I drove up to CanAm RV in Ontario Canada to have the hitch strengthened. This does not interfere with the departure angle. Also, check those specs again. Our 25 GT FBT is spec'd as 885lbs. Furthermore, that tongue weight is very dependent on loading. While many AS folks will say they are over spec at 1,000lbs, we are under - actual tongue weight is 800lbs as measured at the CAT scales.

 

I haven't really. I did what others have mentioned by moving my spare to the roof rack. However, I'm still exploring a way to extend the trailer tongue or perhaps a different hitch jack configuration as I need better access to the spare and don't want to lose the roof rack capacity as sometime I carry a rooftop tent and really use the basecamp as, well, a base camp.

 

Make a spare tire storage bracket on the trailer, I'm thinking it's cool.
Basecamp is light, you can extend hitch like i did but it messes up all tow assist stuff and puts a little more tension on factory hitch bracket.

 

Thanks. That is an option but when I disconnect for the basecamp and want to go, I have to transfer the spare. I have never found the trailer backup assist user friendly so I may just use a modest extension like you did or beef it up as also mentioned. This seems to be one of those "it shouldn't be this hard things" but haven't found a great solution so far.

 

Since this thread has a lot of good towing discussion it seems like a good place to show how I solved the brake controller setup… pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

 

What are the best/recommended brake controllers (to include installation) for the defender 2023?

 

For what it's worth, I have a RedArc tow pro elite and it works great. If I recall I thought there was a detailed thread on that product.