First time with an Equailizer

[MrUKToad]

Originally Posted by aftermath

What I do know is that it works great for me and my setup. It is easy to hitch and unhitch and I have many thousands of miles using it under varying circumstances and have never had a problem with it.

That's about the size of it really, isn't it? I have a basic Eaz-Lift system which I know is not the best solution, technically speaking, but it works for me. I might upgrade at some point in the future, but only when the Eaz-Lift bars need replacing.

[Gene]

'Toad, maybe you know this answer—what does CanAm recommend? With all Andrew's experience, he must have an opinion on WD hitches.

Gene

[Friday]

Originally Posted by Sodbust

On the way to the lake I had too much pressure or lift on the bars at 5 links,, so when I hooked up to come home I ran 6 links and gave me a little more weight on my rear axle of my TV.. Both ways was still better than the battle I had with the first trip home...

Keep it simple,, has been my motto of life,, but a Equalizer hitch does work..

Sodbust NW Kansas

This thread is full of confusion... the Equal-i-zer (EQ) brand doesn't have any links. I have one... it uses "L" shaped brackets to hold tension on the load bars, with a goofy pin to keep the from falling off. The side effect of this method is it also creates friction points that act as sway control.

The Reese Dual-Cam uses shaped bars to create a 'centered' spot, and movement from this is resisted by the friction of the bars cam-shape. The sway control is adjusted separately from the weight-distribution, but the two are linked. This might be why set-up is perceived to be harder.

The Hensley and PP both use a geometric link to eliminate sway (or more accurately to distribute that force over the entire vehicle, rather than on the ball). Their weigh-distribution is a separate function. Even if you have no load on the WD part of these hitches, you get the same anti-sway feature as they don't rely on the friction of the load bars.

Now... what some people are describing as a bad towing experience could be because a WD hitch corrects the hitch loading, which affects the handling of the vehicle... or, because their WD hitch also incorporates anti-sway... or both.

It's hard to be definitive as for one person's situation, especially when you get into multi-fuction hitches. But, if you find something that works... and you can manage to tune... stick with it.

[SteveH]

It seems we keep hashing over the merrits, and limitations of the same ole hitches, over and over again. Seems sort of pointless because we all should know them by now.

My question is does anyone have any experience yet with this hitch:
http://www.andersenhitches.com/Produ...-droprise.aspx

The simplicity of the thing just has me captivated. If I didn't already own what I consider to be the best hitch on the market, I would buy one just to find out how well it works.

[Gene]

Steve, that is interesting. It looks so simple. That will attract buyers if nothing else will. I can see how it would dampen sway, but WD has me confused. I'm also wondering how long the sleeve through which the ball fits will last.

I hope some people try it and report.

Gene

[Friday]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Steve, that is interesting. It looks so simple. That will attract buyers if nothing else will. I can see how it would dampen sway, but WD has me confused. I'm also wondering how long the sleeve through which the ball fits will last.

I hope some people try it and report.

Gene

If you think of the force a WD applies to the TV as more of a 'twisting' of the receiver (back to front), the Andersen imparts this force by 'pulling' the bottom of the shank which creates the same twisting force.

Good question on the friction material though.. brake pads last a long time, so hopefully this would as well.

I was prepped to buy one, until I see their Canadian price is $200 more than the US price.

?.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Friday

I was prepped to buy one, until I see their Canadian price is $200 more than the US price.

?.

You probably know that kind of pricing is from when the Canadian dollar was worth a lot less than the US Dollar. Now they are about equal, but old habits take a long time to die. Come to the US and buy one.

Thanks for the explanation. I still don't understand it yet.

Gene

[SteveH]

Gene, There is a performance report, although for little use, here: RV.Net Open Roads Forum: Towing: New Andersen WD hitch

[MrUKToad]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

'Toad, maybe you know this answer—what does CanAm recommend? With all Andrew's experience, he must have an opinion on WD hitches.

Gene

To be honest Gene, Andy doesn't really recommend any specific brand of hitch, in the same way that he doesn't recommend specific tow vehicles. He'll tell you what works but that's all.

The set up I've seen him do most often is the basic Eaz-Lift offering (round, tapered bars with chains, hoisted onto hooks fixed to the A frame of the trailer) along with the sliding friction bar or bars. That's usually married to one of his custom or modified hitch receivers, so he's probably getting the very best performance from that simple arrangement. He does do a lot of Hensleys as well and will suggest them for certain combinations. I've not heard him speak about the ProPride offering but I'm sure he'd have some advice if you wanted it.

