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Old 05-09-2015, 03:19 PM   #561
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Looking forward to using the Equalizer on my not yet delivered 25ft Flying Cloud. My last TT was 36ft, I replaced the Reese with an Equalizer & was thrilled with the ease of use( no chains). I sold the Trailer before really putting the Equalizer to the test but I liked it enough to buy another one.
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Old 05-10-2015, 12:36 PM   #562
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Originally Posted by Zeitlupe View Post
Last week I traded my 2013 F250 two wheel drive TV for a 2015 F250 four wheel drive. The receiver height is 5" taller. Wanting to get away from needing to use a sleeve on the shank with the F250 receiver, I bought the Equal-i-zer 2 1/2" 6" drop shank. This setup dropped the ball 4". Will gaining an extra inch in hitch height be a concern?
...sounds like you are in the ballpark ...now - after you get the weight distribution set up properly - check your AS for level: front to back. I think you will find that you are very close. If anything, the 3/4 T will likely provide a stiffer ride for the AS and you will not need much in terms of WD and you may see enough rear suspension sag to take you to the proper coupler / hitch height; the other benefits of the EQ anti sway will still be there. If you can't get the trailer level ... just come as close as you can in lieu of visiting a welding shop to get lower. Incidentally, there are other vendors who also sell drop shanks that work well with the EQ brand hitch- should you decide to go that route for perfection.
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Old 05-11-2015, 09:09 AM   #563
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geez buy a new vehicle the get to buy new shank seeing as the new one is 4 inches taller at the receiver than the old one was, oh well.
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Old 05-17-2015, 08:44 PM   #564
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As I was unhitching my trailer in my yard today I noticed the ball wasn't snug on the hitch. Using a wrench I found it to be loose, actually pretty sloppy. A real scare. I had just pulled it home from storage, about 10 miles. It was torqued tight when new about three years ago. Taking it to a shop to have it done again.
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Old 05-18-2015, 07:51 AM   #565
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As I was unhitching my trailer in my yard today I noticed the ball wasn't snug on the hitch. Using a wrench I found it to be loose, actually pretty sloppy. A real scare. I had just pulled it home from storage, about 10 miles. It was torqued tight when new about three years ago. Taking it to a shop to have it done again.
I suspect many, if not most never get the hitch ball torqued correctly. Further, my opinion is that tightening them with just a air impact is at best, just a "guess" at how tight you are getting it.
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Old 05-19-2015, 07:14 AM   #566
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I suspect many, if not most never get the hitch ball torqued correctly. Further, my opinion is that tightening them with just a air impact is at best, just a "guess" at how tight you are getting it.
Agree totally on the air impact. The nut on the ball requires 430 ft-lbs. If it is on the higher capacity hitch, it also requires the $83 thin walled socket that Equalizer sells to get to it due to clearance issues. By the way, the socket is 3/4" drive. So if you take it to a shop, they need the right tools.

There are a couple of photos of the issue in this thread:
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f464...tch-94976.html
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Old 05-19-2015, 05:15 PM   #567
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Big Rig Shop To The Rescue

I addressed this issue about seven years ago in another thread.

Go and find a place that works on diesel trucks. Big rigs. They will have a thin walled socket that will fit, and an air ratchet/impact gun that will go to 1200 ft-lbs of torque. Tell them to set it at 450 ft-lbs, give them $20, and you're good.

After seven years and 25,000 miles, mine is still tight as a drum.

See ya on the road,
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Old 05-20-2015, 10:42 AM   #568
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I have a 3/4" drive socket, not an impact one. I tapered it at the end on a good bench grinder so it fits nicely.

Works for my EQ and yes it was tightened with a torque wrench.
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Old 05-20-2015, 07:56 PM   #569
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Fourth time out and my new Equalizer has gotten really noisey. Should I lube it or is it best to leave it alone? Would a lube like silicone spray lessen it's effectiveness?
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Old 05-20-2015, 08:44 PM   #570
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We operate on the theory that spray lubes aren't up to the challenge. On our hitch's pivot points and on the hitch ball we use Equal-i-zer High Performance Lubricant that comes in a squeeze tube, though many similar products probably work as well. We also use Equal-i-zer sway bracket jackets. This combination keeps the groaning zombies quiet and the hitch is a pleasant product to use.

