WDH with Swing-away Tongue

[RejoiceWay]

I've received a lot of information from this site regarding adding a WDH to my 2720SL with a swing-away tongue. I even took pictures of various recommendations (the EazLift and Reese) to our local RV Hitch specialist. They will not install a WDH on this trailer and can't seem to find anyone locally who will install one for us. They believe that the swing tongue will not support the WDH and it will fail. They also don't think that it will fit properly. Since many of you with the swing tongue have a WDH installed, has anyone experienced a difficulty having one installed or having one fail? Recommendations would greatly be appreciated.

[ThePair]

I have this one: http://www.etrailer.com/mm5/merchant...uct_Code=49586

I also have a 2720SL with swing-away hitch. Works great. You don't need an installer for the part that attaches to the TM. You *might* need some help with assembling the part that goes on the TV, or if you have some big wrenches you can do it yourself (I did). I still need to weigh everything to make sure it's all adjusted optimally, but at no point in time have I been worried that the swing hitch might not be able to take the weight of the WDH.

At some point I'll have pictures, if you want.

We have the same WDH as ThePair. Works fine. Solid, pretty simple. You can adjust both the ball height and spring bar tilt (if you've got those big wrenches).

I would be sure to grease up the spring bar contact points each time you attach them, as they do tend to wear when you've got the chains pulled up real tight.

EDIT: we don't have the swing-away hitch, so you'll have to rely on ThePair for that.

[commodor47]

Our unit has the swing hitch and a WDH. We bought our TM from a private party in Wilmington, NC in February of 2004. Since then we have traveled extensively, including 4 winter trips to AZ and back. The swing hitch does not interfere with the WDH. On many occasions we have opened the TM and set up for one night without releasing the WDH spring bar tips. That can make it difficult to level the TM fore and aft though. Most often I will release the spring bar tips to level the TM for the night.

Dick

I have a WDH and swing hitch. It was installed by the guys from CustomRV when I bought the TM but after having a look at it, there is not much to installing it yourself. I have no issues to report after the 10 or so camping trips we have taken it on since we purchased the TM. Our model is a Pro Eagle 1000 lb version. She looks like this: http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Eagle-1000.../dp/B000GGJQX0

[MudDog]

We have the same WDH as M&M Hokie (also installed by CustomRV) and the swing hitch....over 35 trips covering 15,000 miles and no issues.

--jim

[RejoiceWay]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I think we'll try to install one ourselves as it seems to us that it would be better to have a WDH and appears that it should not be a problem with the swing tongue. Really appreciate everyone's help.

[scrubjaysnest]

Installed my WDH yesterday and when making a very hard right turn, I was checking for binds etc. the chain hits the swing tongue mounting bracket. Reese makes longer spring bars but the guy at Reese I talked to didn't think they would work with my hitch. I looked at the pictures and I can't see anything different between todays square bars and 25 year old ones. I plan on taking one with me and hitting the trailer part places and RV dealers since I can't see Reese making a major design and retooling change in the 800# bars.

11/15/10 stopped by a trailer supply place and according to them all straight spring bars are the same length. Mine are 28" center line of part that goes to the hitch head and center of chain u bolt any ideas. My swing hitch opens to the street side.

1/12/11 etrailer and reese were no help. looked into spring bar extenders; not made any more. We are getting closer to cutting, grinding, and welding time!

It may only be because of my steep driveway that caused the excess force on the swing hitch bracket on my 2720SL to fail with a weight distribution hitch. The plate at the front of the pins on the swing hitch bent about 3/4 of an inch causing the swing hitch to tilt upwards about 3 inches and possible create a situation that it could fail. This also caused the spring bars to jam and knock off the wdh snap brackets mounted on the trailer when turning sharply. I attached a pdf that shows this. In the end, I had the swing hitch removed by welding up the frame with plates and got rid of the swing hitch as my garage was long enough. The excessive force that failed the swing hitch may have only been because I had a steep driveway. Under normal situations people don't seem to have had a problem with the swing hitch. Steep driveway may be something to watch out for. Yes the swing hitch can bend and cause conflicts with the spring bars hitting the snap brackets under certain situations.

[Wavery]

Good example of why you should always remove the spring bars before backing.......

What is the rating on your WDH?..........I'm going to guess that it's 1000# or more.........none the less, never back with the WDH bars attached.