Ford Ranger WDH ?

Gemangi · Member

Ford Ranger WDH ?

Dougwe · Chief one feather

How,

You must have a Uncle Al living with you too, like me smile cos ya asked this same question on 2/10/14 in "Techies" mate biggrin

Join the club mate biggrin

Dougwe · Chief one feather

How again,

Just thought. Wombat might be up to his old tricks again and moving things around biggrin

Phil C · Guru

Ive got exactly the same issue, I said on another post that I had phoned Hayman Reese and they confirmed if I can get the first hole engaged it will be OK. Looks a bit long but its never let go.

Safe travels

walwal · Member

doug i see u have a colorado do u get any shake in the seats and body

03_troopy · Guru

Can't you just cut it down and redrill it to suit the shorter receiver?

ken thomas · Guru

Hello
I have a ranger and had the same problem
Talking to HR they say you cannot cut it down but to buy a HR towbar ???what the
local HR agent said they cut them all the time with no worries
Take it to an engineering works and get them to cut it down and redrill the hole
It is very hard steel and harder still to cut it with a drop down saw
Should not be that expensive
Ken

Blue · Senior Member

they have enough holes ..you just can't push the damn things in due to that huge unnecessary length... just cut it back.. whats an inch off it going to do?

nothing...

always use stabilisers, levellers, what every you want to call them..

nothing worse than seeing an unlevelled van heading down the road half out of control...

Dougwe · Chief one feather

walwal wrote:
doug i see u have a colorado do u get any shake in the seats and body

Nope, no problems, so far anyway. Towing or not towing. I have it fully loaded at the moment and no difference, wouldn't even know it was loaded the way it is. Will have the Den in tow tomorrow but don't expect any problems.

old bob · Member

look at fiting 800 series H M WDH to our 2015 silver line , its 3.2 T and 300kg on the ball with 3 tanks of water ,we tow with a 2015 ford ranger wildtrack with 150kg in the tub
the ball drops 60mm when the van is attched ,but whole rig sets dead level mesureing from road to under the guards ,as rear of the truck is higher then the front with out the van on (suspention is OEM ) what im asking is if i put level riders on wont the van sit high in the front and truck high in the rear when the bars are tenshioned up we have done 7,000k with out the bars , but the truck tends to hobyhorse a fair bit on uneven roads

revemike · Senior Member

I had an engineer friend cut my WDH shank to fit into the towbar. To date I have not had any issue. I did not n ed to drill new holes.

PeterD · Guru

Blue wrote:
they have enough holes ..you just can't push the damn things in due to that huge unnecessary length... just cut it back.. whats an inch off it going to do?

If you are getting confused with answers like this I think it will be because there are two different styles of hitches for HR WDH. The one being referred to here is the newer standard shank like this one.

HR-50150m[1].jpg

Most of the others are referring to original shank like this one that only has one hole for the pin. HR-50025m[1].jpg

I suggest you make it clear as to which shank you are referring to when you reply.

-- Edited by PeterD on Tuesday 29th of December 2015 05:27:51 PM

littledick · Senior Member

I had the same problem with my 2017 Wildtrak. I cut about 90mm off the hitch to accommodate. Been towing 2 1/2 T vans for 7 years no problem. ( Still sticks out quite a bit.)

Only thing is there is play up and down and sideways. I have put shimmies in for up and down haven't worried about sideways.

Now trying a single lighter hitch but movement still there.

Usually 50mm tongue on most hitches but the Ford opening around 60mm. Don't know if Ford hitches are bigger than 50mm.

If anybody has further info I would be interested to hear, thanks.

Dick.

-- Edited by littledick on Saturday 8th of March 2025 12:12:05 PM

StewG · Senior Member

I drilled a new hole in the shank and cut off the excess to reduce the over-hang in the hitch of my Land Rover D4. To reduce (eliminate) the rattles I bought and slightly modified a HR "Silent Hitch" - it was too short for the LR cast-iron receiver so took a few millimetres off the head of the pin. I also made a couple of angle iron packing pieces connected by a stainless steel threaded rod and Nyloc nuts to hold everything in place. The hitch is as solid as a rock now. and has been for the past 20,000km.

Brodie Allen · Guru

There's not the vehicle made that will not benefit in some way and
some will hugely benefit by the correct fitment and adjustment of a WDH!!

Not many retailers game to tread on HR toes by stocking the best hitch
around IMHO and extensive experience.

Yep, it's the ANDERSON. You can buy direct from importer in QLD.

B

Greg 1 · Guru

I have been towing a 3 tonne van with a Ranger for 9 years now and am a fan of WDH's. The short receiver on the Ford towbar is an issue but I just cut the tongue down and redrilled the pin hole. Fairly simple job. But there again I have a well equipped workshop with a metal bandsaw and a milling machine. That tongue has now done over 100,000 ks without an issue.

Are We Lost · Guru

The short receiver is a pain. I took the shank to an engineering shop. It took more time to measure and mark than it did to cut it. $20 cash and the job was done.

Some are not solid. I imagine this would be easy enough with a hacksaw.

littledick · Senior Member

Gemangi wrote:
We are finally on the move, having sold the house and purchased a 2014 Ford Ranger XLT 3.2L with 3500kg towing capacity to tow our 25ft 6" Caravan.
The ford towbar supplied has the capacity to tow the above weight. I'm not sure if I need a Weight Distribution Hitch?
The problem being that the Hayman Reese's tongue is too long for the ford towbar. The receptacle for the tongue on the ford towbar is only about 70mm long and therefore will not accommodate the tongue of the HR WDH.
Has anyone else had to deal with this problem and is there a solution?
Regards,
Graeme & Angie

Mine also was too long, I cut 90mm off 7 years ago and no problem. 2017 Wildtrak. Not using WDH but I added air bags to give a hopefully softer ride, wife not long had back op.

Greg 1 · Guru

Be careful of the airbags on a leaf sprung vehicle. Plenty of evidence to show they are a major contributor of fractured Ute chassis.