Don't overpay for a basic WD hitch

[BurbMan]

Well, it was only a matter of time, I see that Harbor Freight is now offering a 10k weight distributing hitch

Certainly nothing fancy about it but neither is the price....looks like it would do the job if you didn't need sway control. Anybody try one of these yet?

[BenK]

Back to Burbman’s original topic…an old style WD Hitch system now being sold for many times lower than present day designed WD Hitches.

That bent, round bar WD Hitch system was my first and at that time a rule of thumb was ‘even drop’ of the TV.

The dials & knobs and issues for them was :

#1…to have the bars parallel with the tongue after setting up and of course the bar’s rating a big component

#2…some had head tilting capabilities and same as today’s tilting heads…to point the bar ends lower before tensioning, which gave it more distance before getting to being parallel to the tongue.

#3…Bars falling off after the clip wears. I solved that with bungee cords wrapped around them during the trip and fix it when at home

#4…folks not greasing the zero on the bar end/head

They were simpler to setup

[noteven]

I am using a DSP WD hitch that belonged to my father. He bought it used when our family go to Jasper and the BC Okanagan holiday campin' rig was a 1965 Pontiac Laurentian station wagon, 283 2spd powerglide, pulling a canned ham style trailer, probably 16 or 17ft.

Anyways it was made in Edmonton, AB sometime in the 60's. It's done about 24,000 miles of towing in the last 5 years.

They still make them today.

[BenK]

goducks10 wrote:

Geo*Boy wrote:
More junk from China!

Based on what? With the amount of China junk purchased in America you'd think there'd be a total breakdown of our way of life.

The world has shrunk…and ‘we’ are in it together generally speaking without politics…

Have not found anyone locally that says “China/Japanese/etc junk’ has 100% of their stuff NOt made ‘over there’’

Especially clothing, watch, smart phone, electrons, vehicles, etc.

Especially sad to see one guy almost toss his Snap-On tools after pointing that out, but he decided where is pocketbook vs political opinion line was…

[goducks10]

Geo*Boy wrote:
More junk from China!

Based on what? With the amount of China junk purchased in America you'd think there'd be a total breakdown of our way of life.

[NamMedevac_70]

Geo*Boy wrote:
More junk from China!

It must be great to be a privileged person to say that and not be deleted by a


Sometimes us poor folks have to buy that

[Geo_Boy]

More junk from China!

[larry_cad]

I bought the Harbor Freight WDH when I got my 20' cargo trailer and have not had a problem yet. I hooks up easily and, well, it works. It's a big tandem axle trailer and I tow it with my 2001 Jeep GC with no problem.

I also bought the Curt ECHO brake controller and it works great.

I have not used the sway bars but have not needed them.

[NamMedevac_70]

I think it best to get a WDH with sway control bars should you ever need them. Sometimes I did not use my Equalizer sway bars as I was towing a light TT with a HD ram 2500 V10 with great stability and no sway from passing semi trucks. Always used them when towing with my two Ram 1500s. Equalizer WDH was not expensive at all and a great hitch for me.

[goducks10]

You can find those basic WDH's on Craigslist quite often for dirt cheap.

[Lynnmor]

Actually they had those for years, they appear to be the same as a popular brand and have the same quality. A friction sway control also has been offered for years.