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ROBERTSUNRUS · 11-24-2012, 08:18 PM

Hi, I would like to start a new thread about the Equal-i-zer brand hitch. And hopefully only about the Equal-i-zer brand hitch. This should be for owners, users, and those who might be interested in this hitch.

Please don't post on this thread to bash this hitch, compare with other brand hitches, or the mine is better and safer than your's type comments.

I have owned my trailer, which came with this hitch, for eight years. I have made a few modifications of my own to prevent frame bracket slippage. My trailer has been towed in 13 Western States and 3 Canadian Province's. I have towed in heat well over 100 degrees, as low as zero degrees, in high winds, rain, snow, and on ice. This hitch has worked well for me.

" In the eight years that I have owned my trailer, it has only swayed violently out of control once; This was while it was parked in my driveway during a 5.0 Earth quake".

ROBERTSUNRUS · 11-24-2012, 08:25 PM

Hi, yesterday I started to prep my Equal-i-zer brand hitch head for my next trip. [nothing planned at this time] I do this after each trip. My last trip was from Lakewood, Ca. to Salem, Oregon and back. So it needs to be taken apart, cleaned and greased. I also wanted to make another adjustment on it.

One of the things that I wanted to do was to change the bolts for the hitch head. I bought grade eight bolts. These were longer because, as you might see in the picture, the threads got smashed by the bracket because the solid shank is too short on the factory bolts.

halimer · 11-24-2012, 08:33 PM

What modifications have you to prevent the frame brackets from slipping?
I too clean, re-lube and re-torque after each major trip.

mark

ROBERTSUNRUS · 11-24-2012, 08:34 PM

Hi, with my hitch head disassembled, I put the two different bolts in place so you can see the bolt shank goes across both sides of the head assembly. You can see the longer grade eight bolt fits better in the holes. Pressure will be on the bolt shanks, not the threads.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 11-24-2012, 08:43 PM

Hi, I also wanted/needed a little more tilt on the hitch head to transfer a bit more weight to my front axle and a bit less weight on my rear axle. I already had six washers in it and added one more to make it seven. When I pre-assembled the hitch head, I thought the angle was too much, so I found a half thickness washer to use. This seems like it will make the little diffence that I needed.

(1.) Shows seven washers in place.

(2.) Shows what I call six and one half washers. Click on picture to enlarge. [easier to see]

rogerdodger · 11-24-2012, 08:45 PM

Ok, I will chime in. I had an Equal-I-Zer hitch on my sob, and it towed really well. No sway, even when trucks jammed by on 99 and I-5. I sold the hitch with the trailer. After buying the Argosy, an Equal-I-Zer was for sale on Craiglist for $150 new still in the box, so I jumped on it. Can't wait to get my Argosy on the road with it. It is the best hitch I have owned. (Athough I have not tried them all, I am happy with this one!)

rogerdodger · 11-24-2012, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, I also wanted/needed a little more tilt on the hitch head to transfer a bit more weight to my front axle and a bit less weight on my rear axle. I already had six washers in it and added one more to make it seven. When I pre-assembled the hitch head, I thought the angle was too much, so I found a half thickness washer to use. This seems like it will make the little diffence that I needed.

(1.) Shows seven washers in place.

(2.) Shows what I call six and one half washers. Click on picture to enlarge. [easier to see]

Interesting! Didn't know u could put that many washers in. I thought 5 was max.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 11-24-2012, 08:53 PM

Hi, now that I have my new bolts, nuts, and lock washers, it's time to start putting it together. The new bolts were too long on the threaded part so I double nutted them for a guide to cut the ends off with my pneumatic cut-off wheel. After it was assembled, it got some spray paint.

dkottum · 11-24-2012, 08:59 PM

Bob, the criteria for posting on this thread is quite limiting so I"ll just say I owned one for three cross-country trips and now I don't.

doug k

ROBERTSUNRUS · 11-24-2012, 09:03 PM

Hi, on the bottom of the top part of the hitch head were the spring bar sockets ride, Mine got a few wear marks on it. I cleaned those up with my cut-off wheel, being used as a grinder. Then my spring bar sockets can be greased and installed.

(1.) You can see were I did some grinding.

(2.) On my hitch, the socket bolts go in through the bottom.

(3.) Top view with sockets greased and torqued in place. I also changed these bolts to grade eight bolts. And also had to cut some of the threads off because they were too long. I torque these bolts to 80 lbs.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 11-24-2012, 09:12 PM

Hi, now that my hitch is all back together, painted, greased, and torqued, it's time to grease the ball and cover it up so it will be ready for our next trip.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 11-24-2012, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by halimer

What modifications have you to prevent the frame brackets from slipping?
I too clean, re-lube and re-torque after each major trip.

mark

Hi, Mark. What I did was to add a third bolt assembly to the frame brackets. On the top bolt and bottom [third bolt] I used a piece of 1/2" copper tubing that I cut to the same width as my frame. This allows for tightening the bolts tight enough to hold, but not allow then to bow. I will locate a picture for you if I can find it.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 11-24-2012, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by halimer

What modifications have you to prevent the frame brackets from slipping?
I too clean, re-lube and re-torque after each major trip.

mark

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, Mark. What I did was to add a third bolt assembly to the frame brackets. On the top bolt and bottom [third bolt] I used a piece of 1/2" copper tubing that I cut to the same width as my frame. This allows for tightening the bolts tight enough to hold, but not allow then to bow. I will locate a picture for you if I can find it.

