Pictures of Reese Dual Cam 600 Damage. Any Ideas?

[Mrs. Bale]

A picture is worth a thousand words. When we hitched up to go camping this weekend, I noticed some damage to the Reese on the driver's side only. We recently replaced our hitch, and it extends out about 10 inches longer (from the receiver) than the prior hitch. I'd be grateful for any input. Thank you!

[ZoomZoom]

Turn the arms over, LH to RH RH to LH. Make sure the spring bars are seated solidly when unit is straight, a little light lube oil might help.
Greg

[dznf0g]

I would bet that the spring bar has corresponding wear to the outside edge of the hooked cam area. It appears your's has a pretty good twist. Mine were both twisted and rough to some extent. I took a dremmel tool and leveled out all the fordging/casting irregularities on the spring bar so the cam and the spring bar had smooth, even contact surfaces. This also quieted the hitch down substantially.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Mrs. Bale

A picture is worth a thousand words. When we hitched up to go camping this weekend, I noticed some damage to the Reese on the driver's side only. We recently replaced our hitch, and it extends out about 10 inches longer (from the receiver) than the prior hitch. I'd be grateful for any input. Thank you!

Apply a little grease to the saddle.

Andy

[10Smiles]

I agree with dzn... The pictures show considerable wear, more than I would expect to see. We use a Reese Dual Cam with our 30'. Ours was noisy when we towed our trailer the first few times. Following advice on this forum, I now lightly grease the cams and pin bearings. This has quieted the hitch right up (I also expect the wear would be significantly less).

Good luck.

David

[Pahaska]

Mine has lasted about 8 years and is now worn about to the point that I will swap the bronze arms side to side as advised by the Reese rep.

I never have appreciable noise except for one loud thump immediately after I hook up and turn for the first time.

Reese says use Vaseline on the cams instead of grease. I have been using just a puff of spray lithium grease instead. Lithium grease dries to a film that doesn't embed grit and is used by motorcyclists on their chains and farmers on equipment. I give the ball and the arm pivots a shot of spray lithium each time I hook up.

[LI Pets]

Originally Posted by Pahaska

Reese says use Vaseline on the cams instead of grease.

That is what Reese stated from their tech dept, grease decreases the friction and sway control

As to the OP pics your arms are need of some serous adjustment, you need a full width contact of friction to control sway

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by LI Pets

That is what Reese stated from their tech dept, grease decreases the friction and sway control

As to the OP pics your arms are need of some serous adjustment, you need a full width contact of friction to control sway

Bob.

The bulk of the "sway control" comes from the torsion of the bars as opposed to the friction. The more the bars bend, the better the control.

My 1000 pounds Reese bars, back in my traveling days were bending almost 3 inches.

Fantastic control.

Just a small film of a lube really has very little effect other than to stop the grinding noise in turns.

Andy

[Mrs. Bale]

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate the input and am having the whole hitch set up checked out.

[HowieE]

Torsional load is what produces the force on the bar. That force determines the friction between the bar and saddle. The force is increased as the bars ride up off the saddle and thus what decreases sway by increasing the friction between them. F=UN. Force equals the coefficient of friction times load.

Your bar is NOT sitting flat on the saddle and thus wearing that grove. While it is not likely that the bar is bent and sitting odd in the saddle check that first.

More likely is the saddle is not square to the face of the bar. I have seen the key way in new Reese saddles arms machined off center and the saddle crooked to the bar and wearing from contacting only one edge of the bar. Yours is wearing extremely hard to one side, showing wear on the shoulder of the saddle also, that indicates the relationship of the bar to saddle is wrong.

If the machining of the key way is off I would contact Reese. They are quite aware of the problems they are having with their source in Mexico and should make it good.

[Mrs. Bale]

Thank you, Howie. I didn't actually check the bar carefully to see if it is bent, so I will do that tonight. I am thinking that you have it spot on about the face of the bar not being parallel with the face of the saddle. We recently had to replace the shank/stinger on our hitch to accommodate the bumper height of our new TV. I wonder if something got mis- adjusted when they put it back together ? We didn't have any signs of wear until we replaced the hitch.

[HowieE]

If you had a Dealer install the new parts I can guarantee they are wrong. No Dealer will spend the time to install a Reese Hitch correctly.

Another thing to check is the contact between the yoke and the bars on hard turns. Reese did not allow enough clearance in the current design and they frequently hit, most often resulting in the saddle arm bending.

[norsea]

While long, you might find this thread of interest: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f464...-up-43568.html

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by HowieE

If you had a Dealer install the new parts I can guarantee they are wrong. No Dealer will spend the time to install a Reese Hitch correctly.

Another thing to check is the contact between the yoke and the bars on hard turns. Reese did not allow enough clearance in the current design and they frequently hit, most often resulting in the saddle arm bending.

Howie, not quite true.

I agree that most dealers don't have a clue of how to properly install Reese hitches, but not all of them. For that matter, most dealers don't know how to properly spec out the rating of the hitch, so as to provide optimum performance for the owner.

I taught dealers "how to do it" on behalf of Reese, and at their request, at the Airstream service schools in the early 70's, both in Ohio and California.

Andy

[nm1oqrz]

Hello Andy. You mention that to heavy of duty tow vehicle and WD bars not adjusted properly can damage the Airstream. Would you explain what you mean by to heavy duty TV and also the proper proceedure to setting up the WD bars. Thanks and Happy camping. nm1oqrz

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

Howie, not quite true.

I agree that most dealers don't have a clue of how to properly install Reese hitches, but not all of them. For that matter, most dealers don't know how to properly spec out the rating of the hitch, so as to provide optimum performance for the owner.

I taught dealers "how to do it" on behalf of Reese, and at their request, at the Airstream service schools in the early 70's, both in Ohio and California.

Andy