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A product of
Customer Service:
For customer service, replacement parts, and accessories we recommend
that you visit your local dealership that is familiar with Equal-i-zer
®
brand
products whenever possible. If at any time you need customer service and
are unable to reach a dealership, please call our toll free customer support
line at 1-800-478-5578, or visit us online at www.equalizerhitch.com.
Appendix B
Weight Distribution Adjustments:
You should carefully consider the following items and their effects when
setting up initially and when adjusting your hitch before each trip:
• Vehicle wheel base: Shorter wheelbase vehicles react farther and
faster than longer wheelbase vehicles to weight distribution adjust-
ments.
• Vehicle suspension: Soft suspensions, such as an SUV will react farther
and faster to weight distribution adjustments than stiff suspensions like
a 3/4 ton pickup. For a smoother ride, some vehicle suspensions are
designed to be very soft with the rst few pounds of payload, and to then
stiffen as the load increases. This means that initially the springs move
a long way with very little weight applied, then later move much less,
even with a signicant change in applied weight.
• Trailer length: Longer trailers will try to force distributed weight
forward to the tow vehicle before absorbing it into the trailer suspen-
sion. Shorter trailers absorb more of the distributed weight into their
suspensions.
• Tongue weight: To operate effectively, your tongue weight should be
at least 10% of the gross trailer weight. This provides the sway resist-
ing friction force on the L-brackets and head sockets of the hitch that
give it the ability to resist movement and thus to resist trailer sway.
• Trailer loading: This is one of the most signicant factors that inu-
ences trailer sway. Most trailers are designed to have a tongue weight
of between 10% and 15% of the overall trailer weight. Always follow
the trailer manufacturer’s guidelines for tongue weight. Trailers that
are “back-end heavy” can often cause trailer sway. Trailer loading
changes tongue weight dramatically, and loading can change dramati-
cally from one trip to the next, or even during the course of a short
weekend trip.
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