BarneyS wrote:
dragr1 wrote:
One other thing is that the sway part of the hitch (The square pieces on the head that the bars slide into it) are really tight. You really have to pull on the bars to get that part to move. I thought that I could remove the bolt and that maybe it was too tight. But when I removed the bolt the square piece was still tight in th head. I thought about removing the square piece to grease it, but unless I really hit it hard it jus wasn't going to come out, so I left them in there and put the bolt back.
Is it supposed to be that tight or did the camper dealer that I bought it from (they put it together and installed it) over tighten these bolts?
Those square pieces (bar sockets) are supposed to be very tight. The bolt that goes through them is supposed to be torqued before every tow to around 45ft/lbs or more. The interface between those bar sockets and the upper hitch head surface is the main anti-sway feature of the hitch. The interface between the ends of the bars and the L brackets is secondary.
Click here to download a copy of the owners/installation manual. Then look on P.15 where you will find the following warning:
"Never tow with loose socket bolts. Tighten socket bolts to a minimum of 45 Ft-lbs torque before each towing session"
Also notice the "caution" just below the above warning in the manual.
Barney
Those bolts are at least 45 ft lbs. I bet the camper place tightened them way more than that, probably at least 150 ft lbs. I'll read the manual again about them.
