Which hitch? Sway control? Brake controller?

If you want the very best get a MaxBrake.

OP,

You will be fine with your setup. I have a 2011 Armada with a 32ft trailer and 7200lbs loaded. I currently have a basic Curt WDH with dual fiction bars installed. That allowed the Armada to handle it well. I have just got a new Equalizer in the mail with a Prodigy P3 brake controller. This will make it even a more solid towing setup. I chose the Equalizer over the Reese Strait Line due to the ease of install and connecting. The Reese Straight Line is a great hitch. Good luck with your setup. If you have any questions with the Armada, just ask here or PM me.

Hi OP,

I am going to make a few different recommendations with some caveats. The best defense against sway is to have an adequate TV, properly load the trailer and set up the WD hitch correctly. Sway control should only be used to eliminate what I call "Wiggle" between the TV and TT. If your trailer sways you have a problem that should NOT be addressed by slapping on some kind of sway control and calling it good.

The Equal-I-zer and the Reese Dual Cam are great friction hitches. All WD hitches with add on sway control and with built in sway control rely on friction to do the sway controlling. There are three exceptions to this statement.

1) Hensley Arrow
2) ProPride
3) PullRite

These three hitches rely on mechanical means to remove the ball and coupler from the equation and use different pivoting action to articulate the TV and the Trailer. These three hitches actually eliminate sway 100%. You can literally take a badly designed trailer and add one of these hitches and the trailer will pull awesome..... Or so they say. Be for warned these hitches carry a premium upward of $1500-3000.00.... You can find them used for a much lower price from time to time though.

All other hitches utilize the ball in the coupler for both hook up between the trailer and articulation. (Traditional trailer on ball) How integrated sway control works is to increase the pressure from the WD bars in not just a vertical means but in a horizontal means. What this does is tighten the connection between the coupler and the ball. The Dual-Cam in theory also wants to direct the trailer back to center as the bars ride up on the cams.

I personally use the add on sway control. The poster above who experienced a quantum leap between a single friction bar and dual cam would have experienced a similar towing situation if they would have used the sway control per the manufacturers instructions which clearly state to use 2 sway bars for trailers over 25-26 ft. (No disrespect intended, just pointing this fact out) Also if the sway control bar is not tight enough it does have a tension screw to increase the amount of tension. These friction bars do wear over time and periodically need 1/4 turn of the tensioning screw. No biggie.

Now, why do I use and recommend a standard weight distribution hitch and the appropriate amount of sway control bars? Few reasons:

1) Not all dealers are familiar with Dual-Cam, Equal-I-zer, Hensley, ProPride, PullRite, etc but they are ALL familiar with a standard WD hitch and will stock parts that will work for your hitch if something breaks or is lost while camping. (Pins, snap up brackets, etc...)

2) If your WD hitch breaks with an integrated sway control you have lost both sway control and WD. With a standard WD hitch And add on sway control you may lose one or two of your WD bars and still retain full sway control. (And yes they do break from time to time. As one who has experienced a broken hitch head I can assure you that it does happen.)

3) lower cost. I bought my WD hitch and two friction sway controls for under $350.00

As far as the brake control the Prodigy P2 or P3 have great recommendations on this site. A little insider knowledge here. The Primus IQ by Tekonsha is the exact same controller as the original Prodigy (which didn't have electric over hydraulic capability) but its about 20-30$ less than a P2.

Me personally, I use older technology for my brake control. I have a Tekonsha Voyager and it works great. It uses a mechanical pendulum to "sense" the force that the truck is stopping. I set it up per Tekonsha's instructions and it has worked great ever since. The Prodigy uses an internal sensor similar to that used in the Nintendo WII to sense the stopping action. The main point with a brake control is to get a proportional control of some kind, familiarize yourself with it and use it properly.

Whatever brake control or WD/sway control you choose I urge you to learn the equipment completely. Understand the operation and how to install. Keep some spare pins or other small parts that need to be used for your hitch to work.

There are no really bad designs in WD and Sway control, a few different theories and methods but the main point is to buy a WD hitch and sway control system and use it.

Post any other questions that you have and we will do our best to answer them.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

I have ordered the Reese Strait Line dual cam, trunnion bar. I got a ball with a one inch rise to offset the reduced clearance. Also shank and ball grease, but forgot the receiver pin. :facepalm:

Thanks for the comment about tires. The TV (new to us) currently has oversized, high load tires. I don't remember the exact numbers off the top of my head but we are currently at just half the load capacity of the tires. Tires need replacing anyway and we were debating between going back to OEM size 18 or 17 inch wheels vs keeping the 22s currently on there. I figure changing the rims would also buy us about 135 pounds of payload capacity. Right now our plan is to load up and head out for our maiden weekend, visit a scale somewhere along the way, and then decide about the wheels.

The Prodigy brake controller is a good choice. The P2 has the same mechanism but fewer bells and whistles than the P3. Both have worked fine for me. People I talk to in campgrounds really like their Equal-I-Zer hitches. Watch the spelling, as there some variations that are better than others. Only complaint I hear is how heavy the hitch assembly is.

I have a Prodigy brake controller and love it. Works great, no issues. It is almost universally recommended.

As for weight distribution and sway control. I will first tell you what I've experienced. I started with a Drawtite trunion w/d hitch that came with my trailer and it included a single friction sway control device. I was not happy with that set-up and due to compatibility with my current components was able to add the Reese Dual Cam sway control to my w/d set-up. It made a HUGE difference. You need to make sure they are set-up properly and the cams are centered but the time that takes is well worth it. I only have to make minor 5 minute tweaks 1-3 times per year depending on how the vehicle/trailer is loaded.

Trunion versus Round bar, not sure one is really better than the other. Trunion used to be better for larger trailers because they were available with higher rated bars, but now you can get pretty beefy bars with the round bar versions as well. I think the round bars give slightly better frame clearance for dual cam sway control.

Dual cam versus Equalizer brand. It seems that anyone who has either one is happy. Dual Cam seems to have higher reported problems with getting it set-up properly. There are some great instructions on this web-site to help you avoid those troubles however and if you take some pictures and ask for help as you are working on your set-up, you'll get the extra help you might need to avoid problems. Not really a big deal to me. You occasionally hear of issues with Equalizer as well, either somebody forgets to tighten something, or some various minor issue. They seem simpler easier to use based on the comments I've seen here, I've never owned one however. It is a rare person that has owned both and can actually give an honest apples to apples opinion in how they compare. Someone in this thread already said they had both and preferred the dual cam. As an engineer myself, the dual cam seems to offer better advantages in that it tries to keep the trailer locked in the straight ahead position compared to an Equalizer which is all friction based, even if it is a very good friction based device.

Tires are critical as well. You don't want oversized off road tires. Stock size is generally preferable. If you change sizes it should be to change to a tire which will have stiffer tread blocks, stiffer side walls, and higher load ratings over the stock tire. For truck tires, go with LT tires versus P tires. For car/suv tires, go with more performance oriented tires with higher speed ratings if you can.

goducks10 wrote:

colochoclab wrote:
Equal-i-zer brand hitch and Prodigy brake control! :)
Easy, simple, reliable.

x2

x3

colochoclab wrote:
Equal-i-zer brand hitch and Prodigy brake control! :)
Easy, simple, reliable.

x2

colochoclab wrote:
Equal-i-zer brand hitch and Prodigy brake control! :)
Easy, simple, reliable.

That's my setup too.

Equal-i-zer brand hitch and Prodigy brake control! :)
Easy, simple, reliable.