Equalizer Round Bar interferes with Swing Hitch

I have a Ford Explorer and I have a 2007 trailmanor 2720SL. I have a Reese 750 lb round bar equalizer and I find that I cannot tighten up the chain at the end of the round par because the swing hitch pinning point projects about 3 inches outside of the frame such that the round bar jams on it when I try and tighten up the chain. This would not be a problem if I did not have the swing hitch which reduces the length of the trailer by 2 feet. My garage is long enough such that I don't really need the swing hitch. Is the solution to try and cut the 3 inch projecting part off? or to try and weld some other section onto the side of the frame to make the frame wider? or is there some other type of equalizer bar system that I can buy that will work? I attached a photo showing the conflict.

[ThePair]

I may be off base here and the wrong person to answer, since I personally have never used a WDH before...but, it's my understanding that the bars are ideally supposed to run parallel to the tongue, when all is more or less properly adjusted.

Judging by your question and the picture, your bars will be pointing up towards the tongue, which seems too high, based on everything I've read about adjusting a WDH.

I think the thing to do would be to adjust the angle of the head of the WDH where it attaches to the draw bar. I believe there should be washers of some kind that can be used to tilt the head "downwards" so that the bars are straighter--requiring more links of chain to get the weight distributed. This would also have the affect of lowering the ends of those round bars, so that the swing hitch projection would no longer be a hindrance.

I have a feeling someone with more experience can explain this better, or even correct me if I am totally off base.

Yes I will look into adjusting the angle of the hitch mount and if I can point it more downwards then perhaps I would be able to pull up more on the round bars. Thanks alot.


Next Day comments. I went to a Hitch shop next day and they explained that I could adjust the galvanized adjustment plate on the REESE hitch. It has setting 1 to 6 and setting 6 is the maximum downward tilt. I previously was on setting 5 and when I changed to setting to 6 it gave me a couple more inches with the car on the sloping driveway. I will get more than this when I get it flat on the street. See photo with adjusted hitch mount.

Thanks to the person in Chicago for the advice. Much appreciated. I think you solved my problem. Anyway I still hope the Vancouver Canucks beat the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round!!

I have a 2008 2619 with a swing hitch. I also have a Reese WDH. My tv is a Honda Ridgeline. My bars do point down without any adjusting washers. But I believe the pins on my 2619 are on the inside of the hitch frame and not the outside. The TM is in storage below the snow line so I can not go to the garage to verify that.

[ThePair]

Originally Posted by Barry C Anderson

Thanks to the person in Chicago for the advice. Much appreciated. I think you solved my problem. Anyway I still hope the Vancouver Canucks beat the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round!!

Hey, I'm just glad that my weak understanding of WDH in general actually had some basis in reality!

Gives my hope that I'll be able to tow my own TM when I finally take delivery and get all the parts together.

First things first, wiring my van :P

Best of luck!

Marc

Barry, the other posts seem to be right on the mark. You need to tilt the ball mount platform back some, so that you can run the bars parrallel to the ground. You should have plenty of clearance at that point.

Here is a good video that shows how to install and adjust the Reese round bar WDH:
http://www.etrailer.com/tv-weight_di..._ford_van.aspx

Even though I use a Reese trunnion bar WDH with my current trailer, maybe you can see from this photo how far I have the ball mount tilted back to give me at least 5 links of chain (Reese's stated minimum) on the snap-up brackets.



The same principle applies to the round bar setup. I would have actually been better off with the round bar setup because I get some rub between my trunnion bars and the yoke on my dual cam sway control...but that is another long story.

