Fastway to get their insight on liability too.

[CharlesinGA]

I can tell you what Fastway is going to say, no, you need to use exclusively their products together. Kinda makes me wonder why everyone standardized on the same size holes and spacing?

Virtually all WD hitch heads attach to the shanks by skipping one hole, meaning their bolts are spaced 2½ inch apart. Reese does make some hitch heads that skip two holes, and thus the holes in those heads are spaced 3-3/4 inch apart, with two unused holes in the shank in between. Probably why Bulletproof put 4 holes in the WD hitch head adapter. They do say "Does not include a weight distribution ball with bars as shown in some of the pictures. It is sold as 1 individual piece to work with existing weight distributions systems."

As with anything in life, the ultimate responsibility lies with the end user.

On another note. will your trailer have the forward cargo pod? If so, I highly suspect that the E2 hitch brackets that attach to the frame will come way too close to the propane tanks for comfort. That was one of the driving motivations for me to go to a Blue Ox Sway Pro hitch. The bars are shorter and the brackets mount so that the pinch bolt that retains the bracket to the frame is at 29 inches, which is about as far aft as can be and not interfere with the tanks. I do know on the regular Equalizer it allows the L brackets to be installed from 29 to 32 inches. After looking, I see that the E2 Trunnion bar hitch calls for 27-30 inch for the L bracket, with 30 being preferred, and the E2 Round bar hitch calls for 24-27 inch for the L bracket with 27 being preferred. In any case, it will make for a rather large cutout in the fairing for the bracket. Do you plan to do the hitch install yourself or have the dealer do the install. I used a Dremel with a tiny round saw blade to do the cuts in the fiberglass and it was quite clean with no chipping of the gel coat. I finished using flat and round files to make the cutouts just right.

Charles

[Mark Campbell]

Hi Charles:

Yes, I expect that will be the response from Fastway, if I get a response at all.
That will give my the opportunity that I am a customer so please meet my needs.

If the hitch and adapter from Bulletproof were not so expensive I would have pulled the trigger to purchase their items.

At this point I think I will wait to see how long it will take for Fastway to make a 3 inch shank for the E2 hitch.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with me. I will follow up with you when I get a response from Fastway.

[CharlesinGA]

Mark, please re-read my post above as I was editing while you were typing.

One thing the Bulletproof hitch components will do is move the trailer further from the truck, its like having a, extended shank, say 12 inches vs 8 or 9 inch shanks. This may help with the tailgate issue. As I noted this would be a hitch system that allows you to tow many different trailers on the ball (cargo, U haul, flat bed, etc) and have the weight distribution setup, without having a bunch of various ball mounts laying around.

My travel buddy ordered the 2½ inch shank for his new to him 2017 Ram 2500 last summer. He ordered from Etrailer and they backordered to Equalizer/Fastway. After waiting about two months, he gave up on Etrailer and eventually got the shank directly from Fastway at considerable more expense. Apparently they were sitting on their remaining inventory to sell themselves rather than filling discounted orders to dealers.

Charles

[Mark Campbell]

Hi Charles:

Thanks for reaching out again. I did re-read your post. I am pretty certain the Bulletproof hitch would work with the E2 WDH.

I did order the Bigfoot 25RT with the optional cargo box in the front. I ordered my trailer from Trailer World in Denver. My understanding is they are the largest Bigfoot dealer. Dealing with them has been excellent. I have seen several pictures of the E2 hitch installed on a Bigfoot 2500 series with the cargo box. The cargo box needs to be trimmed to a much larger degree than your Blue Ox install. The picture you sent was an excellent install with a minimal impact of the fiberglass. Trailer World installs many E2 WDH on the Bigfoots they sell. I was planning on having them do the install and setup the hitch. I realize I have other options when it comes to WDH, and I actually watched several videos on the blue ox hitch. In talking with the folks at trailer world they told me their experiences with the E2 hitch on the Bigfoot trailers has been excellent. I have read that a WDH is not required with an F250. My medical background makes me embrace safety. Being that I will be a driving a long way from home and driving in the mountains of Colorado, I am sold on the use of a WDH. Trailer World only charges 400 bucks for the E2 hitch which is rather insignificant when you take into account the cost of a Bigfoot and tow vehicle. On a certain level I am trusting the years of experience Trailer World has with the combo of Bigfoot trailers and the E2 hitch. This is not to say that there are comparable or even better WDH options out there in the market. I figured Trailer World with their years of experience will get me out on the road set up optimally. I am comfortable with this approach as opposed to purchasing a WDH and installing and setting it up myself with zero experience. I figure by the time I spend out west after picking up the trailer, and then driving back to PA, I will have a good idea if the E2 WDH meets my needs. From reading many threads on the Bigfoot forums most folks seem to be satisfied with the E2 hitch.

