Quote:
Bill, which brand of WD hitch do you use with your 2720SL?
We used the Euali-i-zer brand. The other day on a different tow vehicle we tried to lift the spring bars to a higher setting where they attach to the trailer, but the door side bar would hit the lower part of the pivot pin on the swing away hitch. So, we had to use the next lower setting on the bracket that attaches to the trailer. I'm curious if there is another WD hitch arrangement that provides more clearance from the hinge pin in order to provide greater WD capacity. What I like about the EQ brand is that it works well and doesn't hang far below the frame to impact ground clearance.
Wade
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In response to Wade's query -
As identified on the Reese website, we have a Reese Trunnion Style High Performance Ballmount. It is overkill - rated at 12,000 pounds/1200 pounds hitch weight, I believe - but it is what the dealer had in stock at the critical moment. It has been great. A dual-cam sway control kit can be added to this hitch for minimal cost, but we haven't felt the need for it.
To get to your question re springbar clearance: On this hitch, the ballmount mounting angle is adjustable. The front end of the springbars are anchored in the ballmount, so as the ballmount leans forward or back, the rear end of the unloaded springbars rise and fall. [You need to see the Reese sketch for this to make sense.] If the springbars come up so high that the tips hit the swing-tongue pivot, you simply lean the ballmount back further, which lowers the rear ends of the springbars. This increases the unloaded clearance, enabling you to use a higher chain link as you draw up the springbars.
Did that make any sense? If not, contact me off list and I will send a couple of sketches that may help.
When I set my hitch up, I first measured the front and rear height of the tow vehicle with no load on the hitch ball. Then I dropped the hitch onto the hitch ball, and of course the rear end of the tow vehicle squatted and the front end rose. Then I experimented with different combinations of springbar chain links and ballmount mounting angle. The goal was to find the combination that would equalize the front and rear squat on the tow vehicle, and give me adequate-but-not-excessive clearance between the springbar tips and the underside of the trailer A-frame (including the pivot pins for the swing-away tongue).
The process wasn't hard, but took a couple of hours. In the end, it pretty much duplicated and confirmed what my dealer had already done when I bought the unit. But now, having done it, I understand what is going on a lot better than I did.
Bill