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Old 03-29-2011, 02:56 AM   #1
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1969 27' Overlander
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Hitch sway or weight or both!!!!

Hi all

I have an Overlander 1969 behind my old Cadillac sedan de ville 1959.


my cadillac have 2" reciever hitch system.
for now i am using a normal putnam 2" arm with 2 inch raise.
the cadillac is mounted with hijackers, so i can raise the rearend with air.
but the rear end of the car is very soft.
next is to change the tires ( can only get 35 psi in the white walls).

but do i need swaybar and/or weight disp. system..

i have looked at reese systems but do i need 600,800 or 1000 bars ??

can someone please explain the weight disp. system to me ??

will my towing with the Cadillac be better more control etc....

here in Europe we only use sway control on our RV's which is built in the hitchsystem (Alko)

Regards
Peter
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Old 03-29-2011, 03:19 AM   #2
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Info
service.airstream.com/files/library/f4ab6e15e9172111.pdf
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Old 03-29-2011, 05:40 AM   #3
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In addition to the link above, a simple English explanation is:
The tongue of the trailer weighs down the rear axle of the car. When that happens, it also removes some weight from the front axle of the car. Air shocks will level the car, but not replace the weight to the front axle, this will cause reduced steering.
Weight distribution uses steel arms under tension to force the weight back onto the front axle, helping the steering.
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Old 03-29-2011, 08:06 AM   #4
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Be careful. There were lots of crashes with cars with air shocks of that era because the air shocks mask the degree to which the weight is badly distributed.

Back in the day they would have used WD and two friction sway dampers. The problem with that setup is that the friction bars could be set wrong or not tightened at all and there would be no indication of a problem until it was too late. Modern hitches, like the Reese dual cam, address that. Unless your goal is a museum-like degree of faithfulness to originality, those would be the hitches to consider, as well as the Propride and Hensley hitches.
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Old 03-29-2011, 08:19 AM   #5
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Thumb Area , Michigan
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Luc DK
Many years ago my Father towed a 30 foot trailer with a very large 1977 Cadillac equipped with extremely soft suspension. He used a Reese Hitch. Because trailers tongue weight depressed the rear of the Cadillac so much he had to use 1000 pound bars to transfer enough weight to level the car and trailer. I would suggest that you private message Andy at inlandrv.com he towed with similar vehicles in the past.
Best wishes to you in Denmark
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Old 03-29-2011, 08:22 AM   #6
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What works for me with a '71 Buick Centurion, essentially a Cadillac, a WDH hitch, 1000# bars and sway control. The great difference of distance of the car's axle to the hitch requires 1000# bars rather than lesser bars some would need for a truck. My tonque weight is 500#. A sway bar has eliminated the little sway problem. I disable my air shocks as they 'compromsed' the effectiveness of the WDH.
Neil
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