whats the most you guys would tow using a ball hitch on the step bumper of a pickup truck?

My buddy pulls his 14 foot jon with his bumper hitch.  

I personally don't trust them one bit.

x2 I wouldn't try to tow much over 800# then it needs to be a solid bumper.

I used to tow a 600lb 15' boat with a hitch on the bumper of a '74 Camaro.    It worked just fine, but I wouldn't go any heavier than that.  

I think about 200lbs tongue weight is about all you want to have.  It's super easy to weigh tongue weight on small rigs like that - just put a scale under the front wheel.

I used to tow a 600lb 15' boat with a hitch on the bumper of a '74 Camaro.  

Kind of flattering boss,....I never knew you had an LBH side to you ;D

If a peanut hitch is for up to 150#, I wouldn't go much over 70-80# direct to the bumper.  a 12' jon is only about 30lbs tongue weight though.

what size boat were you thinking of pulling with it.

It depends on the truck and the bumper. I currently pull a 16 foot Carolina Skiff with a 40 Yamaha behind my 2001 V-6 Tundra without any problems. It has the factory bumper which is rated for 500 pound tongue weight (no way would I try and pull anything with that much tongue weight). I used to pull a 19 foot I/O deep vee runabout that weighed at least 3500 lbs with a 74 Chevy 3/4 ton 454 that had a super heavy duty after market step bumper.

I used to tow a 600lb 15' boat with a hitch on the bumper of a '74 Camaro.

Kind of flattering boss,....I never knew you had an LBH side to you ;D

If a peanut hitch is for up to 150#, I wouldn't go much over 70-80# direct to the bumper. a 12' jon is only about 30lbs tongue weight though.

what size boat were you thinking of pulling with it.

truck: 2000 nissan fronteir, 4 cylinder, 2 wheel drive (rear)

boat: 17' aluminum tracker (as described in the boat section). the boat itself might weigh 1000lbs. on the little coast guard sticker that says the weights and capacities, it said "boat, motor, persons, gear, 1030lbs."

Read the owners manual for the truck, it will tell you what the towing capacity of the truck is. I think you are under estimating the weight of the boat, motor and trailer. It is probably at least 1500 pounds.

Read the owners manual for the truck, it will tell you what the towing capacity of the truck is. I think you are under estimating the weight of the boat, motor and trailer. It is probably at least 1500 pounds.

the sticker on the boat said that with boat motor people and gear it should weigh no more than 1030, and there wont be any people in the boat when its being towed so it should be a little under 1000lbs.

am i misinterpreting the sticker or something?

The weight of the boat is not included in that number. That number is the carrying capacity of the boat: motor, people and gear including trolling motor, gasoline, etc. Then you have to add the weight of the trailer.

I just looked up the current Tracker Pro 175W, which has about the same carrying capacity (1050 lbs) and is rated for a 75hp motor. The package weight (includes boat, motor, trolling motor, and trailer) is 1,600 pounds. This is probably slightly more that the one you are looking at but not by much.

ok. i dont think we have a problem with buying a trailer hitch. i just wanted to see if we could get by with towing it on the bumper.

I pull my 17 foot Bass Tracker using the bumper on my Mazda B2500 with no problem at all.

My dad used to pull a 18' pontoon boat off of his bumper he had a 95 dodge ram with the 360 V8 and never had a problem, as for me I never did that I'll just install a reciever to my trucks if they don't have them already

2000 Nissan Frontier 2 Dr XE Standard Cab SB (Regular Cab Pickup): maximum towing capacity: 3500.00 lbs

1988 Tracker TXS-17: hull weight 822 lbs

1988 Tracker TV-17: hull weight 768.5 lbs

1988 Mercury 70 hp: weight 265 lbs

Your boat and motor alone will weight between 1033.5-1087 lbs leaving you at least 2413 lbs below you MTC.

2000 Nissan Frontier 2 Dr XE Standard Cab SB (Regular Cab Pickup): maximum towing capacity: 3500.00 lbs

1988 Tracker TXS-17: hull weight 822 lbs

1988 Tracker TV-17: hull weight 768.5 lbs

1988 Mercury 70 hp: weight 265 lbs

Your boat and motor alone will weight between 1033.5-1087 lbs leaving you at least 2413 lbs below you MTC.

So yes, you can tow it

On 6/26/2008 at 8:55 PM, .dsaavedra. said:

whats the most you guys would tow using a ball hitch on the step bumper of a pickup truck?

And here I am 17 years later asking the same question and I actually found the best replies in here then I have seen everywhere on the internet to this day 😭

On 6/26/2008 at 8:55 PM, .dsaavedra. said:

whats the most you guys would tow using a ball hitch on the step bumper of a pickup truck?

 

On 6/28/2008 at 9:46 AM, simplejoe said:

My dad used to pull a 18' pontoon boat off of his bumper he had a 95 dodge ram with the 360 V8 and never had a problem, as for me I never did that I'll just install a reciever to my trucks if they don't have them already

Thank you for confirming that I have a 2002 dodge ram and I was wondering if I could pull it I have enough confidence now to use just the step bumper ball 🤣

I read Glenn‘s post. I had to laugh  as I once had a 14’ runabout with a 40 hp Evinrude that I towed with a bumper hitch on my 1969 Camaro. 

back in the day I towed a 17 foot deep V Tracker with a 40 horse Evinrude on the bumper. Back then us hillbillies out in the country didn't even know what a hitch was unless it was on a tractor!

1 hour ago, BrianMDTX said:

I read Glenn‘s post. I had to laugh  as I once had a 14’ runabout with a 40 hp Evinrude that I towed with a bumper hitch on my 1969 Camaro. 

I towed my old 14' runabout with the 40hp Evinrude (sounds familiar somehow) with the bumper hitch of my old 84 Jeep Cherokee that had the 4-cylinder engine. Never a problem.