Overloading your trailer can cause dangerous sway. But a trailer that's not on the level is almost impossible to load properly and is inherently unstable. If your hitched-up trailer tongue is not level with the ground on a flat surface, the hitch is the right place to make a correction.

Uncouple the ball (wheels chocked, please), and use the tongue jack to make the tongue parallel with the ground. Measure the distance to the ground from the top of the coupler and do the same on the truck hitch. Use this formula to determine your ball-mount drop: Height of hitch minus the height of tongue plus three inches (the height of a ball) equals the ball-mount drop. You'll rarely need a ball-mount rise, but the formula works the same way.

Originally Published: July/Aug 2007
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