Hey guys! I just picked up my first toy hauler today, and after reading tons of great reviews I went with the Equal-i-zer hitch. It seems like a great hitch, but I'm not so sure that the service person installed it correctly.
1. My tow vehicle is a Nissan Titan Crew Cab, and my trailer is only 19' and 4,500 dry. I have it hooked up dry, and the rear suspension is compressed NOTICEABLY. My setup looks like the pictures used to advertise WD hitches -- when they say "you DON'T want to look like this!" Anyway, I will post pictures in this morning, at first I thought it was just from having a heavy tongue weight but after looking at more information online -- I think it's just installed incorrectly.
2. Second, are the spring arms supposed to have some lateral play? The instructions tell me to "swing" the arms into place, but I can't move them side-to-side AT ALL. The bolt that keeps them from moving has been tightened down completely and there is no give. Is this normal? Even in the videos on Equal-i-zer's website it seems to show the guy swinging the arms up and onto the L brackets.
UPDATE: After watching the "Ease of Use" video on Equal-i-zer's site, I realize that the hitch was definitely installed wrong. They show a truck being able to hitch up from an angle, and the service tech told me "you have to be perfectly straight to make this work" and even spent an hour trying to back it perfectly straight because we couldn't move the swing arms. I don't even know how I was able to turn that thing with these arms tightened sooo much.
Anything else I should know? I have a big first trip planned this weekend and want to make sure everything is set up safely before heading out.
Sounds to me like your not putting enough tension on the WD bars. You should have to jack the trailer tongue up to connect the bars.
2003 Jayco 308fbs eagle 33' tt, towed by a 2003 Ram 3500 slt, quad cab dually, cummins diesel ho, trailer towing package, with 6 speed manual. Hauls better 1/2, 3 kids, myself, and a 2003 ez go clays car.. I have added so far, neon lights, clearance lights, back up lights, black light, lift kit, mud tires, and everything necessary to make the golf cart street legal. It's now ready to spend the winter in the garage for more mods. More neon, strobe lights, alarm, a pa system, maintance, and whatever else that comes along. This golf cart does wheelies and travels thru 7 inches of mud when need be. Two honda eu2000i gens twinned to supply the electrical power. Latest addition an 04 Honda Goldwing. [url]http://www.hometown.aol.com/rvnagain/myhomepage/profile.html[url]
The spring bars on a new hitch will be hard to swing out and in but doable. If you say you can't budge them then I suspect the dealer didn't know what he was doing and tightened down on the head bolts which you're not supposed to do. If you are able to rest the spring bars on the brackets without lifting the rear of the vehicle, then no weight distribution is taking place which is why your sagging.
1) You should have equal drop in the front and rear of the vehicle (or at least that is the goal - slightly more drop, less that 1/2 in, in the rear is OK).
2) The spring bars should not freely swing around, but they should also be movable by hand. The bolts should be torqued to 45-60 lbs.
Read the online instructions from Equalizer's website - they provide detailed instructions (including a worksheet for the measurements). Take your rig to a nice level place (school parking lots wrok pretty well) and all of the tools that you will need. Unhook and get all of your truck measurements, then level your TH and get those measurments. Complete the worksheet and follow the instructions.
The videos are great also. If you still have specific questions, post back here or give Equalizer a call, they have great customer service.
Mark & Tammy
'01 Excursion Limited, 4x4, V10, RoadMaster Active Suspension
'01 Prowler 31G
Equal-i-zer Hitch - Prodigy Brake Controller
Hi! I'm a Titan owner with an EQ hitch, so maybe I can help.
I have attached some pics, so maybe you can compare with what you've got. Mt trailer is a bit more heavier! LOL!
My loaded trailer weight is 7950#
Loaded tongue weight is 992#
Using 7 spacer washers and my L-brackets are on the 4th hole from the top.
When set, I have (approx) 5/8 compression on the front wheels, and (approx) 1 1/4 compression on the rear wheels. This will vary slightly on how the trailer is loaded.
Measurements were made with a full tank of fuel, no cargo.
When I bought my TT and hitch, the dealer set it up... wrong. I ended up starting from scratch and with a little help from EQ's EXCELLENT customer service, I feel my hitch is set up great! TT and TV sit level! My spring arm sockets on the hitch head were also very tight when new, but they were moveable. Check the torque of the bolts. (Can't remember the spec., sorry)
Feel free to PM me with any questions!
-Lab
* This post was
edited 07/09/08 09:39pm by colochoclab *
2008 Nissan Titan LE Crew 4x4, DOHC 5.6 V8 w/VVT, Big Tow Pkg.
2006 Jayco JayFlight 29FBS
Equal-i-zer Hitch
Prodigy Brake Control
Member of clubtitan.org
"Hershey" my Chocolate Lab buddy!
"I asked God for a true friend: He sent me a Labrador Retriever."
Quote: but I'm not so sure that the service person installed it correctly.
They never do!
You will have to do it yourself. And will have to do it again when the TT is fully loaded as an empty TT and a loaded TT will be different.
Do as another poster says. Take it all off and start completely over following the directions from the website. I also want to add that the sway arms - when installed - should be parallel to the trailer tongue frame. It's recommended to add washers FIRST to transfer the weight instead of moving the L-Brackets do that. I think we have 7 or 8 washers on ours (to get the weight transfer) but stayed on hole #5 on the L-Brackets as that kept it parallel with our trailer tongue.
