So i have buddy who keeps wanting to use my truck to tow crap and frankly i was getting paranoid as the weights got higher and then turned to multiple car hauling (trips) with my bumper ball.. so i went out and bought a reese universal hitch from autozone.. so the instructions were crazy so i took it to a buddy of mine at a rv dealership he thought instructions were backwards and he installed the hitch for me.. but the hitch rec tub sits about 6 inches back from being flush with bumper.. so every other dak ive seen with a hitch they all sit flush.. now honestly with the 2 in tube and ball we towed a couple cars for about 50 miles or so on highway and streets and had no problems.. its just odd that mine sits so far back from being flush with bumper with no tube inserted.. ill submit some pics when the rain dies off here in cincy..

just curious if on the longhaul will it matter .. since i used a car dolly to tow the 2 cars (seperate trips) and had no issues.. is it for turning radius?

Schuey

 

You mean one of the triple *****? They run around $50, they are ok I guess. Posted a pic for you.

 

no he means an actual class 2 or 3 hitch that bolts to the frame. 6 inches would hardly make a difference for turning radius. Its likely that if it doesn't sit flush, then its not the correct model for your truck or it was installed wrong. Id stop by a uhaul location that installs hitches and have them double check it. they tend to be pretty useful for that.

 

Just reread the thread, WOW did I space or what. I am on a couple diff forums, not sure where that came from, nevermind

 

its alright man, the triple ***** actually come in extremely handy if you haul multiple trailers like I do, i have about 6 different trailers on weekends, half of them have 2 inch couplers and the other have 2 5\16 couplers. the only draw back to the triple setup up is usually daks are kinda low to the ground for a straight setup. I have to use a 2 1\2 drop hitch upside down to set level. Im haulin horses so it tends to squat the back end of my truck. even with 3k lbs coil over springs it still squats it a tad. that drop hitch tends to help ALOT...

 

I just picked up a reese tow power class lll hitch yesterday from autozone it says right on the box for compact trucks and dakota is listed as one of them. I plan to install it today and the directions seem to make sense to me. So I will try to install it as long as the rain holds off.

 

basically i went to a rv place and the guy who installs them told me the way reese has the hitch set up its mounted to the daks bumper frame piece thats only bolted to the frame he told if the tongue weight was too big id basically bend the ball mount from overload and it would rip off my frame rails so he modified it to fit according to every other hitch and he said this one is solid i could pull what i needed within the class 3 ratings and no worries of bending the frame rails.. yeah as for the kit i got the one that was from autozone like 129 bucks.. it fit like i think 96-04 short bed daks..yeah so if he woulda done by instructions he the mechanic thinks theird be isues.. so since hes a friend of family he didnt want me to have problems since he knows family tows alot i just dont.. lol..

 

to dodgeramguy85 be4 you install make sure you have the right bolts.. we had to go thru 3 boxes at AZ to get right bolts seems reese sorta forgot them.. and bags were sealed..breakdown on production line i suppose ..

 

I picked up a Curt hitch for my '04 and it literally bolted right up in less than 20 minutes. I couldn't believe how easy it actually was.

 

Well mine has a big box that weighes a ton filled will nuts and bolts and im looking at my directions now it seems like two bolts go threw the truck frame to the hitch then there is just a bracket that gets hooked on to the bumper bracket. Looks like it should be good.