How to identify WDH bars
I'm going to a heavier TT and I'm not sure what bars I bought 13 years ago for our old trailer. Does anyone know how to tell the difference between Reese trunnion bars? (they all seem to be 42" long)...
Forum Discussion
ScottG wrote:
Thanks for the pics and info.
I found out I need to go to 1500# bars and I know my old ones are no where close to that.
Scott
On the lengths of the bars, I don't know if the 1500 lb bars are shorter or longer than the 800 & 1200 lb ones and if yes, by how much. One thing I discovered is that the distance Reese specifies from the coupler to the cam arm bracket of 19-3/8" was too short for the 800 lb bars and didn't leave any space to adjust the cam arm as you can see in this photo. I ended up having to drill new holes for the bracket's bolts farther away from the coupler. It didn't take very long before I found the 800 lb bars were too under-sized though and upgraded to 1200. Didn't have to drill new holes after all, pffft... It might be a good idea to clamp the cam arm bracket on temporarily to check that there is an appropriate amount of threads on either side of the nuts to allow aligning the bar ends with the cams before drilling into the A-frame.
If going to 1500 lb bars, there is a possibility that the Reese forming bolts will loosen for tongue weights around 1200 lbs and up. You can try Reese's rivnuts but not sure how well they work in the long run and for higher TW. I welded nuts on a plate and pushed the plate inside the A-frame and then bolted through the A-frame tubing to the nuts inside the A-frame tubing. This is a very secure and reliable method and not that hard to do. There's one or two other methods as well. I can post some photos of what I did if interested.
Do you already have the cam arms/brackets? If not, there was a poor production run a few years ago and the brackets are curved on the bottom and don't lay flat against the underside of the A-frame tubing. I got new ones from Reese at no cost. For 1500 lb bars and the higher TW, you want to make sure it all aligns together well. I also made some spacers with a curved edge for the outside of the A-frame because the A-frame tubing and bracket have a slightly different radius.
IIRC, there's also a heavy duty snap-up bracket and/or additional bolts you can use to bolt these brackets to the A-frame for the higher rated 1500/1700 lb setups.
This is all assuming you'll be using the cam arms which I expect you would be?
