Trailer Hitch Adapter: Give and Take

Trailer hitch adapters make it possible to use the same hitch in many different ways. It is the chameleon of towing needs and accessories. These somewhat unassuming instruments can turn your 2" receiver into a 1-1/4" one and your 1-1/4" receiver into a 2" one.

Under a different label, but using the same concept, an extender allows you to extend the length between your tow vehicle and the trailer. This in turn allows for a broader range of applications when towing or using certain hitch accessories.

When would one need an adapter, you might ask? When you have a ball mount shank - the part that fits into the receiver tube on the trailer hitch-that is a different size to the square tube on the trailer hitch which is also known as the receiver tube.

Here is a sobering thought: Using an adapter or an extender allows you to be versatile. It gives you something, but it also takes something away. Adapters alter the maximum weight capacity of your trailer hitch. You have transformed something into something it wasn't originally but it is a compromise. Your trailer is now less efficient in terms of capacity. Obviously this is a vitally important safety consideration and a conversion of this sort must not be done without an accompanying calculation into the new, lower, tow capacity.

Trail hitch adapters drop your towing capacity to the lowest one of these three: 50% of the GTW; the vehicle's towing capacity in the owner's manual; the adapter's maximum trailer weight rating. Towing anything over this lowest weight would be courting disaster.