Tailgate hitting hitch

Just bought our first truck - 2023 tundra blueprint limited - and our first travel trailer - that Winnebago micro mini. We are new to this and learning as we go, but we were saddened to see that our tailgate it's both the trailer when hitched up, as well as the hitch itself When the trailer is not hooked up.

Has anyone else encountered this? And are there any solutions?

 

You need to spell check that? Or sober up LOL

 

Welcome to the forum.
Could you post some pics of the issue?

 

Haha ya I was following until he said the tailgate hits the hitch when not hooked up? If you’re tailgate is doing that there should be obvious bigger problems…

 

1lowlife - thanks for bringing the thread back to actually helpful. I did chuckle and find it ironic the “toxic prick and pavement princess” was the one to chime in with class and the correct way ti welcome someone to the forum

 

I have a WDH and my tailgate opens all the way with the trailer connected. Sounds like your hitch shank is turned upwards and is too short. A weight distribution hitch will usually have a longer body allowing for clearance.

Add a pic or 2 of your situation.

 

Following... I'm curious about this too.

I was disappointed to learn that the tailgate on my '19 hits the tongue jack on my travel trailer so I can't open it all the way. (I could with the '00)
Thinking about making a plate to move the jack back a few inches.

 

My tailgate hits all of my trailer jacks. Drives me bonkers. On my smaller enclosed, I just bought a longer ball mount. But then I bought another trailer and needed a 2" ball and a 2 5/16", so I bought an Anderson RapidHitch, which isn't as long as as the previous extended ball mount. So I ended up welding some new mounts on the trailer tongue and relocating the jack.

When I sold it and bought a larger enclosed, the tongue is aluminum so I didn't feel like welding and relocating my trailer jack. Instead, I purchased some of these for my trailers that don't require a WD hitch.



https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Jack/Ultimate-Jack/322-RDJ-2K.html

They are awesome. If you are willing to forgo the electric jack on your mini Winnie, this would work great.

Looking at the specs for the micro mini lineup, none of them would require a WD hitch judging by their dry weights. At least until you load them up. I'd be curious to know what they weight scaled. I'm also curious to know the ball height of required for the coupler on the tongue. While I don't have problems with the WD hitch interfering with the tailgate on my truck and travel trailer, I'm still unable to fully open my tailgate. So I carry a couple of wood shims or foam pieces to stick between the tailgate and jack when I open it. Annoying, for sure, but I have few nice dings in my tailgate from those darn trailer jacks.

 

There are hundreds of hitch options.
Just don’t be in a hurry to go anywhere with the camper. Backing up is a big learning curve for some models.
But you are at the right place for a solution. Welcome to the forum.

 

Our old camper had the same issue; trailer jack didn’t have enough clearance for the tailgate to drop. I kept an old croc in the bed and slipped it onto the crank before gently lowering the tailgate to rest on it. And made sure not to climb on the tailgate as it was resting there.

 

I have the rhino hitch that ends up pushing the ball further from tailgate. With the trailers I have used so far it has allowed me to open the tailgate while clearing the jack.

 

Here is a look at mine! This clears the jack nd allows me to open the tailgate without contact.

 

@Mattedfred Is that short hitch requirement due to stability or just preference?

 

Sorry for typos - talk to text only gets you about 80% of the way.

Here is a photo of the tailgate with impacts site.

And to clarify.... The tailgate hits the riser on the hitch (what else should I have called the hitch?!?!?). It also hits the coupler latch when the trailer is hooked up.

Thanks for your comments and your help.

(I can't tell if the photo attached. But I'm sure I'll hear if it didn't. )

 

I can understand if the tailgate hits the trailer jack on the coupler, but if it's hitting the actual hitch even without the trailer attached, then you definitely have too much rise. Your hitch should be level with the trailer coupler.

 

Trying again with photo - looks like it might have worked?

 

Yep, that's it. You need to turn your hitch upside down. Instead of giving it rise, give it drop. You have plenty of room (holes on the hitch shank) to adjust your ball where it sits level with the trailer coupler.

Remove the two bolts that attach the head to the shank, flip the shank upside down from how you have it now, then reattach the head to the shank. Just make sure you measure the current height first so you keep the same ball height. It should be as close as possible to the height of your trailer coupler, maybe even slightly higher. And by higher I mean no more than a couple of inches.

 

Nope. Didn't attach. If the tailgate hits the trailer jack there are solutions to that without increasing the distance between the ball and the truck.

 

^^ this the shorter the lever the less impact the tongue load has on the suspension.

 

The shortest setup would be a ball hitch with a very short shank. With WDH's, they tend to add distance between the truck and the trailer to accommodate the hitch head. That's what I have with mine.

If the drop shank can be flipped in the OP's case, it will most likely drop the nose of the trailer too much. It does seem that the hitch head is quite high given that most trailer hitches are around 18" from the ground, the Tundra rear sits up a bit higher than that which would allow for flipping the shank downward. So if that is the case, the trailer must be sitting nose high when connected??

@COBoondocker do you have any measurements of the trailer connector and ball on the hitch from the ground? Any pics of your setup showing everything connected?

 

Agree, would help to have measurements. My TT is at 26" and the truck receiver is at around 20.5" so I'm using a 5" rise on my WD hitch. But based on the photo the OP uploaded, he's got some extra rise in the shank that's not being used, so I think he should flip it over.

 

just cut an inch off... or lift your truck so you could flip the hitch around

 

Get a lift kit for your truck and swap the hitch over to a drop hitch.

The not smart-ass answer is get a different hitch. Your Tundra is not the problem, your hitch is. Either that, or as @charrito says flip it over and move the ball to the top setting. Guessing your truck sags under the trailer weight so you set it up like you did to level the trailer. My may need helper springs based on trailer tongue weight.

 

Best excuse ever for a lift and some 35's!

 

My tailgate almost made it past the tongue jack. Stacking 3/4" of flat washers between the jack flange and tongue helps but if I was in the slightest dip it would still hit. The final fix was to remove the jack, cut off the 3 bolt flange and reweld it 90* off from the original position.

 

I think the Anderson WDH is probably the shortest hitch that provides some weight distribution.

@Mattedfred are you getting Andy to make a drop bar for you?

 

Nice Shasta!

 

You’ll need your decoder ring! I’m guilty of firing from the hip as well though…

 

Andersen is what I'm running, and while it is relatively short compared to most WDH's the tailgate on my '19 still juuust hits the jack.

If it made it past the head on the electric jack I think it might actually clear the upright.

It was no problem with my '00 but the beds are so much taller now.

 

I completely understand the contact with the Andersen hitch. It is hard to blend the want for clearance with the need for stability.

Our hitch has been great but it sits back a bit so the concern is stability. We have complete confidence in it and there has been no sway at all in 4 years of using it. Now with the Tundra, I think the truck is better with a trailer on the back then alone!