I’ve towed a lot of trailers throughout the years. I can’t differentiate how many were “bumper pull”, gooseneck, or fifth wheel, but let’s just say, I thought I had seen it all when it came to hitches. However, I recently found out about a product from Safe Towing Systems that completely caught me off guard. Check out the Safety Hitch System.
Unfortunately, many trailers that are being towed actually weigh nearly twice as much as the vehicle towing it. Although vehicle manufacturers are constantly building better trucks, safety still needs to be a huge concern. Let’s face it, brakes are a mechanical item and can fail at any time, and when they are working, how adequate are they with a heavy load in tow?
But what is the Automated Towing Hitch and what makes it safer? According to Joe Jamieson of Safe Towing Systems Inc., “The Automated Safety Hitch is much more than a hitch. It is a system designed to eliminate the shortcomings of towing trailers from within the back of pickup trucks and a smarter option for owners of long-bed trucks, short-bed trucks, lifted trucks, and SUVs to pull the safer and more stable fifth wheel and gooseneck trailers instead of bumper pull trailers. The Automated Safety Hitch System is not a trailer. What it is considered is a lift or drop axle that does a better job of distributing the load of the trailer.”
The Automated Safety Hitch System is a unit that is designed to allow you to safely tow a loaded trailer and stop without feeling like you’re being pushed. The hitch accomplishes this by removing a large portion of the trailer’s pin weight from the frame of the vehicle and placing that weight in front of a steerable axle on the Safety Hitch. Braking is enhanced because the hitch’s axle delivers 75-percent of the braking capacity of a one-ton truck.
Mounting the Automated Safety Hitch System is accomplished with a detachable, solid connection. It connects to the tow vehicle’s braking system and works like a normal trailer brake system. The Automated Safety Hitch System has adjustable brakes that are adjusted by the tow vehicle’s brake controller.
But, can this system work with any truck? The answer is yes and no. As long as your truck has a ClassV hitch the Safety Hitch 3 has a truck-frame extension that attaches to the rear of the tow vehicle. Basically, if your truck receiver has a 2-1/2-inch square opening, you can utilize this hitch system.
The Hitch System affords you the option of either pulling with 8,000 or 9,000 pounds of pin weight. As I said, this hitch is like nothing I have ever seen before, so I thought you guys would also like to see something that could make your trailer towing experience much safer and easier on your rig.