robertsunrus

Hi, I have and use an Equal-I-zer brand hitch. In eleven years, no problems with hitch in any way. For ten years I towed my trailer with my 2000 Lincoln Navigator and now with my F-150. The standard hitch comes with a 12" shank; This is about two or three inches too short for me to open my tailgate. So I ordered and longer Equal-I-zer brand shank. The new one is 18"s long. This is too long. When I get my new shank, I plan to drill a new hole about 3"s in. Hoping this will be the magic combination of long enough to open my tailgate while hitched to my trailer, but not excessively too long.


Anyone else have experience this situation?

EventHorizon

You may have to cut the shank down 3" too as the truck hitch may not be deep enough. I know I can't put mine another 3" in.......(insert joke here)

smokeywren

Yeah, depending on how your receiver is made, you may need to cut off some of the excess shank that goes inside the receiver. That will be a tough job with a hack saw. Maybe use a reciprocal saw with a fine tooth metal cutting blade?

robertsunrus

Hi, I think I'll have to see how close my receiver is to my spare tire. I may have to cut the end too.

robertsunrus

Hi, My original shank dragged on my driveway, when used on my Lincoln, so I cut the bottom hole off of it. I had to buy a new shank for my truck. I used a pneumatic cut off wheel to cut it. Even then, with my home compressor it was taking forever to get it done. Not enough air. I took it to my old Ford dealer, that I retired from, and used their shop air. It was much faster, but still took some time. Two inches of solid steel is a lot of cutting.

humblerb

Would a torch (and grinder) affect the chemistry of the steel?
If not, would that be faster/easier?

raisin

I see that Reese RP3214 shank total is 16"

robertsunrus

Hi, I would not trust a torch and don't know about a plasma cutter.

robertsunrus

Hi, I considered this shank, but there were three reasons that I didn't buy it.


(1.) The hitch head holes are in-between those of the Equal-I-zer shank and right now my set up is near perfect. [I need to add one more washer]


(2.) In the pictures of the Reese shank, the welds looked bad / sloppy. Without saying a word, my wife said she didn't like the looks of the welds on the Reese shank.


(3.) Equal-I-zer bracing much larger and stronger looking.

raisin

Good points.....