How Many Hitch Covers are There??

How Many Hitch Covers are There??

We are pretty proud of our selection of trailer hitch covers - 300 and counting. But every time I search for hitch covers on the internet, I find more styles, types, and designs than I ever thought possible. Just today, I found websites that sell hitch covers for numerous college and NFL teams, a PG hitch cover for country singer Pat Green, a Superman hitch cover, and even one hitch cover that looks like a real train coupler! And then there are always the sites that offer custom hitch covers that you can totally personalize. What’s the moral of this story?? You have no excuses for a naked trailer hitch receiver, no matter what you are in to!

More on hitch pins

After reading Nate’s recent post about buying a locking hitch pin, I thought it might be necessary to elaborate on the topic. Many people think that the hitch pin is just an accessory, or is unnecessary. In truth, hitch covers and hitch pins are sold separately, and using a hitch cover without a hitch pin is impractical and dangerous.

Sizes:
Just as there are different sizes of hitch receivers, there are different sizes of hitch pins. Its important to measure your hitch receiver before ordering a hitch pin from us, as a class 3 (for 2 inch receivers) hitch pin will not fit in a class 2 (for 1.25 inch receivers) hole.

Security
As Nate mentioned in his previous post about locking hitch pins, it is an unfortunate fact that people will steal anything that isn’t bolted down. This is especially true when dealing with something like an attractive propeller hitch cover, or worse, a hitch mounted bike carrier with expensive bikes on board.

Keep these things in mind when purchasing any hitch accessory, and dont forget to have a look at our locking hitch pin special to get 15% off of a locking hitch pin with the purchase of any hitch cover.

Locking Hitch Pin Testimonial

I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone today, and near the end of the conversation, he said, “Hey, you need to put your locking hitch pins on a more prominent place on your website.” When I asked him why, he said his University of Colorado hitch cover that he bought last fall got stolen a couple days ago. He said when he bought it he figured “who is going to steal a trailer hitch cover???”. Well, people will steal anything that isn’t bolted down or locked, and he found that out the hard way. That’s the real reason why we decided to offer the discount on the locking hitch pins when you buy any one of our trailer hitch covers — there is nothing worse that having your brand new hitch cover stolen when your truck is parked and you aren’t around. I guess all we can suggest is that you think seriously about a locking hitch pin with your new trailer hitch cover.  For our part, we will continue offering the discount for the foreseeable future…

8 Trailer Hitch Accessories You’ve Never Seen (but want to)

At Trailer Hitch Universe, we deal with lots of trailer hitch accessories. In fact, most of my day is spent with trailer hitch accessories - whether Im placing orders, answering questions, or looking for new products to carry. As such, I see a lot of ideas, some good, many bad. I thought it was time to share my knowledge with all of you, so here it is: 8 trailer hitch accessories you’ve never heard of.

8. Hammaka hitch mounted hammock chairs - bringing hammock comfort to highway speeds

From the Hammaka website:

“Climb In…Hang Out. That’s the idea behind Hammaka Hammock Chairs and Hammocks. Each of our products is carefully designed for uncommon comfort, ease and relaxation, with a serious focus on quality.”

A serious focus on quality is a must. Cruising in a hammock behind your truck is a great way to pick up chicks, but one loose screw and the dream is over. Ride responsibly.

www.hammaka.com

7. Mechanical/lighted fish hitch cover

At Trailer Hitch Universe, we’re suckers for a good hitch cover, and this one is a real beaut.

Bonus points for terrible country sing-along.

6. Cruzin Cooler

Front-Mounted Trailer Hitches

I can’t say that I’ve ever been in a situation where I even thought, “Gee, a winch would sure come in handy right now.” But, I’ve always liked the idea of a hitch mounted winch on my truck. Of course, I’d want a front mounted hitch, and those are good for other things too. A hitch mounted bike rack goes great on the front when you are towing a trailer. Same goes for a hitch mounted cargo carrier. You can mount a spare tire on the front hitch if you need to. I really like the idea of being able to push my camping trailer into a tight spot with a front mounted hitch; it would be so much easier on your neck!

I did some shopping online for front mounted hitches for my Toyota Tacoma, and found the price ranged from just over $100 to over $200. Some prices included shipping, some did not. So, when you are looking for a front mounted hitch, shop around to find the best deal on the hitch that best fits your needs.

Remove you trailer hitch ballmount when you are not towing!

I was walking through a parking lot today, and had to squeeze through between the back of a pickup and the car behind it. I wasn’t really paying attention, and I managed to hit the trailer hitch ballmount with my shin! When I regained consciousness (not really, but WOW! did it hurt) I got a closer look at what I had kicked–it was class 3 trailer hitch with an extra-long ballmount! Now, I agree that it can seem like a hassle to take the ballmount out of your hitch when you aren’t towing, but exposed ballmounts can be a real hazard.

If you are concerned about dirt and grime getting in your hitch receiver, look into a trailer hitch cover. They come in every style imaginable. But please, I implore you, take your ballmount out when you are not towing…the shin you save may be your own!

What size hitch do I have?

If you are buying a hitch cover for yourself or someone else, it is important to know what size hitch you have.  Most of our covers come with pieces to fit both class II (1.25″ X 1.25″) and class III hitches (2″ x 2″).  If you don’t know what size you have, you can measure the sides of your receiver hitch and find out.

As a general rule, you will find class II hitches on mid-size cars and larger vehicles, and class III hitches on full size cars, mid-size trucks, SUVs, and larger vehicles.

How big are these things?

