How do I Install an Adjustable Shank on my Hitch??

[markdoane]

Sergei,

It looks to me like the cam arm is located too far forward.

If you snug up the chains a few more links and if the tow vehicle and trailer are in a straight line, the cam should ride in the center of the cam notch that was welded onto the bar.

[SmokelessJoe]

Don,

Yes, I too had noticed that looking at the photos earlier today.

The old Reese literature gives very specific instructions on how to drive the rig in a straight line and then make sure that the Cam Arm is making contact on BOTH sides of the Cam.

When I do the final, final set up, once the Mini is aboard, I will be careful to take all these things into account.

Sergei

[bhayden]

I guess it's withstood the test of time but the welding on the spring arms scares me. My question about the hooks on the tongue was if there is a moving bail that you insert a bar in to "snap" the chains up into place. Some set-ups I've seen just have fixed hooks on the A frame which means you have to jack the trailer up after it's attached to the ball in order to set the chains. When you let it back down the chains are tensioned. I always jack the trailer up some rather than using a pry bar to put all the tension on the chains. I'm even more careful to take tension off the chains with the hitch before releasing the chains. The pry bar can snap back with a nasty kick!

[bhayden]

Originally Posted by SmokelessJoe

The lady that runs the factory has been there 39 years. I think she said my style of hitch stopped being made in 1973.

She said everything was in good shape and advised to always use a good quantity of good quality fiber grease in the cups.

Well I guess I just missed out on the L/R arms. I think my parents bought their horse trailer in '74 (pulled it with a '72 Pontiac Safari station wagon) and I think I bought my first WD hitch in '79.

Grease is important. The challenge is keeping the dirt out. Just be sure to have a rag or sock handy to cover the ends of the bars. The challenge with the cups is you can't really see or get in there to clean it out. If you're careful about wiping off the ends of the bars and re-greasing at regular intervals that should take care of it.

[SmokelessJoe]

It turned out that the Hi-Low shank I got last week didn’t have enough range. It would have worked to move the trailer this week but it wouldn’t have worked once I got the Mini up on the Sprinter’s deck.

So I went back to the Eaz-Lift factory in London, Ontario to see if I could change it out for the drop only Extra Low shank.

Even though Eaz-Lift is not set up to deal direct with the public Lynda Aristone, the General manager, very nicely agreed to swap pieces with me.



This is Lynda, 39 years with the company.

The U channel Lynda gave me was last week welded onto my old hitch ball mount. It’ll be painted before I go out on the road.



I used 5 washers to get the correct angle for the ball.

Luckily, I installed this out front of Wiltsie’s truck body place. The top most bolt with the serrated washers needs to be torqued to 260 pounds. I’d read somewhere on the VAL list that someone had paid $12.00 for a torque wrench. I don’t know how that is possible. When I drove the truck to the back of the plant to have Brad torque it for me the wrench turned out to be about 4 feet long and looked like it cost a couple of hundred dollars minimum.



Don, note that we moved the Cam Lever back about an inch on the frame. The cam is seated correctly now and the chains hang straight down too.

Bernie, I used good grease and will make a pair of socks to cover the bars when I am storing them, probably in my new bumper box.
I don’t worry about the welded cams. Upon inspection, they look as strong as the bars to me.

We will do this set up all over again when the truck deck is finished. Now I know how to do it.

Thanks again to everyone for the help given.


Sergei

[eubank]

Sergei, we have a similars setup on our Ford. One thing to keep in mind: If you decide to take the truck for a tour on back roads (sans Airstream), take the hitch off. We dragged bottom on ours several times when going through low-water crossings and over rocks.

Lynn

[SmokelessJoe]

Lynn, thanks.

I guess I’ll be doing the back roads in the Mini but I’ll be removing the hitch and locking it up in one of the possum belly tool chests on the truck when I’m unhitched.

I am also going to have someone cut that 1-1/2” or 2” of unused shank off with a band saw later.

Sergei

[bhayden]

Originally Posted by SmokelessJoe

It turned out that the Hi-Low shank I got last week didn’t have enough range. It would have worked to move the trailer this week but it wouldn’t have worked once I got the Mini up on the Sprinter’s deck.

Sergei,
I don't get it? It sounds like you traded for a hitch that extends down farther but when you load the Mini on the truck won't that have the effect of lowering the ball? Anyway, I think the hitch height recommendation makes the assumtion that you're going to "even out" the tongue weight with the WD hitch. With a cargo van like your Sprinter I think you're going to want to let the rear take a good percentage of the load, at least when you don't have the Mini on the truck. It's definitely a whole different ball game towing with or without the Mini.

-Bernie

[SmokelessJoe]

Bernie, thanks for spotting the error I made in trying to explain things.

I wrote one sentence exactly backwards.

In actual fact, the Hi Low shank would have worked with the MINI loaded. The trouble was that I couldn’t get the ball and receiver closer than about 2” apart without load on the truck.

Although I might rarely pull the trailer without the Mini aboard, and had actually toyed with the idea of pulling the trailer the short distance to the park like that, I decided to make everything correct and exchange the shank.

Maybe I made the writing mistake either because I wrote too early in the morning or too late at night.

You can see that the Extra Low shank sits very low. That’s why I am going to band saw off the unused couple of inches at the bottom.

The standard shanks have a maximum drop of 5 3/4”. I needed around 7” but you have to buy the 9 1/2” drop to get that.

Sergei

[REDNAX]

"You can see that the Extra Long shank sits very low. That’s why I am going to band saw off the unused couple of inches at the bottom."

Might also consider one of the "skid rollers" that can be attached to hit the ground and allow you to keep moving (keep from digging in).

Paktron Weld-On Rollers