

Of course, your pickup couldn’t carry that much tongue weight. If the wheels were located at the rear of the trailer (such as how semi trailers are designed), there would be no swaying to deal with. With their axles located approximately in the center of the rig, long trailers have a natural tendency to sway. One thing to remember… very long travel trailers just don’t tow all that well. Setting the chains one link tighter will probably transfer enough weight that the whole unit will even out and ride up and down together. If you don’t apply enough tension on the bars, you’ll find yourself “see-sawing” on poor highways. When you set the chains on the bars of your Equalizer Hitch, you are transferring some of the tongue weight to the front axle of your tow vehicle.įinding the “sweet spot” or exact correct link point may take a couple of tries. To correct this situation, an Equalizer Hitch is used to redistribute the weight of the trailer over the entire tow vehicle. (Just picture the front of the trailer just clearing the ground and the front bumper of your tow vehicle aiming for the stars.) In many cases, when you hook the RV trailer to the back of your pickup truck, the bumper of your truck will drop substantially as it accepts the load. Some travel trailers weigh substantially more than 5,000 lbs. It’s the most dangerous condition you can possibly have and will scare the heck out of you! This is what happened to me with the utility trailer. As an example, if you fill the under-the-bed storage space in your rear bedroom trailer with books, tools, or even canned goods, what you are really doing is counter-balancing the manufacturer’s designed tongue weight, creating a tail-heavy situation. How you stow your gear can greatly affect the tongue weight of your RV trailer. That means that if your trailer’s total loaded weight is 5,000 lbs, the weight at the hitch will be at least 500 lbs. Proper loading of a trailer will have about 10% of the total weight of the trailer as tongue weight. That is something that can ruin your vacation permanently! Loading your RV trailer properly will prevent a situation where the tail is wagging the dog. That, and the importance of an Equalizer Hitch.

I learned that day that how you load a trailer is critical when it comes to safety, handling, and the ability to comfortably travel without worry. This trailer was not required to have brakes, but it was still enough weight to overpower the mid-sized car that I was driving. Many states require trailer brakes on any trailer over 1,500 lbs. That utility trailer forced me back and forth across 4 lanes of freeway before I was able to slow down and regain control! I was towing a trailer with 2 motorcycles on it when it got out of control. I speak from experience, as it happened to me several years ago. There is nothing scarier than having a trailer whipping back and forth behind you. If you buy thru these links, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. or higher capacity springs.This post may contain affiliate links. rated axle should be matched with two 2,000 lb.
TRAVEL TRAILER EQUALIZER BARS FREE
Measure the length of the spring when the spring is not under load (jack up trailer by the frame), this is the free length of the spring.Count the number of leaves, each layer of spring metal is considered a leaf.Match the existing spring according to its shape and type (double eye, slipper-open eye end, slipper-hook end, slipper-flat end, or slipper-radius end), Length and Width.
