What height should my trailer hitch be?

Hi there,

I’m getting conflicting information about the height of a trailer hitch.

and what are we measuring to?
The top of the ball?
The bottom of the mounting?
The bottom of the ball?

So how low/ tall should it be?

here is my setup

 

your trailer should ride level when loaded.
More info needed to answer the question.....

 

best and simple answer

 

10% of trailer wt as tongue wt., trailer sitting level.

No one can answer your Q as posed.

 

My wife said she prefers 6-8 inches from the ball. I asked what experience she has towing a trailer and she said she’s never towed a trailer and asked what I’m talking about. Not to add insult to injury but she also said mounted from the bottom in response to that question.

hope that helps

 

If you are shopping around you can measure from level ground to the bottom of the ball on your Tacoma to get an idea of where you are at with your current setup. From your pics it looks like you are at +/- 18.5 inches. When walking around lots shopping, have the sales person level out the trailer and then measure to the top of the coupler. That height + or - a small margin is where you will need to be with your hitch. Nice pintle by the way - I had one like it but I mounted mine to a mounting plate with multiple positions for this very use case.



I have one of these 180 Hitch Stltowballs on my dually and it works well since I have a 2-5/16 box trailer and a 2 in horse trailer so I just flip them back and forth on the dually. You already paid good money for the pintle though so I would just go with a multi-position pintle mounting plate.

 

Alright. The easy answer.

You want this line to be level.




Method A, the WAG method: Start by levelling the frame of your unhitched trailer on a flat surface. Then measure from ground to base of trailer hitch, and from ground to base of the truck's receiver (truck needs to be level also). [receiver height] - [trailer hitch height] + [1 or 2 inches suspension droop] = drop. (negative drop is rise, obvs.) Buy a draw bar that matches that drop and proceed to method B.

Method B, the slightly more educated WAG: Hitch the trailer using what draw bar you have on hand. Load the truck as you would use it and park the entire thing on level ground. Measure trailer frame, and estimate how much to drop or rise to get it level. If the amount exceeds 2 inches, go buy another draw bar and repeat Method B.

 

Ahhhh I see okay thank you all.
So its trailer dependant.

set the trailer level to the horizon and adjust the hitch to it.

Thank you.

 

You are correct, depends on the trailer and weight. Most companies list coupler height and hitch height is with no weight/sag unless you throw weight in the back. This is a starting point, actual will depend on the loaded weight of the trailer and sag on your truck. This article is pretty clear on where to measure to get a ballpark drop/rise starting point. Heavier the trailer the more your truck will sag affecting hitch height, drop/rise etc. https://www.etrailer.com/faq-ballmount.aspx

 

You can get really technical with it and do some math to figure out how much drop or rise you should be aiming for in a hitch. However, it looks like you've already purchased a fancy chrome ball, so hook up your trailer and give it the eyeball common sense test. If it looks a little sketchy, it is. Out of curiosity, do you have a trailer? Or is it this just in preparation for the "what if's"?