Once again, thanks for sharing your knowledge with me on hitches. I am a newbie so I will take all of the guidance that comes my way.

[CharlesinGA]

I'm going to preface this by saying that I am, by no means, an expert. I actually have very little experience with any of this. I have a trailer that I am repairing to sell, and it is set up with a Equalizer hitch, and I know I didn't like it at all. It towed OK but I suspect that was more a function of the trailer than the hitch. My BF 21RB towed home OK on the ball however when I loaded it and filled the fresh water tank (all the way in the rear) and still just on the ball, the trailer made me nervous, it didn't feel right. After I installed the Blue Ox Sway Pro it towed fine....................

My biggest issue with WD hitches such as the Equalizer, E2, and even the Blue Ox Track Pro hitch is that they are Friction type sway DAMPENING hitches. They do nothing to actually hold the trailer straight. You could take a plain old round bar hitch with long chains that has no anti-sway built into it, and add one or two of the friction bars between the tongue and the hitch head, and achieve the same effect.

The Blue Ox Sway Pro, the Reese dual cam, and the Hensley/Propride hitches, all act to keep the trailer straight, and if the trailer does sway to one side or the other, those hitches are acting to force the trailer back straight again, and their natural tendency is to keep it straight.

As best as I can tell, the BOSP does its thing by a peculiar cant to the bar trunnions, and the rather short chains. When the truck and trailer get out of line, this all serves to increase the tension on one bar and takes the chain out of vertical, and at the same time, the bar on the other side has reduced tension (and yes, the chain also goes out of vertical). Thus the two bars and chains are constantly working to keep the trailer straight.

The Reese dual cam does an excellent job (from what I have read) of controlling the trailer. Its going to stay straight and if it does get out of line, the rollers will ride up out of the cam and this increased tension on the bars tries to straighten the trailer up again.

The Hensley designs of course use unequal length linkages to maintain the trailer in a straight line, projecting the trailer's pivot point near the rear axle of the tow vehicle. I just cannot justify the expense, or weight of that huge hitch.

I probably sound like an advertisement for the Blue Ox Sway Pro but it has a lot of things going for it. It is slightly lighter than other hitches, as the head and most of the shanks that Blue Ox sells are cast steel and they have thinned out non critical areas, in addition the bars are shorter and much lighter than bars such as the Equalizer. The bars are actually SPRING bars that you can see the bend in them, unlike an Equalizer with that thick steel bar that seems to have no flex at all. (I always wondered what it would do to the frame of the truck in the long run). The hitch is extremely easy to install as there are few adjustments to make. I spent an entire day with the equalizer hitch on the other trailer, taking it apart and putting it together trying to get it "right" only to take it back apart and put it back together again. In the end, I wound up close to where I started.

In all honesty, one of the original reasons I selected the BOSP was that it did have a good reputation AND it was going to have minimal impact on the trailer's fiberglass parrot's beak.

The one thing I do like about the BOSP is that compared to no WD hitch at all the hitch minimizes "chucking" which is that up and down motion you get as you and then the trailer pass over speed bumps, RR tracks that are humped slightly above the rest of the road, and similar bumps and dips. I attribute this to the very springy bars. Both the Equalizer and BOSP that I have have 1000lb rated bars on them.

