I'm about to pop my towing cherry and I need a hitch. I would like a one and done hitch. I will be getting a 23ft pontoon and trailer and estimating the weight to be about 5k pounds.

I will need to tow this boat 600 miles back home.

I was thinking of getting an adjustable drop hitch to cover any unforeseen future towing setups.

What are your thoughts between the following hitches?

Rhino USA aluminum 6in adjustable - $160 https://www.rhinousainc.com/pr...riant=42300101886143
Etrailer 6in adjustable - $115 https://www.etrailer.com/Trail.../etrailer/e66PR.html
B&W 3in adjustable - $239 https://www.bwtrailerhitches.c...djustable-ball-mount
Bulletproof 4in adjustable - $129 https://www.bulletproofhitches...ty-4-drop-rise-hitch

I have a stock 2024 F-150 Lariat Powerboost. Would I ever need a hitch with 6in drop or is it a just in case option?

One thing to be careful of is that the two bar, ball and pin are ALL rated at capacity you need. Someone pointed this out to me back in the day when I started towing a 7K# boat rig, and the shitty pin I had did not.

They're unlikely points of failure, but a failure is going to be a big deal....

Well, in my world, B&W is kind of the gold standard for trailer hitches. I’m curious though as to why you think you need a $239 adjustable hitch setup? Spend the $50-60 dollars necessary for a B&W stinger with the appropriate drop for your boat, buy a quality ball of the appropriate diameter, and you’re GTG.

None of the links you've provided are for 'hitches'...All of those are adjustable ball mounts. That said, I am partial to the Reese brand for such things.

As you indicate "I'm about to pop my towing cherry" and you don't indicate one way or the other, it would be unwise to assume anything so obvious but, your stock F-150 does have a receiver, correct?

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
Well, in my world, B&W is kind of the gold standard for trailer hitches. I’m curious though as to why you think you need a $239 adjustable hitch setup? Spend the $50-60 dollars necessary for a B&W stinger with the appropriate drop for your boat, buy a quality ball of the appropriate diameter, and you’re GTG.

Solid advice. The adjustable ones are nice if you have 10 different trailers.

I run much heavier duty Bulletproofs on my trucks, but don't have much experience with the others.

The aluminum options are nice if you're opposed to having to mess around with constantly manhandling them, but I prefer steel for durability.

For sub 10K towing you should have a lot of options locally to look at in person. Walmart, Rural King (carries Curt, which has some pretty heavy duty off the shelf options), Tractor Supply, Home Depot, Lowes, Menards, etc all have somewhat sizeable towing sections. You probably also have trailer dealerships in the area that will deal with the heavier duty/specialty options like Bulletproof, B&W, & Gen Y.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
I’m curious though as to why you think you need a $239 adjustable hitch setup? .

This place is a gun forum. If we follow the why do you need this logic... majority of us would not even be here

In that case, my brother just bought a pontoon boat and trailer that same size. We picked it 60 miles away with his RAM 1500. The back end of his truck lowers and raises negating the need for an adjustable hitch. I will say the short, short bed 1500 didn't tow nearly as well as my F350 long bed.

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
I’m curious though as to why you think you need a $239 adjustable hitch setup? .

This place is a gun forum. If we follow the why do you need this logic... majority of us would not even be here

Another thought for the adjustable ball is my plan is to purchase the trailer where I am picking up the boat. I do not know exactly what height the trailer will be so I figure I will be covered any which way with an adjustable set up.

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
I’m curious though as to why you think you need a $239 adjustable hitch setup? .

This place is a gun forum. If we follow the why do you need this logic... majority of us would not even be here

Another thought for the adjustable ball is my plan is to purchase the trailer where I am picking up the boat. I do not know exactly what height the trailer will be so I figure I will be covered any which way with an adjustable set up.

It’s your money, man. You do you.

I have the B&W stow n go for my Ram 2500. Provides me the flexibility I need when hooking up to different trailers and is everything I could hope for in an adjustable ball mount.

I've got a straight [no drop] solid bar with 2 ball sizes on it.
Might be a bit nose high on occasion, but works well for the rarities that I need to tow.

Pulled my dad's Mule on his trailer with my 2020 Explorer & it was just right. But it had a lower hitch height than the average truck.

You don't want to tow a boat nose high especially with outboards. Many a skeg has not survived.

Edited to add:

You don’t want to tow with an outboard up without supporting it. The little lever that locks it up doesn’t count. Read the manual!

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
Another thought for the adjustable ball is my plan is to purchase the trailer where I am picking up the boat. I do not know exactly what height the trailer will be so I figure I will be covered any which way with an adjustable set up.

You're on the right track, but it depends on how high off the ground the receiver is of the towing vehicle, not the trailer. For some unknown (to me) reason, my 2010 Tahoe requires a 6" drop hitch. The receiver is quite high off the ground. Way higher than my 2004 Silverado 2500HD, which uses a 2" drop.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
You don't want to tow a boat nose high especially with outboards. Many a skeg has not survived.

