drop down height for tow hitch? stock height

i just bought a 2000 V/6 stick, trd, 4whl drive, that is the stock height and i am looking to buy a trailer hitch (ball) to fit in my stock receiver.... does anyone know what the proper drop down should be? 2"? i plan on towing a small 5x10 utility trailer... my log splitter... or my cement mixer... just wanted to know what the proper drop down should be...

thanks in advance...
josh

 

depends on trailer. you may need one for each. you want the trailer and log splitter to tow as level/flat as you can.

also don’t tow in 4wd. it is bad for the front dif and you could even brake the front dif.

 

Huh?
What do you mean?
How would you break the front diff towing?
Of course 4WD isn't to be used onroad. But, towing offroad in 4WD isn't an issue.

 

i mean on road. if you are off road it is fine. i just assumed he is not going to be towing off road.

on road(thats not covered in snow) dose not let the tires “slip/rotate” separately like they should in 4wd when turning.

 

Well duh. But he said nothing about towing on road in 4WD. So I'm still wondering why you brought up what you did.

 

If you are looking at towing different trailers, you might consider looking at one of these. (link below)

http://www.turnoverball.com/products/receiver-hitch/tow-stow-receiver-hitch

 

true. but i have seen a few people thin it is better and i know a few people that have messed up the 4wd doing it. i was just giving him advice not to, since i saw he had 4wd. and don’t want to see him mess it up.

 

I bought the Reese hitch made for my truck (same as yours) and didn't drop it at all. It works fine for towing my 17' aluminimum bass boat.

I believe the general rule is to make sure that you have 10% tongue weight. So, if you trailer weighs 1000 pounds you should have 100 pounds on the tongue. That will roughly determine what height you should be at. If it's too low, you'll have too much tongue weight and if it's too high, you won't have enough.

Sorry; this is the only picture I have of my rig.

 

BTW 4WD low is great for pulling your boat out of the water, especially with a manual transmission.

 

let see if i can help, I delivered trailers years ago for about 15 years accross the US. see his pic above, you want the tongue of trailer when its hooked up to the truck, pointed up just a little, that way you can see you have proper tongue weight.
you don't have to order from them but check out redneck trailer supplies, they are a huge outfit, we used to buy from them, and you can match up what you need.
one thing I will tell you is to buy the best you can afford, cheap 2" balls will not last, and I have seen them snap off in a emergency stop.
if you don't have experience pulling a trailer, its not hard, take your time, and practice in a empty parking lot to get the hang of it. careful of backing, a single axle can be tricky till you get used to it.
its always hard to guess what you need, you really need to measure with your truck and what you are going to tow.
but you can see how his truck is squatted down a little but the noise of the trailer is still up.
if its down, it wont pull worth a damn and will dance behind you.
also keep some grease on the ball, nothing worse than a dry ball!

 

Some quick advice...I always put my tailgate down when backing up...it helps me see my boat better and therefore helps my steering.

Also, I bought the toyota harness for the trailer wiring. It was a little pricey, but worked real well. If you have the OEM hitch I suppose you don't need that though.