Reese Dual Cam Head Replacement

[Kampfirekid]

Has anyone had luck with replacement of a faulty hitch head by Reese? I called Reese today regarding the upper lip of the trunnion socket on the drivers side bending on a 45 degree bend toward the truck. It looks like a good bump would break the lip off.
Frankly, the guy I spoke with wasnt that congenial, and said he doubted it was ahead they had issues with years ago, which makes me wonder. He said the issue was five, six years ago. Our trailer is a 2011. So three years. Did the selling dealer pull a fast one?
Im hopeful Reese will send a replacement head. I cant wait to send it in, have them review it, and send a replacement. We will miss a trip or two, and I doubt this head will hold.
Any thoughts? Anyone with experience here?

[Kampfirekid]

Passin Thru wrote:
Did you try taking it to CW and asking if they would give you a new one?

Why? I didnt buy it there. I called for the head replacement, and they would only sell me a complete setup.

[Passin_Thru]

Did you try taking it to CW and asking if they would give you a new one?

[Kampfirekid]

mosseater wrote:

Kampfirekid wrote:
I confirmed with Reese that the 1200 and 1500 Trunnions bars are the exact same length and snap brackets are heavy duty on the 1200 and up (same).
I decided to not get a replacement head now, or try to configure the setup with the 1200 bars. I ordered the Equalizer 1400. After setting up the Equalizer, I will find a replacement head for the Reese and sell the whole Reese Dual Cam setup. I'm not interested in disconnecting bars when backing up or turning tighter turns. In close to 8 years with my last Equalizer, I never had a hiccup. The potential of breaking another head doesn't interest me.
Thanks to everyone for your input.

I won't comment on your decision to go with the Equalizer. I never owned one and have heard they work well. My only point is the continuing notion that Dual Cams have to have their bars removed to back up. Unless it's an extreme compound angle and/or the hitch isn't set up correctly, there is no need to remove the bars to back up. This myth continues to perpetuate and it simply isn't true outside the parameters I mentioned. I had an issue early on similar to yours (wrong head and bad set up) and did in fact blame the hitch initially when I spit a bar across a campground parking lot late one night while turning around. At the time, my hitch was not set up correctly and I did not understand all that I now do. Since my issue has been resolved, I have been backing into spaces for almost 4 years without a hiccup and never removed the bars once. Just an FYI. Good luck with the new hitch.

I appreciate your thoughts. I should have clarified I dont want to have to remove bars with the Reese when bacing in to my driveway. I have a really tight turn, and would need to remove the bars to avoid possibly cracking a head. While i know this head did not fail from my work as it was a bad casting, I am not interested in dealing with what seems to be a real possibility. I called close to eight dealers looking for parts of which I found none available. Several told me it was likely the head failed from improper setup and/or backing up without removing the bars.

I dont believe standard backing up is a real issue, but the inability to get replacement parts locally with the likelyhood of this reocurring mahes me shy. In eight years and three different trailers of different weights, the same Equalizer hitch never gave me a hiccup. I dont even know of a potential issue exists with the Equalizer. With my experience, its about foolproof, and extremely easy to set up. Twice I have had to depend on the Equalizer in an emergency, and it makes me feel much more comfortable.

Just because I am an engineer tupe, I'd love to spend the $400 to get the Dual Cam head replaced and the heavier trunnion bars. Unfortunately, seeing i could get the Equalizer for $535, i couldnt see spending the money on the Dual Cam only to not get it out of it if not satisfied. I still am thinki ng of replacing the head and selling the Dual Cam, but I cant see making anything on the Dual Cam on Craigslist after shelling out for the head.

[mosseater]

Kampfirekid wrote:
I confirmed with Reese that the 1200 and 1500 Trunnions bars are the exact same length and snap brackets are heavy duty on the 1200 and up (same).
I decided to not get a replacement head now, or try to configure the setup with the 1200 bars. I ordered the Equalizer 1400. After setting up the Equalizer, I will find a replacement head for the Reese and sell the whole Reese Dual Cam setup. I'm not interested in disconnecting bars when backing up or turning tighter turns. In close to 8 years with my last Equalizer, I never had a hiccup. The potential of breaking another head doesn't interest me.
Thanks to everyone for your input.

I won't comment on your decision to go with the Equalizer. I never owned one and have heard they work well. My only point is the continuing notion that Dual Cams have to have their bars removed to back up. Unless it's an extreme compound angle and/or the hitch isn't set up correctly, there is no need to remove the bars to back up. This myth continues to perpetuate and it simply isn't true outside the parameters I mentioned. I had an issue early on similar to yours (wrong head and bad set up) and did in fact blame the hitch initially when I spit a bar across a campground parking lot late one night while turning around. At the time, my hitch was not set up correctly and I did not understand all that I now do. Since my issue has been resolved, I have been backing into spaces for almost 4 years without a hiccup and never removed the bars once. Just an FYI. Good luck with the new hitch.

