Towing - Adjustable Ball Mounts

[AlexJet]

Does anyone have any personal experience of using Adjustable Ball Mounts for towing?
I'm looking for Aluminum mount and came across some options, but lucking of finding any compare information.

Weight Safe 180:

Weight Safe:

Anderson Rapid Hitch:

Not really a big fan of double balls, but looks like Weight Safe with a Gauge is a single ball mount and Anderson offers single ball upgrade for their Rapid Hitch.
Are there any other good options?

P.S. I also came across air bag fitted system - Shocker Hitch:

This looks very interesting from comfort driving perspective, as it cushions all the impact loads from the trailer to the vehicle which they claim lengthen the life of the vehicle hitch system by eliminating stress on the hitch welds and preventing premature cracks. The downside its huge in size vs the others, looks like hangs down low and nearly as twice expensive...

 

[Dropzone]

never used adjustable height hitches been towing stuff for 35+ years from 4 horse trailers, cars on trailer to 35' travel trailer.

The airbag equipped one looks interesting.

I have several hitch inserts that have a solid rubber or poly absorber inside that is nice to use...definitely easy on the load and tow vehicle than a solid steel.

 

[f250ben]

I’ve towed a LOT of different trailers with my Tacoma. Not so many with my new to me 4runner. But that’s not important here.

You only need an adjustable hitch if you’re towing different trailers with different loads back and forth a lot, or you’re planning on having many differing load outs in the same trailer. I’ve actually never used an adjustable hitch, as a landscaper hauling a ton of different equipment and materials around. In that application, I probably would have benefited from it but I just used the same hitch for everything and it was fine.

If you’re setting up to tow one or two different setups, don’t spend all that money. Measure your loaded down trailer hitch to ground height, when it’s not on the trailer and compare to the height of your hitch height on your truck. If it’s a lightweight trailer, weight probably won’t bring your vehicle down more than a couple of inches. If it’s a heavier trailer.

In my experience, for the 4runner and Tacoma platform, your good with a straight or 1” drop hitch for most standard loads, if you’re not lifted. That will keep the trailer almost level, and weight distributed well.
If you’re lifted, go with a 2 or 3” drop depending on your lift height.

If you’re going super heavy with your trailer, you probably need to try the load out on your vehicle with a standard hitch (of course making sure all components are rated for the weight you’re hauling) and go from there with the adjustments you need. Heavy loads (IMO over 1500-2000 lbs, ESP if you’re approaching max capacity for your vehicle) start to affect stability and rake of the vehicle, and braking. There’s a LOT of other variables to take into consideration when setting up your vehicle to tow a heavy load. Air bags, trailer brakes, anti sway devices attached to the hitches are all used in different applications to help create a safe towing setup.



I hope this is helpful. Just a lot of other things it sounds like you may not have experience in, or at least haven’t considered yet for your setup. I would recommend spending your time and money tearing through those other variables before ever considering dropping cash on one of the hitches you mentioned. If a professional towing a triple axle trailer with 2 bobcats can use a standard hitch safely, then it will work for most of us in our much smaller and more limited towing applications. If I’m mistaken, then feel free to disregard everything above lol.


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[AlexJet]

I’ve towed a LOT of different trailers with my Tacoma. Not so many with my new to me 4runner. But that’s not important here.

You only need an adjustable hitch if you’re towing different trailers with different loads back and forth a lot, or you’re planning on having many differing load outs in the same trailer. I’ve actually never used an adjustable hitch, as a landscaper hauling a ton of different equipment and materials around. In that application, I probably would have benefited from it but I just used the same hitch for everything and it was fine.

If you’re setting up to tow one or two different setups, don’t spend all that money. Measure your loaded down trailer hitch to ground height, when it’s not on the trailer and compare to the height of your hitch height on your truck. If it’s a lightweight trailer, weight probably won’t bring your vehicle down more than a couple of inches. If it’s a heavier trailer.

In my experience, for the 4runner and Tacoma platform, your good with a straight or 1” drop hitch for most standard loads, if you’re not lifted. That will keep the trailer almost level, and weight distributed well.
If you’re lifted, go with a 2 or 3” drop depending on your lift height.

If you’re going super heavy with your trailer, you probably need to try the load out on your vehicle with a standard hitch (of course making sure all components are rated for the weight you’re hauling) and go from there with the adjustments you need. Heavy loads (IMO over 1500-2000 lbs, ESP if you’re approaching max capacity for your vehicle) start to affect stability and rake of the vehicle, and braking. There’s a LOT of other variables to take into consideration when setting up your vehicle to tow a heavy load. Air bags, trailer brakes, anti sway devices attached to the hitches are all used in different applications to help create a safe towing setup.



I hope this is helpful. Just a lot of other things it sounds like you may not have experience in, or at least haven’t considered yet for your setup. I would recommend spending your time and money tearing through those other variables before ever considering dropping cash on one of the hitches you mentioned. If a professional towing a triple axle trailer with 2 bobcats can use a standard hitch safely, then it will work for most of us in our much smaller and more limited towing applications. If I’m mistaken, then feel free to disregard everything above lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have been towing for almost 20 years with different vehicles from VW Golf up to Land Cruiser 100 and various trailer from small utility to big tri-axle with sea-level boats. I know what you're referring to.
I have 3 vehicles I'm towing with and 2 trailers, plus I occasionally tow U-Haul Auto Transporter. This gives me 9+ combinations of vehicle-trailer not counting the rented U-Haul option. Each vehicle has it's own hitch height and all 3 trailers have different coupler height. To mimic my towing combinations I have 4 different drop draw bars and 3 different height balls which basically covers my needs, but I have to do the setup nearly every time for each particular case. This is the reason I started to look at those adjustable hitches.
I do have airbags on 2 of my vehicles to help with load capacities, but airbags have nothing to do with the hitch drop. Both of my trailers are equipped with electrical brakes and rental U-Haul has a surge brake system, so I'm good on that, but again it doesn't help with amount of draw bars combinations I have to go through...