Hello everyone,

I'm having some trouble with my truck bed extender. I have a 2002 Ford ranger that has a ball hitch on the rear bumper. Earlier, I purchased these two items from harbor freight:

ATV hitch adaptor to go from ball hitch to 2":

https://www.harborfreight.com/atv-hitch-adapter-65961.html

And then a truck bed extender:

https://www.harborfreight.com/truck-bed-extender-69650.html

I got everything pieced together, but the truck bed extender seems to sag down a bit and doesn't seem that sturdy on my rear bumper.... I'm afraid my rear bumper is going to get ripped off any weight gets applied...

The goal is to be able to extend my truck bed out and safely transport a canoe.

Am I doing something wrong? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

How big/heavy is the canoe? I highly doubt anything will happen to the bumper itself, even with the leverage from the extender.

For what it's worth, I have a factory hitch on my 2003 Ranger, and every ball mount I've installed in it has been loose. It's not made to be a super tight fit.

 

The truck bed extender sags down when there is nothing even on it. I haven't even bought the canoe yet....

After doing more research, it seems that I should probably get a trailer hitch bar and mount it to my truck, then mount the bed extender... Something like this:
​​​​​​
https://www.google.com/search?q=curt...obile&ie=UTF-8

 

This thing is made for ATV's and pulling, NOT for supporting the kind of weight you're putting on it.



Adding this to it scares the heck out of me, You are correct, you may damage your bumper if the leverage is right.

 

That's just the less than ideal coupling from the HF extender.

I agree with getting an actual receiver hitch installed, and then use the bed extender. You won't have to worry then.