[VAC] Re: Leveling the hitch

["Frank M. 'Mitch' Hill" <fmhill@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Thomas,

Congratulations on the "new" Ambassador...  I have a '64 Ambassador, if you 
are
trying to level the hitch between truck and trailer with a level, I suspect 
your trying too hard.  The concept is to have the the truck and trailer 
both level when each is  loaded as you will be travelling with them. Both 
the fellows at Red Wood RV in Willbraham MA  where I purchase my Reese 
hitch components and I use the same method.

Starting with the trailer level, this you can do with a level of some sort 
if you wish
but it does not need to be perfect, measure the height of the ball socket 
where the top of the ball will sit when coupled. Set up the hitch on the 
truck so the top of the ball is at this height.  This is done with the 
truck sitting as it normally sits, don't worry about level.

Hitch up the truck to the trailer and tension the spring bars by stepping 
back and looking at the vertical alignment between the truck and 
trailer.  Adjust the tension by using a higher or lower link in the chains 
to the spring bars until both the truck and trailer look to be level 
relative to each other. The object being not to have the hitch point 
between them sagging towards the ground or lifting the back of the truck 
higher than before hooking up.

This is an adjustment that may change from trip to trip depending on how 
you load the truck and trailer.

Thanks to the failure of a Draw-Tite hitch last year, I put a whole new 
Reese hitch system on my truck and trailer last November. Installing the 
new hardware not including the receiver on the truck (I had installed that 
elsewhere previously), the  whole procedure of setting up and adjusting the 
new WD hitch took less than two hours, we didn't use a level once, just a 
couple measurements by tape measure.

Hope this helps.

Mitch Hill - WAYKN
64 AS Ambassador International
Ford F-150 HD 4WD