Boondock towing

Interesting discussion. We do extensive boondocking in some pretty rough and remote country. Depending on the trip and season, I bring; sand boards, snow chains, tow strap, shovels (snow and dirt), bow saw, and a lopper....and have used them all multiple times. But, to date, I have yet to have felt the need to remove (or, in our case, reduce the tension of) the sway bars. (lower tire pressure....for which I also carry a small compressor.... yes, but not the sway bars) So I would greatly appreciate it if someone could school me on where, when, and why you would want to do this? Then, perhaps after this education, I will become braver (or "more foolish") at dragging my trailer through even rougher terrain (good Lord, not sure how I could do that without destroying everything, but I am open to learning). Oh yea, I also carry an InReach so I always have comms...also great for getting weather reports when one is way, way, off the road in S. Utah (heavy rain sucks there) or waiting out a snow storm in the mountains of Montana.

To the OP. Perhaps more than you need (or want), but we use the Hensley Hitch. No fuss, no mess....and, as you can see from my above query, it must just work.

SteveAE wrote:
So I would greatly appreciate it if someone could school me on where, when, and why you would want to do this? Then, perhaps after this education, I will become braver (or "more foolish") at dragging my trailer through even rougher terrain

Too much bendy on the metal bars. Leaving them attached is somewhat foolish if youre driving slow over rough terrain. Kinda depends. Think of a jeep with the sway bars attached.

agesilaus wrote:

Is it a hand jack? Carry pieces of wood to take up the slack. Jack up the trailer enough to loosen the bars and just push them sideways.

Not on a Fastaway unless you want to loose the bars. I think you are thinking about a different brand of WDH

They look similar to the husky. Little pin holds the bar in? Round bar wears over time and you get enough slop for the entire bar to fall out? My friend has a husky WD hitch. Piece of junk.

Never needed a bow saw when off road with my TT but I guess some have.

It has square bars, a 1/2 inch thick "L" shape pin holds the front in but the rear is not positively anchored

wopachop wrote:

SteveAE wrote:
So I would greatly appreciate it if someone could school me on where, when, and why you would want to do this? Then, perhaps after this education, I will become braver (or "more foolish") at dragging my trailer through even rougher terrain

Too much bendy on the metal bars. Leaving them attached is somewhat foolish if youre driving slow over rough terrain. Kinda depends. Think of a jeep with the sway bars attached.

or

Thanks for trying to explain it to me wopachop, but I don't know anything about jeeps with sway bars. Not trying to to argumentative, just wondering why 10 miles (likely much less) of occasional rough travel would be so much worse than the 1000's of miles (over dozens of hours) most of do on paved and gravel roads (with that structure constantly flexing at a much higher frequency) just getting to those 10 miles of rough travel....of course this assumes the tongue weight is within design load specifications for the bars and hitch. Furthermore, if I were to remove the effect of my hitch's sway bars, my trailer tongue (and truck rear end) would sag significantly, reducing ground clearance and increasing the likelihood of striking one (or both) on a very hard rock...ouch. I am not talking off road rock crawling as some of the mates in Australia do (I believe the OP was in the US???). Just dragging the trailer up (or down) a rutted, rocky, steep two track, across a ditch/creek, across slickrock, or over small logs, at low range 4x4 speeds. I will call Hensley tomorrow and ask them their opinion....and report back.

Steve, with reference to ordinary friction sway bars, they greatly reduce the trailer coupler's freedom to twist on uneven surfaces. So that is why I remove the sway bar on rough forest roads -- to let the trailer move independently of the tow vehicle.

Often, in really bad conditions, the tow vehicle is tilting to the left while the trailer is tilting to the right -- that does not happen on pavement! So my goal is to let the trailer tilt as much as it wants to, thus minimizing torque on the whole hitch ball and coupler assembly.

I'm not sure if the same reasoning applies to a WDH -- I don't know enough about WDH systems to comment.

To give an idea, here's what an Aussie offroad hitch looks like, LOTS of travel in their designs.

That's a big hitch!! ;)

Maybe try posting it with this great app:

Photoposting app

I think it resizes the image. The app is so easy to use -- just select your image, and then copy the URL that pops up, and then paste the URL in your message.

agesilaus wrote:

Something like this mounted to the a-frame should do the trick:

I have my doubts about that, the fastaway bars, at least on our hitch are rectangular and heavy. Maybe 8 or 10 pounds. Your welding shop idea is workable but I don't get the problem with dropping them in the bed of the truck. If his are coated with grease then he is doing something wrong. Fastaway recommend lube only at the contact points. The ends of the bar. Carry a rag or two and wipe it off.

Fastaway e2

I don't get why they are greasy and can't be tossed in the truck bed but since the OP was insistent he had no space, some sort of rack would work.

If they are too big or heavy, a welding shop adding some upright pipes in a similar configuration would work. It would also be a convenient storage place while the trailer is parked.