WD Hitch for '79 31' Sovereign & 2011 Expedition EL

[suzuz22]

Looking for some insight on a recommended weight distributing hitch with sway control to pull our 1979 31' Sovereign with our 2011 Expedition EL Limited. We haven't towed it anywhere yet other than to the tire shop and home so far. It came with an old Reese hitch (probably original) that does have weight distribution and sway control, but we need to upgrade to one with a drop hitch because there's way too much weight on the rear axle of the trailer with our current setup. So far, we have looked into the Blue Ox Sway Pro and the Reese Pro Series with Sway Control. The Blue Ox is impressive, but is not really in our budget and the Pro Series is much more affordable. Anyone have experience with the Pro Series? Any insight on which weight limit to get (750lbs vs. 1000lbs.)? We are concerned about getting something that's too stiff and destroying the trailer but worry that the 750lb may just barely be enough, when we are fully loaded down with gear for a family of 4.

Thanks in advance for the advice! If there are recommendations for other hitches not mentioned that are more budget friendly we'd love to hear them!

[dwightdi]

Reese does offer an adjustable drop hitch head that would most economically resolve your problem, but it can only drop so far. All other parts would stay the same. Later model W/D hitches offer some advantages, but cost a lot more. The old 750 lb. bars should be adequate and not destroy the trailer.

[suzuz22]

Thanks for the reply. We've looked into that but just to get the drop hitch for what we have is almost the same cost as a Reese Pro Series, hence why we are considering that.

[HowieE]

Neither the Blue Ox or Reese Pro have any form of sway control. you would have to use a separate friction plate system which is a real pain to operate. The Blue Ox does not have a means of adjusting the head position to compensate for ware.

If the original Reese was a Dual Cam system I would purchase a drop shank to get the trailer level and set up the system correctly as a starting point. keep in mind that the hole centering pattern in different shanks are not all the same so you may be limited to Reese.