If I were the OP, I'd give Andy a call and see what he says; you can absolutely guarantee that he'll have set up that particular TV and trailer combination before and he'll tell you what he thinks your options are.

[MrUKToad]

Originally Posted by MrUKToad

To be honest Gene, Andy doesn't really recommend any specific brand of hitch, in the same way that he doesn't recommend specific tow vehicles. He'll tell you what works but that's all.

The set up I've seen him do most often is the basic Eaz-Lift offering (round, tapered bars with chains, hoisted onto hooks fixed to the A frame of the trailer) along with the sliding friction bar or bars. That's usually married to one of his custom or modified hitch receivers, so he's probably getting the very best performance from that simple arrangement. He does do a lot of Hensleys as well and will suggest them for certain combinations. I've not heard him speak about the ProPride offering but I'm sure he'd have some advice if you wanted it.

If I were the OP, I'd give Andy a call and see what he says; you can absolutely guarantee that he'll have set up that particular TV and trailer combination before and he'll tell you what he thinks your options are.

And I forgot to say that he WILL recommend that you use WD, regardless of TV and trailer.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by Sodbust

Never been around any hitch system other than the ball and socket.. Our 72 Overlander came with a Equalizer hitch system.. Pulling it home the first time I did not want to take the time to learn and set it.. As it turned out we had a 50mph cross wind all the way home.. I battled it all 300 miles.. Once home I took the time to play with the hitch,, and the adjustments.. What a simple and working system all around..

We pulled our AS to the lake this past weekend for a check out run,, and again another 50 mph cross wind.. The difference was night and day..

On the way to the lake I had too much pressure or lift on the bars at 5 links,, so when I hooked up to come home I ran 6 links and gave me a little more weight on my rear axle of my TV.. Both ways was still better than the battle I had with the first trip home...

Keep it simple,, has been my motto of life,, but a Equalizer hitch does work..

Sodbust NW Kansas

Okay, here is an Equal-I-Zer:

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by Sodbust

Never been around any hitch system other than the ball and socket.. Our 72 Overlander came with a Equalizer hitch system.. Pulling it home the first time I did not want to take the time to learn and set it.. As it turned out we had a 50mph cross wind all the way home.. I battled it all 300 miles.. Once home I took the time to play with the hitch,, and the adjustments.. What a simple and working system all around..

We pulled our AS to the lake this past weekend for a check out run,, and again another 50 mph cross wind.. The difference was night and day..

On the way to the lake I had too much pressure or lift on the bars at 5 links,, so when I hooked up to come home I ran 6 links and gave me a little more weight on my rear axle of my TV.. Both ways was still better than the battle I had with the first trip home...

Keep it simple,, has been my motto of life,, but a Equalizer hitch does work..

Sodbust NW Kansas

Here is a Reese Dual Cam:

[Friday]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

You probably know that kind of pricing is from when the Canadian dollar was worth a lot less than the US Dollar. Now they are about equal, but old habits take a long time to die. Come to the US and buy one.

Thanks for the explanation. I still don't understand it yet.

Gene

Except our dollar has been above the US dollar for 2 years... and the hitch came out this year...

Do you understand the way a 'normal' WD hitch works? If you think of a standard load-bar, it's basically a lever that is lifting the back part of the receiver, while pushing down on the front... sort of a twisting force like an old can opener than punctures the can in the triangle shape.

The Andersen creates this same force, but instead of lifting 'up' on the back of the receiver, it pulls 'back' on the bottom. The resulting twisting motion is the same BUT, the Andersen must use quite a bit of tension on the chains because the leverage of pulling on the bottom of their rotating ball assembly is going to be way less than a 3 foot long load bar being pulled up at its end.

Chains can create a lot of tension though, and because they stretch I think that provides some of the dampening effect they describe as 'anti-bounce'.

I still a bit stuck though, as my tongue weight is only 400lbs vs 4500lbs for the trailer, so I don't really need WD... but the sway control part is interesting, as well as the light weight. I don't use my EQ hitch because it weights 170lbs, so I am primarily WD-ing the weight of the hitch itself to get to 'balanced'.

The Andersen would give me the option of fine-tuning the WD without a ton of extra weight... and have a friction sway component to boot.

