I had a Reese old style, bars with the chains and you adjusted the tension by the number of chain links. I now have an Equal-i-zer 4 point. And the Equal-i-zer is much, much easier and faster to hitch up. Plus, the old style Reese, I needed a separate friction sway bar, which was an extra step. Plus backing, the sway bar always had to be removed.
The secret to easily hooking up any WD bars is the raise the tow vehicle and trailer up together (hitched) so the bars easily set in place. Once in place, then lower the tongue jack and the tension will increase. You don't need to use the cheater bars or anything this way.
The Equal-i-zer has 2 bars that insert into the hitch head. There's a pin on each bar that is inserted to hold them in place, then a cotter pin is inserted in the pin. The other end of the bar simply rests on the L-bracket on the tongue. An L-shaped pin is inserted into the L-bracket and the flip snap holds the L-pin in place. Lower the tongue jack and done.
I'm 63 years old and have no problems doing this. My wife insisted with this current camper we have an electric jack. So, as part of our purchase deal, we had the electric jack added and that was one of the best things we could have done. It's no problem.
My wife (55 years old) can also hitch up all by herself with no problem. I taught her and have her help just so she can do it in the event I become incapacitated and she has no other alternative but to do it herself. She needs to be able to do everything! If for some reason I drop dead and we're camping a thousand miles from home, I want to go to my grave knowing she has all the skills to get the camper back home without needed anyone's assistance. She needs to be independent and feel confident in her abilities too. The Equal-i-zer helps makes that happen.
The Equal-i-zer 4 point has built in sway control, so there's no need for an extra friction sway bar, and you can back-up the trailer without having to remove anything.