Before we started this regime, we once had our Equal-i-zer squealing so badly that people could hear us from one end of the campground to the other, and we thought the darn thing was broken. Now we can sneak in after dark.

Feel free to PM if you have more questions.
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Old 05-20-2015, 09:10 PM   #571
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Do lubes detract from the effectiveness of the friction based system?
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Old 05-20-2015, 09:21 PM   #572
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Your Equal-i-zer manual specifies that it's fine to lubricate the hitch head's pivot points. Initially, we also lubed the bars on the sway brackets out of desperation, but stopped doing that once we added the sway bracket jackets. Bonus: the hitch bars and sway brackets aren't greasy anymore!
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Old 05-21-2015, 09:17 AM   #573
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Fourth time out and my new Equalizer has gotten really noisey. Should I lube it or is it best to leave it alone? Would a lube like silicone spray lessen it's effectiveness?
Short of drilling and installing a grease zirk, it is very difficult to get any lubrication into (and keep it there) the socket pivots. However, some light lube (even if not grease) is better than none. With the bracket jackets, no lube is needed (nor would it provide any sound reduction) on the arms.
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Old 05-21-2015, 09:31 AM   #574
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I just talked to the factory. they said to lube the pivots with red bearing grease. OPen them to 180 degrees and lube, then to the opposite position and lube
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Old 05-21-2015, 11:55 AM   #575
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Sounds great! If you still have creaking where the bars slide across the brackets on the trailer, you can always add sway bracket jackets. We love those.
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Old 05-21-2015, 12:18 PM   #576
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Hate to beat a dead horse.....but....I'm still wondering if you give up sway control effectiveness if the bars are not allowed to interact with the brackets naturally....metal to metal, without the interference of lubrication or rubber jackets.
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Old 05-21-2015, 12:35 PM   #577
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Dead Horse Rising: While we briefly greased the point at which the WD bars crossed the brackets, we did not observe any real change in towing behavior. That said, we don't recommend it - in part because EQ doesn't recommend it, and in part because it was such a doggone mess. Ewww! It was admittedly a desperation move that we recanted as soon as we found the sway bracket jackets.

OTOH, given the sway bracket jackets are manufactured by EQ, aren't messy, and don't seem to interfere with normal operation of the hitch, we're very pleased to use them and suggest them to other EQ owners.

I realize we're not a statistically significant sample, but we had great results with our EQ on our last trip, roughly 8,000 miles in 8 weeks.

One thing we did do on this trip, however, was re-tighten the pivot bolts, which loosened a bit over time. At some point in the near future we may disassemble the hitch head, clean everything out and put it back together again, just to get all the crud out and prepare it for the next few thousand miles of towing.
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Old 05-21-2015, 12:39 PM   #578
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I lube with thick silicon grease on the pivot bar fittings and use bracket jackets. I insure the pivot bar attachments are torqued to specifications. The only downside to bracket jackets in some hook up situations you have the raise the hitch higher for the bar to clear the extra thickness of the bracket jacket. But the hitch is now much quieter.

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Old 05-21-2015, 04:15 PM   #579
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I tried not greasing, tried greasing lightly and finally went to water repellant wheel bearing grease. I have marked the bars with tape and never grease between them so I have a place to grab them without getting too messy. I grease all of the moving/sliding areas. I carry a torque wrench and periodically check the torque on the smaller bolts, use a long handled 1/2" drive breaker bar on the shank bolts.

The popping and creaking was worrying the wife so much I just kept adding more lube until it got quiet. I haven't noticed any difference in handling but I have the tandem axle, so it's pretty steady anyway. The grease always wears thin at the friction points so more greasing is needed when we get ready to head out somewhere.

I really wanted to go grease-less but reached the "Popeye moment".
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Old 05-21-2015, 06:18 PM   #580
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I have the Sway Jacket Brackets. I just used wheel bearing grease on the hitch head and on the ball. I swung the sockets for the weight bars parallel to the bumper and greased them liberally. I swung them perpendicular to the bumper and greased them liberally. I then swung them to a 45 degree angle and greased them liberally- top, bottom, front, back, left, right, inside, outside. Then, I worked them back and forth to try to work the grease into the areas I could not touch with my finger.
We'll see tomorrow if it is any more quiet.


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