Anonymous Poster
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Has anyone used a sway control or equalizer on an equipment trailer? Does this make any sense?
John
John
Trailer sway
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RobS
Super Member
I can't answer your question John, but I have made the observation that nearly all campers have load equalizing hitches (many with sway), and very rarely do I ever see an equipment trailer with such. Weights, wheelbases etc. are similar as are tow vehicles (mostly). My guess is most equipment trailers are used on shorter trips with little freeway driving. It should be fairly easy to add these features to a typical equipment trailer. Good luck,
Rob
Rob
Bird
Rest in Peace
John, I just gave my answer a few minutes ago on the CTB./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif
Bird
Bird
Most sway control systems work on friction, which has limited capabilities. There are two solutions out there which address the root cause of the problem (pivot point location) PullRite and the Hensley Arrow and everyone I know who uses them swears by them.
cowboydoc
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John,
I've found it depends alot on the vehicle. I have one on the bumper pull horse trailer that we have. In my Ford F-250 it doens't make any difference at all using it or not. With my wife's mountaineer it makes all the difference in the world. Pulling my 18 foot flatbed with tractor, skidder, hay, etc. have never had any need for one either. I would say, just from my limited experience that it depends on the vehicle used to tow with.
I've found it depends alot on the vehicle. I have one on the bumper pull horse trailer that we have. In my Ford F-250 it doens't make any difference at all using it or not. With my wife's mountaineer it makes all the difference in the world. Pulling my 18 foot flatbed with tractor, skidder, hay, etc. have never had any need for one either. I would say, just from my limited experience that it depends on the vehicle used to tow with.
gordon
Veteran Member
Campster, you are correct both the Pull-Rite and the Hensley are great hitch setups for travel trailers but for an equipment trailer---I would have to say no. Here is why.
On both of the above hitch setups ball height is critical for proper hitch operation. When loading and unloading equipment this would be very hard to keep correct.
On the pullrite you must tension the torsion bars so that at least one of the wheels is riding on the top ibeam of the frame. If not the hitch will bounce going down the road and you will tear up the hitch. For a traveltrailer with the same ball height and tounge weight this system works great. The bad side is the cost. It puts the pivit point just behind the rear axle and makes the trailer behave like a 5th wheel. It does have an adjustable head so if you change tow veichles you can change the head height and pitch
The hensley also works great but ball height is also key in that setup as well. If you get a trailer with a different ball height or get a new truck the ball height of the hitch is not adjustable. You must send the hitch back to hensley and get it rewelded for the proper height.
On the Reese dual cam system most people grease the cams making them useless. But it does stop them from making the screeching noise, metal to metal friction.
Now for just a friction sway. This can be used without equalizing bars. The most simple yet still functional.
For me give me an adjustable Reese head and a simple friction sway for the different loads.
Next thing to consider is the truck and trailer the correct size. Also is the trailer loader correctly. Both key in good driveability. More times than not either the trailer or the truck is too small for the load. At the R/V shop I used to work at we refused to hook up quite a few trucks and trailers because of safety issues. Did we loose sales by doing this---no we actually sold more because of being honest up front where it counts.
Gordon
On both of the above hitch setups ball height is critical for proper hitch operation. When loading and unloading equipment this would be very hard to keep correct.
On the pullrite you must tension the torsion bars so that at least one of the wheels is riding on the top ibeam of the frame. If not the hitch will bounce going down the road and you will tear up the hitch. For a traveltrailer with the same ball height and tounge weight this system works great. The bad side is the cost. It puts the pivit point just behind the rear axle and makes the trailer behave like a 5th wheel. It does have an adjustable head so if you change tow veichles you can change the head height and pitch
The hensley also works great but ball height is also key in that setup as well. If you get a trailer with a different ball height or get a new truck the ball height of the hitch is not adjustable. You must send the hitch back to hensley and get it rewelded for the proper height.
On the Reese dual cam system most people grease the cams making them useless. But it does stop them from making the screeching noise, metal to metal friction.
Now for just a friction sway. This can be used without equalizing bars. The most simple yet still functional.
For me give me an adjustable Reese head and a simple friction sway for the different loads.
Next thing to consider is the truck and trailer the correct size. Also is the trailer loader correctly. Both key in good driveability. More times than not either the trailer or the truck is too small for the load. At the R/V shop I used to work at we refused to hook up quite a few trucks and trailers because of safety issues. Did we loose sales by doing this---no we actually sold more because of being honest up front where it counts.
Gordon
Interesting--I've been mulling this over for my own rig and if the Pullrite had not required the removal of my spare tire I would probably already have one. Their 20k GVWR version seemed like an ideal way to handle the 12k GVWR flatbed I'm looking at. Don't really need the extra weight capacity at the moment but the 12k trailers have 16" rims & 235/85R16 tires which wear much better than the 15" stuff in my experience. Some of the CA equipment dealers order 12k trailers with 9,999# stickers and have good luck selling them (no easy way to get over 10k GVWR towing in CA I think.)
The trailer comes with a 2-5/16" ball coupler but the balls I've seen are 10k max rating. Do I need to go to a W-D hitch or should I swap it out for a ring & pintle setup?
Height is a bit of an issue for me since my F-250 SD is lifted (only 1" in rear) and has a Reunel bumper with the receiver integrated (higher than most hitches even before the lift but I wanted to eliminate the hitch dragging on the steep approach problem.)
The trailer comes with a 2-5/16" ball coupler but the balls I've seen are 10k max rating. Do I need to go to a W-D hitch or should I swap it out for a ring & pintle setup?
Height is a bit of an issue for me since my F-250 SD is lifted (only 1" in rear) and has a Reunel bumper with the receiver integrated (higher than most hitches even before the lift but I wanted to eliminate the hitch dragging on the steep approach problem.)
