Does your Expy hatch clear the electric trailer tongue lift?

[Steve Patterson]

I am purchasing a Grand Design Imagine Travel Trailer to be towed with my 2015 Expedition Shorty. Should I expect the Expedition hatch to clear the electric tongue lift mechanism on my TT? I am worried I will have to detach the trailer to open the TV hatch door. (and let dogs in and out multiple times a day when traveling). Below is a photo of the actual TT I am purchasing. It will be attached via a Blue Ox WDH.

 

[Habbibie]

Wtf happened to the good old days of spinning the tounge lift?

Anyway regardless of what you're using find the specs of the system total height after it has been attached to your hitch reciever, then measure the distance the top of the electronic lift head is to your hatch, measure the degree of lift your hatch opens at to determine if it'll clear or not, remember all these measurements will significantly work against you if you park the trailer at a decline but your truck at an incline as the measurements will tighten up significantly then. I dont kno why you chose an electric lift but I can imagine multiple reasons so I'm not gonna hold u to it but dont expect technology to solve all common sense problems all at once!

 

[Meeker]

I have a 2016 Keystone Cougar, and my tailgate hits the electric tongue jack. Looking at your photo, it looks like your jack is taller and closer to the ball than mine, so I almost guarantee it'll hit. Sorry...

 

[Habbibie]

You know... a 10" hitch reciever instead of the regular 6" can solve all your problems!

 

[Meeker]

What does the 10" do? Is it putting the ball farther back from the Expy? Or does it lower the ball?

I'm not a fan of either solution. Moving it back farther effectively increases the weight on the rear axle and lightens the front axle. The closer to the rear axle the better as far as I'm concerned.

Moving it lower affects the trailer attitude - it should be level when towing.

My solution is to not open the back hatch. Use the liftgate glass thingy instead.

 

[shane_th_ee]

It moves the ball (and trailer) farther aft of the rear bumper. When we picked up or trailer from storage this spring with our brand new expy, the old drop shank did not provide enough drop to level the trailer. The only shank available at my local RV store with enough drop was a 12" shank*. As you can see from the picture below (sorry for the crappy cropped cell-phone pic), the 12" shank moves the whole trailer farther away from the hatch. After towing with it for a season, I just replaced it with a normal 8" long shank. The longer shank had the following problems: it moved the pro-trailer backup assist sticker too far away from the bumper for the system to find the sticker**; as mentioned above, the leverage thing means it will move more weight onto the rear axle; also due to leverage the whole thing moves around more as it takes less force to move the hitch left/right or up/down and; it looks silly when the trailer's not attached.

*The length refers to the lateral distance between the center of the receiver pin hole and the center of the holes for attaching the WDH ball mount.
**This fall's task is to teach the wife how to back up the trailer.

 

[DExpy17]

have a '18 Freedom Express 292 bhds and it hits the electric jack. My '04 suburan hatch could open. Just sayin'.

 

[cullinan18]

Damn, I'm picking up a Grand Design Imagine 2400bh on the 19th and I didn't even think about the tailgate hiring the tongue jack. That just sounds ridiculous.... Crap.

At least the power tongue jack will make the process slightly less annoying

 

[bill.ellsworth]

I have a 2014 PrimeTime Avenger 28BHS and my 2008 EL Expy's tailgate hits the power tongue jack. Dogs go in and out through the passenger doors.

 

[HawkX66]

I went through this last year when I got sick of spinning the manual jack with my enclosed car trailer. Haulmark ships them with cheap ones I think is half the problem. After I installed my new Ultra Tow and hooked it up to my Expedition I realized the tailgate wouldn't open. WTH?!? After a little thought I looked close at the electric one and it looked like I could loosen four bolts and turn it around. That's what I did and it works awesome.

Old:

IMG_20180109_091220240


New before turning around:

20180605_144758


New after turning around:

20180625_192221


Carefully take these four bolts out and spin the housing around.

20180625_192226

 

[34Ford]

I ended up buying this longer mount so the tailgate wouldn't hit the v-nose of my enclosed trailer.
13" from center of hitch pin hole to center of ball hole.

