Dealer gave me wrong equal-I-zer size?

[shades9323]

So I picked up a 2015 Jayco X23b hybrid today and the dealer installed the equalizer with the 600/6000 head/bars. Loaded trailer weight is 5000 max. I’ve read online people exceeding 600lbs on the tongue. 600lbs is 12%. Am I safe with the 600/6000 or should I go back and ask for the 1000/10000 set up?

[drsteve]

shades9323 wrote:

Fordlover wrote:
Anecdotal, but for what it's worth, I towed a 21 footer with ~650 lbs of tongue weight on my 600/6000 Equalizer hitch for 11 years, about 15K towing miles. Never an ounce of sway, nor any visible damage to the hitch.

Did it transfer enough weight back to the front axle?

600 lb bars would need to be under significant tension to transfer their rated load to offset 650 lb of tongue weight. Most people go with a bar that is a little heavier. My TT has about 850-900 lb of tongue weight, I use bars rated for 800-1200 lb.

[BarneyS]

shades9323 wrote:

Fordlover wrote:
Anecdotal, but for what it's worth, I towed a 21 footer with ~650 lbs of tongue weight on my 600/6000 Equalizer hitch for 11 years, about 15K towing miles. Never an ounce of sway, nor any visible damage to the hitch.

Did it transfer enough weight back to the front axle?

Assuming he was talking about the genuine Equal-i-zer brand hitch, it has never had a problem with transferring weight to the front axle. If anything, the problem has been with the bars being too stiff because they are heavy, square, and not tapered.
Barney

[shades9323]

Fordlover wrote:
Anecdotal, but for what it's worth, I towed a 21 footer with ~650 lbs of tongue weight on my 600/6000 Equalizer hitch for 11 years, about 15K towing miles. Never an ounce of sway, nor any visible damage to the hitch.

Did it transfer enough weight back to the front axle?

[Fordlover]

Anecdotal, but for what it's worth, I towed a 21 footer with ~650 lbs of tongue weight on my 600/6000 Equalizer hitch for 11 years, about 15K towing miles. Never an ounce of sway, nor any visible damage to the hitch.

[shades9323]

dodge guy wrote:

shades9323 wrote:

aftermath wrote:
Has anyone suggested that he actually weighs his set up to see what the actual tongue weight is? I towed a 21ft Starcraft hybrid and had two propane tanks and two batteries on the tongue. The folks at Equalizer suggested the 1000 lb bars. This set up worked well for me.
The OP has a posted TW of something like 400pounds. I am guessing that if he loads on the propane and batteries it will be at least double that.

If you are not sure, simply hook up the rig with the hitch they gave you. If you can get it straight and level and return the weight to the front wheels WITHOUT cranking the hitch down to the max, they you should be good to go.

Pretty simply solution, unless I missed something. The design of the trailer itself is another matter. IF the dealer is going to reattach the safety chains so it will all work then do that.

I took it to the dealer last Saturday to have them move the chains. On the way back I decided to stop at the cat scales. I had thrown 110lbs worth of stuff near the door (in front of axles). I doubt we hit cc as we don’t carry water or a generator or anything. Not a ton of storage up front either. Scaled at 540 lbs on the tongue.

Yep, this is what most of us have been saying all along. Sure you could have 800 or 900lbs of TW but it wouldn’t be properly loaded then.
Glad your finally getting the answers you need.

After doing more reading this morning, I think I may have done the weighing wrong based on another website I was looking at. Will head to the scales on Sunday in ready to camp fashion to get the correct weights. I only weight TV and TV/TT attached via WDH.

[dodge_guy]

shades9323 wrote:

aftermath wrote:
Has anyone suggested that he actually weighs his set up to see what the actual tongue weight is? I towed a 21ft Starcraft hybrid and had two propane tanks and two batteries on the tongue. The folks at Equalizer suggested the 1000 lb bars. This set up worked well for me.
The OP has a posted TW of something like 400pounds. I am guessing that if he loads on the propane and batteries it will be at least double that.

