What Else Do You Call a "Bumper Pull" Trailer?

[dcyrilc]

"Bumper hitch"

I've always heard them refered to as a bumper pull. As the means of attaching the ball to the vehicle has changed, the design of the hitch on the trailer has not. Therefore, I would consider the name bumper pull to still be appropriate for the trailer even if we are not actually pulling them by the bumper any more.

IE: if you buy a stock trailer and put dogs in it, is it no longer a stock trailer? IMO, the name stock trailer would still apply, as I believe bumper pull still applies. After all, we're refering to the design of the hitch on the trailer, not the towing vehicle.

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Pops15]

Yep, we still frequently refer to "bumper pull" trailers, in fact my first trailering experience was with a clamp on hitch on the bumper of my 1946 Chevy 2 dr sedan. And of course, I've pulled many trailers with a ball on the bumper of my pickup truicks. But the other common term, as someone else mentioned, is "conventional" trailer vs fifth-wheel and gooseneck trailers.



Yep, not a culture; just a life style.

And did you know they sell an adapter to convert your fifth-wheel RV to a gooseneck?

I recently ran across my Dad's old clamp on bumper hitch that he had on his '59 Ford Ranch Wagon. If he was still alive he'd laugh at that thing and say some things about the good ole day just weren't that good.

 

[Soundguy]

We call them bumper pulls around here still and the others are goose neck or 5th wheel.

Chris

yep.. same here.. and if someone says tag along.. around here anyway.. that means the pintel hitch style tags that you see with a small hoe on them behind a dump truck or similar..

soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

And that's true of the vast majority of fifth-wheels, but they actually do make at least one for RVs that pivots both ways.

seems like my reese adapter has both for and aft and r/l movement...

soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

I recently ran across my Dad's old clamp on bumper hitch that he had on his '59 Ford Ranch Wagon. If he was still alive he'd laugh at that thing and say some things about the good ole day just weren't that good.

was it a chain on?

I saw one on an older 70's era station wagon the other day, pulling a 16' landscape trailer loaded with metal scrap to the recycler/scrapper.

tounge on the LD yard trailer was flexing and the car was squatted so that the chain ends were dragging!

soundguy

 

[EddieWalker]

I've never heard of the term "tag a long" before. I've only used the term bumper or just a regular trailer. I never thought it had anything to do with the hitch actually being on the bumper but that the trailer attaches to that area of the vehicle.

I didn't know there was a difference between goose neck and fifth wheel either. I've never towed or owned either, so it's all a bit of a mystery to me.

Eddie

 

[wvpolekat]

seems like my reese adapter has both for and aft and r/l movement...

soundguy

My Valley/Husky 15k fifth wheel hitch tilts front to back and side to side.

The entire gooseneck/fifth wheel thing gets REALLY irritating when you are truck shopping. I need a truck with a 5th wheel, so you look through ads and see one that says it is setup for a 5th wheel. You call the salesman about it, and find out it has a gooseneck ball in the bed. Which, is useless for me.

Yes, you can get adapters to put your 5th wheel on a gooseneck hitch. BUT, it is generally considered very hard on the trailer because you are pulling a 2 foot lever on the pinbox that it was not designed for. They void most frame warranties.

 

[Soundguy]

I went the other way.. I have 5th wheel rails and had/have a reese 5th wheel adapter. I have removed it right now, and bought 'the goose' it's a gooseneck adapter that fits 5th wheel frame rails.. So I got the best of both worlds.

soundguy

 

[Pops15]

was it a chain on?

I saw one on an older 70's era station wagon the other day, pulling a 16' landscape trailer loaded with metal scrap to the recycler/scrapper.

tounge on the LD yard trailer was flexing and the car was squatted so that the chain ends were dragging!

soundguy

Wasn't a chain on but I see those at auctions once in awhile.
I think this one uses j-bolts to tighten the upper and lower brackets on the bumper. Many years ago I used it on the front bumper of my truck to maneuver trailers in tight spots.

 

[dstig1]

Good info. Thanks, guys!