 

[coolzzy]

I use a husky centerline TS weight distributing hitch which is slightly longer than my previous bar and chain type wd hitch. I have a power tongue jack and my hatch clears it essily but the motor head on my jack is not as huge as the ones pictured here.

 

[DExpy17]

I am purchasing a Grand Design Imagine Travel Trailer to be towed with my 2015 Expedition Shorty. Should I expect the Expedition hatch to clear the electric tongue lift mechanism on my TT? I am worried I will have to detach the trailer to open the TV hatch door. (and let dogs in and out multiple times a day when traveling). Below is a photo of the actual TT I am purchasing. It will be attached via a Blue Ox WDH.View attachment 26594

Hope you made out OK. I just Switched my WDH to a Reese "Strait-Line" And had the dealer install. The hatch now opens but it does rub the electric jack cover.

 

[cullinan18]

Well, my tailgate does hit the power tongue jack on my Grand Design Imagine. I can open the glass, stand on the tongue and get many things outta the truck area, but hands to disconnect to open the tailgate. Bummer. But the trailer does fit on my driveway!

 

[DExpy17]

Well, my tailgate does hit the power tongue jack on my Grand Design Imagine. I can open the glass, stand on the tongue and get many things outta the truck area, but hands to disconnect to open the tailgate. Bummer. But the trailer does fit on my driveway!

View attachment 27261

Mine doesn't fit in the driveway either so its been a muddy mess all year in the backyard.

 

[JThale13]

I've got a 2004 Expedition and a 2012 Cherokee Grey Wolf 28BH and my camper came with the same electric jack and my lift gate would hit it until I read on a camper forum where someone had rotated the jack. I hooked up to my camper so the trailer was supported and then I unbolted the the Jack and rotated counter clockwise so the switches and light pointed to the driver's side and the bolt holes lined up and bolted it back down and not I can open my lift gate all the way without it hitting and it didn't cost me anything but a little time.

 

[Jeff Taylor]

I've got a 2004 Expedition and a 2012 Cherokee Grey Wolf 28BH and my camper came with the same electric jack and my lift gate would hit it until I read on a camper forum where someone had rotated the jack. I hooked up to my camper so the trailer was supported and then I unbolted the the Jack and rotated counter clockwise so the switches and light pointed to the driver's side and the bolt holes lined up and bolted it back down and not I can open my lift gate all the way without it hitting and it didn't cost me anything but a little time.

I also have a 2004 and I'm looking at buying a Grey Wolf 29TE. Thanks for the heads up on this. Hopefully I can do the same thing to mine. How does your Expy tow with your Grey Wolf? I have a pop up camper now, so I'm a little nervous about more than doubling my camper weight and size. Are you using a WDH an sway bars? If so, what kind?

 

[johnboneske]

I also have a 2004 and I'm looking at buying a Grey Wolf 29TE. Thanks for the heads up on this. Hopefully I can do the same thing to mine. How does your Expy tow with your Grey Wolf? I have a pop up camper now, so I'm a little nervous about more than doubling my camper weight and size. Are you using a WDH an sway bars? If so, what kind?

I have a Outback 293UBH it has a GVWR is 7600, and we weigh in just shy 7k. My 2 valve 5.4 does just fine... I haven't pulled any mountains with it( don't plan to), and I use a Equalizer E4 with 6 washers. Works perfect!

 

[Meeker]

I also have a 2004 and I'm looking at buying a Grey Wolf 29TE. Thanks for the heads up on this. Hopefully I can do the same thing to mine. How does your Expy tow with your Grey Wolf? I have a pop up camper now, so I'm a little nervous about more than doubling my camper weight and size. Are you using a WDH an sway bars? If so, what kind?

I tried this a few days ago - I tried rotating the head (not the whole jack) but I can only rotate 180 degrees - the mounting of the head to the tube is rectangular so the bolts don't line up. Disappointing as this would have provided plenty of clearance.

I can't rotate the whole unit because there's only 3 bolts mounting it (it would go 120 degrees and hit the propane tanks) - so my last ditch effort will be to unmount the tube from the trailer, and put it below the flange instead of above. I think that's about 1/4 " lower and that will allow the hatch to clear most times (except when the truck is nose high compared to the trailer - I think it will still hit sometimes)...