BarneyS wrote:
SoundGuy wrote:
Calicajun wrote:
Is there anything that has to be removed when backing up or making sharp turns? I'm getting tired of having to get out and remove the two anti-Sway friction brakes on our current hitch.
Not with the Blue Ox Sway Pro or Equal-i-zer. :B
Or with the Dual Cam. :B
Actually, if the friction bars are installed correctly, you should not need to remove them at all when backing up. I towed for years with the friction type sway control and never once removed it when backing and never once did any damage to it. Only if it bottoms out when backing is any damage going to occur and if installed correctly, it will not bottom out without some other part of the hitch or trailer hitting the tow vehicle.
Barney
While in general I agree after using a single friction system for over 25 years and actually worn one of them out, there is one instance where one can damage the sliding bar even on a correctly installed system. This can happen if you are maneuvering and have the sliding bar extended out to it's max and suddenly try and back up quickly in the direction that pushes the bar back in. If the stars and planets are aligned just right this sudden forcing of the slide bar back into the stationary part with the brake pad material can "grab" enough to actually bend the slide bar. I had this situation happen once and after that I just chose to remove it when doing extraordinary maneuvering like backing into a site at a CG. With that being said as long as you start backing up "slowly" you shouldn't have a problem. Mine happened when I started to pull out on a highway and then had to "quickly" back up to get out of traffic because I could make the turn due to sudden traffic entering the highway. Probably 95% of my problem was I tried to back up "TOO QUICKLY".
Something that probably added to my misfortune is that I generally had the friction system much tigher than most since I was using a single system on a trailer just over 26'.
Larry
