While at the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) convention, while looking for new towing products, I found one: the Hell-Ya hitch helper.

I’m old enough to remember the “Long Trailer” with Desi and Lucy from (I think) the ’60s. In the movie they bought a long travel trailer to pull with their car. The salesman then sold them a device that attached to the hitch of the trailer with wheels on it, to keep the trailer hitch from dragging. The Hell-Ya Hitch Helper reminded me of that Lucy movie. Not a bad idea.

I towed a new Featherlite SURV toy hauler to Vegas to review on the way to SEMA. At one point in Nevada leaving a gas station, I found those dips in the road that sneak up on you. And yes, I scraped the tongue jack, which was all the way up. I was thinking, “If I just had a wheel on the hitch to prevent this …” Lo, and behold, in the new products section at SEMA was “Hell-Ya.” I found their booth and after waiting in line to talk to Bob Cremer, the president of Hell-Ya, I arranged to try one out on my way home to Denver (700 miles). On the “way home” is always a tricky event, going back through the Rockies on I-70 in November (snow) over Vail Pass (11,000 feet) and the Eisenhower tunnel with its famous 7 percent grade at around 11,000 feet.

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While at the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) convention, while looking for new towing products, I found one: the Hell-Ya hitch helper.

I’m old enough to remember the “Long Trailer” with Desi and Lucy from (I think) the ’60s. In the movie they bought a long travel trailer to pull with their car. The salesman then sold them a device that attached to the hitch of the trailer with wheels on it, to keep the trailer hitch from dragging. The Hell-Ya Hitch Helper reminded me of that Lucy movie. Not a bad idea.

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I towed a new Featherlite SURV toy hauler to Vegas to review on the way to SEMA. At one point in Nevada leaving a gas station, I found those dips in the road that sneak up on you. And yes, I scraped the tongue jack, which was all the way up. I was thinking, “If I just had a wheel on the hitch to prevent this …” Lo, and behold, in the new products section at SEMA was “Hell-Ya.” I found their booth and after waiting in line to talk to Bob Cremer, the president of Hell-Ya, I arranged to try one out on my way home to Denver (700 miles). On the “way home” is always a tricky event, going back through the Rockies on I-70 in November (snow) over Vail Pass (11,000 feet) and the Eisenhower tunnel with its famous 7 percent grade at around 11,000 feet.