Hey all, recently got a new travel trailer with a heavier tongue weight then our old trailer and have been running into an issue with the snap-up brackets bending. I contacted Reese and they had me make a few changes since the dealer made a few mistakes during install but I have since bent another bracket. Any common fixes or recommendations?I replaced the passenger side bracket twice and now after the adjustments were made the drivers side bracket bent. I am running 1200 lb trunnion bars. Note: The hanger bracket chain was completely vertical before the bracket bent.

We ran with the same hitch for years....and installed it on 3 different trailers.I would like to help, but I'm not seeing exactly what bent?

downtheroad wrote:We ran with the same hitch for years....and installed it on 3 different trailers.I would like to help, but I'm not seeing exactly what bent?This setup was great on our last trailer, look closely at the snap up bracket in the second picture. Also take a look at the picture below which shows a bend in the rear of the brackets where the set screw is as well as a bend at the bottom of the bracket below the hanger.http://i.imgur.com/qfTghIG.jpg

I just ran into the same thing!Hate to say it but your Snap up brackets are the older, weaker style. You need these: Reese 58392Good luck,Scott

Good catch ScottG .I didn't notice that he had the older style brackets...Newer ones are sold as, "heavy duty replacements"

First what weight bars are you running? and what is your tongue weight? bracket bending is often caused by the bar hitting the cam arm when it slides in a turn.but yours looks like the new style which should give better clearance.However, it doe look like you don't have the HD reinforce brackets with the gussett that goes all the way over the top of the bracket to the backside.this HD bracket now comes on all bars 1200lbs and up IIRC. at one time only on the 1400 and 1700 lb bars IRRC. It's possible with the heavier tongue your putting to much off axis load on the light weight brackets. JBarca will probably chime in on how to diagnose any setup issues, but I'd recomend once you determine the cause, and correct if needed you also buy the HD brackets.

Reese Dual Cam Issue - Brackets | Good Sam Community

CampingN_C_
Explorer
Jul 20, 2017
The newer/heavier brackets should be fine. As said do not over tighten the set bolt.
Try them for a while before welding/drilling as you may not need to. I'm running 1500lb bars and close to that much tongue weight and while mine are bolted on, I've never bent one.
djcjc
Explorer
Jul 22, 2017
I don't see any bolts in your picture showing brackets bolted to the frame. This happened to mine after three years on first trailer and two years on second trailer. Replace brackets did not get heavy duty ones bought these before I knew about the heavy duty ones but when I mounted the new ones they only had one bolt hole which was closer to the top versus the old ones with two holes near the bottom so I drilled out new brackets and installed three bolts in each bracket. I also attribute my original failure to backing into a steep inclined site where the trailer flattened out but truck was still inclined down. I cant prove that because I did not look at brackets before backing into the site but I have always removed bars before backing if jackknifing was required and will now do the same for steep slope sites. With new brackets installed with three bolts each just got back from trip Joliet Il to Wash DC and back no issues so far. If these cause me any concerns down the road will get the heavy duty ones next.
myredracer
Explorer II
Jul 23, 2017
You want Reese's HD brackets like in the photo. They have gussets welded to them to stiffen them. Can also add bolts into the A-frame through the square holes on the brackets using Reese's forming screws. The HD brackets came with our 800 lb Reese DC package which was nice because we ended up having to upgrade to 1200 lb bars due to the actual tongue wt. being nearly twice the dry tongue wt.

For tongues weight above approx. 1000-1100 lbs, keep an eye on the mounting screws/bolts for the cam arm brackets as they can loosen. Ours did shortly after installation with a TW of about 950 lbs. There are better ways to bolt the cam arm brackets in place instead of using the forming screws (which have less than 2 threads engaged in the A-frame tubing wall).

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Reese Dual Cam Issue - Brackets

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