Bent sway control on EAZ Lift hitch

[GravelRider]

Last night I mounted a Camco EAZ Lift WD hitch with sway control to my trailer. Instructions were pretty terrible, but installation seemed to be fairly straightforward, fortunately. I got the WDH installed and setup first, took it for a drive and was happy with the results. I then mounted the sway control. When I pulled out of my driveway, there was some creaking noise, but nothing too loud, then I went around another turn in my street and there was even louder creaking. I stopped and checked out the new sway control and found this:

Moderator edit to re-size picture to forum recommended limit of 640px maximum width.

You can't tell in the pictures, but both the main body and the slide bar are bent.

I didn't back up at all with the hitch. I made two turns, one right, one left, neither of which was overly sharp, and certainly what one would encounter in a normal day's drive. After this bent, I read, re-read, measured, and re-measured, and watched YouTube videos, and I'm confident everything was installed correctly.

One thing I noticed when I put it on was that with the on/off handle turned all the way clockwise until threads bottomed out (as instructions say to do), there was absolutely no movement. I wasn't too concerned, because if I was able to move it by hand, how would it provide good sway control? But, what I believe happened is that when I turned, the slide bar did not slide in the main body, and instead bent, as shown in the pictures.

Obviously I'm going to reach out to the manufacturer today. But in the meantime, has this happened to anyone else? Any tips/advice? I'm assuming this was just a manufacturing defect on this one.

[Lynnmor]

Harbor Freight has them cheap, they look the same as all the other Chinese units. Yes, cut the V shaped thing off.

[Lwiddis]

I agree...too tight.

[BarneyS]

I agree with the post above. You need to cut off the V shaped rod welded to the side of the A frame. When you turn left, the sway control body will swing right next to the trailers A frame. I bet if you look at the side of the sway control you will find a witness mark where it made contact and bent the bar.

As far as tightening down the handle all the way, the factory sets the "clamping power" for the average trailer. The purpose in tightening the large upper handle all the way is so you can be consistent in the amount of tension on the bar once you find the measurement that works right for you. The adjustment for this is the small bolt below the handle, which should be turned in 1/4 turn adjustments, as a little goes a long way.

I would bite the bullet, cut off the offending item on the A frame (probably a chain attachment point), and purchase a new sway control. No need to spend a lot of money on one as they are all about the same in both construction and how they work.
By the way, I ran that exact same system and brand for many years but with 1000lb bars. It always performed great.
Barney

[rdhetrick]

It looks like it hit the small round bar that's welded on to the frame when you turned left.

Need to cut that piece off.

[mleekamp]

My initial reaction, after being confident you've installed it correctly (pics seem to show that), is you might have tightened the handle/screw TOO TIGHT. Yes, they will creak and groan, but it appears to me it was so tight that it "froze up" and therefore broke itself.

Good news, IMHO, is the sway control is "cheap" to buy again. No need to re-install the frame mounted or hitch mounted ball joints.