Trailer Hitch

[LJ-TJ]

Hey guys, a buddy has a 1984 Itasca that he wants to tow a race car behind on a car hauler. His concern is what kind of hitch does he get and what does it bolt to. His concern is the frame extensions that have been welded on to the original frame. Hm?

[Rickf1985]

Uh-Oh, I see it coming! How long is the Itasca? And does it have the almost full width bottom rear compartment on the passenger side? If it is the same frame setup as mine he is going to have issues. I had a thread running a couple years ago I think on this very thing with pictures of the very weak frame extension on the passenger side, in addition to the shoddy weld straight across the drivers side. This was NEVER designed to carry any extra weight f a trailer, only pull a lightweight toad. Now I KNOW Kevin is going to come in and say he tows heavy with his but has a HR and his is probably built quite different from the Winnebago's. The Winnebago's are garbage in the frame extension area. You have to drop the gas tank and fishplate the weld area with 1/4" plate and plug weld or better yet bolt in 8 places on each side. Then where the goofy setup is surrounding the compartment on the passenger side you would need to run a full frame rail through the compartment.

[Elandan2]

I wouldn't say they are all "garbage".  My Elandan II is built on an M500 with the Dodge factory frame extension.  Channel on the inside, plate on the outside and huck bolted with at least twelve bolts on each frame rail.  Admittedly, the extensions done by Winnebago weren't like that, but I think that you will find that some units used a frame completely built by the chassis manufacturer.

[Rickf1985]

I wouldn't say they are all "garbage".  My Elandan II is built on an M500 with the Dodge factory frame extension.  Channel on the inside, plate on the outside and huck bolted with at least twelve bolts on each frame rail.  Admittedly, the extensions done by Winnebago weren't like that, but I think that you will find that some units used a frame completely built by the chassis manufacturer.

Yours is done the way it is supposed to be done. Itasca and Winnebago are one and the same, just different price lines. And 84 I think is a Chevy P-30 chassis so most likey done just like mine unless it does not have the basement compartments. In that case it would just be a matter of reinforcing the frame joints. Another problem is the distance from the hitch to the rear axle. A LOT of leverage on that rear frame section.