Thanks Chuck. I think I'm gonna be fine with this but it confuses me why there are so many discrepancies in the specs. According to the VIN mine has a class III hitch (which I've always understood to be 5,000lbs) but yours says 6,000 on it. Mine's missing the tag. My brochure from when I bought it says 9,000 with no mention of the HD option. The owners manual said 9,100 I believe (haven't got it in front of me at the moment.).

Anyway, I plan to hook up and try it. I have the Expedition factory hitch, equalizer trailer hitch, 7-pin (added), add-on mirrors, and the "Interceptor" guage to monitor temps. We rarely have outside temps above low 70's but I want to watch the tranny and will add another cooler if necessary. I used to be a transmission tech in the 90's and often saw what an overheated tranny looked like!

The shortening part.... It just seems to me that it would be better to have things hooked closer and the tongue weight farther ahead to minimize "leverage" on the back of the vehicle. (I'm thinking of a pick-up truck with a heavy weight placed at the back of the box vs. the front of the box.... Rides and steers much better moved forward to the front.) Maybe this isn't a factor with the weight-distributing hitch, though.?? Turning radius isn't a big concern for me.

Not trying to be controversial. I appreciate all the wisdom from you guys on here. I just feel more comfortable if I can get my head around stuff before I begin. My brother would tow it around the world and never look back as long as the ball was the right size for the coupler!

Thanks again.
Pilgrim