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08-02-2010, 07:55 AM
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#1
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1 Rivet Member
2012 25' FB Flying Cloud
Greenwood Village
, Colorado
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 19
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Hitch Damage
I've been towing with an Equalizer hitch for about three years without issue.
After finishing our last trip (RMNP to Denver), I unhitched and found that the pins that connect the weigth distribution arms to the hitch were slightly bent.
Anybody experience this or have any idea what could casue this?
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08-02-2010, 08:01 AM
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#2
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Rivet Master
Airstream Dealer
Corona
, California
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 16,497
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hyperion
I've been towing with an Equalizer hitch for about three years without issue.
After finishing our last trip (RMNP to Denver), I unhitched and found that the pins that connect the weigth distribution arms to the hitch were slightly bent.
Anybody experience this or have any idea what could casue this?
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The design of the hitch, causes the problem you experienced.
Andy
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08-02-2010, 08:23 AM
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#3
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Rivet Master
1977 31' Sovereign
1963 26' Overlander
1989 34' Excella
Johnsburg
, Illinois
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,944
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You have encountered more rough roads during your trip than the designers of the equalizer hitch had designed for. The hitch W/D bars on Equalizer hitches are very strong. They are strong enough to bend the pins that attach the bars to the receiver head. These loads were likely also strong enough to do damage to your trailer. Make sure to check over the trailer and correct any damage found.
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08-02-2010, 08:27 AM
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#4
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Antiquepedaler
2010 25' FB Flying Cloud
Currently Looking...
Laramie
, Wyoming
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 831
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Been using the Equal-i-zer on all four trailers. Never experienced a bent pin. But did experience bent "L" brackets a couple of times on the 28'. That was apparently due to very sharp turns. No problems with the following three trailers.
__________________
Antique Pedaler
2021 Caravel 20 FB
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08-02-2010, 08:41 AM
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#5
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Rivet Master
1977 31' Sovereign
1963 26' Overlander
1989 34' Excella
Johnsburg
, Illinois
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,944
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Contact Equalizer about your bent pins or other parts. They need to hear from a bunch of people about the problems you are having with their product. If they do not hear anything, they think everything is great and they do not need to improve their product for the future. Most of these small companies do not have sufficient funds to have an extensive market use testing department. Things will not get better unless they know you have a problem.
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08-02-2010, 10:20 AM
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#6
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Rivet Master
Port Orchard
, Washington
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 4,463
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hyperion
I've been towing with an Equalizer hitch for about three years without issue.
After finishing our last trip (RMNP to Denver), I unhitched and found that the pins that connect the weigth distribution arms to the hitch were slightly bent.
Anybody experience this or have any idea what could casue this?
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I actually bent the bars on a 600# tongue weight Equal-I-Zer.
I had to back up an incline to a camping spot. The rear wheels starting spinning in the gravel, so I simply selected 4 wheel drive and continued up the hill.
It did not register what was going on until I discovered that the hitch was out of adjustment when I hitched up to leave and found both bars bent. It was then that I realized that as the trailer started up the incline, the trailer and hitch bars were acting as a lever and were raising the rear of the Tow vehicle taking the weight and traction off the rear wheels.
It did nothing to the pins however. The only way I can visualize the pins bending is if the bars were a size smaller that the head.
This was with a 21 foot SOB. I think, with my air stream, the rear of the trailer would have dug into the gravel long before the wheels got a chance to start up the hill.
regards,
Ken
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08-02-2010, 10:31 AM
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#7
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Rivet Master
Port Orchard
, Washington
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 4,463
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In
The design of the hitch, causes the problem you experienced.
Andy
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Thats doesn't seem to be particularly helpful answer Andy. What are the forces causing the problem?
Ken
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08-02-2010, 10:59 AM
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#8
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Rivet Master
Airstream Dealer
Corona
, California
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 16,497
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Quote:
Originally Posted by w7ts
Thats doesn't seem to be particularly helpful answer Andy. What are the forces causing the problem?
Ken
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I am not a mechanical engineer, therefore I do not know "why" that damage happens, other than simply using the hitch.
In most circles of engineering, I think the vote would go to a "design fault".
Andy
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08-02-2010, 11:24 AM
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#9
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Master of Universe
2008 25' Safari FB SE
Grand Junction
, Colorado
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 12,711
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I can't imagine how the pins could bend, but obviously they did. The bare metal L pins (they don't look like pins, but they function sort of like pins) do bend and Equalizer will tell you that's normal.
The roads from Denver to RMNP are not rough, or weren't the last time I went that way. Hyp', when was your hitch last adjusted? Who did it? Ours was put on by a Denver dealer and badly adjusted, not enough to bend the pins though. I finally re-adjusted it and the trailer rode better.