If you are not sure, simply hook up the rig with the hitch they gave you. If you can get it straight and level and return the weight to the front wheels WITHOUT cranking the hitch down to the max, they you should be good to go.

Pretty simply solution, unless I missed something. The design of the trailer itself is another matter. IF the dealer is going to reattach the safety chains so it will all work then do that.

I took it to the dealer last Saturday to have them move the chains. On the way back I decided to stop at the cat scales. I had thrown 110lbs worth of stuff near the door (in front of axles). I doubt we hit cc as we don’t carry water or a generator or anything. Not a ton of storage up front either. Scaled at 540 lbs on the tongue.

Yep, this is what most of us have been saying all along. Sure you could have 800 or 900lbs of TW but it wouldn’t be properly loaded then.
Glad your finally getting the answers you need.

[shades9323]

aftermath wrote:
Has anyone suggested that he actually weighs his set up to see what the actual tongue weight is? I towed a 21ft Starcraft hybrid and had two propane tanks and two batteries on the tongue. The folks at Equalizer suggested the 1000 lb bars. This set up worked well for me.
The OP has a posted TW of something like 400pounds. I am guessing that if he loads on the propane and batteries it will be at least double that.

If you are not sure, simply hook up the rig with the hitch they gave you. If you can get it straight and level and return the weight to the front wheels WITHOUT cranking the hitch down to the max, they you should be good to go.

Pretty simply solution, unless I missed something. The design of the trailer itself is another matter. IF the dealer is going to reattach the safety chains so it will all work then do that.

I took it to the dealer last Saturday to have them move the chains. On the way back I decided to stop at the cat scales. I had thrown 110lbs worth of stuff near the door (in front of axles). I doubt we hit cc as we don’t carry water or a generator or anything. Not a ton of storage up front either. Scaled at 540 lbs on the tongue.

[aftermath]

Has anyone suggested that he actually weighs his set up to see what the actual tongue weight is? I towed a 21ft Starcraft hybrid and had two propane tanks and two batteries on the tongue. The folks at Equalizer suggested the 1000 lb bars. This set up worked well for me.
The OP has a posted TW of something like 400pounds. I am guessing that if he loads on the propane and batteries it will be at least double that.

If you are not sure, simply hook up the rig with the hitch they gave you. If you can get it straight and level and return the weight to the front wheels WITHOUT cranking the hitch down to the max, they you should be good to go.

Pretty simply solution, unless I missed something. The design of the trailer itself is another matter. IF the dealer is going to reattach the safety chains so it will all work then do that.

[myredracer]

TurnThePage wrote:
I believe whoever fabricated the trailer frame blew it.

Umm, like say L*ppert?? But they are such a reputable company. Their website proudly declares: Our teams a committed to supplying premium quality RV components from design to delivery. :R

And yes, the website says "a" when it should be "are". Can't even get simple english right... Sad!

[Kavoom]

ScottG wrote:
I agree with keeping the present bars. They are the right choice for your low tongue weight and using bars that are way over rated have their down side as well.

They weigh a ton.

[TurnThePage]

Lynnmor wrote:
I think that the hitch design is poor. To have material protruding out towards the trailer frame is just lack of understanding your product. The OP saw the problem early on, but how many are out there with this thing just waiting to cause a failure?

This is going back and forth about the correct bars, but I hope that the strength of the toungue and frame is being considered before using bars that are extremely heavy.

As far as frame paint goes, a good coat of Rustoleum would be a great improvement by covering that Easter egg dye that the factory uses.

Hmmm... You say that the hitch design is inferior like they're new to the game. My Equal-I-zer has plenty of clearance. I believe whoever fabricated the trailer frame blew it.

[shades9323]

myredracer wrote:
I wonder if a ball with a 1" rise would help or solve the clearance issue? Also get the trailer slightly nose down when hooked up, if it isn't now will also help. Has the hybrid TT been to a scale to get TW & GVW?

