Sway Bars

tincanholiday · 05-20-2004, 03:20 PM

I bought my Excella 500 last December, the seller kindly lent me a tow ballhitch and some sway bars. I used it a few times and it seemed to waggle a little. I am towing with a Ford Expedition. I have had to give the hitch and the bars back and am in the market to get some new ones. I want to get something that will be safe and prevent as much waggle and weave as possible. I called an RV dealer and he quoted me over a $1000 installed. I then called a trailer company and they quoted $400 for the parts. I am not an expert at the jargon so I may not be explaining myself to them on the phone. I live in Clermont (in between Orlando and Tampa), My vehicle already has the hitch and electrioc brake hookups installed so i am looking for a ball and 2 metal bars and something that fixes on the trailer to hook them too. Or am I dreaming. Help please.

COArgosy78 · 05-20-2004, 03:36 PM

Hello - have you checked some of the past posts for information and links to the following:

Reese Dual Cam
Hensley Hitch
Equilizer Hitch

There is one post that was doing a survey of which was best. Try putting those names into the search box and it might give you some help..

**jcanavera** · 05-20-2004, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tincanholiday

I bought my Excella 500 last December, the seller kindly lent me a tow ballhitch and some sway bars. I am not an expert at the jargon so I may not be explaining myself to them on the phone. I live in Clermont (in between Orlando and Tampa), My vehicle already has the hitch and electrioc brake hookups installed so i am looking for a ball and 2 metal bars and something that fixes on the trailer to hook them too. Or am I dreaming. Help please.

You have 2 issues to deal with. One is weight distribution the other is sway control. You may have used trunion bars which are used to distribute weight and not counter sway, which would account for the wiggle you experienced.

There are a lot of areas discussed in the towing sub forum. My suggestion is to read there and then ask some questions if you still need further assistance. This is too important a topic for you to blindly turn this over to a dealer for solution. Here is the link.

http://www.airforums.com/forum...play.php?f=238

Let us know what we can do to help you.

Regards,

Jack

crazylev · 05-20-2004, 05:03 PM

I've been really happy with the Equilizer Hitch set-up. I have not used it much yet, but drove from the dealer to home- a six and a half hour drive for me, never having towed anything before.

The hitch was noisey, but solved that with grease on the ball, and where the bars go through the retainer bracket things.

I'm towing a 19' Bambi CCD with a 2001 VW Eurovan and noticed that everytime a semi, truck or any fast vehicle flew past, I hardly noticed any sway, even with my set-up.

In fact, I get more sway from the Eurovan when I'm not hitched up to anything! Interesting.

I do noticed a push-pull sensation at lower speeds- 30 45mph. I can only imagine what this is doing to my Eurovan

Jonathan

James Schmidt · 05-28-2004, 07:34 AM

Hi and Welcome,
I am a Hensley hitch owner and pull with a Ford Expedition. I am very pleased with the set-up. If you need any information on the operation and/or installations, I'll be happy to help.

Silvertwinkie · 05-28-2004, 07:42 AM

Hensley is good, pricey, but good. I have the Reese Dual Cam (new version withough brackets) and it seems to do just fine. The only time I notice sway is when there is 45-50 mph winds pushing the coach from either side. Hitch installed cost about $750 when I first bought it when we had the Bambi with friction sway control, then I upgraded to the to the dual cam for $159.