Reese Dual Cam Head Replacement
Has anyone had luck with replacement of a faulty hitch head by Reese? I called Reese today regarding the upper lip of the trunnion socket on the drivers side bending on a 45 degree bend toward the tr...
Forum Discussion
A few points.
You have a 12K Reese and want to upgrade, and think that EQUALIZER doesn't have anything bigger...They do. A 14K. I have one.
And as far as the bars having to distribute what is in the bed...
Not exactly. This was a selling point years ago when full sized cars were the main TVs used. Many had HUGE trunks and it was most/all behind the rear axle. Autos of this era also had pretty soft suspensions.
So this thinking made sense then.
Now the main TVs are pickups. Some of which can have payloads in the 6K range... It s impossible for any WD system to distribute his much weight..
And that's OK as it is not needed. First, pickup trucks are designed to be loaded heavy in the rear. Transferring that much would most always overload the front axle. Second, the area of the bed that is behind the rear axle is a small percentage of the overall bed capacity.
And lastly, the OP does have EQUALIZER experience, and the DC is a 100% friction based design. It just has less friction returning to center than moving away...
This is either good or bad. Depending on ones perspective.
The EQUALIZER has been calculated to have a potential of 2200#s of sway resistance. The DC about 2000#s.
This is the amount of force needed to force the TT out of the centerline position.
So the EQUALIZER is actually slightly more capable in the first segment of a sway event.
The second segment is when the TT reverses direction and swings the other way. During this segment the DC applies less resistance.
How much is debatable, but many seem to thing that is considerable (hence the self centering thinking). The EQ is widely thought to apply the same amount of resistance in this segment. (I think it is somewhat less, but not as much less as the DC)
The second segment of a sway event continues on past the centerline if the momentum of the TT is able to overcome the resistance being applied by the sway control. This momentum will be greater with the DC than it will with the EQ due to the lower resistance of it when returning to center.
These sway event forces are present whether a sway control is used or not.. Witness all the trailers one sees swaying back and forth on the highway..
In a lashup where sway control is not used, the number of segments continues until either the tower is lucky and it settles down as he slows, or a jackknife occurs or TT brakes are able to stop it.
So if you look at exactly how each design works it is not hard to see why both designs have a strong following.
And why the DC is widely thought to be more finicky on setup. The strongest potential Sway resistance of this design is before the sway event gets started. Once started it's effectiveness drops off.
The EQ has a benefit of slightly more potential sway resistance, and if that resistance is overcome, then it has more resistance during the second segment. So a slight misadjustment is not as critical in this design..
One final thought.. If a sideways wind gust is strong enough, both of these systems will allow the TT to move away from center.
If both are at their max potential, the EQ will need a slightly stronger wind gust, but it can happen. How these hitches behave AFTER a sway event starts is the main difference.
You have a 12K Reese and want to upgrade, and think that EQUALIZER doesn't have anything bigger...They do. A 14K. I have one.
And as far as the bars having to distribute what is in the bed...
Not exactly. This was a selling point years ago when full sized cars were the main TVs used. Many had HUGE trunks and it was most/all behind the rear axle. Autos of this era also had pretty soft suspensions.
So this thinking made sense then.
Now the main TVs are pickups. Some of which can have payloads in the 6K range... It s impossible for any WD system to distribute his much weight..
And that's OK as it is not needed. First, pickup trucks are designed to be loaded heavy in the rear. Transferring that much would most always overload the front axle. Second, the area of the bed that is behind the rear axle is a small percentage of the overall bed capacity.
And lastly, the OP does have EQUALIZER experience, and the DC is a 100% friction based design. It just has less friction returning to center than moving away...
This is either good or bad. Depending on ones perspective.
The EQUALIZER has been calculated to have a potential of 2200#s of sway resistance. The DC about 2000#s.
This is the amount of force needed to force the TT out of the centerline position.
So the EQUALIZER is actually slightly more capable in the first segment of a sway event.
The second segment is when the TT reverses direction and swings the other way. During this segment the DC applies less resistance.
How much is debatable, but many seem to thing that is considerable (hence the self centering thinking). The EQ is widely thought to apply the same amount of resistance in this segment. (I think it is somewhat less, but not as much less as the DC)
The second segment of a sway event continues on past the centerline if the momentum of the TT is able to overcome the resistance being applied by the sway control. This momentum will be greater with the DC than it will with the EQ due to the lower resistance of it when returning to center.
These sway event forces are present whether a sway control is used or not.. Witness all the trailers one sees swaying back and forth on the highway..
In a lashup where sway control is not used, the number of segments continues until either the tower is lucky and it settles down as he slows, or a jackknife occurs or TT brakes are able to stop it.
So if you look at exactly how each design works it is not hard to see why both designs have a strong following.
And why the DC is widely thought to be more finicky on setup. The strongest potential Sway resistance of this design is before the sway event gets started. Once started it's effectiveness drops off.
The EQ has a benefit of slightly more potential sway resistance, and if that resistance is overcome, then it has more resistance during the second segment. So a slight misadjustment is not as critical in this design..
One final thought.. If a sideways wind gust is strong enough, both of these systems will allow the TT to move away from center.
If both are at their max potential, the EQ will need a slightly stronger wind gust, but it can happen. How these hitches behave AFTER a sway event starts is the main difference.
