Forum Discussion
JJBIRISH
Dec 26, 2013Explorer
allen8106 wrote:
I had a 32 foot Jayco and when I picked it up at the dealer I had negotiated a new draw bar/hitch set up. They installed two sway bars. There is no such thing as a right and left. The one side , usually curb side, is installed normally, the driver side is just installed upside down. On longer heavier rigs it helps to have two.
Correct but technically incorrect… most are sold and come as right side and can be converted to be left side by removing the steel bar (front half) in installing it in the brake body upside down, then installing the whole thing upside down… you then can (should ) remove the adjusting bolt (counting the pre-adjusted number of turns) and reinstalling it at the bottom with the locking bolt at the top…
A left side is sold as a left side, already assembled this way and the only other difference is the sticker is installed to be right side up while on the left side…
The old friction sway bars have been used with great success in the thousands and for many years…
Trailer stability is a function of balance… that balance is easily achieved during set-up, but is impossible to maintain in motion and easily upset going down the road, like on a downhill with a turn requiring braking… under the right conditions ANY trailer can go into a sway condition and sometimes a violently uncontrollable sway… these are the times the sway controls can make a big and lifesaving difference…
These things become violent because it happens so quickly and unexpectedly… even more unexpected on a well behaved trailer…
uzikaduzi wrote:Huntindog wrote:uzikaduzi wrote:
i'm not sure on the correct wording to use to describe the type of sway control that is separate from a WDH and i likely used the wrong words to descibe why i personally view something like a DC to be a better way to control sway. i agree the dc is always under friction. when the bar is riding higher on the cam when the TV and the TT are articulating it is increasing friction being applied by increasing wieght to the bars and the friction decreases when the TT is becoming centered. it isn't forcing the TT to center but it is encouraging the tt to center while discouraging movement away from center, with the other type there is just friction hindering movement in any direction like a shock. i am no engineer and i may not understand the differences between the two enough to say one is difinitively superior to the other, but i can't think of a senerio where the design of something like a dc would be less desireable to the add-on friction bar type. i'm not saying that to imply there isn't one, just that i can't invision one.
while I am no engineer either I believe you are absolutely correct…
it is true the DC is a friction hitch, but by design it will try to hold the 2 units straight, and even provide the tendency to straighten the 2 units from the articulated position… they do that because in a turn the friction is applied differently on both side and the weight distribution spring tension is also applied differently to the two sides… this is why the cam angles are different (much steeper) on the front… in a right turn the left bar has more spring tension and is riding on the steeper front cam angle causing the hitch to want to pull back straight to some degree… like you this seems to take the use of friction to a different level to me…
that is why when I needed a new hitch I bought the DC even though I had great success with the tried and true friction bars…
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