Bending of the bar: Reese sway control

[hshovic]

On our last trip in Colorado, I backed into a flat site on National Forest. I have done this many times (49,000 miles worth).
I had to back in at an angle, and the trailer went in fine. I did notice the trailer dipped a bit, when my front truck wheel went off the pavement (about 2 inches).
The wife was outside and did not hear or see anything unusual.
However, the next day, I did notice something unusual. Both the cam and the cam arm were bent! Of course the trunnion was then off
the cam bottom, and I could feel the trailer sway down the road.
We had it replaced in Colorado Springs, at a Camping World where they did it
quick and right. They also had never seen this before.
I emailed Reese about it, but no coherent answer so far.
Anyone else seen this?

[HowieE]

Not sure I can account for that much bending in the cam bolt but I can say the bars contact the outside of the outer yoke body on a sharp turn. The picture shows the scrap mark at the point of contact. I knew this was a problem so after the first trip I ground about 3/16 of material off the face of the yoke to give clearance. That has so far proven to be enough as no new marks have appeared.

Your setup had a much longer reach on the bolt. That sets a more shallow angle and would cause the bar to hit the yoke sooner in a turn forcing the cam outward but should not result in that much displacement of the bolt.

[hshovic]

Ah, I see.

Speaking of which, the picture is upside down.

The way yours is turned, I would expect the bar not to bend the bolt the way mine was bent. Note the contact on my vertical bracket. It looks like the bar hit the bracket and forced the bend in the bolt.

The way I was turning would have been opposite to the way yours is turned.
The one that bent was on the inside of the backing turn.
And it looks like it would have pushed the end of the bar into the bracket, just opposite
of the way yours looks. So why did this happen? Reese says it must have been some
kind of interference with the hitch. Poss out of adjustment?

I will grind off a bit of the yoke like your example, as I also contact on turns.

[PJohnson]

I'm not sure if the following potential problem played a part in your bent cam:

When I installed the ball with a 1 1/4" shank on the ball mount, I noticed that the nut was 1" thick. Since the installation instructions clearly say that a thin jam nut (0.72" thick) must be used, I contacted Reese to find out why. I was told that the 1" thick jam nut would interfer with the trunnion during a sharp turn such as backing the trailer into a parking spot. Since Reese does not have a "thin" jam nut available, I was told the solution was to disconnect the trunnions before backing into a parking spot where there was a possibility of a sharp turn.

[hshovic]

I measured mine, and it was 0.72". So that doesn't fit. I will call Reese, but I don't expect much. I will just move on down the road. Thanks for the info!

[HowieE]

Originally Posted by hshovic

I measured mine, and it was 0.72". So that doesn't fit. I will call Reese, but I don't expect much. I will just move on down the road. Thanks for the info!

You measured What?

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by hshovic

On our last trip in Colorado, I backed into a flat site on National Forest. I have done this many times (49,000 miles worth).
I had to back in at an angle, and the trailer went in fine. I did notice the trailer dipped a bit, when my front truck wheel went off the pavement (about 2 inches).
The wife was outside and did not hear or see anything unusual.
However, the next day, I did notice something unusual. Both the cam and the cam arm were bent! Of course the trunnion was then off
the cam bottom, and I could feel the trailer sway down the road.
We had it replaced in Colorado Springs, at a Camping World where they did it
quick and right. They also had never seen this before.
I emailed Reese about it, but no coherent answer so far.
Anyone else seen this?

I was helping a friend today adjust his Reese Dual Cam hitch, and looked at it to determine what could have caused your cam bolt to bend.

It appears to me the only way this could happen is if you have the hitch head adjusted with the ball too far foward, causing the chains to be too short, which would allow the bar to wedge between the part that the cam bolt screws into and the part that the chain attaches to. And then, only when you turned too short while backing up.

To eliminate this from happening again, I would suggest you tilt the hitch head back at least a couple of notches, then release the chains by the same number of links, and then readjust the cams.

If the bars can possibly hit the part that the cam bolts screw into then, tilt the head back more, and do the above procedure again.

[PJohnson]

From the way it is bent, it appears that the trunnion bar jamed against the ball jam nut in a tight turn. On the other hand, Hank "measured" his jam nut and said that it was within specification. I sure would like to know how Hank measured the jam nut (he did state that it was 0.72" thick); did he take it off and use a micrometer (the 1.25" shank is supposed to be torqued to 450 ft-lbs) or does he have a tape measure that measures in hundreths of an inch.

[barts]

Originally Posted by PJohnson

From the way it is bent, it appears that the trunnion bar jamed against the ball jam nut in a tight turn. On the other hand, Hank "measured" his jam nut and said that it was within specification. I sure would like to know how Hank measured the jam nut (he did state that it was 0.72" thick); did he take it off and use a micrometer (the 1.25" shank is supposed to be torqued to 450 ft-lbs) or does he have a tape measure that measures in hundreths of an inch.

The handy way to measure that sort of thing is with the depth rod on dial or digital calipers....

- Bart

[PJohnson]

Originally Posted by barts

The handy way to measure that sort of thing is with the depth rod on dial or digital calipers....