I'll have to call and see if they can do better... or maybe find a distributor in British Columbia that can sell one.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, The newer brackets are a bit different, but this is how I mount mine so the brackets don't slip on the frame.

[fmr.capt.evi]

I have the older hitch too, as pictured in the previous post; my link plates don't seem to slip, but what I've noticed is that the 5/8 inch set screws, which secure the L-brackets, frequently loosen up, which is pretty damn disconcerting.....maybe it's time for a new hitch.....I see that they've improved that design since I bought this one 5 years ago.

I'm thinking that perhaps that older design might also be the source of some, or all, of the noise.

[mefly2]

Usually, the bulk of the noise on the Equal-i-zer brand comes from the bars moving on the L-brackets. As I said earlier, the pads or Sway Bracket Jackets (pictured above) will reduce that noise considerably ... the L-pins with clips and the actual head socket pivots are the remaining sources of hitch noise (we keep the ball well-greased... reducing noise further) ... in our application, those points are nearly silent. The other groans and grumbles emanate from the trailer or TV, itself.

After miles of utilizing other branded WD hitches, our recent experiences with other than EQ brand WD hitches parallels that of cats ... and that experience further dates back decades to when WD hitches were a rarity and were sometimes even welded to the frame. We choose to patronize USA made *with USA components* hitch sellers. Years ago - what a huge difference the EQ hitch made on a large tandem axle trailer hauling around a sailboat with almost 7500# of ballast in the keel PLUS the weight of the boat and gear! With a high center of gravity, you could feel instant sway control improvement with the EQ hitch utilized. It is great to see the WD hitch offerings continue to develop on the latest iterations.

A further semantics note is that all Equal-izer hitches (EQ) are sway control / weight distributing, but not all weight distributing hitches are equalizers or Equal-i-zers (EQ). The two terms are often used interchangeably ... although they are not the same.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by fmrcaptevil

what I've noticed is that the 5/8 inch set screws, which secure the L-brackets, frequently loosen up.

On mine, one always loosens up and the other doesn't. Whether I tighten the loose one with a wrench or my fingers it stays tight for the same amount of time and then loosens. Since this borders on the supernatural, I live with it and don't want to mess with forces I don't understand.

Friday, thanks for trying to explain it. I can't get past how I can see the bars levering weight distribution, but chains are beyond me. Probably I have to think about it more, but am too lazy to do so. I can see how the chains are tightened on one side and loosened on the other when there's a turn. It looks like there's a spring inside the red thing. That provides sway control. I got the impression the Andersen needs adjustments each time it is put on, but maybe I misread.

I'm not sure why the Canadian gov't has a policy to keep your dollar expensive—seems to hurt exports and makes it less likely Americans will visit. And you still pay extra for things from the US—sort of like foreign aid to the US. Ten years ago the Canadian dollar was about 2/3 the US dollar and traveling in Canada was a bargain, but for you, coming to the US must have been very, very expensive. Several years ago I read cross border traffic was way down, possibly because it is so much more difficult to do (difficult to come to the US, not the other way). I hope you can get Andersen to realize the Canadian dollar is now worth $1.01 US.

Gene

[Airtandem]

remember; righty tighty? there are right hand threads on both sides, so on one side the set-screws will tend to tighten and on the opposite loosen. this is how it was explained to me.

[fmr.capt.evi]

Yes, now that you mention it, I think it is just one side that loosens up. I see that the new ones utilize 2 bolts to secure each L-bracket, so maybe that problem has been solved.

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

On mine, one always loosens up and the other doesn't. Whether I tighten the loose one with a wrench or my fingers it stays tight for the same amount of time and then loosens. Since this borders on the supernatural, I live with it and don't want to mess with forces I don't understand.

Friday, thanks for trying to explain it. I can't get past how I can see the bars levering weight distribution, but chains are beyond me. Probably I have to think about it more, but am too lazy to do so. I can see how the chains are tightened on one side and loosened on the other when there's a turn. It looks like there's a spring inside the red thing. That provides sway control. I got the impression the Andersen needs adjustments each time it is put on, but maybe I misread.


Gene

Gene,

Have you tried Locktite on the screw that keeps loosening? I would try some BLUE Locktite on it tightened with a wrench.

About the Andersen chains.....don't think about pulling up on bars, but try to visualize what the torgue applied to the hitch head when the bars are pulled up from the ends. The hitch head is pushed foward at the top, and pulled back at the bottom.

Regards,
Steve