Boondock towing

[Minnie80525]

We tow a 20' camper using a Fastway e2 WD/anti-sway hitch. I've had so much trouble with it in tight turns on steep terrain that I'm looking for a better solution.

Because this isn't a long or heavy trailer, I am considering the Anderson, but I'm open to any good solution that doesn't cause trouble in sketchy maneuvers.

Any thoughts from all you boondockers?

[opnspaces]

Minnie80525 wrote:

wanderingaimlessly wrote:
Do you need the anti sway/wd bars for back roads towing? Why not take them off?

I could do that, sure. It's a pain, though, not only having to stop and jack-up the hitch, but also to stow the greasy bars. Every obvious option is already occupied.

The Fastway is very similar to the Equal-i-zer and I can understand the reluctance to stopping and removing the bars. You would have to use the tongue jack to unload the bars to allow you to swing them away from the L brackets.

As far as the greasy bars, there should be no grease on them. The grease is on the outside of the knuckle that the bars slip into, not inside the square socket. If you greased the inside of the sockets I would remove them and soak them in a solvent like mineral spirits and clean all the grease out. Then clean all the grease off the bars themselves.
When you reassemble you only grease the outside of the socket. Also never grease the L brackets.

Click For Full-Size Image.

[agesilaus]

I have an e2 and I can get the bars off in a minute or so so it isn't quite the major task it's made out to be. I have my hitch/unhitch stuff all more or less together tho.
I shove the 6X6 block under the tongue jack, jack it up. My electric jack isn't terribly slow., Pop the bars off, throw them in back of the truck. Run the jack off, throw the block in back of the truck and that's it.

If your using one of those conical plastic doohickeys to go under the jack, we gave up on that thing after a week or two.

[wopachop]

Oh bummer. If you drive offroad 99% of the time youre camping it might be worth buying a different brand. Sell the e2.

Equalizer is real nice. I can loosen my spring bars in 30 seconds. Leave it like that the whole camping trip. Then put the bars back under tension before hitting pavement.
Towing with a truck so my wood pieces for the jack are right there. I could see how it would be a pain for the OP.

If hitting steep inclines in would loosen the bars on the e2 and dont open them fully. Watch your mirrors to make sure they dont fall out.

[Minnie80525]

wopachop wrote:
Are you sure removing the spring bars and storing them away is necessary?

Yep; if they swing too far toward the vehicle, they are automatically released from their sockets. Oops! :0)
Actually, that's a nice feature that lets you avoid fiddling with the little spring-tab release for bar. Instead, just swing the bar toward the TV and it drops right out.
But it means you can't just drive with the spring-bars loose in the hitch.

[wopachop]

Are you sure removing the spring bars and storing them away is necessary?

[Minnie80525]

Thanks all for the discussion. I'm reconsidering my options.

I really do *not* like having to disable the WD/SC. Yes, it's 'easy', but it's more time consuming than has been acknowledged:
1. Divert to where you can do the task away from traffic.
2. From storage, retrieve the "booster post" for the tongue jack and center it under the jack.
3. Use the wonderful-but-slow electric jack to lift the hitch sufficiently.
4. Pop the bars and stow them.
5. Retract the jack.
6. Stow the booster post.
7. Clean your hands before returning to the driver's seat (I always forget gloves, d'oh!).
8. Exit the work area and return to your intended path.

And when it comes time, you do it all again to re-install the bars.

Now, I ain't in such a big hurry you understand, but those bits of time start to add up. A full cycle of disabling the WD/SC and later re-enabling it takes at least 10 minutes; way longer if Step One isn't easy. I tell ya, if I have to do that more than once or twice a day, as seems likely, I'm gonna start hatin' on that hitch! 😉

And the need to disable your WD/SC can arise quickly. Somewhere on some road, you either:
A) decide to disable it because you think at some point ahead it'll get hairy, and just do it in a convenient place (at the risk of wasting your time if it turns out the disabling was unnecessary); OR
B) forge on hoping you *won't* have to do it (and risk winding up doing it in a difficult or dangerous situation, or not doing it and causing trouble at the hitch).

I resent having to closely monitor the terrain--worse yet, predict it--to please a finicky hitch. I'd rather just enjoy the day.

@SteveAE: Thanks for introducing me to the Hensley hitch. I expect they're rather spendy; when they send you to a dealer to get pricing, it's like "if you have to ask, you can't afford it." And hooking it up looks very weird, maybe it's just different. But I definitely like the proposition of not having to dink around with the hitch whenever the going gets rough.

The problem with the e2 is that the brackets holding the spring-bar cradle arms slip against the frame in "extreme" situations. "Extreme" for instance, is reversing course by backing around a fork in a narrow road; one fork heads down, the other up, tilting the TV and trailer in opposite directions while maximally articulated. And believe me, they are torqued just shy of crushing the A-frame.

Finally: Just to be clear, I'm farm-raised and I read the manual: I know what to grease (and when) and what not to grease. Also, my TV is an overstuffed SUV, but welding a chunk of pipe on the side of the A-frame was a great idea for stowing the out-of-service spring-arms! I'll definitely do that if I decide to suck up my whining and do the disable/enable shuffle with my e2.

