I have a 2016 SCREW XLT with the towing package. In the next couple of months, I am going to tow a 6x12 U-Haul trailer from the East Coast to Texas. To prepare for the trip, I took my truck over to the U-Haul dealer to make sure my hitch lined up OK. As I suspected, my existing ball mount was too low.

To remedy the situation (and to eliminate the need for multiple mounts in the future), I decided to invest in a B&W three ball adjustable mount.

Question: because the U Haul trailer doesn’t have a jack, I can’t adjust the mount after the trailer is loaded. Assuming the trailer is loaded to the 4,000 pound range, should I set the hitch up a little high to allow the load to level the trailer? If so, is there a rule of thumb?

 

Yeah.


If properly loaded to 4,000 pounds gross trailer weight, the tongue weight should be about 520 pounds. That's enough weight to cause the rear end of the truck to squat a bit. Your goal is to have the floor of the trailer level front to rear after it's all hooked up.

So be sure the trailer and F-150 are sitting on level ground. Level the trailer front to rear. Back the F-150 up so the ball is very close to the coupler. "Rule of thumb" is to adjust the height of the ball mount so the top of the ball is about 2" to 3" higher than the top of the coupler. IOW, we're guessing that 520 pounds of tongue weight is going to cause 2" to 3" of squat in the rear suspension of the tow vehicle.

That's a lot of estimating, and may not result in a level floor of the trailer. If the floor of the trailer is not level front to rear when wet and loaded and hooked up to the tow vehicle, then we didn't do a good enough job in estimating that 2" to 3" squat.

Since you don't have a tongue jack on that trailer, then if the floor of the wet and loaded trailer is not level when connected to the ball mount, you need a "bumper" jack or equipment jack to disconnect the trailer, adjust the height of the ball mount, then connect it all back up again. Or you could even use a bottle jack with spacers under it.

 

Thank you.

Since I was so baffled by the lack of a tongue jack on the trailer, my brain misfired and I never considered using a “normal” jack. That should do the trick.

 

My new ball mount arrived today. It appears to have been over engineered to the point it could be used as the anchor for one of the Navy’s aircraft carriers. Built like a tank. Very happy.