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?

[shades9323]

eHoefler wrote:
The bars are not rated for the tongue weight. They are rated for how much weight they can transfer. The bars are more than adequate. If you have a 750 pound tongue weight, the bars will transfer 600 pounds to the steer axle and trailer axles leaving 150 pounds on the ball. The bars are correct.

If I use the Equal-i-zer find your hitch size tool with the below inputs it tells me I need the 1000/10000 hitch.
https://www.equalizerhitch.com/find-your-hitch-size

Gross weight: 5000
Tongue Weight: 550
Cargo Weight: 200

[Kavoom]

I kind of had the same issue. I have a 450 lb hitch weight dry and was given a Fastway E2 with the 500 lb rating on the hitch. I noted that once I loaded it up, I'd likely be over that and asked if I could get the next one up. They guy said he thought the one they supplied would work but OK. I asked how much and he said 10 bucks. I was like, OK...

I'm thinking it could be a similar situation to the Equalizer in that the main difference was only in the bars? Irrespective, I'm set up for the next trailer unless we go fiver.

[eHoefler]

The bars are not rated for the tongue weight. They are rated for how much weight they can transfer. The bars are more than adequate. If you have a 750 pound tongue weight, the bars will transfer 600 pounds to the steer axle and trailer axles leaving 150 pounds on the ball. The bars are correct.

[dodge_guy]

Stick with the bars you have, anything more and they will be too stiff and could adversely affect handling if you encounter a dip in the road. they are good for 600lbs and that is the tongue weight you should have loaded for a trip (12% of the trailers loaded for a trip weight). No need for more than 600 lbs tongue weight on your trailer.

[SoundGuy]

shades9323 wrote:
Perhaps I will call around to a few Jayco dealers and see what they would install.

Since you're not convinced by the numbers I quoted that show you will clearly be towing with gross tongue weight in excess of 600 lbs and beyond the rated range of your Equal-i-zer's 600 lb spring bars why waste the time calling other Jayco dealers and confuse yourself even further when the simple solution is to call Progress Mfg and ask them? Alternately, you could always ask the dealer who sold you the Equal-i-zer to swap it out for a Fastway E2 (subsidiary of Progress Mfg) which is offered with 800 lbs spring bars, either trunnion or round bar style, your choice. :B

FWIW, I used the 10,000 / 1,000 lb Equal-i-zer for 6 yrs to tow my K-Z Spree 240BH-LX which averaged ~ 5500 lbs loaded & ready to camp with an average gross tongue weight of ~ 750 lbs and the ride certainly wasn't "stiff" as some of the pundits here claim. :R

[shades9323]

Ralph Cramden wrote:
600 lb bars is probably correct. You are better off using 80 to 100% of the bars spring rate than if you had 1000 lb bars and used 40 to 50%. The more spring rate used as a percentage with an Equalizer brand hitch, the more anti sway control it has by design as its based on the amount of friction at both the head and rail bracket, the more spring rate, the more friction. The 23B also has, or had, only a 3" tube for the A frame members, which might not be the best to use a heavier bar with.

Unfortunatly Equalizer does not have an 800 # bar option and you're at the border between the 600 and 1000#. By going to 1000# bars you might end up with one rough riding SOB by the time you dial in enough rate to make the sway control effective.

Not all dealers happen to be morons when it comes to setting up a WDH. Chances are the dealer, since he is a Jayco dealer and an Equalizer dealer, has set up more than one X23B before and knows a little more than us experts here on that specific application. Especially when taking into account the setup will be completely different from tow vehicle to tow vehicle with the same trailer.

The ultimate question would be "Did the hitch restore the front ride height of the tow vehicle when adjusted to Equalizers specs, and how does it tow and feel when loaded for use"? If all is good, why would you change?

Unfortunately, the dealer is not a Jayco dealer. Perhaps I will call around to a few Jayco dealers and see what they would install.

I have no idea yet if it restored the front ride height nor do I believe they install to equalizer specs. It seems like a quick and dirty install. TT was in the non level bay, backed the truck up with the hitch on, dropped the trailer on, took it off to adjust the bracket, then they were done. Trailer was slightly nose up on the empty tow home.

I also noticed on the hitch when I got home that some paint was scraped off on the left rear side of the hitch. Is it possible that the a frame is hitting the hitch head while making left turns or backing in? If so, any chance that could pop the tongue off the ball?

[jfkmk]

nohurry wrote:
....and I would bet equal-I-zer over-engineered a bit. .

