Sway Controller ? for longtime towers

gijoecam wrote:
snip... Something to note in your pictures is that at the extreme limits, it appears to me that if the drawback was actually mounted in a receiver, the bumper would be hitting the A-frame by the time the drawback reached the angle in your pictures.

Also, you mentioned there being a difference between a weight carrying and WDH head... if the sway control ball is installed on a weight carrying hitch head properly, the geometry is identical. In my case, I used an adapter plate that clamps between the ball and the shank, rather than welding the tab for the sway control ball.

Hi GI Joe,

Not disagreeing with you, just to show you the differences I am referring to with a WD hitch shank TT setup, verses a weight carrying draw bar on a PU setup, see here. My TT setup I could turn further then the PU setup and bend the friction bar on a left turn.

The WD hitch shanks are many times "longer" from the 5/8" pin to the tow ball then the standard weight carrying draw bar. The longer they are, the more turning you can do before the bumper hit the LP tanks. See here. Look at the hole in the hitch head for the mini ball and the relation to the centerline of the camper.

Your rig, Weight carrying short draw bar. The mini ball is straight out the center, your bumper about to hit the tongue jack. This is about all the left you want to do. But the friction bar is not yet hitting the side of the ball coupler. You have a 2" ball coupler.

Gijoecam top view pic

Now my WD hitch head. Mini ball is straight out the centerline of the camper. Bar hits side of coupler. Remember this is a 2 5/16" ball coupler, verses your 2" PU ball coupler. Mine is wider.


And now if I put the shank in the truck and turn, see the mini ball hole and see the A frame straight out the center of the camper. I have no jack on the side of the frame to hit, I can turn more but the mini ball will go past center and would of bent the friction bar. The longer WD shank allows this.


Trust me, you can bend up a WD hitch with turning too far just as easy as you can a weight carrying hitch.

As we both said, you have to know you equipment limits and understand them. Going forward or backwards does not matter. You can break them in both directions.

If more RV dealers would explain how hitch systems actually work and how to adjust and what to watch out for, camper folks would be a whole lot better off.

Most often, the hitch system gets "0" time during a PDI as compared to the camper. And these one size fits all "don't do that" with no explanation creates these urban myths and never explains where they came from. Reverse has nothing to do with bending the friction sway bar, max turning angle does.

Thanks

John