Ok, I just got a Travel Trailer, within my tow specs of 2017 3.5 eco, max tow, GVWR option, 4x4 Crew, 1,549 payload on the door sticker, it is a Platinum, the trailer is only 19ft with a max weight of 5,700lbs (4,800 empty), tows just fine.

BUT I am not good at backing up into the tight place we want to park it at home. My last truck had a front hitch and I would hook up my boat to that and move the boat right in. I am very concerned about the tongue weight on the front hitch with my new truck, my trailers tongue weight is supposed to be 680lbs. Is that too much for the front to handle ? I am talking about 5MPH and moving it about 30ft. total, maybe 10 times a year. I think its too much and will break/bend something and then I also think, well it will just go down to the bump stops and not harm anything. What do you guys think ? Nearest CAT scale is 81 miles away, so no real easy way to get things weighed, I will do that when I go camping in the desert this summer.

I have a e2 WDH, would that help on the front if I hooked it up ? I really was hoping to not use it on that super short distance and tight cornered area but if it helps I will.

By the way, I have not put a front hitch on the new truck yet, but its my plan to do so for the receiver mounted front winch I have. I really would like to hook up the trailer to the front to get it in the back yard.

 

Not going to hurt the truck.

Front hitches are typically rated for 500lbs. That rating is for blasting down the highway at speed, so they are seeing loads much higher than 500lbs. I think you'll be fine to move the boat trailer around the yard.

 

I don't think that should be a problem as Flamingotaco has mentioned since its just a 19 footer. That front hitch will come handy in many ways. I've used my primarily for our bikes when go out camping as I don't like hanging things out on the back of our TT. https://www.f150forum.com/f82/show-m...-hitch-426173/

 

Thanks for the replies, like I mentioned, I was thinking it would break things and then thinking logically I was thinking it just goes to bump stops and no harm to the truck. Its 8 months old but the truck is still new to me

Do I need to bother with WDH to remove some weight off the front end or just get it in the back yard and not worry ?

 

Personally I wouldn't bother with the WDH, but unless you're super OCD, doesn't hurt.

 

I'm not 100% sure on that. The forces introduced with the WDH will be substantially different than those for "normal" front hitch use (i.e. cargo carrying or the move-the-trailer-around-the-yard use you mentioned), and I wouldn't be on any front hitch being engineered for those forces. Not that it couldn't work, but I think you'd be better off without the WDH.

I'm guessing you'll be well over front GAWR with 600+ pounds of hitch weight levered off the front, but I personally wouldn't hesitate for the use case you mentioned. I don't know if you'll manage to unweight the rear enough to need to use 4x4 or not, but keep that in mind if you start spinning the rear wheels (or put some ballast back there). Probably not a bad idea to get unloaded weights on the truck the next time you're near a scale, just to find out where you're starting from.

 

Just add a couple hundred lbs [or whatever is needed] as far back as possible on the trailer to reduce the tongue weight to under 500 lbs. Handling and stability would be horrible, but that's not really an issue as you're not going to go fast enough for that to manifest itself. It's probably much less effort that dealing with a WDH, and whatever forces that impart that may not be anticipated on the hitch and mounting.

 

Too bad you don't have Pro Trailer Backup Assist on that 2017 Platinum. You did check for that, right?

 

I do have that, I find its not very useful, for my boat trailer it seems to want me to drive forward to register the sticker several hundred feet every time, at the harbor when launching, I can do that with the boat trailer, but not enough room in my street to do that. As a result, I didnt put a sticker on the travel trailer.

 

It should be a one and done for the sticker setup, if not have the dealer look at it. It wouldn't hurt to get some cones and an open parking lot and practice backing with and without the pro trailer. You never know when you might get into a situation where you need to back up in a tight area and you wont be able to unhitch to turn the truck around.

I do know what you are talking about with moving it with the front. I do that with my Kubota as I have 4 trailers I move around all the time. The only one I do not move using the bucket is the travel trailer, way to easy to swing the back wide and smack something. I can park my smaller trailers side by side with an inch of clearance between the fenders. I just have to remember to pull straight out when moving them away or I could wind up slamming them into each other from the tight pivot.