Towing & Hitches

7 Best Adjustable Drop Hitches for Lifted Trucks (2024)

If you run a leveling kit or a lift, you already know the pain: your trailer used to tow level, then you lifted the nose of the truck and suddenly everything is riding nose-up. A nose-high trailer can feel light on the tongue, can sway more easily, and it can put marker lights or any auxiliary...

E-Rated vs. Standard Truck Tires for Towing

If you tow even a few times a month, tires stop being “just tires” and start acting like a safety system. I have watched perfectly good trucks get sketchy fast because the tires were under-inflated, overloaded, or just the wrong construction for the job. This comes up constantly in my driveway...

5th Wheel and Gooseneck Hitch Maintenance: Grease and Torque Checks

If you tow a 5th wheel or gooseneck, your hitch is doing a lot of quiet, heavy work every mile. When it is clean, lubricated, and properly torqued, you get three wins: smoother coupling, less noise and chucking, and fewer surprises when you hit a pothole or hard brake. I have seen plenty of “it...

Pre-Trip Towing Inspection Checklist: 10 Essential Checks

If you have ever watched a trailer fishtail down the highway and thought, “How does that even happen?” the answer is usually boring. Common causes include low tire pressure, a coupler that is not fully latched, a bad plug connection, a strap that looked fine until it wasn’t, or a load that is just...

7-Way Trailer Plug Problems: Diagnose and Fix Them

If you tow long enough, you will eventually meet the classic 7-way trailer plug gremlin: lights that flicker only on bumps, a turn signal that works until it rains, or trailer brakes that feel like they are made of wet cardboard. The good news is most 7-way problems come down to a short list of...

Gooseneck vs. Fifth Wheel Trailers

If you have ever stood in the truck bed staring at hitch options and thinking, “They both sit over the axle, so what is the real difference?”, you are not alone. Gooseneck and fifth wheel trailers overlap on paper. In the real world, they hook up differently, they behave differently on the road,...

How to Load a Trailer for Perfect Tongue Weight

If you have ever felt a trailer start to wag the truck, you have felt tongue weight (or the lack of it) in real time. The good news is you usually do not need fancy parts to fix it. You need to load the trailer with intention. For most bumper-pull trailers, the sweet spot is about 10 to 15 percent...

Prevent and Control Trailer Sway at Highway Speeds

If you’ve ever felt your travel trailer start to “wag the dog” at 60 to 70 mph, you know how fast your stomach can end up in your throat. Trailer sway is one of those problems that feels random until you learn what’s really happening. The good news is it’s usually predictable and very fixable. I’ve...

Aluminum vs. Steel Ball Mounts

If you tow long enough, you eventually get tired of two things: rust stains down the back of your nice bumper, and wrestling a boat-anchor ball mount in and out of the receiver every time you need the tailgate. That is usually when aluminum ball mounts start looking pretty tempting. But steel has...

Trailer Hitch Classes I-V Explained

After years of managing work trucks and seeing all kinds of “it should be fine” towing setups on the shoulder, I can tell you this: picking the right receiver hitch is not about buying the biggest one you can bolt on. It is about matching the hitch class to your trailer’s real weight , your tongue...

5th Wheel vs. Gooseneck Hitches

If you have ever stood in your truck bed staring at the floor thinking, “Alright, what am I bolting into here,” you are in the right place. 5th wheel and gooseneck hitches both live in the bed, both put the trailer’s weight over or near the rear axle, and both can be excellent. But they behave...

Weight Distribution Hitch vs. Standard Hitch

If you have ever watched a trailer tug the back of a truck down like a kid sitting on the tailgate, you have already seen the difference between a standard hitch and a weight distribution hitch (WDH). One is basically a strong, simple connector. The other is a tool that helps your truck and trailer...

Calculate Your Truck’s True Towing Capacity

I’ve seen it a hundred times in construction fleets and campground parking lots: a truck that “can tow 12,000 pounds” on paper, but the owner is unknowingly overloaded before they even pull out of the driveway. The reason is simple. The brochure tow rating is only true under a very specific set of...

5 Maintenance Tips to Prevent Hitch Rust and Wear

If you tow in real life, rain happens. Snow happens. And if you live anywhere that sees road salt, your hitch is basically sitting in the splash zone behind your rear tires. The good news is hitch rust and wear are mostly preventable with a few habits that take minutes, not hours. I’ve managed...

Payload vs. Towing Capacity: What Really Limits Your Truck

If I could fix one thing I see on the highway every summer, it would be this: folks buying a truck based on the biggest towing number in the brochure, then wondering why the rear end squats like a tired mule once the family and the camper are loaded up. Here’s the truth from years of fleet work and...

Trailer Hitch Classes: Class I to V Explained

If you have ever stood in a parts store aisle staring at “Class III” and “Class IV” boxes like they are secret codes, you are not alone. Hitch classes are meant to make life easier, but the fine print matters: receiver size, tongue weight, weight distribution, axle ratings, and braking all come...

Fifth Wheel vs. Gooseneck Hitches

If you have a heavy-duty pickup and a trailer that belongs in the bed instead of on the bumper, you are already thinking like a safe tow operator. The hard part is picking the bed hitch that fits how you actually use your truck. I have watched plenty of good trucks end up in white-knuckle towing...

About Ben Hollister

Hey there, and welcome to TowVox. I’m Ben Hollister, and if you’re here because towing feels confusing, truck specs make your eyes glaze over, or you just want to be 100% sure your setup is safe, you’re in the right driveway. I’m a former heavy-duty fleet mechanic. I’ve also worked as a fleet...

Best Suspension Upgrades for Heavy Towing Without Sag

If you tow long enough, you’ve seen it. A half-ton or three-quarter-ton hooked to a heavy trailer, rear bumper dragging low, headlights pointed at the treetops, and the whole rig doing that slow bounce over highway seams. That “squat” is more than a cosmetic problem. It usually means the load is...

How to Stop Trailer Sway

Trailer sway has a way of showing up at the worst possible time. One gust, one passing semi, one downhill curve, and suddenly your trailer is wagging the dog. The good news is sway is usually a setup problem you can fix in the driveway, not a mystery you have to “drive through.” In this guide, I’ll...