Curt Crosswing install help

[S 854]

I've grown tired of of "traditional", heavy FW hitch... 200lbs. or so...

After exhaustive research I've ordered a Curt Crosswing...

It's a 3-piece design with one of the pieces remaining attached to the trailers pin-box... the other two pieces weigh roughly 60 lbs... I can manage 60 lbs...

The instructions Curt supplies involves quite a bit of leveling, measuring, more measuring, subtracting etc... all of which would, IMHO, be necessary for a first-time hitch install...

OTOH, I currently have our old (heavy) hitch, which is set-up correctly for my trailer...

I don't see why I can't simply set both old and new hitches side-by-side on my garage floor, measure the distance from the floor to the top of the old hitch plate, then, make the new hitch the same (close) height...

The new hitch pin connection will be about 5" further back than the old pin placement, with the angle of the truck bed rising as one goes back this would insure at least as much truck bed-to-trailer clearance as the old hitch...

Seems like a no-brainer to me...

Am I missing something?

 

[Ron Nielson]

Curt makes good products and it looks like this one should work just fine. Depending on how heavy your pin weight is, and the rake of your truck bed, you will likely have to adjust the hitch to get a level trailer but proper clearance above your truck bed. I put the truck and trailer on a level as possible spot, then put a 4 ft level on the trailer frame to see if it's really level. You have to start somewhere so try your measurements and see how it goes.

I have lowering shackles on the back of my truck and that makes it easier to accomplish the necessary trailer-to-truck clearance and a level trailer, but it sure makes pulling nice.

 

[S 854]

Depending on how heavy your pin weight is, and the rake of your truck bed, you will likely have to adjust the hitch to get a level trailer but proper clearance above your truck bed. I put the truck and trailer on a level as possible spot, then put a 4 ft level on the trailer frame to see if it's really level. You have to start somewhere so try your measurements and see how it goes.

The old, heavy hitch was pretty much spot-on as far as bed clearance and trailer level goes… I’ll get the “floor-to-ceiling” measurements as close as I can between the old and new hitches… may have to adjust the pin box a smidge to get things right…

I have lowering shackles on the back of my truck and that makes it easier to accomplish the necessary trailer-to-truck clearance and a level trailer, but it sure makes pulling nice.

I have the opposite issue, for heavy towing, I needed air bags to raise the bed just a bit (it’s a chattering driveshaft issue which appears when the suspension is loaded beyond a certain point)… but you brought up a point I hadn’t thought about… the 125-150 pound difference between the old and new hitch could require a “recalibration” regarding the default air spring pressure I’ve been using… probably not a huge amount, but it’s still there…