Also, to install the sway arms you should have to jack up your TT to get them to move once you've got the ball locked onto the coupler.
They might have torqued the socket arms at the dealership when they come pre-torqued from the factory. You might have to loosen them and re-torque them to the recommended lbs.
DO NOT forget to GREASE, GREASE, GREASE the hitch. Very important to help the metal "seat" as you use the hitch. You do not want metal against metal with no grease! The instructions tell you where to lube it at.
To hitch up in order:
Back up tow vehicle under trailer coupler, drop coupler onto ball and lock into place. Using the tongue jack, raise the trailer (and the car will come up too) to a point where you can manually swing the arms onto the brackets. As sometimes you can swing them freely but can't "lift" them onto the l-brackets use the swing arm doo-hickey it came with to snap them up. Install L-Pins, lower TT/TV with the trailer jack. Now, to remove the sway arms when unhitching you would raise the trailer once again, remove the sway arms and then drop the trailer tongue back down, open coupler lock and then raise the trailer tongue to remove it from the ball. My SO ALWAYS forgets that you have to bring it back DOWN before trying to release the ball! Then can't understand why it's "stuck" - oy! Because of the up/down/up/down required of these hitches - you will find that most of us have replaced the manual trailer jack with the electric ones. A good investment!
Another thing to check, something I noticed when re-setting my Equalizer, was that the dealer only used two washers on the adjustment rivet, and you need a minimum of 4, they recommend you start with 5. This sets the angle of the hitch correctly so that you do not need to lift the tension bars to a much higher setting on the L brackets.
Well thanks to everyone for chiming in! I just got back from my first trip with the trailer, and here's a little UPDATE!
1. The dealer DEFINITELY installed it wrong. Before leaving on the trip, I spent all night on Equal-i-Zer's website reading the instructions myself. The dealer had the L brackets all the way at the bottom so almost no WD was taking place at all! Additionally, they installed the brackets at 24" from the coupler, instead of the recommended 32" (no less than 29") -- thanks dealer!.
2. Another thing is that my receiver height is 25" -- and they gave me the basic shank, with almost no drop. This part I'm not CERTAIN as I'm still figuring out all of the physics of towing, but since the trailer is being coupled at way above level, I think it's putting a greater force down on my hitch because without the spring arms, my rear end is practically dragging on the ground and I even caught the bottom of the hitch assembly on the pavement making a turn (just moving the trailer to a different parking lot). Any suggestions or insights on this problem? Would having the ball too high really result in added forces as the trailer tries to level itself? Makes sense to me... ha.
3. Apparently I need to try some grease. This setup made SO MUCH NOISE turning corners -- everyone stared at me pulling into gas stations because it sounded like the whole setup was about to snap off. CRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!! Very scary.
Other than that, I was able to distribute the weight fairly well, the front end didn't change much and the rear only dropped a little over an inch -- still not perfectly set up, but it towed nicely and we had a great time! I'm going to be perfecting everything before the next trip though, because I need some peace of mind! The whole trip I had a bad feeling in my stomach that it wasn't hooked up right and wasn't going to be safe.
Hey LAB, do you have pictures of that setup WITHOUT the spring arms? I'm curious to see what that would look like compared to mine. THANKS for taking the time to post pictures and explain your setup... it's great being able to compare it to yours with the same tow vehicle.
3. Apparently I need to try some grease. This setup made SO MUCH NOISE turning corners -- everyone stared at me pulling into gas stations because it sounded like the whole setup was about to snap off. CRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!! Very scary.
Yep. Use some spray Lithium grease as the instructions say and it will quiet down. I recommend the teflon pads that Equal-i-zer sells. Those and a little grease on the ball and arm pivots will stop the noise completely.
2008 Keystone Springdale 252
2004 Chevy Silverado, 5.3 L V8
Prodigy brake control and Equal-i-zer
Retired and traveling all we can!
moore321 wrote: Well thanks to everyone for chiming in! I just got back from my first trip with the trailer, and here's a little UPDATE!
1. The dealer DEFINITELY installed it wrong.
2. Another thing is that my receiver height is 25" -- and they gave me the basic shank, with almost no drop. This part I'm not CERTAIN as I'm still figuring out all of the physics of towing, but since the trailer is being coupled at way above level, I think it's putting a greater force down on my hitch because without the spring arms, my rear end is practically dragging on the ground and I even caught the bottom of the hitch assembly on the pavement making a turn (just moving the trailer to a different parking lot). Any suggestions or insights on this problem? Would having the ball too high really result in added forces as the trailer tries to level itself? Makes sense to me... ha.
.
The trailer must be level when towing, or slightly nose down. With the nose up, you can end up with trailer sway and the problems you already mentioned of dragging the trailers rear bumper all over the place, and doing even more damage trying to back up and catching that bumper. You didn't say whether you were able to adjust the height correctly with your set up, were you able to adjust the hitch on the shank so that the trailer was level? A replacement shank is short money to solve this problem.
I've gotten used to the noise that hitch makes, lets you know the trailer didn't fall off.
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