I may not be following this thread very well but having installed an Equal-i-zer brand hitch recently I do have these observations. The bars for the hitch, when initially pinned to the hitch head (the big chunk of steel with the ball) are VERY stiff. What I did was to put the hitch into the receiver, lube the snot out of the bar receptacles pivot points, pin the bars in place and, using a 5' piece of pipe, proceeded to "walk" the bars back and forth to relieve this initial "stiffness". Then I proceeded as Texas Camper instructed. I had to crank up on the tongue jack quite a long way to get the bars into the L-bracket. The second time I was a bit lazier and used the Snap Up lever when I got the bars in the general vicinity of the L-bracket. I have always carried 2 pieces of pipe 3' long, 1 slides inside the other to make an extension handle for the lug wrench. (For when the meatballs at the tire place get overzealous with the impact tool!!!
) I could also slide these over the Snap Up lever to aid in installation. I found this hitch installation and adjustment a piece of cake. I hope this is of some help. If not, repost and we'll go from there.