Truck I bought had a front mount hitch that can go in place of the plow mount. Owner said it is slick, but his trailer was 4,000 lbs. I’m s little afraid of what 10k will do to ball joints and front suspension pushing that trailer up to the shop. Any experience?

Bucky,
I have had front mount hitches on a couple of my trucks.
On my 77 Ford 4x4 I welded a receiver tube to my winch box. It worked real well but I did tweak a couple fairly wide front steel rims over the years.

Never could explain why this happened but everyone's best guess was the stress from moving around a 30 foot travel trailer that weighed over 4000 pounds was the most likely cause.

Other than that I never had any issues from doing that. Truck had Warn manual hubs so I could stick it in low range 2 WD. With the low gear in the 4 speed it was awesome for moving the trailer around in tight spots.

Joe

I was thinking it could be handy. Trailer probably has 900 lbs tongue weight and 9000 lbs total. Pushing up a little hill, I don't know. Hate to find out the hard way. LOL.

Bucky No Way Please do not try this.

Don’t think it would hurt anything a snowplow is almost 800lbs and it’s hanging three feet off the frame and it’s not like you’re towing down the road that way

I have never tried this but it seems to me that it would be harder. How do see where you're going with the trailer in front of you? Do you only turn towards the drivers side?

Folks that can't back a boat do this quite often.

I have a front and rear hitch. For moving things around the yard, the front hitch is awesome. When I was a kid, I used a "shared" chevy suburban with a front mount hitch to move boats around a marina in the fall. Tractor pulled them off the ramp and parked them. Then I'd go hook up and park them. Up to a mile or so from the staging area to the back of the marina outdoor storage, pushing boats with the suburban. I can back a trailer just fine but it sure is a lot easier to push them with the front hitch. Same reason I use fork truck at work for moving boats and trailers, using a ball on one fork. Just a LOT easier that way; and honestly I think more maneuverable.

Having the steering wheels so close to the hitch has to increase maneuverability. I was just a little concerned with the tongue weight. But like was said above, I put a plow on it and drive all over. Probably not much different. In my case the turn going up to the shop would all be visible from the drivers side. I don't think I would ever unhitch from the back to go to the front. But when we use the motorhome, I usually don't back it all the way up to the shop with the motorhome. So I would unhitch anyhow.

Used to have a tree in front that was on the drivers side, but backing around it i could not see it, It was just a PIA.
Put a front hitch from Hidden Hitch on my F350 and it became slick to get the trailer in beside the house. A 28 footer probably 8500 or so.
Hurricane eventually took the tree so it became easy again. Kept the hitch and put it on my next dually as well. Just like moving a trailer with a forklift.

I think the biggest bang for the buck would be pulling the trailer out with front mounted hitch.... (Trailer going forward truck backward) It would articulate like an "in-loader" in a gravel pit....

quote:

Originally posted by Bad News:
Used to have a tree in front that was on the drivers side, but backing around it i could not see it, It was just a PIA.
Put a front hitch from Hidden Hitch on my F350 and it became slick to get the trailer in beside the house. A 28 footer probably 8500 or so.
Hurricane eventually took the tree so it became easy again. Kept the hitch and put it on my next dually as well. Just like moving a trailer with a forklift.

Interesting, thx