Fair point, the only boats I've towed were jet skis

Straight up the price range you are looking at is too low. For 5000 lbs. you truly need a Weight Transfer hitch. I am speaking from EXPERIENCE here and nothing tops Experience. Had a boat and trailer combination that weighed in at 5200 lbs. with 20 gallons of fuel in the tank plus anchor and all the other nick nacks that end up in a boat. First year towed it with a Ram 3/4 ton and in a headwind had to slow down to 55 to keep the sway from rearing up. The steering was also distinctly "twitchy" so the truck tended to over respond a bit to steering input. The next year I spent 660 dollars for a Weight Transfer hitch. The difference in stability was Night and Day, steering response was perfect and it took 65mph plus a 30mph headwind to get to start to sway. BTW that was a real bitch of a drive home, had to slow down to 60 and it was about 7 hours before the wind started to let up. In addition 6.5 mpg absolutely sucked.

It's why I am telling you to get a Weight Transfer hitch. Because you do need one. Yes they are expensive but they are worth every penny spent.

BTW got tired of the Ram so I went to towing with my Monte Carlo SS. It has a GMPP HT383 under the hood and plenty of power to allow towing in Overdrive. As for the Hitch I had to adjust the tension for the change in Drawbar height but once that was done you would barely notice the trailer. Note the car is sitting nose high because I haven't tensioned the hitch at this point. One thing about a Weight Transfer is if you release the tension you get a lot more weight on the rear wheels which is a big aid in pulling off a launch ramp. I had one guy ask me if I had 4 wheel drive because I pulled out without spinning the tires at all. Pic Below



Finally look at the way the car is sitting. That is what you get with a dead weight hitch and a very visible reminder of why a weigh transfer hitch is essential. I will also note that when you are setting up the tension bars the smart way to do it is start on level ground and use a carpenters level on the frame and use the tension setting that results in the frame being close to perfectly level. When you get a weight transfer hitch the shop doing the installation will instruct you on how to set the tension so pay attention and count the links to the setting that level your truck frame. As for cost, I got my hitch in 1992 and it cost 660 dollars with the cost of the Receiver included. Today I expect the price will run 600-900 dollars for a hitch only.

Finally anyone who tells you that you don't need a weight transfer hitch is an asshole who doesn't know what he is talking about. For a towed load over 4000 lbs. they should be considered essential. As I stated, I've been there done that.

Because light and twitchy steering is a clear indication you don't have enough weight on the front wheels. Drive at speed in that condition and trying to dodge a pothole or something in the road and it can snap you into a jackknife so fast you'll be rolling over before you can respond. I've been fortunate that I've never experienced that but I have been educated by folks who have that experience. I stopped once for a gas and lunch break and had a fellow walk up to me, point at my hitch, and state that was the smartest thing I ever did. He had been there done that and had a plate in his head because of it.

His F150 should be good for 500 pounds of trailer tongue weight before he needs a weight distributing hitch provided he’s got an empty bed. If he loads the bed and tows the trailer, he’ll definitely want a weight distributing hitch.

My F350 tows my 7,500 pound boat and trailer fantastic without a WDH to Michigan and back a half dozen times. The 10,000 pound travel trailer with 1,100 pounds of tongue weight needed the WDH. I had to upgrade from the 1,500 bars to the 2,000 pound bars when I loaded the ATV in the bed because. I bent the 1,500 pound bars trying to level everything.

I’m an asshole that’s towed single jet skis on up to a 15,000 pound 5th wheel. About 110,000 miles total.

All I’m saying is it’s a maybe.

What’s the boat and trailer really weigh? What’s the actual tongue weight. I’m assuming the trailer has brakes and they are hydraulic. He should make sure he knows how to lock the brakes out so he can backup. If it has electric, I’m assuming the truck has a brake controller built in. There’s more to towing than just having the right drop and the right size ball.

Weight distribution hitches are only needed when the trailer weight exceeds the weight of the tow vehicle by 50% (in this case a 7,500 pound load), or extreme tongue weight.

F-150 should handle a 5,000 pound boat without issue with just a regular hitch.

Bulletproof hitches are what we use at work. 12k through 35k trailers towed hundreds of thousands of miles, there what i now use and suggest in my personal life too.

quote:

2024 F-150 Lariat Powerboost

I hate adjustable hitches. Like a lot they suck. But 5K is really a trivial load for towing. B&W is the gold standard so be happy. I don't think al has any purpose in hitches, who the heck cares its lighter or whatever, steel is so much tougher and has none of the tradeoffs. Nobody can tell you how to futureproof your towing but on a F150 a 6" drop seems unlikely if that matters in the scheme of things.