The assembly mounted on the sides of the tongue can slide and knock adjustment out. Ours slid forward at the end of our last trip, about 16,000 miles after I adjusted it. I will have to do the adjustment again. This can happen on other hitches too—I just saw a Reese hitch where the brackets on the side of the tongue had moved and one had bent far out of shape. We tried to bend it back and only were partly successful. The forces on these hitches are many, many pounds and maladjustment can cause some strange damage.
Gene
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08-02-2010, 11:36 AM
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#10
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2 Rivet Member
2008 27' International CCD FB
Minnetonka
, Minnesota
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 76
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Ive been using equalizer over the past four years and on two different airstrams, a 19 and now a 27FB. In the 19 my L brackets kept bending and therefore bacame loose. After trading emails with equalizer i discovered my dealer installed it wrong. In that, the lower bolt holding the bracket snug to the frame was too low (to accomodate the gas line) this put too big a gap and leverage bent the L bracket. So on my new trailer i informed the dealer and they bent the gas line down a bit to make room for the bolts to be snug up to the frame. Havent had a problem since.
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08-02-2010, 12:35 PM
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#11
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Master of Universe
2008 25' Safari FB SE
Grand Junction
, Colorado
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 12,711
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Terminology gets confusing. There are 3 pieces to the black sway control brackets on the side of the tongue. Two bolt together (inside and outside link plates) and are supposed to stay in place. I was told by Equalizer to torque those bolts to 50 lbs. I have not bent my gas line, but that part did not move as much as the other side. There is an L bracket that bolts to the other parts and is supposed to move a little on older models. The newer versions (since 2009) are a little different. Then there is bare metal L pin that holds the bars in place. The bars are officially "spring arms".
There is a good thread on Equalizer issues, but it would take me a long time to find it. Try searching to learn more than you thought you could know about them.
Equalizer's website has a lot of info too and if you call them they will answer stupid and intelligent questions—I have asked both, mainly the stupid ones.
A thought, Hyp': Could the bars be mismatched with the receivers ("sockets") on the hitch head? The 1,200 and 1,400 lb. bars are the same size, but all the others are different by 1/8" or 1/4". If a smaller bar was placed in a larger receiver, there could be enough play to bend the socket pins (they look like clevis pins to me). If the dealer was putting on two Equalizers at the same time, the bars could have gotten mixed up. The Equalizer site, under product specs, gives the diameters of each bar.
Gene
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08-02-2010, 05:26 PM
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#12
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Rivet Master
1977 31' Sovereign
1963 26' Overlander
1989 34' Excella
Johnsburg
, Illinois
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,944
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I thought the Equalizer bars had a square cross section, not a diameter.
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08-02-2010, 06:01 PM
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#13
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Master of Universe
2008 25' Safari FB SE
Grand Junction
, Colorado
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 12,711
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dwightdi
I thought the Equalizer bars had a square cross section, not a diameter.
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Yes, my bad for fitting a round peg in a square hole.
Gene
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08-02-2010, 06:27 PM
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#14
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Rivet Master
Port Orchard
, Washington
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 4,463
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Yale and Gene are not to be questioned
Quote:
Originally Posted by dwightdi
I thought the Equalizer bars had a square cross section, not a diameter.
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From:
Fractal Geometry
Quote:
The diameter of a set is the maximum distance between any pair of points in the set.
For example, the diameter of a circle is just the common notion of diameter; the diameter of a square is the diagonal length of the square.
Some diametersBecause all the IFS rules are contractions, the diameter of a region of address length N goes to 0 as N goes to infinity.
We illustrate this with the four transformations
T3(x, y) = (x/2, y/2) + (0, 1/2)T4(x, y) = (x/2, y/2) + (1/2, 1/2)T1(x, y) = (x/2, y/2)T2(x, y) = (x/2, y/2) + (1/2, 0) As an IFS, these generate the unit square, S. We see
- diam(TjTi(S)) = sqrt(2)/4
and in general - diam(TiN...Ti1(S)) = sqrt(2)/(2N)
Consequently, diam(TiN...Ti1(S)) -> 0 as N -> infinity.
End of quote
Ponder that for a while.
Regards,
Ken
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08-02-2010, 06:30 PM
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#15
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Master of Universe
2008 25' Safari FB SE
Grand Junction
, Colorado
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 12,711
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Of course, that's what I meant.
Gene
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08-02-2010, 06:34 PM
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#16
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Rivet Master
2006 19' Safari SE
Tucson
, Arizona
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 4,627
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Oy.