Don't count on something being "overengineered". If there is a failure, and you are over what the bars are designed for, it's all on you. Besides, the lighter bars will be ineffective if overweight.

If you can't get an actual tongue weight, calculate it based on the gross weight of the trailer.

Lack of 800# bars is why I didn't buy this brand wdh. 600 was too light, 1000 too extreme.

[Ralph_Cramden]

600 lb bars is probably correct. You are better off using 80 to 100% of the bars spring rate than if you had 1000 lb bars and used 40 to 50%. The more spring rate used as a percentage with an Equalizer brand hitch, the more anti sway control it has by design as its based on the amount of friction at both the head and rail bracket, the more spring rate, the more friction. The 23B also has, or had, only a 3" tube for the A frame members, which might not be the best to use a heavier bar with.

Unfortunatly Equalizer does not have an 800 # bar option and you're at the border between the 600 and 1000#. By going to 1000# bars you might end up with one rough riding SOB by the time you dial in enough rate to make the sway control effective.

Not all dealers happen to be morons when it comes to setting up a WDH. Chances are the dealer, since he is a Jayco dealer and an Equalizer dealer, has set up more than one X23B before and knows a little more than us experts here on that specific application. Especially when taking into account the setup will be completely different from tow vehicle to tow vehicle with the same trailer.

The ultimate question would be "Did the hitch restore the front ride height of the tow vehicle when adjusted to Equalizers specs, and how does it tow and feel when loaded for use"? If all is good, why would you change?

[Lynnmor]

1000 bars would be too stiff in my opinion, keep what you have. Even if you loaded the trailer to absolute maximum, you would only have a few pounds less weight transfer than what might be ideal.

[2edgesword]

My thinking is the dealer is working on something shy of the maximum trailer weight as what you’ll be towing. If you’re at 4,500 lbs with a 12.5% tongue weight that’s 567.5 lbs. If you go to 1,000 lbs they may be way to stiff for the actual load.

[MitchF150]

I don't have the Equal-i-zer setup, but I did get the #1000 bar EAZ-Lift setup (bar and chain setup (and the hitch head is actually rated for #1400 TW and #14,000 trailer weight) when I bought my #5000 GVWR TT some 16 years ago..

Still using the same setup to this day and it works great!

I've got some #650 TW on my rig and I weigh every bit of that #5000 GVWR.

With the bar/chain setup, I can adjust the tension at will, so that might be the difference in the setups??

Pretty sure I'm not using all "#1000" capacity of those bars with the tension I put on them.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Mitch

[shades9323]

SoundGuy wrote:

nohurry wrote:
IMO, you’re fine. Jayco lists unloaded hitch weight at 365#. It’s a lightweight trailer, and I would bet equal-I-zer over-engineered a bit.

Disagree. The OP's 2015 X23B offers a mere 1045 lbs CCC even before anything including a battery is added to the trailer. With a GVWR of just 4950 lbs his challenge will be to keep the trailer's GVW, loaded & ready to camp, within that 4950 lb limit. At an average 13% gross tongue weight to gross trailer weight he could easily see this trailer's gross tongue weight average in the 650 lb to 700 lb range. To answer the OP's question - yeah, I'd move up to 1000 lb spring bars but that will require a new head as well.

I would hope the dealer would switch out the whole system, as they didn’t ask what I wanted. I’ll call them tomorrow.

[SoundGuy]

nohurry wrote:
IMO, you’re fine. Jayco lists unloaded hitch weight at 365#. It’s a lightweight trailer, and I would bet equal-I-zer over-engineered a bit.

Disagree. The OP's 2015 X23B offers a mere 1045 lbs CCC even before anything including a battery is added to the trailer. With a GVWR of just 4950 lbs his challenge will be to keep the trailer's GVW, loaded & ready to camp, within that 4950 lb limit. At an average 13% gross tongue weight to gross trailer weight he could easily see this trailer's gross tongue weight average in the 650 lb to 700 lb range. To answer the OP's question - yeah, I'd move up to 1000 lb spring bars but that will require a new head as well.

[nohurry]

IMO, you’re fine. Jayco lists unloaded hitch weight at 365#. It’s a lightweight trailer, and I would bet equal-I-zer over-engineered a bit. I think your dealer did good. Hook up, and have fun. They’re great hitches.

[shades9323]

SoundGuy wrote:

sgip2000 wrote:
The hitch head is the same for most kits.

Not for the Equal-i-zer ... if the OP moves up to 1000 lb spring bars he has to change the head as well.

Do you think I need to move up?