Which Weight Distributing Hitch with most ground clearance??

gijoecam wrote:

mkirsch wrote:
If you don't want the WD hitch to be the lowest point you can't run a WD hitch. Even the equal-i-zer brand will hang down some at the shank.

Not necessarily true...


At the rear ends of the bars, those will probably still be the lowest point, save for the tongue jack foot on most trailers.

My featherlite surv frame has 6" tall tongue rails, and the tongue jack is a few inches below that. The equalizer IS higher than the Jack.. So it looks like the equalizer and the andersen take up the least space?

Only thing I don't like about the andersen is the force transmitted to the coupler latch pawl. 1300 lbs tongue weight.

mkirsch wrote:
If you don't want the WD hitch to be the lowest point you can't run a WD hitch. Even the equal-i-zer brand will hang down some at the shank.

Not necessarily true... If the trailer rides higher than the tow vehicle, to the point that the drawbar shank needs to be flipped to raise the hitch head, the lowest part of the setup could certainly be the hitch shank, not the spring bars. I'm thinking maybe a combination like an E150 with a relatively tall travel trailer that has the coupler mounted over top of the frame rails might make the combination set up like this:

http://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Distribution/Blue-Ox/BXW0550.html

Admittedly, that's not usually the standard orientation of the shank as it seems most rigs need a drop not a rise, but it's possible some setups may need to be that way.

At the rear ends of the bars, those will probably still be the lowest point, save for the tongue jack foot on most trailers.

rerod wrote:

skipnchar wrote:
Spring bars will nearly ALWAYS be the lowest pint since they MUST be lower than the trailer frame for the principal to work.

No... really?

You said:

rerod wrote:
I don't want the Weight Distributing Hitch to be the lowest point.

If you don't want the WD hitch to be the lowest point you can't run a WD hitch. Even the equal-i-zer brand will hang down some at the shank.

skipnchar wrote:
Spring bars will nearly ALWAYS be the lowest pint since they MUST be lower than the trailer frame for the principal to work.

Ummm, no. The spring bars do not have to be the lowest point on the hitch assembly, they just are with most setups. In theory, a hitch could be designed to put the bars over top of the trailer frame rail pressing down on the tongue, but the setup and installation would be pretty difficult. Also, there would be more challenges clearing tailgates and other hardware on top of the tongue like jacks, battery trays, propane tanks, etc. Also, the bar mounts would have to clear the tongue as the trailer swings on the ball... Point is: It *could* be done, but I don't see any significant gains there... But I digress...

Under-hanging the bars, on the other hand, there's usually plenty of clearance there under the tongue for all the necessary hardware without clearance issues, save for low clearance on the ground in some setups.

The Equalizer or the Reese SC Trunnion are probably the two with the most ground clearance. Similar in design and function, though I'm partial to the Reese myself.

skipnchar wrote:
Spring bars will nearly ALWAYS be the lowest pint since they MUST be lower than the trailer frame for the principal to work.

No... really?

Spring bars will nearly ALWAYS be the lowest pint since they MUST be lower than the trailer frame for the principal to work.