Equalizer L- brackets Bending

LarryJM wrote:


Well that assessment sort of confirms what I was saying in my prior post. For those that have actually had the spring bars "POP" out of the "L" pin holding area I still believe that their tension on their spring bars might be misadjusted to the "LIGHT" side. I'm not saying it's impossible, but to get the TV-TT orientation such as to lift that spring bar enough off the "L" bracket so it can slip over the "L" pin would be such a "RARE" occurrance that I'm not sure it's worth worrying about and even an undeformed "L" pin might not hold the spring bar in place anyway.

It all depends on where you drive. Pulling into many campsites I watch friends unload their chain type tensioners to where the chain is 100% slack, it's that style of terrain that can pop one out even if loaded properly.

For reference I have had it happen on RARE occasion (it's been a few years now), but I am setup properly. 6 washers, 1" taller 2 5/16" ball, bracket jackets and the L brackets are setup 1 hole above parallel to the frame. There is PLENTY of tension.

Then again the places we go camping aren't where most go :-)

LarryJM wrote:
I do agree that those "L" pins fit too loosely in that hole in the "L" bracket and the "L" bracket should have a square tube extension slightly below the bottom of the "L" bracket to hold that "L" pin more in a vertical orientation. To satisfy me I have made a couple of shims that I slip along side two sides of each "L" pin that take all that slop out of the "L" pins and keep them more vertical. I did this mainly so that those "L" pins would not "WALLOW" out the hole in the "L" bracket more over time by restricting movement of them in the hole in the "L" bracket. Looking at the newer "L" pins my system accomplishes basically the same thing, but IMO a more robust manner. Below are a couple of pics of those shims that I use.





Larry

I like the shims!

The way the new style pins secure to the L-bracket there wouldn't be as much need, but those shims would probably have prevented most of my bent pins.

I have had pins wear so much that only the bottom corner of the L pin is touching the spring arm.

demiles wrote:
As I posted earlier the cracking of the square tubing that holds the spring bars has made the bending irrelevant at this point. here's a few pics of the cracks at the end of the tubes.

I have those same cracks, but no damage to my head.

I did end up replacing the spring bar sockets, but not because of the cracks. Mine had worn out on the inside to where there was an 1/8" - 3/16" vertical movement of the spring bar. That translated to a lot of play on the end that attaches to the L bracket and I had lost a little WDH action. They really only did that this last year, or at least that's when it got progressively worse.