[profdant139]

wopachop, that is an interesting point about steep angles. We often encounter "water bars," which are a cross between a speed bump and a ditch. A water bar angles across the roadway at a diagonal, in order to avoid erosion as the water flows down the roadway.

Those obstacles often cause my truck and my trailer to take very different fore and aft "pitch" angles, as the wheels slowly cross the vertical plane of the water bar. Lots of stress on the running gear -- much steeper than the worst gas station.

So if crazy angles are bad for a WDH, maybe it is a good idea to take steps to protect the hardware when towing on rough forest roads?? (Again, bear in mind that I know nothing about WDHs, so my comments may reflect my ignorance!)

[wopachop]

Looking closer at the FAstway e2 its very similar to my equalizer hitch. The back 8 inches of the bar does get greasy, if you grease it. For that style of WDH its really easy to jack the trailer up until the bars get loose. Remove the pin and slide both arms open. On my equalizer there is enough resistance that the arms do not move around during travel. Wouldnt want to dent your bumper. I sometimes open up my arms when i get into the neighborhood. Series of tight 90 degree turns. You can really hear the WDH moving around. Pretty sure my brand recommend you remove the arms for tight turns and anytime there is a steep change of angle. Like offroading over whoops. Even some gas station driveways can have a sharp angle.

If you have the style of WDH that uses chains you could always set it very very loose.

[valhalla360]

SteveAE wrote:
All,
I can not comment about other hitch types, but I have confirmed with Hensley that there is no need to reduce bar tension in rough conditions.
It can be reduced or left as tight as when on paved roads and there will be no damage either way. Best wishes to the OP in finding the correct answer to his question.

In principal, most WDH "should" be fine.

But I see no good reason to abuse them in a situation where they aren't serving a purpose.

[SteveAE]

All,
I can not comment about other hitch types, but I have confirmed with Hensley that there is no need to reduce bar tension in rough conditions.
It can be reduced or left as tight as when on paved roads and there will be no damage either way. Best wishes to the OP in finding the correct answer to his question.

[valhalla360]

agesilaus wrote:

Something like this mounted to the a-frame should do the trick:

I have my doubts about that, the fastaway bars, at least on our hitch are rectangular and heavy. Maybe 8 or 10 pounds. Your welding shop idea is workable but I don't get the problem with dropping them in the bed of the truck. If his are coated with grease then he is doing something wrong. Fastaway recommend lube only at the contact points. The ends of the bar. Carry a rag or two and wipe it off.

Fastaway e2

I don't get why they are greasy and can't be tossed in the truck bed but since the OP was insistent he had no space, some sort of rack would work.

If they are too big or heavy, a welding shop adding some upright pipes in a similar configuration would work. It would also be a convenient storage place while the trailer is parked.

[profdant139]

That's a big hitch!! 😉

Maybe try posting it with this great app:

Photoposting app

I think it resizes the image. The app is so easy to use -- just select your image, and then copy the URL that pops up, and then paste the URL in your message.

[afidel]

To give an idea, here's what an Aussie offroad hitch looks like, LOTS of travel in their designs.

[profdant139]

Steve, with reference to ordinary friction sway bars, they greatly reduce the trailer coupler's freedom to twist on uneven surfaces. So that is why I remove the sway bar on rough forest roads -- to let the trailer move independently of the tow vehicle.

Often, in really bad conditions, the tow vehicle is tilting to the left while the trailer is tilting to the right -- that does not happen on pavement! So my goal is to let the trailer tilt as much as it wants to, thus minimizing torque on the whole hitch ball and coupler assembly.

I'm not sure if the same reasoning applies to a WDH -- I don't know enough about WDH systems to comment.

[SteveAE]

wopachop wrote:

SteveAE wrote:
So I would greatly appreciate it if someone could school me on where, when, and why you would want to do this? Then, perhaps after this education, I will become braver (or "more foolish") at dragging my trailer through even rougher terrain

Too much bendy on the metal bars. Leaving them attached is somewhat foolish if youre driving slow over rough terrain. Kinda depends. Think of a jeep with the sway bars attached.

or

Thanks for trying to explain it to me wopachop, but I don't know anything about jeeps with sway bars. Not trying to to argumentative, just wondering why 10 miles (likely much less) of occasional rough travel would be so much worse than the 1000's of miles (over dozens of hours) most of do on paved and gravel roads (with that structure constantly flexing at a much higher frequency) just getting to those 10 miles of rough travel....of course this assumes the tongue weight is within design load specifications for the bars and hitch. Furthermore, if I were to remove the effect of my hitch's sway bars, my trailer tongue (and truck rear end) would sag significantly, reducing ground clearance and increasing the likelihood of striking one (or both) on a very hard rock...ouch. I am not talking off road rock crawling as some of the mates in Australia do (I believe the OP was in the US???). Just dragging the trailer up (or down) a rutted, rocky, steep two track, across a ditch/creek, across slickrock, or over small logs, at low range 4x4 speeds. I will call Hensley tomorrow and ask them their opinion....and report back.