Hi, I bought a 1975 Sovereign last summer and am learning how to tow! My trailer came with two sway bars. I have one sway ball on the right side of my ball mount.
Does anyone tow with two sway bars?
I talked with a parts guy from a local rv dealership and ask him if they made a ball mount for the main 2 5/16 and for two sway balls. He said they do make it but a quick fix was to buy a six inch metal bar with a hole for another sway ball mount and have it welded onto the mount on the left side to save money.
Welcome to the forums. I clicked each of your links hoping to find a picture of what you were talking about but I think I may know. My suggestion is to stow away what came with the Sovereign and take yourself and the trailer down to a good hitch shop and get a Reese system installed. Please do not weld anything to try and save money when safety is involved. There are other systems available and I am certain others will chime in with their favorites.
Some people actually use 2 but unless you have a really unstable rig it is not necessary. You only have one place to connect so my suspision is the 2nd one is a replacement when he bent the first one by forgetting to disconnect it before he sis some parking manuvers one time.
How big ( heavy and long) is going to determine how much sway control you will need. Your vehicle is a factor as well. You will get a lot of opinionins of whose syste mis the best. My conclusion is they all work. It is more of a factor how well it is set up. Mine wasinitially not set up correctly. I had problems. I had it looked at and adjusted. it works great now.
How large is your trailer? What is your tow vehicle?
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My trailer came with two sway bars. I have one sway ball on the right side of my ball mount.
Tim,
Are they both the Reese friction type device or did maybe the PO decide to upgrade to a different style. From what I've read in the instructions and what the dealer that sold me the hitch head said the friction setting shouldn't be very tight so it seems doubling up wouldn't be advised with this style of anti-sway device. I got one with my trailer but haven't used it yet; missing the little clips that hold it on the ball. From what other people have told me they don't use their's either 'cause they don't do much if you've already got a WD hitch correctly set-up.
Quote:
Does anyone tow with two sway bars?
Good question. Do you have a ball on each side of the A frame on the trailer tongue for attachment?
The friction device your speaking of is basicly one that makes pivoting the trailer on the ball more difficult, thus keeping it in a straight line with the tow vehicle or in other words not swaying. Adding a second will increase this "resistance to turn" or bend. I have used one of these before and properly adjusted they do help "some". Keep in mind that it takes the same force to return to center once movement does occure and the two vehicles tend to remain "out of line" with each other.
Hi, I had a friction sway on my 22 ft CCD, but went with the Reese dual cam - no friction sway - on the 25 ft FB SE..... It may just be my imagination, but I kinda sorta miss the friction bar. Of course it could be that the newer one is almost 4 feet longer (it's actually 25' 10") and weighs a good bit more. When they set up my new hitch, the drop bar was put in with too little drop. Hooking up pulled the back end of the 'burb way down and that contributed to instability. I readjusted the drop (golly it's fun to try to break loose big bolts that are torqued to 200 lbs.) and it does ride more evenly and feels more stable.
Please do not weld anything to try and save money when safety is involved. There are other systems available and I am certain others will chime in with their favorites.
Chaplain Kent,
Welding the sway control tab on to the receiver is an aceptable installation. I like it a lot better than the one that goes on under the ball. I good weld is as strong or stronger than the steel. In reference to the orginal question The sway controls have a weight rating, and if you are right at the weight rating people will quite often add a second one. My two favorite WD and Sway control hitches are the Reese Dual Cam and the Lindon Equalizer. Both are a good value for the money. Also if you read the fine print on a friction sway control, they are supposed to be removed in bad weather, and if they get wet from road spray their sway control abilities are reduced.
Aaron
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Most rv shops sell the sway control ball and weld on plate .Totally fine
but needs to be properly welded ,Mine is welded on the hitch head as
many are .I dont really like adding somthing under the ball itself as some
are made that way ,but then it will still work ok.your sway controll ,unless
jammed rigid, if installed when backing the trailer into a camp spot or your driveway can bend the plate or ball mount on the tongue ,thats why they
say take it off when backing your coach.Normal operation will not cause any weld to break unless its not welded correctly ,poor penetration of the weld
and so on .Get a pro to weld the plate.I think its ez lift sway control that
offers dual sway control ,a control for each side ,hassel for sure ,
The reese seems to be the better choice less to mess with .I think we are
all getting pretty good setting up our hitches ,loads and such ,these forums are a good place to be.
thanks everyone for your time, concern and suggestions. I have two balls on the a-frame one on each side. the sway bars appear to be original and in good condition with no damage. my sovereign is 4900 dry and she is 31 ft and i tow with a chevy 1500 with a max tow weight of 6500lbs. the reason i posted this question is that i had a few woobles on my first trip to upstate ny and since there were two sway bars that came with the trailer, i got to thinking that this would solve the problem with swaying.
the older Reese set up I inherited on my 78, has two small "cups" on the bottom of the ball hitch area, and a smaller ball also on one side. What do those cups do? I have no bars with this set up.
There are two "stirrups" on the tongue with chains.
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here is what I am talking about on the tongue side.....forget the blue arrow, I found out that was a flag mount,,,,,the left photo shows the hitch and "cups" and ball. (Sounds like an athletic supporter)
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The cups are where the trunion bars insert. Sort of a slick setup in that you don't need any clearance below the hitch. Also makes greasing and cleaning much easier than on my old Ea-Z-Lift hitch head. The small ball to the side is where the friction anti-sway device attaches.
Not sure what you mean by stirups. The parts on the top are what you hook the chains from the load bars to. I think the parts hanging down are part of an older Reese anti-sway device sort of like the dual cam; not sure on that and don't know why they have chains attached. I'm sure someone else here knows exactly what they are.
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Hi, I bought a 1975 Sovereign last summer and am learning how to tow! My trailer came with two sway bars. I have one sway ball on the right side of my ball mount. 
The sway controls have a weight rating, and if you are right at the weight rating people will quite often add a second one. My two favorite WD and Sway control hitches are the Reese Dual Cam and the Lindon Equalizer. Both are a good value for the money. Also if you read the fine print on a friction sway control, they are supposed to be removed in bad weather, and if they get wet from road spray their sway control abilities are reduced.
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