Does this hitch actually do weight distribution?

A power tongue jack has done all the hard hitching work on my Equal-I-zer for the last 16 years. Aside from when it was brand new and I didn't know the tricks, I absolutely never use those pry bars. The hitch works great too.

ACZL wrote:
While no expert by any means on WD hitches, I clicked onto the link and looked at the pics on left side of page and would be more concerned as to why the ball on hitch is tilted backwards.

That is by design. The more tilt, the more load equalization.

Best WD hitch on the market in my humble opinion. It simply works even when I lubed the L brackets to keep it quiet. I set mine up for ease of hitching up. With the trailer hitched to the ball, I’d use the tongue jack to raise the tongue just enough to slightly lift up on the ball. Tilt and brackets were set so I could push the bars on at this height by hand. This was enough to return the front of my truck to just under half the distance between unloaded and loaded without the bars. Rear settled about 1.5”. I’ve since gone back to my Reese HP trunnion with no sway control just for quiet and ease of use. The only reason I use WD at all is to satisfy the rating of the receiver.

Yes, they do give you a tool to pry the bars in place BUT the best and safest way to do is as follows.

1. Place the trailer tongue on the ball and lock it.

2. Lower the tongue jack all the way to the ground and continue to lower it until the tow vehicle is raised enough to easily slip the bars into place.

3. Once you have the bars in place then raise the tongue jack foot back up to its' stowed position. Doing this places tension on the weight distribution bars. How much tension is determined by a. the amount of tilt on the hitch head, or b. how low or high the L brackets are on the A frame or, if a normal chain type hitch, how many links are between the WD bars and the snap-up brackets.

Doing it this way is much safer and easier than trying to muscle the bars into place with the pry bar. There is little to no tension on the bars this way when you are handling them and therefore little chance for injury. You can lift the rear of the truck as high as you want in order to get the bars in place. It looks weird but does no harm and every goes back to normal as soon as you raise the tongue jack back up. :)

Edit: Just noticed Jimlins post above and he has a good idea to reduce the amount of cranking necessary on the tongue jack by using ramps. Either way, the goal is to make a small upside down V between the truck and the trailer to ease the raising of the spring WD bars. The Equal-i-zer hitch that you linked is one of the more popular WD sway control hitches on the market but it uses square, very stiff WD bars that are somewhat difficult to muscle into place. The supplied pry bar is often not enough to get them there unless you use one of the methods he or I mentioned. I might add that this is also a reason so many of us have an electric tongue jack on our trailers. :C
Barney

I have the same type WD hitch but just a different brand. These are a trunnion type hitch. The bars create friction on the L brackets as sway control.
Great WD hitch with sway control for my 10k gvwr car hauler

Mine came with a special pry bar. Go to that hitch mfg web and see how it works.

The bars are very stiff and need to use the tongue jack to raise the trailer and truck to get the bars close enough to muscle them in place.

Lots of you tubes shows how its done.

I find once my trailer is hooked up I back the trucks rear tires up on a ramp. This also raises the bars which eliminates much of the jacking....plus it gives more ground room to use the hitch mfg pry bar.
Or some folks make a hard left turn to get the left bar in place then a hard right turn for that side.
Check out the you tubes and the hitch mfg videos.

ACZL wrote:
While no expert by any means on WD hitches, I clicked onto the link and looked at the pics on left side of page and would be more concerned as to why the ball on hitch is tilted backwards.

Tilting the ball backwards increases the load on the WD bars, tilting it forward unloads the bars. In my Reese the tilt angle is adjusted with cams.

Lynnmor wrote:
Yes, it does the same thing. You just pry up on the bars rather than toggle the chain up.

I'm decently stout enough, but is "prying" tough to do? Is there a tool for it or ?

Thanks!

While no expert by any means on WD hitches, I clicked onto the link and looked at the pics on left side of page and would be more concerned as to why the ball on hitch is tilted backwards.

Yes, it does the same thing. You just pry up on the bars rather than toggle the chain up.