Spring bar differences UPDATE

Interesting, it looks like the old bar got bent over the miles from the constant pressure against it. I would not have thought that would happen.
I'm sure it didn't have as much tension but it still should have worked to limit sway since the saddle is still intact. I bet the new one works better though.
I'll have to check mine.

I would ask the factory.

Maybe a product improvement?

And just for the sake of conversation the bottom one is a Draw-Tite, top is Reese.

Reese or Drawtite - parent company is Cequent and parts are interchangeable. See etrailer here for example.

Looks like it's from towing a lot of miles with under-sized bars. Old bars are 1500 lb? The main "shaft" of the bar is distorted which suggests over-stressing the bars.

If bars are too under-sized, you may not get enough weight transferred to the steer axle which can cause handling/sway issues. At the least, you should be measuring before and after front fender height and restoring wt. to what your TV manufacturer specifies. Better still, go to a scale to get actual weights to see how the WDH is doing, plus you can get the TW and TV and TT weights.

Curious - are the bars the same length? I discovered that 1200 lb bars are a bit longer than 800 lb. The peak of the crook is at a different point compared to the ends so you will likely have to adjust the cam arms.

Here is a photo of 800 lb. Reese bars we have. Very little use as we switched to 1200 lb shortly afterwards.

Top bar is new Reese 1500#
Bottom is old Draw-Tite 1200#

It also looks like metal may have worn away a little on the old one, or maybe it's just the photo. Do you have any idea what the actual tongue weight is?

That model Jayco could potentially have a tongue weight up to around 1400 - 1500 lbs. What is the receiver rating?

If helpful, Reese bar sizing chart here

***Depending on how old your DC is, the new bars may be too wide for it!!!!***

A new 1200# Draw-Tite that Cequent sent me to replace my cracked 1000# round bar setup from 2004 would not work with my DC (also purchased in 2004). The bars were wider at the bent end than the older ones, and would bind in the DC, enough that one side when it released bent the chain hanger and even punched in the inside of the frame. And, the bars were different in the bent area, just like your pics. One thing I noticed was that the bent area was swelled out, where the forging (??) shaped the bends. Grinding them down may have helped, but I was not willing to do that with a new setup, so I went out and found a very lightly used 1000# setup, and have been using that for the last 15 mos without any problems with the DC.

Slide them through the cam and hanger and move them sideways a bit, like they will twist when turning. If there is almost no clearance, I would be very careful using them with the old DC cams.

Reese (Draw-Tite) have produced 3 versions of the DC cams, I believe. If you look at my previous posts (back around Nov of 2013) you will find many pages of info of this, just not with mine but other DC differences.

You may be ok, depending on how old your DC is.

The pics of the older WD bars you have are normal. Reese/Draw-tite after Cequent bought both, use to make the cam end like your pic.

See here on 2 of my sets.

The top bars are 1,200# and bottom 800# These are 2004 vintage made in the USA. And these are not very old at the time and I know my older camper did not flatten them.



This is the 1,200# bar from above on the cam area. You can see it works with the cam dia.



The WD bar in these pics are 1,700# Reese bars, made in the USA. I bought these in late 2007 when the F350 & bigger camper came.




Reese has been having off shore parts in some areas now. I can tell when I see them up close, the machine to form them on makes this different. Odds are your new 1,500# are from the new forming machinery.

The is nothing wrong with your older ones (other then too light), it is just the new ones are bent more sharply.

TUCQUALA wrote:


Slide them through the cam and hanger and move them sideways a bit, like they will twist when turning. If there is almost no clearance, I would be very careful using them with the old DC cams.

Reese (Draw-Tite) have produced 3 versions of the DC cams, I believe.

To Tucquala's point,

Yes, the flare at the forged bend of the V can bind between the cam and the chain plate.

This is the area he is referring to




I had a small level of this on my 2004 bars. Not as bad as some of the newer ones but enough I ground off the swelled part and the issue eliminated itself.

The problem on the standard DC was even worse with the newer bars as the saddle arm was even tighter then the HP DC. These pics work, but barely. Any wider on the bar and it would of had bind up




You can see the 2 wear spots. the fatter the swell this wear spot is worse


And yes, there is 3 vintages/upgrades/changes of the HP DC. The older gold ~ 2002 to 2009 vintage. The 2010 redesign, now silver. Then there was chain plate changes between angled plate and now back to straight.

And in the ~ 2013/2014 time, the mounting frame plate area was changed trying to fix some of the 2010 redesign mounting problems with the inside bend radius to fit up to the tube A frames.

Product development continues...

Trying to make a hitch fit every trailer A frame from every manufacture is a tall order. That and changing the manufacturing equipment/location.

John has the inside info!!! In the past posts, there was a lot of info and pics showing all the differences. Very helpful and a neutral party to the discussion.

Something else I remembered after my first post: Another area on the new bars that will contribute to lots of noise (snaps, pops, and bangs!!!), is the paint or coating that is on them. It seems to be very thick compared to the older bars and I found that during the first few uses tends to ball up on the cam and the bars as it wears off causing binding and sticking and extra noise. May be worth wire brushing it off of the area the cams ride on the bars. Just a thought!!!