My travel buddy had a Reese dual cam on the old 30 ft Avion trailer he had (it came with the trailer) and while he was towing it with a Ram 3500 DRW he said the trailer just stayed planted behind him. He downsized dramatically and bought a real nice 2015 Winnebago 1706FB. That was the very first year of the Winnebago Towables and that was the only model they made that year. He bought it used from a guy in the Navy was had bought it to live in and then got married...... and well.... living in a trailer was not working out. Anyhow, it came with an Equalizer hitch, but Steve, like me, really didn't like the hitch.

I found a very nice BOSP on the Atlanta Craigslist last fall and met the seller and bought it. Turns out the seller worked for the same company, in the same facility, I retired from. Anyhow it was a deal I could not pass up. I later sold it to Steve and he set it up and has put a number of trips on it now, and is much happier with it (he now has a 2017 RAM 2500 Cummins in place of the older dualie he had) He did have to get that 2½ inch shank with a longer drop however.

Kinda made me mad, because earlier last summer when I was shopping for a BOSP I could not find one in the Atlanta area, and ended up driving to Tampa to get the one I have (practically new however) but the seller was moving and he gave me a bunch of other stuff, power dogbone adapters, zero gravity lounge chairs, etc.

Enough. Hope you get your trailer soon.

Further edit: since your truck is a relatively new Ford, many people have been having trouble getting the safety chain hooks into the holes on the hitch. What the problem is, I am not sure, however I see a good number of Super Duties that have added these hammerlock chain connectors to the hitch to hook the chains to.



Charles

[Bigfoot 0995]

We have a 2006 25B25RQ, when we purchased it used in 2014 it came with a Equalizer WTD hitch. Originally I had no tailgate clearance issues as the trailer came with a manual crank. When we switched to a powered one then the tailgate issue came into play. Ironically later the same year I switched out the Equalizer WTD to Blue Ox, the hitch shank on the Blue Ox is longer so tailgate clearance issue went away. I find the Blue Ox much easier to hook up than the Equalizer. These are the only two WTD I have used so can't speak to other brands/systems. We tow with a 2015 GMC 2500 in addition to it being safer under braking with a WTD we find the ride on country roads much more comfortable as the WTD reduces rocking. As far a sway the low centre of gravity of BigFoot makes a big difference, we rocket thru corners and are rarely affected by windy conditions or passing semis. I followed a friend towing a similar size Cougar from Seattle to Albuquerque and back saw how much it was effected by wind and passing semis and ours was not.

[Geronimo John]

Why not just weld the sleeves together to eliminate any slop between them?

[CharlesinGA]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot 0995

We have a 2006 25B25RQ, when we purchased it used in 2014 it came with a Equalizer WTD hitch. Originally I had no tailgate clearance issues as the trailer came with a manual crank. When we switched to a powered one then the tailgate issue came into play. Ironically later the same year I switched out the Equalizer WTD to Blue Ox, the hitch shank on the Blue Ox is longer so tailgate clearance issue went away. I find the Blue Ox much easier to hook up than the Equalizer. These are the only two WTD I have used so can't speak to other brands/systems. We tow with a 2015 GMC 2500 in addition to it being safer under braking with a WTD we find the ride on country roads much more comfortable as the WTD reduces rocking. As far a sway the low centre of gravity of BigFoot makes a big difference, we rocket thru corners and are rarely affected by windy conditions or passing semis. I followed a friend towing a similar size Cougar from Seattle to Albuquerque and back saw how much it was effected by wind and passing semis and ours was not.

Reading this I'm thinking, "there is an echo in here" my sentiments exactly! The Blue Ox shank is 9 inches from the center of the hole the receiver pin passes thru to the center of the vertical column of holes. A similar Equalizer hitch shank is 8 inches. That one inch made a difference for me too on tailgate clearance. I have a Lippert tongue jack that is curved in the front the same arc as the tailgate opening and closing and with the Blue Ox it just passes by the jack.

Charles

[minke]

From the Ford Trucks message board:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...0-f-350-a.html


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ve-wanted.html


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ggestions.html

[Mark Campbell]

Thanks Alan:

Your links provide lots of useful information. I find it interesting that when I clicked on some links contained in the forum threads that most of the items were out of stock at the current time. Both after reading all of the posts I now have some additional options.