New to TT (long time pop-upper) WD hitch probs

[davpratt]

Picked up our brand new Jayco Whitehawk 27 DSRL last Thursday in Bryan TX, and drove to Kerrville to camp.The dealer sold us and completely installed an "Equal-izer"WD hitch with sway control. When we got to the campground we had a lot of trouble un-hitching. The passenger side bar had too much turn on it and it was pushing sideways on the L-bracket. We could not budge it. The drivers side bar came off without a problem. We finally did get it off, with some advice from some fellow campers. But then when we went to hitch-up and leave it took us one hour to get it hitched up. It seems that the tv must be 100% parallel to the tt in order for the hitch to be hooked up or un-hooked up.
Any advice, would be greatly appreciated.

[Alabama_Jim]

Just as others have said, when I have a bar that is difficult to remove I raise the trailer tongue some and it seems to relieve the tension.

[DutchmenSport]

The biggest part of the sway is controlled by the friction of the bars on the L-bracket. So you never, never, never want to put any kind of grease or oil on those L-brackets. Yes, they will groan and pop some, but that means they are working.

The pivit points are just that, joints for pivoting. Those can be oiled, but I've never oiled mine, ever. I just spray my hitch ball with some WD-40 every time I hitch up. This way, I don't have a greasy mess when removing the hitch from the truck receiver. That is the only thing I put oil or grease on ... the hitch ball and the coupler on the trailer. Keep everything else on your Equal-i-zer dry.

[davpratt]

Thanks for all the advice, EVERYONE! My wife and I were both very tired and became very frustrated during the un-hitch attempt that I dont recall all the steps, but I am pretty sure we ended up lowering the tongue jack enough to un-hook the ball then raised it up with lynx leveler blocks (5 or 6, maybe)then got the stuck bar loose somehow, not sure how.
I do have a follow-up question: is the sway control achieved by the friction between the square bars and the L shaped brackets, or the friction of the square bar coupler turning on it's pivot point?

[DutchmenSport]

I never have to use the pry bar on my Equal-i-zer. I keep a 6 inch block under the tongue jack all the time, which raises the trailer and truck higher (although my tongue jack has plenty of length). I never have to use the bar. Last week, I used my toe to lift the bars on both sides up and over the L-bracket at the same time I was hooking the safety chains to the truck. Looked silly probably, but it safe a few seconds of time. You should never have to use the pry bar if you raise the trailer-truck high enough.

1. crank up trailer tongue high enough to get the tow vehicle ball under the coupler.
2. lower trailer tongue and snap coupler.
3. Crank up tongue jack high, lifting camper and truck high enough the bars just slide over the L-brackets.
4. Put L-bracket pins in place.
5. Lower tongue jack and retract tongue jack completely.

To unhitch, reverse the order.

Simple, easy, and never a problem.

[TurnThePage]

Raising the tongue (and consequently the rear of the tow vehicle) removes the tension. I don't even use that pry-bar that comes with the Equal-I-zer hitch.

[SoundGuy]

davpratt wrote:
It seems that the tv must be 100% parallel to the tt.

Easier, but not necessary. I hitched and unhitched my own 1,000 / 10,000 lb Equal-i-zer hundreds of times over the 6 years we owned our KZ Spree and most times had the truck aligned anything but straight on with the trailer. Obviously, if the trailer is sitting on an uneven ground surface spring bar tension on one side is going to be greater than the other. Lift the hitch point (coupler connected to the hitch ball) high enough and the spring bars can be pushed off the L brackets with one finger. Most wouldn't crank the combination that high but only enough to relieve the tension so when using the supplied spring bar tool the bars will slide off the L brackets.

[Bucky_Badger]

I have had the issues you are saying...one bar comes off fine the other not...Take the loose one off first raise or lower the jack until the other one loosens. uneven ground can be a pain

[SoundGuy]

duplicate post :S

[SoundGuy]

davpratt wrote:
We finally did get it off, with some advice from some fellow campers.

If that "advice" didn't include first raising the trailer tongue (and rear of the truck) with the trailer still hitched to the truck using the tongue jack then you got lousy advice. This is mandatory and done correctly you won't have any issues at all removing or later reinstalling your Equal-i-zer's spring bars.

[MudChucker]

I don't know the specifics of your hitch,when we used WD on a TT I used to hook up and pull forwards a couple feet to align things then chain up the bars.

When unhooking if the TV was angled I'd adjust tension on the bars by raising or lowering the TT as needed. Once I had to use a jack all under the hitch of the TV as the TV was much lower and facing up hill with the back tires in a ditch.

[bosworthj]

This might be obvious, but did you raise your tongue back up after you attached to the ball to ease the tension?

For example to un-hitch I have to run my tongue jack down, raise the trailer a couple inches (still attached to the ball), then take my bars off. Lower the tongue jack so I can release the ball lock, then run it back up to get it off the ball. The same would hold true in reverse to hitch it up.