Denting My Rear Bumper

I have a 2014 Ram 1500 with standard hitch. Three times in the past 10 years I have dented my rear bumper when towing my CampInn by turning too sharp when backing up. Since I have just ordered a 2025 RAM, I definitely don't want to do it again with my new truck. Am I the only one that has experienced this? Is there any way to prevent it with a different type of hitch?

Thanks,

Randy

 

I did that a couple of times bringing my 560 home from Necedah. Since then I've just been very careful when backing up and turning. I'm not aware of anything to stop it from happening.

 

A longer ball mount will move the camper further away from the bumper. They make ball mounts in "extra" lengths. Probably would have to extend safety chains and may require a 7-pin extension.

Cary

 

That is probably the only thing I haven’t managed to do with my RAM 1500. You could put a hitch extension on which would give you more arm away from your truck. I try to watch my backup camera if the turn radius is sharp. Some people really amaze me with their backup skills. I just go slow and make small corrections with the steering wheel.

 

I don't know what part of the trailer contacted your bumper to cause the dent, but I punched a hole through the bumper cover on our car with the handle from the trailer jack when backing too sharply, because I used to keep the handle pulled up with a bungee so it wasn't hanging down close to the ground.
Then I was clued in by the Camp-Inn folk that hanging down wasn't a problem, but holding it up was the cause of the hole in my bumper cover. So I replaced the broken jack handle, and quit bunging it up, and no problems since.

 

Did that a time or two til I got back up camera.

 

That’s a good point. I actually never determined what exactly was making contact. I did replace the OEM jack with a two wheel Fulton swivel jack. The jack swivels up to be parallel with the frame when towing but the jack handle does stick out 3-4 inches. And is closest to my tow vehicle. I wonder if that is what is making contact.

Thanks

 

Sure, that's what we're here for. What I found on mine, was that the part of the jack handle you grasp will be at a place of interference with the bumper during a sharp backing turn when the jack is fully tightly retracted and in the tow position. Loosening the handle a quarter turn from full tight retraction to let it hang down doesn't seem to put the handle in harms way from ground/debris contact, or allow the jack wheels to flop around, but does keep the handle from contacting the bumper. I do have a dual wheel jack, but not the Fulton.

 

On my previous tow vehicle, I didn’t have any problems with the original trailer jack. However, when I upgraded my trailer jack to the beefy Ark jack, it features a detachable hand crank that fixes to the jack by magnetically clipping onto a “pin” that comes out of the side of the jack. We tried to be very careful and tested the range of motion that the tow vehicle could get to without the pin impacting the bumper. And then, on the first trip with the new jack, I promptly punched a hole in the plastic tow vehicle bumper with the dumb thing. After that we just kind of gave up and had multiple holes in the plastic bumper by the time we traded it in.

We have yet to have the same problem with the new tow vehicle. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve gotten more careful and cognizant of the backing up process or if the new tow hitch and ball keeps the pin away from the vehicle’s bumper.

 

Thanks to input and advice from others on the forum (thread below), I now leave the jack handle freely swinging down and haven't had any issues with it. The round dent in my bumper is now a source of amusement.

Leveling Jacks - Swivel Jack - What Happened?

Perhaps its worth pointing out that interference between trailer and TV can occur when going forward, not just when backing up. I mounted a a bike rack on the trailer tongue. Sensitized by my jack handle mishap, I positioned the rack as far back as possible on the tongue to gain the most clearance. With there is a bike mounted on it, the bike tires can make very light contact with the TV if I am not careful to avoid the sharpest turns when driving forward.