Help on re-adjusting Equal-i-zer WD hitch

[vlopddap]

Hi, I recently purchase a used Sportsmen 16 feet trailer and the former owner let me his Equal-i-zer brand weight distribution hitch. It's the 600 TW / 6K GVWR model. The former owner use it to tow the TT on a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan and I use it myself on a 2014 Dodge Grand Caravan so the adjustment are supposed to be identical. But the former owner told me than maybe the WD hitch may requiert a re-adjustment because the rear of his 2008 Caravan still sag more than front. But he didn't take care of re-adjustment yet because I decided to sold the trailer!

That's actually true, the rear on my van sag 50% more than front (and from increase a little bit) with the WD hitch install. That's surprising because the TW capacity of the Grand Caravan is 360 pounds without WD hitch (460 pounds with WD hitch) and my TT only weight 300 pounds tongue? I also feel like the rear end bounce a little too much when I roll over bumps on the road what make me thing the WD hitch doesn't make it job completely.

Unfortunately the former owner loose instruction manual and spare hardware coming with the Equal-i-zer hitch but I download the owner manual on manufacturer website but I'm still not sure how to re-adjust the WD hitch to transfer more load on front of the towing vehicle.

First of all I want to share some facts about the setup with you. First of all the Sportsmen is a very low profile TT and the ground clearance is VERY low. Secondly, the trailer hitch on the Grand Caravan is VERY low ground clearance too (in a sense it's a perfect match with the travel trailer... LOL), but for your info the former owner need to cut the Equal-i-zer shank from around 2 inch because the shank rub on pavement sometime! But it's not an issue because the ball height is actually good so no mater if the shank is cut, I don't need to move the ball height.

In the instruction manual of the Equal-i-zer hitch, in the troubleshooting section, when the weight transfert is not enough, they told do do two things :

1- Add more spacer washer until you reach maximum washer count. I just give a look and I saw 6 washers. Is that the maximum?? I don't know yet because it's not specified in the manual and I don't have any spares parts, so I can't know... but depending if 6 is the maximum or not, I'll find washer in any hardware store. But I just don't know how much washer is the maximum before STEP-2 (above).

2- Raise the L-Brakets from 1 hole adjustment on the trailer frame where the sway bars sit. I think I can do it because I'm not on the maximum height, but I'm afraid than this can be too much weight transfert thereafter? Should I need to remove some spare washer if I raise the L-Brakets height? I'm just confused at this point.

Your help will appreciate, thank you! I hope my english is not too poor and my explanations make sense! 🙂

Thx!!

[GeoBoy]

It looks like your bars are parallel, so I would go ahead and add another washer to the head. That should put you where you need to be. Then go out for a drive and see how it feels.
Good luck

[Ron3rd]

As long as the bars are riding on the flat part of the L-Bracket, you should be good to go. What you don't want is the bars riding on an edge of the L-Bracket as this will reduce the friction control.

[NorfolkCounty]

Agreed, it was perspective. Bars look good and parallel to trailer tongue/A frame in this photo.

[Fastfwd75]

vlopddap wrote:
Well I did this test before, but I did not look at the front height, but I know that if I remove the bars, the rear sag almost flush to fenders! So the bars really do the trick I would say.

Definitely sounds good. Now you just have to confirm that you are not transferring too much to the front. Probably not but it's a quick measure and then you know for sure.

[vlopddap]

NorfolkCounty wrote:
I'm late to this thread, but it looks to me that your L brackets on the trailer tongue are low. Bars should be closer to parallel. That may be enough to shift more weight to the front axel.

I where pretty sure they are almost parallel, but now you are telling this, I'm not sure anymore. Maybe it's a matter of perspective? Here's a zoom in on the hitch...

But maybe I consider the bars are parallel with the A-Frame of the trailer, not really parallel to the towing vehicle in that case...

Moderator edit to re-size picture to forum limit ofr 640px maximum size.

