Has anyone installed this rear hitch on their RV?

[TucsonJim]

When I attended the 2017 rally in Quartzsite, there was an owner with a Reflection FW which I believe was a 27RL. He had a welder install a pretty beefy hitch on the back of the FW, and he was towing a small trailer with a Polaris RZR on it.

He showed me how the front part of the frame near the kingpin was bent and deformed. I have no proof, but I believe that this was caused by the forces that were encountered by double towing. He was going to have a shop try and beef up the front of the frame to resolve the issue. I didn't follow up at the 2018 rally, so I don't know what the final outcome was.

Jim

[Gotime4]

When I attended the 2017 rally in Quartzsite, there was an owner with a Reflection FW which I believe was a 27RL. He had a welder install a pretty beefy hitch on the back of the FW, and he was towing a small trailer with a Polaris RZR on it.

He showed me how the front part of the frame near the kingpin was bent and deformed. I have no proof, but I believe that this was caused by the forces that were encountered by double towing. He was going to have a shop try and beef up the front of the frame to resolve the issue. I didn't follow up at the 2018 rally, so I don't know what the final outcome was.

Jim

Yeah and that is exactly what i am worried about. Thanks for the info. I should have bought a toy hauler but I would had to have upgraded the truck and it would have been probably around double the price i paid for the 290bh and my wife loves the big room feeling that you get in a non toy hauler. So looks like she will be towing the RZR and I will tow the Reflection

[jbarnes4868]

Bent upwards like there was too much pin weight?

[Leon T]

I see people towing trailers (boats and ATVs) behind their 5th wheels all the time here in Arizona, but I've been hesitant about doing it with mine. It has the factory "hitch" which is really only there to attach a basket to for a tool box, generator, etc. I have a Yamaha Viking that I want to pull behind the 5th wheel because my wife hates towing anything. If you do this hitch job let us know how it turns out. I wish the factory would make one with a real factory installed rear hitch to eliminate all these potential problems. One other issue to worry about is the damage not only to your own rig but the LIABILITY if God forbid someone else gets hurt. Everything is always cool until something bad happens and then I can guarantee you they will be measuring, inspecting and laying the blame on you if something goes south with an add-on hitch. I can't afford to lose everything I've worked for all my life. I know, I'm being paranoid, and I have all the insurance and everything, but it still does worry me.

[DaveMatthewsBand]

I see people towing trailers (boats and ATVs) behind their 5th wheels all the time here in Arizona, but I've been hesitant about doing it with mine. It has the factory "hitch" which is really only there to attach a basket to for a tool box, generator, etc. I have a Yamaha Viking that I want to pull behind the 5th wheel because my wife hates towing anything. If you do this hitch job let us know how it turns out. I wish the factory would make one with a real factory installed rear hitch to eliminate all these potential problems. One other issue to worry about is the damage not only to your own rig but the LIABILITY if God forbid someone else gets hurt. Everything is always cool until something bad happens and then I can guarantee you they will be measuring, inspecting and laying the blame on you if something goes south with an add-on hitch. I can't afford to lose everything I've worked for all my life. I know, I'm being paranoid, and I have all the insurance and everything, but it still does worry me.

I wish more people were paranoid like you (us) then.
There's way too many guys pulling way more than they should and endangering other people while doing it.

[WhittleBurner]

Having worked in a garage dealing with the public it wasn't unusual to have someone that had a problem with a part of their car that would be dangerous and expensive to fix that would ask me to fudge it to get them by. Would even say they would sign a waver saying they authorized it. My response would be when you get every other driver on the road to sign that waver I would do it.

[Nuffsaid]

Having a pin box fail shouldn't have much to do with towing an additional trailer, just poorly designed. Having a 5er loaded too heavy in the front could cause issues with the pin box due to overloading, but having weight on the rear of the trailer should actually remove weight from the pin box. I have been towing doubles for over 15 years and have been overloaded more than I like. I always check my welds and inspect the frame for damage. On one trip, after 40 miles of rough dirt road, the bottom flange of the frame on my Holiday Rambler Alumascape 5er tore completely off where the rear spring hanger attached. I was towing a 14 foot horse trailer with two horses in it behind the 5er, there was also a 400 lb generator and battery and fuel tank on the rear extension. The frame rail got stressed and failed. Partially from the weight, partially from poor engineering. After repairing the broken frame rail, I also repaired cracks in the web of the frame at other locations where the spring hangers were attached. There were no reinforcements to the frame at any of the locations that the spring hangers were welded on. This allows the frame to flex and will result in failures. The best way to prevent this type of failure is to have a verticle stiffener welded between the top and bottom flange. Of all of the newer trailers I have looked at, only Artic fox used this type of reinforcement. Lippert welds a piece of flat bar from the edge of the bottom flange to the web at a 45 degree angle and it is better than nothing, but not the best. I made my living as a structural steel welder for over 20 years and worked with a lot of structural engineers. Many of these reinforcements are industry standards, not so in trailer manufacturing.