Trailer hitch with sway bars
Bought a new camper. Camper dealer says he can not install our old hitch to our new camper due to liability issues. Is this correct or not.
Forum Discussion
17 Replies
- This is similar to the hitch my neighbors purchased when the received their trailer - LoadEqulizerAndAntiSway
I'm old school and we used to have a load equalizing hitch and an anti-sway device Anti-Sway-Device
I don't understand how the first link will induce friction to deter sway - but someone smarter than me will be able to! :) - IF you do decide to get a new hitch, do some online research and get the hitch you want at a far better price than at most TT dealers.
My salesman really thought I needed a WDH and I said I wanted to drive it home over 200 miles away to see if I felt I needed a WDH. TV met towing specs for TT I got to tow without WDH. So he offered me a used one that came with a trade-in. They installed it for free, it worked wonderfully (but sometimes noisily), & I was able to adjust it when we upgraded TVs and after “flipping” underspringed my TT axle. I was glad I listened and bought the WDH.
PLEASE NOTE: AFAIK, the proper term for the bars a WDH uses is “SPRING BARS”, modern designs do use these bars as part of the sway control vice using a add on separate sway control bar or arm that had to be removed before backing up. - Whether its true or not is not relevant. It's your dealer's stance and he's not likely to change his mind. If your old hitch is in good shape and rated for use on the new trailer, I would just install it myself. Easy enough job. If that's not possible, I guess you have to decide if it's worth buying a new hitch from this dealer.
- Mine are by Reese, they are anti-sway and equal-lizer combined, they do both.
- Sorry to hear that. But just like any other dealer or service provider many are great at sniffing our the uninformed or suckers and taking advantage of them. Kudos to you for recognizing it.
Trust no one that ain’t family and don’t trust some of them either! - I just got an email from another camper dealer. This dealer told me if there’s nothing wrong with your sway bars we transfer from one camper to another. This camper dealer said if there is something wrong with the sway bars then a technician would suggest getting a new one. My swag bars are 11 years old. I don’t see nothing wrong with the sway bars. You can say I’ve been had by the camper dealer who sold us our new camper. I should have investigated the sway bar issue more. I just took the camper dealer at his word. When in doubt you find out and ask questions.
MitchF150 wrote:
If this is the style of HD setup you have, then the dealer is just being a d!$%..
This is what I have and it's over 22 years old and my dealer installed it and adjusted the hitch head height to match the new trailer tongue, which was higher then my old TT.
They did that job while I was going thru the walk thru of the trailer. Didn't charge me any extra $$ either..
All they had to do was put the stirrups on the trailer tongue and then adjust the hitch head to match, which was adjustable to begin with.
Maybe your hitch is not rated for the size of the new TT you got?
My WD hitch head is #14,000 with a #12,000 ball on it. The bars are #1000 rated so well within the specs of the new TT I got and still have and it all still works just fine..
Good luck! Mitch This is the type of sway bars I have that you have pictured
- If this is the style of HD setup you have, then the dealer is just being a d!$%..
This is what I have and it's over 22 years old and my dealer installed it and adjusted the hitch head height to match the new trailer tongue, which was higher then my old TT.
They did that job while I was going thru the walk thru of the trailer. Didn't charge me any extra $$ either..
All they had to do was put the stirrups on the trailer tongue and then adjust the hitch head to match, which was adjustable to begin with.
Maybe your hitch is not rated for the size of the new TT you got?
My WD hitch head is #14,000 with a #12,000 ball on it. The bars are #1000 rated so well within the specs of the new TT I got and still have and it all still works just fine..
Good luck! Mitch - My anti sway bars and weight equalizing bars are same things. I like the way they work.
- I traded in my 2012 travel trailer for a brand new 2023 travel trailer. My old sway bars are black with the chains that have the pins. If I knew how to take a picture I could show you my sway bars. The brackets for the sway bars you mount on to the travel trailer itself. The dealer told me I could have someone come with me and install my old sway bars to the new camper. I’m not real technical so I know I would not install the sway bars correctly. Like I said before the dealer is telling me due to liability issues the dealer can not install my old hitch. Now I’m thinking the dealer just wanted to make more money?