Hi, here are a few pictures showing what I did. After this modification, my brackets have never slipped.

Note: the first set of copper tubing sleeves were cut at 2"s, this set came out about a 1/16" shorter, but still work great.

SilverGate · 11-24-2012, 11:48 PM

Thanks, Bob, for starting this thread and for spelling it correctly to underscore that this is about a specific brand, the Equal-i-zer 4-Point Sway Control Trailer Hitch, and not about equalizer or equalizing hitches in general.

And thanks for keeping the focus for those of us who are "owners, users, and those who might be interested in this hitch", and not for bashers, who seem to come out of the woodwork on this topic with often questionable motivations.

I ordered this hitch, along with my custom factory order of my 2007 23' Airstream Safari, from an Airstream Dealer, and I specified 1000 lb. spring bars. (My tow vehicle is a 2-wheel drive F-250 Super Duty truck.) Although there is some controversy over the appropriate size of spring bars, I can say that over the past 6 years this configuration has been just fine for my trailer and truck combination.

Another concern/question raised on AirForums is how the L-Bracket is attached in relation to the propane line. I have never changed the way the dealer attached my L-bracket and it has worked just fine. I just made sure the bottom bolt was not over tightened, which could bend the bracket.

I have learned to keep the hitch ball clean, tight, and lubed. I use white lithium grease for lubrication here and also between the L-Bracket and the spring arm. I check and tighten the socket bolts to 45 lbs. torque yearly.

When not using the spring bars, they are stored in custom made PVC tubes.

This hitch is easy to use and works well for me:

Equal-i-zer Trailer Hitch

ROBERTSUNRUS · 11-25-2012, 12:31 AM

Hi, SilverGate. In one of the above pictures, you can see that I use the plastic "L" bracket pads. I made a tray, that is in my storage compartment, to hold my spring bars.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 11-25-2012, 12:52 AM

Hi, I watched the video and in my opinion there was a few things they did that I consider wrong. This has to do with the hair pin clips.

(1.) Install the spring bar socket pins from the outside with the clips on the inside.

(2.) Always install the "L" pin clips from the front. [open end facing the rear]

The reason that I do this is so that if you ever run over something like a bush, tumble weed, or whatever, it won't pull the pins out. I also bring spare clips.

Farmer Dan · 11-25-2012, 08:21 AM

Mark,
You asked how to prevent the frame brackets from slipping. For both of my Equalizers, a 600 and 1000 lb, I had a local welder make the inside of frame straps into a channel iron by welding straps about 3/16" X 1" on each edge of each piece. This prevents the flat straps from bending while tightening them down. Another thing I did was to put two 1/4" stainless steel Tek screws behind each frame bracket. I hung the brackets on the A-frame in the appropriate place and marked at the bracket rear edge. Tek screws are self drilling but I predrilled anyhow. These are located about 1" from top and bottom of the A-frame.
Dan

No. 13 · 11-25-2012, 09:10 AM

Great thread Bob. I noticed someone had to get a subtle dig in on the Equal-izer. I have no comparison for my opinion, but after 16 weekend trips in the past 12 months I have had zero problems. It took a few minor adjustments to get dialed in, but now rides great.

I like your half-washer idea...perfect for fine tuning. Question though: why so many washers, rather than moving up on the L-bracket? I have never had my L-brackets move around on me...yet, but keep them pretty high toward the frame and use less washers.

I also noticed that the newest Equal-izers do not use the through-bolt that taps into the frame...anyone know why they stopped using it?

Gene

Ag&Au · 11-25-2012, 09:17 AM

I towed a 21 foot Bigfoot with an Equal-I-Zer for 9 years. I had no problems that were not self induced. The only significant problem was trying to back up from the flat to a steep upslope. The rear wheels on the tow vehicle started to spin in the gravel, so I solved the problem by engaging the 4WD. I thought nothing else about it, until I went to hook up to leave a few days later. I found that the hitch seemed to be out of adjustment, because the bar ends were above the bracket. After removing the bars, and inspecting them, I found they both had been bent in the up hill backing. I made do for the rest of the trip, by turning both bars upside down. When I got home I up graded to the larger capacity hitch. I believe the original was 6000# rating on a 6300# GVW trailer. I upgraded to the 10,000# hitch. I also made a note to always remove the bars from the brackets before backing up a steep slope.

Hopefully, this post will keep someone else from learning this lesson the hard way.

Ken

Airtandem · 11-25-2012, 09:30 AM

This thread is becoming very interesting. I just bought brand "A" because I was dissatisfied with my Equilizer. It was noisy, did little to correct sway and was heavy. The only thing I liked was the ease of hooking up. I would think that 3 different dealers would know how to install one properly. Mine was installed with ball straight up, and "L" bracket holder low on the trailer. I could not adjust the bars higher to transfer weight because the adjusting bolt was in the way. I asked about reversing the "L" bracket holder and was told no because there would not be enough support for the "L" bracket. In looking at Bob's pix, this is what I wanted to do.
I wish this thread had been started earlier and I could have saved $$$. I do like my "A" as it is doing what my "E" should have been doing if it had been installed correctly.