On the bar rating, can the correct amount of wt. get restored onto the steer axle without having to use gorilla-level force on the bars with the 600 lb rating? Looks to me from the Equal-i-zer website that they recommend a 1,000/10,000 WDH for that particular TT. As above, I would contact the manufacturer, esp. since it seems like a 50/50 split in recommendation between 600 & 1,000 lbs.

Does not appear to be a BAL frame in the imgur photos because it doesn't have an under-mount coupler. If there's no BAL sticker on the frame, it's easy to tell by all the huck bolts (rivets). But the Jayco website seems to show a BAL frame in some photos and not in others. I think they've changed frame manufacturers over recent years tho?

We have a Reese DC WDH, different animal but ordered spring bars (600 lb) that were too small before we owned the TT (6800 lb GVWR). Could not get enough wt. onto the steer axle and bars were bent like bananas. The tail of the TT bounced like crazy. Upgraded to 1,000 lb bars and solved the problems. Need to be careful with some TTs and using too heavy a rating of the bars otherwise can cause damage.

How would a 1" rise ball get the trailer more nose down? It hasn't been to the scales yet. I just brought it home 3 days ago and it has to go back tomorrow to move the chains. And I am waiting for my new retractable cover and bike rack kit to come in.

I didn't see a BAL sticker, but there was a Jayco sticker that listed a norco part #.

What kind of damage could happen with too heavy of bars? The range on the 1000/10000 looks to be 700-1000lbs so at the min setting it would be slightly to heavy, no? In actuality, I will definitely exceed the 600. 365 dry + 43 batt + 76 lp + 30 tongue jack + 30 for spare tire/assemble and brackets for equalizer = 544 before I have even loaded anything into the camper.

[Lynnmor]

I think that the hitch design is poor. To have material protruding out towards the trailer frame is just lack of understanding your product. The OP saw the problem early on, but how many are out there with this thing just waiting to cause a failure?

This is going back and forth about the correct bars, but I hope that the strength of the toungue and frame is being considered before using bars that are extremely heavy.

As far as frame paint goes, a good coat of Rustoleum would be a great improvement by covering that Easter egg dye that the factory uses.

[mkirsch]

dodge guy wrote:

mkirsch wrote:
You're having way too many issues and this is becoming way too complicated.

Get a different hitch and be done with it.

Seeing the issue now, it’s not the hitch, it’s the trailer!

It's easier and less expensive to swap out the hitch than it is to swap out the trailer.

Besides, that still doesn't address his original issue, which was the 600lb bars. Since he needs most of the hitch to address that (new head, new bars), it would be a good opportunity to switch to a different design.

They're going to relocate the safety chains, but I personally don't like disturbing factory paint. All they're going to do is spritz it with some cheap Rustoleum after they're done grinding and welding, and those will be the first places to RUST.

[myredracer]

I wonder if a ball with a 1" rise would help or solve the clearance issue? Also get the trailer slightly nose down when hooked up, if it isn't now will also help. Has the hybrid TT been to a scale to get TW & GVW?

On the bar rating, can the correct amount of wt. get restored onto the steer axle without having to use gorilla-level force on the bars with the 600 lb rating? Looks to me from the Equal-i-zer website that they recommend a 1,000/10,000 WDH for that particular TT. As above, I would contact the manufacturer, esp. since it seems like a 50/50 split in recommendation between 600 & 1,000 lbs.

Does not appear to be a BAL frame in the imgur photos because it doesn't have an under-mount coupler. If there's no BAL sticker on the frame, it's easy to tell by all the huck bolts (rivets). But the Jayco website seems to show a BAL frame in some photos and not in others. I think they've changed frame manufacturers over recent years tho?

We have a Reese DC WDH, different animal but ordered spring bars (600 lb) that were too small before we owned the TT (6800 lb GVWR). Could not get enough wt. onto the steer axle and bars were bent like bananas. The tail of the TT bounced like crazy. Upgraded to 1,000 lb bars and solved the problems. Need to be careful with some TTs and using too heavy a rating of the bars otherwise can cause damage.