One of the most common questions we get asked through the user contact form is: How big are your hitch covers? People just arent sure what to expect, and I can’t blame them. While our product pictures look great, there is rarely anything else in the picture that could be used to figure out just how big they are.

To help our customers out, I grabbed a couple of hitch covers from the warehouse and took pictures of them next to a plain old cd - Everyone with a computer is sure to have at least 1 cd laying around, so its a great tool to help you visualize exactly how big these hitch covers are.

Most of our hitch covers are 4-5 inches wide and roughly 2-3 inches tall - almost every rectangle shaped hitch cover (like the Praise the Lord hitch cover, or the Baltimore Ravens hitch cover)you find on our site will fit those rough dimensions. Logo cut hitch covers (like this Denver Broncos hitch cover, or this Carolina Panthers hitch cover, however, can be quite a bit bigger, due to their shape. Some are more like 5 or 6 inches long but still only 2-3 inches tall. Our propeller hitch covers are the biggest, coming in at about 7 inches in diameter.

A couple of pictures to help:

Squirley Trailers and Trailer Hitches

A good friend of mine just moved to town today, and I had the privilege of helping him unload his trailer. He had pulled one of the larger U-Haul trailers behind his F-150, and he had that thing stuffed to the gills. I asked him how the ride was, and he said that the truck didn’t have any problems towing up the hills, but that the trailer was very squirley and jerked his truck around the whole way. Then, when the trailer was empty, we took it back to the shop, and i was amazed at how jerky the ride was–even empty.

That jerky trip with an empty trailer really got me thinking about trailer hitch products that are out there that could have made his ride a lot more smoother. Mark’s post the other day about air ride trailer hitch systems and their air-bag designs came immediately to mind, as did anti-sway bars and friction devices. His truck would have probably handled better when the trailer was fully loaded if he had a weight distributing trailer hitch, but that wouldn’t have helped our ride much with the empty trailer. My friend doesn’t tow a lot, so he can probably get by with just his standard Class III trailer hitch on his truck, but for those of us that have a trailer attached to our hitch more often than not, these trailer hitch accessories can really be life savers.

How Much Can You Tow?

How much can you tow? Do you regularly hitch up a utility trailer full of tools? Are you hauling horses and other livestock? Or do you just need to pull your boat to the lake a few weekends of the year? Whatever you’re using your trailer hitch for, you need to make sure your towing needs and towing capacity match; your safety and the safety of others on the road around you depend on it.

Many factors contribute to a vehicle’s towing capacity: axle ratio, transmission configuration (whether it is rear or front wheel drive), tire and suspension load ratings, engine cooling equipment, type of brakes, etc. As you might expect, full size trucks, have, by class the highest towing capacity. Topping the list of heavy haulers is the 2008 Ford F450 with a whopping 24,000 lbs of towing capacity. That’s huge! In fact, it’s a full size back hoe (without a trailer). Also impressive is the the Nissan Armada (in the full size SUV class) with a 9,000 lb capacity. But the real shocker is the Hyundai Elantra, member of the compact sedan class, which checks in at 3,086 lbs towing capacity if the trailer is equipped with brakes, and 1,000 lbs for a trailer with no brakes. That’s the same or more towing power in a budget-priced compact that you will find in many more expensive full size sedans!

So, how much can you tow? Well, your vehicle’s towing capacity is listed with other manufacturer’s specs in your owner’s manual. There you will find at least two numbers relating to towing capacity; these are the gross trailer weight capacity (the weight of the trailer fully loaded) and ball weight capacity, (the amount of weight the trailer puts on your hitch ball). These numbers are pretty important as far as your safety and the safety of the drivers around you. A vehicle towing a trailer that is too heavy or improperly loaded will not have the steering or braking control necessary to operate safely. Please take the steps necessary to ensure you are towing safely.

You can (and should) measure your gross trailer weight on a commercial scale (check the yellow pages to find one locally). Make sure you have your trailer loaded as you normally would before weighing it. Drive the trailer completely on the scale, unhitch it and make sure the jockey wheel and all trailer wheels are on the scale. This gives you your gross trailer weight or GTW. Ball weight capacity, also known as tongue weight, or the amount of weight on your hitch ball can be measured by a special scale made for this purpose (Sherline is one manufacturer of a tongue weight scale (http://www.sherline.com/lm.htm)). It can also be measured on a commercial scale; to do this, drive the trailer to the scale so just the hitch part is over the scale. Unhitch the trailer, and check the weight with just the jockey wheel on the scale. Again, you want your trailer fully loaded when you weigh it.

Obviously, if your GTW is too high, your trailer is too heavy to be safely towed by your vehicle. You can imagine the potential problems of braking and/or pulling the load up hill. The problems with too much tongue weight are a little less obvious though. If your ball weight is too high, the trailer will weigh down the back end of your vehicle, raising the front end. This is particularly bad if your vehicle is front wheel drive, but steering and braking will suffer even on a rear wheel drive vehicle.

If your tongue weight is too high, but the total weight is okay, you may just need to reload your trailer. The weight that must be supported by the tongue is anything in front of the front axle of your trailer. Moving cargo back behind that front axle should lower your tongue weight. Remember, even if your GTW is well below your towing capacity, you only want 10-15% of your total weight to be on the tongue. If you cannot change your tongue weight, then you need to look into a weight distributing hitch which will distribute the weight of your trailer over both axles of your vehicle.

So, how much can you tow? Whether it’s horses or snowmobiles, find your gross towing capacity and your ball weight capacity in your vehicle’s owner’s manual, keep your tongue weight at 10-15% of your total weight, and be safe on the road.