[A/S] Maurice, hitch it up again ;)

["Tom" <tmeeker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

For starters there is *no friction setting* at all with the Equal-i-zer
hitch.  None, nada.  You must be thinking about the Draw-Tite bar that you
can tighten on dry roads (for more friction) or loosen on wet roads (who
needs a tight rig on a wet road?).

What you are suggesting below is impossible to begin with.  Is it my turn
now to say that you don't have to own one to know how it works?  I own the
Equal-i-zer, you have the Hensley.  You have never used the Equal-i-zer that
I know of and I sure haven't used the Hensley.  Therefore you really don't
know anything about towing with the Equal-i-zer and vice versa for me and
your Hensley.  Guess we are all straight on that now. ;)

> I'll swing my drop bar from one side to another
> back and forth easily.  I don't think you'll call that locked once
> you see it. Try that with the Equal-I-Zer.

OK, consider it done.  How do you plan to swing the drop bar from one side
to another back and forth easily first?  By hand?  Left to right and back
again using your hands?  You can't do this very fast with your vehicle
unless you pulling it first left and then right and so on.  Is this what you
mean?

If you are saying what I think you are and that you'd swing this drop bar
easily from side to side by hand ... well ... of course it will do that with
no load on the hitch head.

And you can also do the same with any other hitch, easily swing it from side
to side with  no load on the hitch head.  What does this prove to you?

The Reese dual-cam setup stops the trailer from going too many degrees
before it runs into the cams.  Agreed?  This would be akin to the 15 degrees
that someone else mentioned.  I think it was 15 degrees, .. anyway.

The Hensley has the two half ball chrome looking pieces that act similarly
to the Reese cam-lock hitch setup.  Without force, or *friction* neither the
Reese nor the Hensley will go past that point.  Agreed?

With the Equal-i-zer hitch setup there is *no* cam or those half ball chrome
looking pieces that the Hensley has.  This is where BOTH the Hensley and the
Reese setup are both the same and different at the same time.  What the
Reese and the Hensley do is to allow freedom to a certain point.  Beyond
that point (15 degrees?) you must engage the friction aspects of both those
hitches, the Reese and the Hensley.

The Equal-i-zer has an even span to move without the use of cams or the
locking device system used by the Hensley.  The Equal-i-zer makes the load
equalizing bars shorter and they increase the angle the bars enter the
holders as the turn gets tighter.  This tightening of the turn and the
shortening of the load eqaualizing bars also makes the trailer follow the
vehicle into a turn, actually slightly leaning the trailer into a turn.
This would be similar to a motorcycle rider leaning into the turn.

> It'll fight you turning
> it with the same force it uses to fight sway.  You'll see
> which "bends in the middle" easiest.

You don't seem to understand the design of the Equal-i-zer.  The only
fighting the hitch does is to increase the angle the load equalizing bars
enter their holder as the turn gets tighter and the bars get shorter.  This
shortening of the bars forces the trailer to lean into the turn, the curves
on the road.  There is no fighting, there is greater load increases due to
the shorter bar and the angle of approach.

The Hensley does something similar and the same once again.  The Hensley
will "twist" the trailer into the turn with it's own load equalizing bars
just as the Equal-i-zer hitch does.  What is the difference *if* they both
lean into the curves or bends and get the job done?  None.

With the same setup vehicle, trailers, tires, etc. with the only difference
being the hitch itself *both* the Hensley and the Reese and the Equal-i-zer
attempt to do the same thing and they all do it well.

> The Equal-I-Zer is no different in function than any common weight-
> distributing hitch with a friction sway control on each side.  It
> just combines the functions into the spring arms.  It fights the
> truck bending the rig as much as it does the trailer trying to bend
> it with sway.  Friction devices resist in both directions.

So you are saying that the Hensley is an uncommon weight-distributing hitch.
And you are then also saying that there is a "friction control" on each side
of the Equal-i-zer?  And the Hensley has "no" control devices such as
friction?

Again, what is the difference IF both the Hensley and the Equal-i-zer and
the Reese hitch makes these trailers turn into a curve?  None.

However, the one outstanding difference between the Hensley and the Reese
design compared to the Equal-izer hitch is that there is no "stop" designed
into it *both* the Hensley and the Reese have built into them.

So yes, the Equal-i-zer hitch is different and has "no set locking into
center point" like the Hensley and the Reese cam-lock setups do.

As you can now see by your comparison it is the Equal-i-zer that uses the
angle of approach into the holders by the bars resulting in the leaning of
the trailer ever so slightly into the curve so it "follows the tow vehicle."

And the Hensley does the same thing as does the Reese cam-lock once both of
these are past that 15 degree point for the Hensley anyway.  I doubt the
Reese is much different in the amount of degrees before it also has the
centering cams come out of their position.

Once all three of these hitches are past 15 degrees they are all on equal
footing.

The difference again between the Hensley and Reese versus the Equal-i-zer
then is the way they go about "locking" or centering for lack of a better
word.  Where the Equal-i-zer stands out from the crowd of these other two
hitches is that there is no set centering point or degrees to break out of
the centering mode such as the Hensley has with it's 15 degrees.

> Maurice

You have proved my point for me, Maurice.  And for that I thank you.

Tom
WBCCI 5303