Will a Front Hitch Help My Ability to Maneuever a Trailer In Tight Spaces

Updated 04/08/2020 | Published 04/07/2020

Question:

Good Evening. I live on top of a steep driveway with a 90 right hand turn into my garages. I have a 2 bay garage closer to the main house see pic with a 2 on it and a single bay closer to street side see 1 on pic. To the left of the drive way the yard red arrows slopes away from driveway. To say it is tight is an understatement. I keep my boat light fishing boat, boat and trailer 3K Lbs in single bay. What I normally do to get boat back in, is drive nose first into driveway and front of truck wheels into grass at end of driveway. I then disconnect boat, and push it backwards and turn it hard left towards that bay before it gets to crest on driveway at sidewalk and careens wildly down the driveway and into the wood on other side scaring the heck out of all concerned. Problem is that I cant then push it INTO garage because of the slope leading into the garage. I can sometimes get it far enough up that slope to use my lawn tractor, with a ball on the back, but often end up spinning the lawn tractor tires. only a 20hp Cub Cadet Ive thought about a power dolly, but would rather avoid that expense if possible. Good excuse to buy a larger mower though. Something to think about. But I digress. The question however, is with a front hitch, could i make a cut like that? I had a front hitch on my RAM 2500 years ago when I had a a truck camper and towed a different boat, but I never needed to use it for the boat. So Im thinking, either coming UP the drive changing in the street and cuttint trailer into the garage to the right, or nosing in like normal, ping the trailer, and then turning truck around and coming back at trailer nose first from back yard, and then cutting left into the garage with more concrete to work with. I have a couple acres back there to play in, just no room on side of driveway because of slope. Your thoughts would be greatly apreciated as a front hitch receiver is a lot cheaper than a power dolly. Truck is a 15 RAM 1500 Laramie Longhorn 4X4 with 5.7.

asked by: Clay G

Expert Reply:

I haven't ever personally used a front hitch to maneuver a trailer, but I do know that everyone I know that has one, swears by it as the greatest solution for this problem. It will definitely make getting your trailer into a tight space easier, but there are some minor downsides to this solution. The biggest one is not having mirrors to rely on to provide a line of sight on the sides of the trailer, but a lot of people also complain about having to get out of the truck, unhitch, backup, straighten out and re-hitch the boat each time. With that said, it's a small price to pay for the easier maneuvering of your trailer.

For your 2015 Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn you'll want to use the Curt # 31374 as a front hitch, which is a confirmed fit on your truck. I've linked an installation of this hitch on a little bit older Ram 1500, but the process will be mostly the same for both vehicles.

expert reply by: Erik B