Ray and Lynn
Glad to help if I can, just ask.
Here are some things to sort thru as you research the Reese DC and Equal-I-zer. Like was said both are good hitches. Personally I prefer the Reese HP high performance trunnion style hitch with the HP DC better do to the mechanical action of the DC over the high constant friction system of the Equal-I-zer, but both will serve you well when set up properly.
Here is a heads up. Tongue weight. You really need to know this before you buy either hitch. And ideally you need to know or estimate the “loaded” with camper gear tongue weight. And know if filling the fresh water tank to tow with will add or subtract from tongue weight.
On the Equal-I-zer they make the hitch heads and spring bars in certain sizes. If you estimate too light, you have to re-buy the entire hitch. That is just the way they make them.
On the Reese Trunnion style system, the HP hitch head, DC, snap up brackets are all rated to handle up to 1,700# tongue load. They offer 600,800, 1,200 and the monster 1,700# bars that fit that hitch. If you make an error and say buy 800# bars, and find you have a 1,000# tongue, then you only have to upgrade the spring bars to go to 1,200# bars.
You can also ask your dealer if they will upgrade the bars/hitch if you find you are too light. But ask that before buying.
Regardless of brands you need to know which one to get. When Sunline was in business you could call them, ask what is the tongue weight with full propane, battery and options for your camper VIN number. And then what is it with filled water? Then ask what would they think the tongue weight would be if I added 1,000# of camping gear to it? Sunline would give you these numbers based on their weighing at the factory and knowing how the TT was made.
Since they are not there to call, have to use plan B. The next best way now is to have your dealer weigh the tongue itself on a tongue scale with a battery and full propane. And then ask them to fill the fresh tank and get that weight too. In the price of a new camper this is not much work for them to do.
It is a very good idea to buy yourself one of these tongue weight scales.
http://www.sherline.com/lm.htm I have one and they work well and you know exactly where you stand in your own yard as you load your camper. Cost ~ $120 delivered to your door. Every dealer should just give you one on a new camper and explain how to use it. It plays a big part in helping to balance out your rig.
Once you know the scaled tongue with and with out water, now you have to estimate where your tongue weight will land when you load it.
It is not unheard of for a tongue to gain 350 to 550# or more of tongue weight after loading. It all depends on the TT layout. But you would add this to the known scaled weight to size up spring bars.
If you need help with this, just tell us about the layout. Is it like any of the models on the Sunline site? If so which one is closest so we can go find it.
Point in all this, unless you know your tongue weight and a fair estimate where it will be loaded, you could buy a spring bar set too light or way to heavy.
The absolute best way to do this is to load the camper the way you camper with it, and then weight it. Then there is no guessing. But that is not allways doable as you do not own it yet.
The worst that can happen is, you buy an 800# system and you end up with a 900# tongue once loaded, now your hitch is overloaded. And do not buy a 1,200# system for a 750# tongue either. The ride will be so stiff it is not pleasant.
Since Sunline is now out, your dealer should need to help here get you actual scaled weights. My dealer looked up the “dry” weight in the catalog, saw 750# listed and gave me 800# bars. He told me I would be fine. Lots of safety factor. I know to never trust that again. My loaded tongue weight was 1,200# no water and 1,400# with water.
After researching this to death and contacting Sunline, I re-balanced my camper and upgraded to 1,200# bars. Now have 975# (14.5%) loaded no water and 1,150# (16%) with water. But it took work to get there.
Hopefully I can help at least 1 person not go through this.
PS. Another reason to know your loaded tongue weight is to check the receiver on your truck that it is rated in weight distributing mode to handle that tongue weight.
Good luck
John
Linear Mode
