Steering wheel angle while towing

goducks10 wrote:
You need to have the bars parallel with the tongue. Lower the L brackets and make the necessary washer adjustments to set the trucks front. Also lube and torque the sockets on the WD head. I had a similar situation with my EQ exiting an off ramp once. As I turned right off the exit the steering wheel was cocked to the left to compensate for the turn. Next turn was left and now the wheel was cocked to the right. What was happening was the sockets were dry and not allowing the bars to return to the normal position.

By having the bars tilted up like you have you're not getting a full surface contact with the bar and the L bracket. You're only on the edge of the L bracket. I was told by EQ that one L bracket hole is equal to one washer. So if your setup is good then remove 2 washers when you lower the L brackets. Or one washer of you only drop the L bracket one hole.

I detect a little mix-up here. If you lower the L-brackets to square the friction contact surface parallel to the TT frame, add, not remove, about one washer, or so, per hole. This will maintain bar spring load tension, but likely result in less noise when the bars slide across the L-brackets during a turn, as explained in section Under or Over Adjustment (on the beginning of page 19, the owners manual pdf). It can get a little confusing sometimes...

I note that you mentioned earlier that the hitch is sometimes noisy. Equal-i-zer provides a jacket ($20.35 nylon sleeve) that delivers a quieter contact like petroleum lube, but is far less messy.

Your premium Equal-i-zer WD hitch is designed a bit different than the original "bent" round bar WD hitches, differing by mounting the Equal-i-zer bars in dry 90 degree cast steel sockets. This sharp angle design allows the bars to be very close to the trailer frame and affords greater ground clearance than bent bar types, which must leave room for a gradual curved spring section to insert them into the bottom of the hitch head. Both types give equal performance otherwise. The Equal-i-zer cast socket hinge assemblies are somewhat sealed, and lubed separately which helps contain the grease.

So comparing spacing pictures with the bent bar hitch of MitchF150 is not the same. Again, the hitches work exactly the same otherwise, and be aware that your hitch cost over twice as much as most bent bar hitches... but you do not have to put up with the removal of greasy bent bars during parking, nor reduced ground clearance during operation. Bent bars are greased directly on the bent spring end and are terribly messy to store. When I use them, I plastic-bag the grungy ends during camp storage, as well as bag the greasy hitch ball that both types share.

I note that the pdf owners manual states that the front truck axle may be left slightly higher than the truck level before hitching. There have been widely ranging recommendations that the front be forced lower, and equal to the rear axle drop, all the way to this pdf recommendation that it is ok the allow the front to rise slightly during loading. My own preference is to attempt to keep the front axle level where it was when unloaded and allow the rear axle to sag where it may within reason (it may need spring help). This is also generally the latest overall "general set-up" view and does allow for sufficient steering traction as well as keeping normal front wheel alignment intact under towing conditions.

Off-hand, I would say you already have a very good idea of what you are doing.

The slight observed off-center steering is a very peculiar predicament, though as you say, not critical. My curiousity is not unlike yours, whatever causes it.

Wes
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