[vlopddap]

Well I did this test before, but I did not look at the front height, but I know that if I remove the bars, the rear sag almost flush to fenders! So the bars really do the trick I would say.

I'm gonna try to measure it tonight if the weather clear out. I had to hurry because the place where I took the pictures is perfect for measuring and it's closed by monday and tuesdays nights, but tomorrow it gonna be opened by the night!! 🙂

[NorfolkCounty]

I'm late to this thread, but it looks to me that your L brackets on the trailer tongue are low. Bars should be closer to parallel. That may be enough to shift more weight to the front axel.

[Fastfwd75]

Those bars are there for safety. You have to forget about how it looks and follow the instructions.
It is fine that the front raises and the rear is lower.
The problem is that is the front raises MORE with the bars than without you are removing weight from the front and this will create problems with steering in emergency situations.
I don't think there is any way to lower the rear MORE with the bars than without but if you did it could cause problems with the payload carrying capacity of the rear axle.
Find a level ground; where you are now seems fine. Remove the bars but keep everything else and measure. Then put the bars on an measure again.
If you can still easily put on and remove the bars without raising the jack they are probably not doing much.
Front: In the manual's example front is 28" empty, 30" without WD and anything between 28-29" with WD is OK. Front still going up but not as much as without. This is how you know how much weight is transferred.

[vlopddap]

Here's the first try on readjusting my Equal-i-zer WD hitch. I add one more washer, but as I told my washer are slightly thicker than the factory washers, not twice thicker, but I would says 1.5x thicker. So the count is now 5 factory washers + 1 thicker washer.

IMO the rear end is still sag a little bit and front raise a little bit. But I don't know if I can adjust it better than that...

What is your opinion? Is this adjustment good enough or you would try an additional washer on the WD hitch shank?

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

[vlopddap]

Well I'm just back from a local industrial hardware store and they only have 1/8 inch thickness (factory washer are 1/16 inch thickness) in the Grade-8. So I'm gonna remove a 1/16 washer and put a 1/8 instead and if it's sill not enough I'm gonna put a 1/8 and a 1/16, etc. I'm gonna play with 1/8 and 1/16 washers until I found the right adjustment. But chance a 1/8 is the double thickness of a 1/16 so it's easy to calculate. Maximum washer is 8 x 1/16 or 4 x 1/8 then.

[GeoBoy]

Can you post a picture of your hitch set up? In particular the position of the bars and L brackets.

[killerdoberman]

From page 19 of the manual:

Under or Over Adjustment:
If the hitch is transferring too little or too much weight you must make
adjustments to the hitch setup. For changes during the initial setup we recommend
adding or removing spacer washers first to try and keep the spring
arms parallel with the trailer frame. In our experience, this can help reduce
the amount of noise the hitch makes during slow, tight turns. It also gives
you more adjustment options if needed later.
Once the maximum (8) or minimum (4) number of spacer washers has
been reached, further adjustments can be made by raising or lowering the Lbrackets.
Minor adjustments later for changes in loading can usually be done
by moving only the L-brackets.

[Ron3rd]

vlopddap wrote:
I finally give a better look on my Equal-i-zer yesterday and I only have 5 spacer washers installed for now. I'm gonna buy 3 more (industrial grade) and add one by one and recheck.

It looks like you understand the concept and are on the right track. The bars, when under tension should be impossible to move off the L brackets, so as you mentioned, they are too loose at present since you can move them easily. Adding more washers "might" be all you need to do at this point and if you can't get enough weight transferred to the front, you need to move the L Brackets up a hole and start over. As mentioned above, once you have everything set up to your liking, tighten the bolt underneath the hitch head otherwise the head can pivot and bend the large bolts holding the hitch head to the shank. It's a common that this bolt will loosen after every trip. If I recall, this bolt takes a 5/8" socket or box end wrench.

[vlopddap]

I finally give a better look on my Equal-i-zer yesterday and I only have 5 spacer washers installed for now. I'm gonna buy 3 more (industrial grade) and add one by one and recheck.