__________________
TB & Greg and Abbey Schnauzer
AirForums #21900
PastPrez, 4CU/WBCCI
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08-03-2010, 10:27 PM
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#17
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1 Rivet Member
2012 25' FB Flying Cloud
Greenwood Village
, Colorado
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 19
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Wow, thanks for the many responses (though I won’t pretend to understand the math).
I don’t recall any especially rough roads towing home. Paved roads for the entire trip, including the campground (Aspen Glen next to the Beaver Meadows entrance).
I checked the trailer over this evening and didn’t spot any damage. So hopefully the injury was limited to the pins. I have a replacement set in hand.
I did as suggested and contacted Equalizer. Very friendly, and they had a couple of ideas. First, they wondered if something had come in contact with the spring arms - I don’t think so, but I guess it’s possible. They also said I should check the torque on the bolts that attach the spring arms to the hitch. Torque should be between 45 and 65 pounds. Haven’t done that yet, but on my list for later this week.
I should mention that I recently adjusted the hitch. Mine was also installed less than perfectly by the dealer (not a Denver dealer), so I tore it apart and adjusted to get a better ride. Leaving the dealer, I had a noticeable sag in the middle. I have it adjusted now so that the trailer is level, the rear end of the SUV (Sequoia) sits slightly lower than when unhitched, and the front end is unchanged. I have about 500 miles on the adjusted hitch and it tows much better. No issues before finding this problem.
I think I have the hitch set up correctly - my conversations with the manufacturer seem to confirm this. I’m going to give the setup a once over, tighten everything up (anyone else purchase an industrial torque wrench to get the 320 pounds needed for the shank bolts?), and take it for a short test tow to see what happens. Hopefully this was an isolated, one-off event.
Many thanks for the responses. Great group here.
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08-03-2010, 11:37 PM
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#18
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Rivet Master
2005 25' Safari
Salem
, Oregon
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,376
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Hi, looking at you picture makes me think that your spring bars are binding and the bars are either being pushed or pulled too hard for the pins. Or somehow something blocked the full travel of the spring bars, and the pin is the weak link. As for the "L" brackets sliding on the frame, you have the inner and outer brackets; The top bolt lays on the frame and the bottom bolt should be as close to the bottom of the frame as possible. This means moving your propane line downward a bit. When you tighten these bracket bolts, the brackets tend to bow. (I I) Like this. To prevent this, on the very bottom bolt hole, I made and installed a spacer out of copper tubing. The spacer is the same size as the thickness of my frame. With my copper tubing spacer installed in the bottom hole with the third nut & bolt through it, I can tighten the other bolts really tight without bowing the mounting brackets. When your mounting brackets bow, you only have four little spots holding them in place and they will move on your frame. If your mounting brackets are strait, the bolts are too loose. If your mounting brackets are bowed then the bolts are too tight. That is why I modified mine. Since I modified mine, They never move anymore.
__________________
Bob 2005 Safari 25-B
"Le Petit Chateau Argent" Small Silver Castle
2000 Navigator / 2014 F-150 Eco-Boost / Equal-i-zer / P-3
YAMAHA 2400 / AIR #12144
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08-04-2010, 08:37 AM
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#19
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Moderator
2004 30' Classic Slideout
Fenton
, Missouri
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 10,408
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Randjg1
Ive been using equalizer over the past four years and on two different airstrams, a 19 and now a 27FB. In the 19 my L brackets kept bending and therefore bacame loose. After trading emails with equalizer i discovered my dealer installed it wrong. In that, the lower bolt holding the bracket snug to the frame was too low (to accomodate the gas line) this put too big a gap and leverage bent the L bracket. So on my new trailer i informed the dealer and they bent the gas line down a bit to make room for the bolts to be snug up to the frame. Havent had a problem since.
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That is a common problem, and many dealers did do the installation improperly while attempting to avoid that gas line. My trailer is a prime example. Those of you with Equal-i-zer hitches should inspect that bracket. Once I informed my dealer of the situation, he offered to reinstall the bracket correctly.
Jack
__________________
Jack Canavera
STL Mo.
AIR #56 S/OS#15
'04 Classic 30' S.O.,'03 GMC Savana 2500
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08-04-2010, 11:21 AM
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#20
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4 Rivet Member
1971 27' Overlander
Antlers
, Oklahoma
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 426
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I have a quick question - Are all of these hitches just Equal-i-zer or their new E2 WDH? I have the E2 and have not had any problems, but, I set it up myself and (as of yet) have not towed my trailer very far (200 miles). Next year though, look out lol.
__________________
Mel
2006 GMC 1500 SLE Crew Cab
5.3L V8 Towing Package
Equal-i-zer E2
AIR # 40365
TAC # OK-3
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