[mjlaupp]

Barry,
I would suggest that you should upgrade to a 1000# bar set. This will get you back into adjustment range. Apparently your combined tongue weight and way back weight in the Explorer are close to the 750# limit of your WDH.
Mike

Originally Posted by mjlaupp

Barry,
I would suggest that you should upgrade to a 1000# bar set. This will get you back into adjustment range. Apparently your combined tongue weight and way back weight in the Explorer are close to the 750# limit of your WDH.
Mike

Mike, I used 800 lb. bars on my Trailmanor, and they seemed to be sized just right for my 500+ lb. tongue weight, so I wouldn't think that Barry's 750 lb. bars should be a problem. 1000 lb. bars might be a tad too stiff, and make the ride really bouncy. Typically, the minimum suggested tongue weight is 1/2 of the bar rating. So, the 1000 lb. bars would be too much if Barry's tongue weight is under 500 lbs.

Here is an excellent chart about 1/2 down the page: http://www.etrailer.com/c-wd.htm

On my current trailer (not a Trailmanor), the dealer set me up with 800 lb. bars, but I found that I have a 720 lb. tongue weight, and still need to add a little gear up front and some water to the black water tank which is well forward of the axles.....probably putting me over the 800 lbs. In this case, I did order 1200 lb. bars, as the 800 1s would be maxed out. The 1200 lb. bars are good from a 600 lb. to 1200 lb. tongue weight, so I should be good to go with those......but those puppies put some bounce in my ride.

Thanks for all of your advice. I think that I need to try and see if the 750 lb bars as I have newly adjusted will keep my two wheels on the Explorer level or down the same amount. If not then I guess I will need to move up to the 1000 lb bar.

Since you people are so knowledgeable, I think another problem I have been having is that I have ripped off a couple of snap brackets from what I believe was too much pressure. I thought this might have been from the fact that the round bar was prying on the swing hitch plate. However, now I think it might be from the fact that at times I have been putting the equalizer bars on the trailer when my Explorer is on a steep drive way and the trailer in on the flatter garage and also when I back up the trailer from the flat road to the steep uphill driveway with the equalizer still on it must be causing to much stress on the snap brackets and bending them. I guess I should only be using the equalizer hitch on flat ground and when I back up the driveway take the equalizer off before I do this. Has anyone else had problems with overstressing the snapbrackets when going from steep slopes to flat ground with a sudden change in angle of the vehicle and the trailer? The attached photo shows two different possible angles of the hitch bar when the vehicle is on a steep driveway (yellow) and the blue line would be the case when backing the trailer from a flat road up a steep driveway with equalizer hitch on.

Barry, I have never heard of the snap-brackets breaking, but that little chain hook looks mighty fragile compared to the pressure that is put on it......that has been a concern of mine. In both photos that you have posted, the chain on the snap-up bracket hook looks like it is in a bind. When I setup my WDH, I make sure the chain link in the hook is straight with the rest of the chain, and the extra
length(s) are also hanging down and out of the way. This could contribute to the snap-up bracket break. Make sure that the chain length on the hook is in the deepest part of the hook.

Another possible cause of the snap-up bracket break, is that you might be pulling the WDH down to tight....but that would be a long shot, as I think they use these same brackets for up to a 1700 lb WDH system . The purpose of the WDH is to put some of the tongue weight back on the front TV axle, and the trailer axle, but it is possible to go overboard, and exceed the front axle GAWR. Do fender measurements after you adjust the ball mount, and see how the front and back of the Explorer settle. When you get everything setup, I would suggest going across some scales, both with the TM attached, and then without it and see how the figures look.

In your 2nd photo, it looks like the spring bars will clear the swing hitch bracket with the the 7 link setup, and the bars are almost parrallel with the TM frame...a much better setup than the photo in the 1st post. The ball mount looks like it is at the same angle.....I would presume that you are just trying out a couple of setups before you actually adjust the ball mount??

If it were me, I would tilt the ball mount back until I could use 7 or all 8 links of chain and still get the correct weight distributing. Also remember that the trailer levelness is adjusted by moving the ball mount up or down on the hitch shank, not by pulling the WDH down tighter. The WDH is only made to adjust the weight, not the trailer tilt, although it does affect the trailer attitude indirectly.

Good Luck, and Keep Us Posted.