[Kampfirekid]

I confirmed with Reese that the 1200 and 1500 Trunnions bars are the exact same length and snap brackets are heavy duty on the 1200 and up (same).
I decided to not get a replacement head now, or try to configure the setup with the 1200 bars. I ordered the Equalizer 1400. After setting up the Equalizer, I will find a replacement head for the Reese and sell the whole Reese Dual Cam setup. I'm not interested in disconnecting bars when backing up or turning tighter turns. In close to 8 years with my last Equalizer, I never had a hiccup. The potential of breaking another head doesn't interest me.
Thanks to everyone for your input.

[myredracer]

Yikes... That could be a problem. I wonder where to find bar length other than asking around on forums? I had thought about welding our brackets on too. Maybe not such a good idea.

Perhaps dumb question, but do the snap-up brackets change for the higher 1500 or 1700 lb setups and need heavier rating?

If the bars are only a 1/2" plus or minus, maybe it won't matter with the chain angle. Didn't in our case. Biggest difference it made is with the threads in the cam arm. May depend on where your nuts are at on the threads now... Hard to estimate what it would do to the nut location on the threads due to the geometry and number of links you are using. IIRC correctly, the extra 1/2" in bar length made something like an inch difference where the nuts ended up being on the threads. I tried and tried to get the cam arms set up correctly as per instructions only to find the flippin' bar lengths are different. Grrr... But it sure works nice now!

[Kampfirekid]

Now I am concerned. If the trunnions are in fact different lengths between 1200 and 1500, I'll be stuck since the snap brackets are welded to the frame. Everything is a nightmare when time is not on your side. The dealer wants to see it, then if I upgrade, install it. I want to do it myself. They won't price it unless they see it, and I don't have time to travel there. Ugh!

[Huntindog]

A few points.

You have a 12K Reese and want to upgrade, and think that EQUALIZER doesn't have anything bigger...They do. A 14K. I have one.

And as far as the bars having to distribute what is in the bed...
Not exactly. This was a selling point years ago when full sized cars were the main TVs used. Many had HUGE trunks and it was most/all behind the rear axle. Autos of this era also had pretty soft suspensions.

So this thinking made sense then.

Now the main TVs are pickups. Some of which can have payloads in the 6K range... It s impossible for any WD system to distribute his much weight..
And that's OK as it is not needed. First, pickup trucks are designed to be loaded heavy in the rear. Transferring that much would most always overload the front axle. Second, the area of the bed that is behind the rear axle is a small percentage of the overall bed capacity.

And lastly, the OP does have EQUALIZER experience, and the DC is a 100% friction based design. It just has less friction returning to center than moving away...

This is either good or bad. Depending on ones perspective.

The EQUALIZER has been calculated to have a potential of 2200#s of sway resistance. The DC about 2000#s.
This is the amount of force needed to force the TT out of the centerline position.
So the EQUALIZER is actually slightly more capable in the first segment of a sway event.
The second segment is when the TT reverses direction and swings the other way. During this segment the DC applies less resistance.
How much is debatable, but many seem to thing that is considerable (hence the self centering thinking). The EQ is widely thought to apply the same amount of resistance in this segment. (I think it is somewhat less, but not as much less as the DC)
The second segment of a sway event continues on past the centerline if the momentum of the TT is able to overcome the resistance being applied by the sway control. This momentum will be greater with the DC than it will with the EQ due to the lower resistance of it when returning to center.
These sway event forces are present whether a sway control is used or not.. Witness all the trailers one sees swaying back and forth on the highway..

In a lashup where sway control is not used, the number of segments continues until either the tower is lucky and it settles down as he slows, or a jackknife occurs or TT brakes are able to stop it.

So if you look at exactly how each design works it is not hard to see why both designs have a strong following.

And why the DC is widely thought to be more finicky on setup. The strongest potential Sway resistance of this design is before the sway event gets started. Once started it's effectiveness drops off.

The EQ has a benefit of slightly more potential sway resistance, and if that resistance is overcome, then it has more resistance during the second segment. So a slight misadjustment is not as critical in this design..

One final thought.. If a sideways wind gust is strong enough, both of these systems will allow the TT to move away from center.
If both are at their max potential, the EQ will need a slightly stronger wind gust, but it can happen. How these hitches behave AFTER a sway event starts is the main difference.

[myredracer]

I love our DC now that I have it set up right. Not always easy to do at first. Took a while to figure out that the spring bars were way too undersized for the actual tongue. Regretfully, had bought the smaller bars before TT arrived and I based it on the factory dry tongue wt. Lesson learned there.

Funny thing is, the new 1200 lb bars are about 1/2" longer than the 800 lb ones. With the smaller ones, I ran out of thread adjustment on the cam arm threads. No-one seems to know why the bars are different lengths.

