Weight Distriibution Brackets on Equalizer Hitch

[farmer_s_daught]

While having warranty work done on my TT I asked if they could also lower the ball height on my hitch, as I was having to raise the height of my trailer so high (had to put blocks underneath) just to get it hitched/unhitched. It was at 25", so two young men at the dealership lowered it. I asked if they needed to change the height of the "L" brackets on the trailer, and they replied that it shouldn't make a difference. When I got home and unhitched, however, I had to use the pry bar to get the sway bars off! Never had to do that before (I am 63, female, and new to 'trailering'). In looking on Youtube, however, now I'm worried about proper weight distribution and safety. How do I know if those brackets are at the proper height? Thanks!

[farmer_s_daught]

Thanks! The young men at the dealership discovered, when lowering my hitch, that the original dealership, when installing & setting up the Equalizer hitch, had stripped the bolt (the ones on the stinger). So they had to carefully cut it off and put a new one on. With the popularity in Rv's now, and so many people new to this, it's a wonder there aren't more accidents with the shoddy work done by rv dealers. Don't even get me started on them telling you how much weight your rig can tow without even looking at the specs! I'm a single 63 yr old woman who has spent HOURS online, researching as much as I can about safe tow weights, ratios, GVWR's, rear axle ratios, etc. and I still know only a drop in a bucket because I don't have anyone near me to ask dumb questions. I think RV dealerships should be required to have a scale on which they have to weigh your tow vehicle and the trailer you wish to buy, then look at your owner's manual and inside your door stickers to determine what the buyer can safely tow. I appreciate all the feedback and answers; we can all learn from each other.

[braindead0]

Definitely need to go through the complete setup, new trailer.. new situation.

[Durb]

When it comes to safety and especially with hitches I like to do it myself to make sure it is right. My son had a Reese dual cam installed by a dealer and wasn't happy with the performance. We took a look and nothing was done right and with the shank they sold him it was never going to work. It took us 3 hours to dial the cams in and replace the shank. Many of the bolts were stripped and some had the heads sheared off. Once installed correctly the hitch delivered a nice tow. It sounds like your son is handy, I would pour through the instructions step by step and make sure everything is perfect including bracket placement measurements.

Then, I would head back to the dealer for an installation refund.

[dewey02]

Farmer's daughter - If there is another dealer somewhere that you can get your warranty work done, I would not return to the original dealer. One visit and they have done lots of things wrong.

[farmer_s_daught]

The plot thickens! When my son went out later to tighten all the nuts on the L brackets, he also discovered that the left one had been installed upside down Looking at the owner's manual online shows there's 2 ways to mount the brackets, depending upon your hitch. AND because it was mounted incorrectly, a bolt was directly in front of the emergency trailer brake cable assembly, blocking it from working. SO if (heaven forbid!) my trailer had become uncoupled, the cable wouldn't have been able to pull the brakes because a bolt was in the way! A long story, but when I did the walk-through at the dealership they were shorthanded, a young man who admitted he had never done that before was assigned to do it, and he was the one who noticed that the L brackets hadn't been swapped from the trailer I was trading in on to the new trailer, so he did it (incorrectly, apparently). And I, not inspecting nor knowing about this stuff, didn't discover it until today. Luckily I have only towed the trailer twice back and forth. Oh, my goodness! And thank you to all, my trailer was hitched and measured to be level when the hitch was lowered.

[3oaks]

Regardless, the ball height on the hitch shank should be set to level your trailer when hitched to the TV and ready to hit the road. The ball height should not be adjusted just to accommodate hitching or unhitching.

[farmer_s_daught]

Well, here's what happened since I posted that a little bit ago. My son came over and I explained my dilemma. We went out to look at it and discovered that when the dealership removed the L brackets from my previous TT and installed them on the new one, that they were uneven! I'd never noticed it before. So instead of showing two empty "holes" above and below the bolts, one had three & one. My son was able to move the other one so they were even, and the sway bar easily slid into place! So thanks for all the support and my problem was easily solved!

[BarneyS]

I doubt that it changed the weight distribution settings. Moving the hitch head up or down just changes the attitude of the trailer. It would take quite a large movement of the hitch head to make any noticable change in the WD.

I suspect that, as has already been mentioned, you had more tension on the bars after the move when you tried to get them off the L brackets. The solution is to raise the rear of the truck with the trailer still attached and then remove the WD bars from the L brackets.
Barney

[Rbertalotto]

Usually, to get the weight bars off the brackets, you need to leave the hitch attached to the ball and using the tongue jack, lift the rear of the tow vehicle along with the tongue of the trailer until you can simply slide them off without any drama.

If you are using a pry bar to release them, you haven't removed the weight. Be extremely careful when using any type of pry bar to remove the equalizer bars. They can spring out at great speed and break your legs if standing in the wrong place.

Use the tongue jack to lift the rear of the tow vehicle when installing the qualizer bars also.

Depending on how much they lowered the receiver, it could or could not screw up the proper settings.

You need to measure the distance from the edge of the front fender wheel well to the ground without the trailer attached. Then attach the trailer and measure again. The new measurement should be about 1/2" -1" lower than without the trailer. If it is more than 1" lower, there is too much weight on the equalizer bars. If the distance to the ground is greater than without the trailer, the EQ hitch is not doping its job.

All these measurements need to be taken on level ground and with a fully loaded trailer...Water, food, cloths etc.

Hope this helps!