Camco EAZ-LIFT 48132 Adjustable Weight Distribution Hitch Shank

The Camco EAZ-LIFT 48132 is the adjustable shank that ties your weight distribution hitch to your tow vehicle. It's the piece that sets ball height, and getting that height right is what keeps a loaded trailer riding level down the highway. This is the extra-low version, built with a 9-1/2 inch drop and no rise, so it's made for the rigs where the receiver sits well above the trailer coupler.

Here's where it earns its place. When you drop a heavy trailer onto a ball that's too high, the tongue rides nose-up, weight shifts to the rear axle, and the front of the tow vehicle goes light. That's the setup that makes a truck feel squirrelly at speed. The 48132 gives you a big 9-1/2 inch drop to bring the ball down to the coupler, and the adjustable hi/low slots let you fine-tune the exact height in the field without swapping parts. Bolt it up, check the rig on level ground, and move the head a notch until truck and trailer sit flat.

The shank is a full 12 inches long and fits a standard 2 inch by 2 inch receiver opening. It's powder-coated steel, black, so it shrugs off weather and road grime. We like it for anyone trailering a boat behind a taller half-ton or three-quarter-ton truck, where you need real drop to get the bow level and the tongue weight sitting where it belongs.

A quick word on what this is and isn't. This is the shank only, the adjustable bar that slides into your receiver and carries the head and spring bars of a weight distribution system. It's designed to work with EAZ-LIFT weight distribution hitches. It doesn't come with a hitch ball, and it isn't a complete weight distribution kit on its own. If you're building a system from scratch, you'll pair this shank with the matching head assembly, spring bars, and a ball sized to your coupler.

Setting it up is straightforward. Slide the shank into your 2 inch receiver, pin it, and install the head at the height that levels the trailer. Because it's adjustable, you can dial it in once and leave it. And if you change tow vehicles or trailers down the road, you can re-set the height instead of buying a whole new bar. That flexibility is the reason a lot of folks reach for an adjustable shank over a fixed-drop ball mount.

Who's this for? Anyone pulling a real load. Think a 20 to 28 foot boat on a tandem-axle trailer, a loaded utility trailer, or a small camper behind a truck that sits high. Weight distribution matters most the heavier you get, because the spring bars are what push load back onto the tow vehicle's front axle and the trailer's own axles. The shank is the anchor point for all of that. A sloppy or wrong-height shank undoes the work the rest of the system is trying to do.

One thing to check before you buy: measure the drop you actually need. Park the truck and trailer on flat ground, measure from the ground to the top of the receiver opening, then to the top of the trailer coupler. The difference tells you how much drop the ball needs to sit at. The 48132's 9-1/2 inch drop covers a lot of lifted and taller trucks, but if your setup only needs a couple inches, a shorter-drop shank is the better match. Get the geometry right and the whole rig tows calmer, brakes shorter, and wears its tires evenly.

Built from heavy steel with a powder-coat finish, the 48132 is made to live outside and take abuse. Trailer gear leads a hard life. It rides through rain, road salt on the way to the ramp, and the constant load cycling of stop-and-go towing. Keep the adjustment holes and pins clean and greased, and this shank will outlast a couple of trailers.