- Bart

I know how to measure -- I've been rebuilding engines since 1961. On the other hand, forgive me if I seem a bit skeptical about Hank having a jam nut that is exactly 0.72" thick. Cequent (Reese, Draw Tite, BullDog, Pro Serries, Bargman, Hidden Hitch, Tow Ready, etc.) does not make a thin jam nut, a jam nut that is 0.72" or less thick for the 1.25" shank. In fact I was not able to locate a jam nut 0.72" or less thick and neither the folks at ETrailer nor Cequent were able to locate a jam nut that was 0.72" or less thick.

As for the bending of the sway control cam, there are only a couple of things that could bend the cam in that direction. Either the trunnion bar or cam hit something (a curb, rock, tree stump, etc.), or, the trunnion bar was prevented from remaining parallel to the frame by the jam nut while the vehile was executing a sharp turn. Furthermore, I know that the jam nut will bind the trunnion bar in a sharp turn because I bound up mine before I got the sway control installed (Since the chains allowed some flexibility, I did not incurr any damage.). If anyone knows where I can find a thin jam nut for the 1.25" shank please let me know. It is a pain in the a** to have to remove the trunnionn bars before backing in to a parking space.

[Wayne&Sam]

Originally Posted by hshovic

...I backed into a flat site on National Forest. I have done this many times (49,000 miles worth)..

Sorry, I just can't get over the fact that you've been going backwards for 49,000 miles.

[PJohnson]

Originally Posted by SteveH

It appears to me the only way this could happen is if you have the hitch head adjusted with the ball too far foward, causing the chains to be too short, which would allow the bar to wedge between the part that the cam bolt screws into and the part that the chain attaches to. And then, only when you turned too short while backing up.

This is also a plausible cause. I assumed that there were the required five links (assuming a 5" frame) between the hanger bracket and the snap up bracket.

[barts]

Originally Posted by PJohnson

If anyone knows where I can find a thin jam nut for the 1.25" shank please let me know. It is a pain in the a** to have to remove the trunnionn bars before backing in to a parking space.

How about fastenal?
Or mcmaster-carr

I've done business w/ both... mcmaster-carr is really fast and doesn't mind small orders...

=- Bart

[nsteel]

It happened to me although not that bad. I called Reese and they sent me new ones no charge. Every time I'm backing into a site with any kind of sharp turn I just stop and drop the bars off. Not a great design.

[hshovic]

Thanks for the replies. No, I did not measure with a caliper.
The problem PJohnson referenced was a 1 inch nut. I put a measure tape on it, and it measure a bit less than 3/4, so though it may not be 0.72, it was not 1".

I am in process of calling Reese about it. Dropping bars is a good idea for sharp backing turns (no we did not back 49,000 miles but it feels like 49,000 times)

[PJohnson]

Hank,

Does your ball have a 1" shank or a 1 1/4" shank? If it is the 1 1/4" shank, what is the brand or more specifically, where does one get a jam nut (or ball with a jam nut) that is a bit less than 3/4" thick?

BTW I still think that dropping the bars before backing into a parking space is a pain in the a**.

[hshovic]

Reading the posts carefully, I can't say any more about jam nuts. I think I was misinterpreting the definition. I was measuring the nut on the sway control.
I don't have the trailer hitch here now, so can't measure the jam nut on the ball, but I will in January. I guess a too-long jam nut on the ball could stop one of the trunnion arms from turning, which may then bend the sway bar.

[HowieE]

I think you can discount any consideration of the ball shank or the nut on it as you would have to rotate the sway control arm at least 120 degrees forward from it in line driving position to ever have it come in contact with the bar. That contact would be the result of a major accident and would have bent the bolt inward to the tongue.

Hook up the trailer with your one remaining bar and back up into a tight turn with the bar on the outside of the turn. You will see where the yoke body contacts the sway control arm. Continuing the turn beyond that point will bend the arm. Your picture shows the yoke and it's adjustable cam arm as being at near the longest adjustment. This produces a very shallow angle when the chains are pulled up and the system set for travel. This shallow angle increases the the likely-hood of contact between the arm and the yoke.

I would set the WD hitch up with a longer chain and increase that angle.

Yes this would mean a complete recalibration of the WD hitch but you would not have to re-drill the tongue of the trailer.

[PJohnson]

Originally Posted by HowieE

I think you can discount any consideration of the ball shank or the nut on it as you would have to rotate the sway control arm at least 120 degrees forward from it in line driving position to ever have it come in contact with the bar. That contact would be the result of a major accident and would have bent the bolt inward to the tongue.

I hung up my trunnion bar on the ball nut backing into a tight space. Fortunately, I did not suffer any serious damage. That is when I contacted Reese about finding a replacement nut for the ball. They told me that they do not make a thin (0.72") nut, even though it is called for in the installation instructions, and that the solution was to drop the bars when backing into tight spaces.

[HowieE]

I think we need to define the type of hitch in question here. If it is a Draw Tight bent arm type it could be possible to hit the nut since the bars mount forward of the nut. If it is a Reese Straight Line or Duel Cam Trunnion type it is not possible to hit the nut since the trunnions mount to the rear of the nut. My comments have been directed to this type of hitch since the name Reese was originally noted in the thread.

Both type are now sold under the Reese name since Cequent Towing bought Reese.