Apparently my truck is so low that the rental guys insisted on moving the trailer tongue down from its initial position (pictured) onto the bottom-most holes on the flange. The trailer is bottomed out at this point against its stand—it's technically possible to drop it more but I agree with those guys that having the lip stick down so far is just inviting a ground strike1.
This is the first item I've actually towed with this truck so it's difficult for me to be certain, but the times I've towed stuff back at school seemed to be at about this height.
And it's not like the other pickup trucks around here are all jacked sky-high.
1 speaking of ground strike, the bolt holding the tow ball onto the ball mount used to gouge into my driveway whenever I backed into it...at least, it did until I took a cutoff tool to it. So maybe the hitch is a little low.
You could also remove the hitch, remove the ball, put the ball in upside down, tighten the bolt, and re-insert the hitch (ball facing up). This will fix your ground clearance issue and put you at the right height for other trailers.
Funny you bring that up. Rental dude suggested the same thing.
The threads holding the ball on are damaged beyond repair. I'll get pictures at some point—the only way to get the ball off is with a cutting wheel.
The ball mount is apparently stuck in the receiver hitch. When I first got the truck, I tried pulling it out with a tow strap and a tree, but no luck. The securing hardware pops right out but the receiver itself is way stuck.
At some point I'll get a torch in there to heat up the housing and knock the ball mount out but I haven't yet gotten around to it. I'm all for replacing the whole she-bang with a new ball mount.
--D
Wow, that is a ton of failure modes on one set of components. It was pretty convenient that the ball jammed in there is the right size for the rental trailer.
Oh, the other option is to back your rear tires up onto some ramps. I would do this with my truck. Not to hook it up to the trailer, but to lower the rear of the trailer closer to the ground, giving me a better angle to go up the trailer ramps so I wouldnt drag the chin spoiler.
Yeah, but nearly all trailers in this class use a 2" ball. Only the teeny tiny ones use anything smaller—although I suppose there was a real possibility it would use something larger.
The ramps are an interesting solution.