Lost my Doohickey Bar, HELP!!

[southernkilowat]

Ok, so I towed down 3 hours to see family and go to a funeral and overnighted in my nieces back yard. Got myself in a hurry to unhook and set up and I am pretty sure I left the bar laying on the bumper of my truck and then drove away. :S
It is the pry bar Doohickey that you use to lift the sway bar up and onto the bracket that is mounted on the trailer frame. Its about two feet long I guess, and has a half loop on the end for the sway bar to sit in and a "finger" on the end of the bar that you put into the hole on the sway bar bracket. Once you have the sway bar sitting in the loop, and the finger sitting in the bracket you lift upwards and the sway bar "Pops" into place and you put the keeper pin in the hole in the bracket and do the other side.
Well I don't know what the stupid Doohickey Bar Thingy is called so I cant very well search for a replacement.
As I sit here typing this I realize that I don't need the Doohicky Bar Thingy to unhook, just to hook up, so I don't even know why I took it out of the storage bay to begin with. All I know is it AINT there and I need a new one.
I managed to put the sway bars on without it but almost broke myself in the process. HELP!

[Airstreamer67]

Since I don't have an electric jack, using a cheater bar is faster, better and cheaper for me.

[jerem0621]

My lift bar is useless for my chain hangers!

Snap over brackets didn't work for me...so had to go bolt on!



Trust me, no lift bar is needed if you crank the tongue Jack high enough 🙂

I am glad you got a new one though!

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[BarneyS]

trail-explorer wrote:
those are weight distribution torsion bars, not sway bars.

On the Equal-i-zer hitch, which we are talking about here, the bars serve both purposes.
Barney

[trail-explorer]

those are weight distribution torsion bars, not sway bars.

[TurnThePage]

Glad it worked out, but I'm with Ron3rd. I haven't used the doohickey bar in years. Of course I also switched to a power tongue jack to make that part easier.

[BarneyS]

southernkilowatt wrote:
Stopped by a HUGE camping center on 1-85 just north of Greenville SC (cant remember the name) and asked the guy for a new Doohickey bar and after explaining to him what it was he says "We don't sell them but I think I saw one in the back while I was cleaning up this morning" and so we went back and took a look. Found it on the bottom shelf. Gave him 10 bucks for his trouble and I am once again a happy camper!

SK

It was probably the one you lost! :W :B
Barney

[spud1957]

southernkilowatt wrote:
Stopped by a HUGE camping center on 1-85 just north of Greenville SC (cant remember the name) and asked the guy for a new Doohickey bar and after explaining to him what it was he says "We don't sell them but I think I saw one in the back while I was cleaning up this morning" and so we went back and took a look. Found it on the bottom shelf. Gave him 10 bucks for his trouble and I am once again a happy camper!

SK

Love those kind of places/people.

[southernkilowat]

Stopped by a HUGE camping center on 1-85 just north of Greenville SC (cant remember the name) and asked the guy for a new Doohickey bar and after explaining to him what it was he says "We don't sell them but I think I saw one in the back while I was cleaning up this morning" and so we went back and took a look. Found it on the bottom shelf. Gave him 10 bucks for his trouble and I am once again a happy camper!

SK

[Ron3rd]

southernkilowatt wrote:

Ron3rd wrote:

camp-n-family wrote:
You don't really need the "doohickey bar" (snap up lever). Hook it up, then jack the tongue up. You should be able to jack it enough to easily lift the bars onto the brackets by hand, then lower the tongue jack.

What hitch is it? I think this is what you want.

Good advice, latch the tongue onto the ball then raise the jack up and you should be able to snap the bracket up with a long screwdriver. No need to muscle the brackets up if you raise the tongue after latching the coupler. In fact,if you raise the tongue up enough, you can do it with your hand. That's how I would do it on my old EZ Lift WD hitch.

Thanks for the advice but mine wont quite make it. I hook up and raise the camper back up until the back of the truck has come up several inches and its still not quite high enough. It was all I could do to put them on by hand after I discovered I had lost the Doohickey bar. Maybe its not set up right, but I think it would be better too tight then too loose. I do have another question though, and I will make another post for that, but do you grease the bars?
Thanks!

Not sure what hitch you've got. But if you've got the Equalizer, you grease the sockets where they swing on the plate on the hitch head. If you have the type with chains, you grease the sockets where the bars snap in.

[N-Trouble]

HD sells pieces of 3/4 inch pipe pre cut to the same length. Ask me how i know... Did the same thing a few years back and left the doohickey on the bumper.

In a pinch hook it up, jack up the tongue to remove tension and throw a set of vice grips on it.

[Bedlam]

I call it a cheater bar. Like the others, I jack the tongue up after latching the coupler to get the spring torsion bars locked in place and pinned.

[southernkilowat]

Ron3rd wrote:

camp-n-family wrote:
You don't really need the "doohickey bar" (snap up lever). Hook it up, then jack the tongue up. You should be able to jack it enough to easily lift the bars onto the brackets by hand, then lower the tongue jack.

What hitch is it? I think this is what you want.

Good advice, latch the tongue onto the ball then raise the jack up and you should be able to snap the bracket up with a long screwdriver. No need to muscle the brackets up if you raise the tongue after latching the coupler. In fact,if you raise the tongue up enough, you can do it with your hand. That's how I would do it on my old EZ Lift WD hitch.

Thanks for the advice but mine wont quite make it. I hook up and raise the camper back up until the back of the truck has come up several inches and its still not quite high enough. It was all I could do to put them on by hand after I discovered I had lost the Doohickey bar. Maybe its not set up right, but I think it would be better too tight then too loose. I do have another question though, and I will make another post for that, but do you grease the bars?
Thanks!

[Ron3rd]

southernkilowatt wrote:

wnjj wrote:

ScottG wrote:
A piece of 3/4" iron pipe fits.

Not for his. I think his uses this one here:

Snap-up lever

I see camp-n-family already linked one.

Thanks camp-n-family and wnjj! That's exactly what I need! Will order it today!

The link posted is for the Equalizer Brand Hitch, so if that's what you've got, fine. I've never used my snap up lever with my Equalizer, never had to. Jack the tongue up and push the bars over the L-Brackets. If you got the old type WD hitch with chains, that lever won't work.

[Ron3rd]

camp-n-family wrote:
You don't really need the "doohickey bar" (snap up lever). Hook it up, then jack the tongue up. You should be able to jack it enough to easily lift the bars onto the brackets by hand, then lower the tongue jack.

What hitch is it? I think this is what you want.

Good advice, latch the tongue onto the ball then raise the jack up and you should be able to snap the bracket up with a long screwdriver. No need to muscle the brackets up if you raise the tongue after latching the coupler. In fact,if you raise the tongue up enough, you can do it with your hand. That's how I would do it on my old EZ Lift WD hitch.