My Daul Cam after approx. 15000 miles of towing.

[dodge_guy]

So I finally painted my A-frame and bumper. With that I also finally got a chance to swap my cams right-left. they were pretty well worn. so now I`m using what used to be the bottom side as the new surface. these cams have been on 2 different trailers. the first one had approx. 800lbs of tongue weight and went 4000 miles. the last 11000 miles have been on the current trailer since 2006. After thinking about it I may have closer to 20,000 miles on them!

This is the old surface.



And this is the new surface.



This time around I`m going to use a small dab of grease on the cams. the current instructions tell you not to use any grease, only Vaseline. The instructions for mine (from 2005) say that on heavy tongue weight trailers a small dab of grease is OK. and looking at the wear on mine I will use a little bit. I tried the Vaseline years ago, but it didn`t do anything. My WD bars show minimal wear. I just went over to the parking lot today and got the cams re-centered. so now it`s all set for my trip North!

[BenK]

Grease will reduce the effectiveness of this system...even oil or
any lube

The trunnon end has a bent depression that the cam rests in

When the trailer sways off center line...there is resistance to that
side movement via the cam in the depression. Both tronnon bar ends

One will resist with a 'pull' and the other will resist with a 'push'

When it sways enough to pull/push the cam out of that depression...the
cam will 'lift' the trunnion out of the depression to increase the
spring tension on the hitch head

That is the 'noise' of this type if WD Hitch system

Just noodle why the OP's cam is worn....it is doing it's job by
resisting side to side movement

Greasing it will reduce it's resistance to side to side movement
and lose some of it's anti-sway forces

Here are a couple images that might help visualize this

eTrailer.com and click on the image with the force vectors

Here is a static image of that force vector diagram


Notice how they show the spring bar end with the cam out of that
depression because the trailer is way off center line

[dodge_guy]

CampingN.C. wrote:
The Reese tech support guy I just spoke to on Monday said NOT to use any "grease" but a drop of oil or Vaseline.
He was pretty adamant about not using actual grease.

Yes that seems to be there new method. Either way with 600+lbs on each cam and after seeing how mine are worn I will use a dab of some type of lube (grease, oil, etc.).

[CampingN_C_]

The Reese tech support guy I just spoke to on Monday said NOT to use any "grease" but a drop of oil or Vaseline.
He was pretty adamant about not using actual grease.

[fla-gypsy]

A light coating of white lithium grease will not cause any reduction in effectiveness.

[dodge_guy]

BarneyS wrote:
Here is a cut/paste from the manual from the year 2000. They may very well have changed it since then.
MAINTENANCE:
9. DO NOT GREASE THE CAM AND CAM ARMS. The Dual Ca
m was designed to use metal-to-metal friction. Heavy
greasing of the cam and cam arm surfaces with affect
performance. If noise is offensive, a very light coating of
lubricant, such as Vaseline, may be used. Tongue weights over 1,200 lbs. may require a light coating of grease to
reduce friction and prevent excessive wear.
10. Check for excessive wear on any contact surfaces and replace if necessary.

Thanks Barney. That is how my manual from 05 stated it as well. I looked at the instructions on Reese's website and the grease statement is not there. I will still try a light dab of grease on this trip and see how it performs. If I don't like it, it's not hard to remove the grease.

[BarneyS]

Here is a cut/paste from the manual from the year 2000. They may very well have changed it since then.
MAINTENANCE:
9. DO NOT GREASE THE CAM AND CAM ARMS. The Dual Ca
m was designed to use metal-to-metal friction. Heavy
greasing of the cam and cam arm surfaces with affect
performance. If noise is offensive, a very light coating of
lubricant, such as Vaseline, may be used. Tongue weights over 1,200 lbs. may require a light coating of grease to
reduce friction and prevent excessive wear.
10. Check for excessive wear on any contact surfaces and replace if necessary.

[dodge_guy]

Crabbypatty wrote:
Mine said nothing about grease. I have had my setup since 2004 and just switch over to a heavier trailer last year. I have noticed any new wear. I would think that grease would lessen the effect of the setup making it easier for the bars to slide which would defeat the hold back of the anti sway. I would rather replace the cams than lessen the sway authority. Sway makes me nervous and I like it all tight.

Ill research this with Reese.

I believe at the back of the manual as stated above, Reese contradicts themselves and states that in trailers with over 1200lb tongue weight to use a light dab of grease if the noise is offensive. Yes, it may lessen the effect on lighter weight trailers, but on trailers with heavy tongue weight like mine, there is still a lot of friction even with the grease! I`ll see If I can find it in my paperwork!

[Crabbypatty]

Mine said nothing about grease. I have had my setup since 2004 and just switch over to a heavier trailer last year. I have noticed any new wear. I would think that grease would lessen the effect of the setup making it easier for the bars to slide which would defeat the hold back of the anti sway. I would rather replace the cams than lessen the sway authority. Sway makes me nervous and I like it all tight.

Ill research this with Reese.

[dodge_guy]

Yes, that's how my directions are. But the new directions don't state anywhere about grease.

[ScottG]

Actually, if you read the directions all the way through they contradict themselves.
They start out saying never then go on to suggest you may use grease and then they finally say that if you have the bars set up very stiff (or something like that) you must grease.

Greasing them has no effect on how they work, only on how they wear.