Hitching a travel trailer to a towing vehicle is challenging, especially for first-time RV owners. If you don’t get things right, you might experience various problems on the road. For example, your towing setup will be unstable, less fuel efficient, and more prone to getting into an accident.
Thankfully, there are various ways to ensure your travel trailer’s safety—a few of which we’ve discussed below.
Take Your Time
Don’t rush when hitching up your travel trailer. Instead, take your time and be as patient as possible.
Ideally, spend a few minutes setting everything up and ensuring you’ve correctly hooked up the ball hitch and the coupler. You also want to be sure that your safety chains and emergency brakes are in place and that the wiring is secure.
Use Wheel Chocks
Before hitching your travel trailer, park your camper and the towing vehicle on a flat surface. You’ll want to use wheel chocks to keep your towing setup in place and prevent it from moving while you’re attaching it. Place the chocks under the wheels on either side of your trailer and remove them when you’re ready to hit the road.
Hitching Up
First, remove your hitch lock and place the receiver latch in an open position. Now, use a jack to raise the front of your trailer and slide the hitch once it is close enough. You’ll want to be extra cautious when inserting it so you can do it right the first time. When the attachment is in place, secure the locking pin, and you are ready to hit the road.
Check Your Weight Distribution
You also want to distribute the cargo evenly inside your travel trailer to keep the attachment safe and sturdy. This will allow both vehicles to handle smoothly on the road and prevent your items and camper from getting damaged during transit.
You’ll want to use a weight-distribution hitch to ensure your vehicle’s tongue weight is within the manufacturer-recommended limits.
Removing the Hitch
Once you arrive at your campsite, park your towing setup on level ground, and detach your towing vehicle. But before that, you’ll want to slide the wheel chocks in behind the wheels of your travel trailer and use your jack to raise it. You can now access the safety chains, brake controller, and brake cable for disconnection.
Once you remove your sway bars and lower the trailer again, you can lift your ball receiver latch, let the hitch ball go, then jack up the trailer to remove it from the hitch ball.
We hope you find these tips handy when hooking your travel trailer to a towing vehicle. If you need more advice or are still searching for your dream RV, visit Camper Liquidators. Our dealership is in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and New England.