I have a feeling that a part of the Reese problems is that some parts are made domestically and some are offshore. Our DC arms/brackets are stamped "made in China". I've no idea where the other parts are made or if we got new or old stock. Also don't know if we got Reese or Draw-tite head. Ordered a Draw-tite package and it's labelled Reese. I know Reese bought out D-T, but where did our parts originate? I bought our Reese hitch partly because I thought is was made in the US. Then I read that the manufacturing was going to move to China. But we have parts already made there. "Made in China" of course raises a red flag for quality....

It's hard to imagine the head bending or breaking like that. What if it failed at highway speed? I wonder if regular oiling in the head/trunnion would affect that? Does Reese have any kind of factory warranty? Got ours on ebay so can't go back to vendor if needed, but you don't really expect anything to fail.

Does weight in bed of the truck actually enter into the bar rating? I thought the rating was based on the trailer tongue weight. At least that's what the label on the bars say. Kinda makes sense though because it's more vertical static and dynamic force on the hitch? But with stiffer suspension of a 3/4 ton (or 1 ton even) does payload in the truck matter as much? I might learn something here.

Sounds like it would be a good idea to move up in hitch weight rating in any event as you could be maxed out or even over. I did learn that with our undersized bars that I could not get proper weight transfer plus we had excessive bounce in the rear of the trailer. I would say that you'll be happier with at least the next size up including spring bars. I just wouldn't use too oversized bar ratings. Maybe don't want to jump from frying pan to fire. At least you are intimately familiar with the Reese stuff. You'd also be giving up the self-centering action which is a feature I like, but then have not tried the friction only based type.

If you are near your hitch receiver rating, curious, have you weighed your truck to find out what the actual payload capacity is? I was surprised to find out the actual on our F250 is 1800 versus the 2800 lbs on the door jamb sticker. Major difference but fortunately our trailer tongue wt. is just under 1K.

I've heard others say that Reese is pretty accommodating, but I don't know.

[Kampfirekid]

I contacted the dealer where I bought the setup as Reese won't stand behind the head because I'm not the original owner. He said I made a sharp turn. That's a load of dog snot. This is after they told me they have heads with P/N 112750 that are thinly cast. I really can't wait and don't trust the head. I am considering upping to the 1500 or 1700 setup as the WDH accounts for weight in the truck bed. If my tongue already weighs 1200, the 1200 bars I have are maxed. Add 300+ in the bed, and the 1500 bars will be maxed. It seems the lowest rating on a bar is half the rating, so a 1700 bar could effectively distribute down to 875 tongue and bed cargo.
If I purchase a new head and trunnions, I'm at about $350. It may be better to just go with the equalizer setup for $500. I hate to throw good money after bad.

[jwstewar]

I had an issue last year with my hitch head. They said that it probably wasn't a hitch head issue, but probably a setup issue. I had already purchased another head (we were on the road when it broke) and they asked what they wanted me to do. They sent me a new hitch head. When I tried to get the ball off my old hitch, I discovered what Reese was talking about. It was a setup issue with how the dealership set it up. But sense Reese sent me another head (and I already had another shank) I carry a complete spare in the front of the trailer to guarantee I will never have another issue.

[31_tundra]

I agree with Mosseater. I had the same problem. I think the difference was the casting number changed on the head that is a thicker casting. Reese is good to deal with. I had no problems. They also sent me a replacement head with the old casting number and told me to keep it. I now use 1500# trunnion bars, and the head has no problems handling the weight.

[mosseater]

I could give you a full run down on my issue, which sounds identical to yours if I hadn't lost my Webshots account and all the pics that were on it.

Mine original head did the same thing as yours with 1100 lbs of tongue. The replacement head did the same thing on the very first tow! I finally got resolution from Reece (Cequent) when J Barca tuned in here and pointed me in the right direction. Long story short (if I recall correctly) is that some heads were too thin in the the support area of the trunnion pin. Even though they are the same part # and are supposedly the same part, THEY ARE NOT the same part! I forget the exact details beyond that, but suffice it to say, if you get the correct head, it won't be bending and breaking out. Perhaps John Barca will pop in with one of his mind-bendingly accurate, informative posts and get you on the right track.

I actually had very good dealings with Reece once I got on the right track. In fact, they mistakenly sent me a hitch head in addition to the one I bought locally and told me to "just keep it as a spare". Doesn't get much better than that. The thing to keep in mind on issues like this is that they don't have to be nice to you, and tend to treat customers as they are treated. Generally speaking, once the screaming and demanding starts, things go downhill from there. Grandma used to say you can catch more flys with honey than vinegar. I've found that to be correct more than once. Not saying you were less than cordial on the phone, I wasn't there. Just something to keep in mind when one is already miffed about a widget that doesn't work right (cell phones, for example!).

I still have the new hitch head out in the garage. I can get you the numbers off of it if you like.

[jerem0621]

I did the same thing. I configured my hitch to run without the Dual Cam. I am actually running two friction bars and much prefer this system. Dual Cam = one frustrated owner.. in my experience.

Thanks!

Jeremiah