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Old 07-12-2014, 07:22 PM   #1
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Eqaulizer hitch pinching front of new X23B

Hi Guys,
I'm having a major problem with the equalizer hitch that was installed on my new X23B that I picked up on July 1st. The hitch head of the equalizer is pinching against the front of the trailer. It has already sheared one of the chain links on the safety chains. I have not driven the trailer at all except for my trip home to Ohio from the Indiana dealership I bought it at. It has been parked in my driveway since I returned. I discovered the broken chain link when I went to hitch up the trailer for a trip we had planned to Maryland this coming week. That trip is now canceled until we can get this resolved.
The first picture shows the hitch head about to pinch the chain link. The second picture shows the angle the truck was at when I took the first picture. (As you can see, it's not a severe angle at all.) The third picture shows the chain-link on the opposite side that has already been sheared off. You can see the broken link and the mark made on the hitch head where it pinched. The last picture shows several pinch marks made in the chain attachment point at the front of the trailer. I'm now waiting on a response from the dealers service department on Monday. Looks like I might be headed back to Indiana.
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photo 1a.JPG   photo 2a.JPG   photo 3a.JPG   photo 4a.JPG  
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Old 07-12-2014, 07:23 PM   #2
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Sorry the pictures are turned. Not sure why that happened.
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Old 07-12-2014, 08:49 PM   #3
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Hitch

It looks to me from the picture that your chains are coming out of the square tube right under the toungue of the trailer , my safety chains are mounted on the toungue on both sides where they can hang free with the proper slack for turning and i also use a equilizer hitch .
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Old 07-12-2014, 09:18 PM   #4
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I agree with Kellys. I only have chains attached in one point but its further away from the hitch point. I also have an Equalizer hitch. Looks like Jayco attached the chains too close to the end of the trailer's hitch. I'd contact the dealer ASAP and if they don't give you immediate results, then contact Jayco. Good luck and happy rving!
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Old 07-12-2014, 09:45 PM   #5
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Eqaulizer hitch pinching front of new X23B

Pic 3 looks like problem is your hitch. My trailer chains attach to my trailer just like yours. Why does your shank go rearward past the ball? That your problem....
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Old 07-13-2014, 05:49 AM   #6
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I agree that the hitch sticking out beyond the ball is an issue, but that is the design of the Equalizer hitch. The clearance is so tight that not only the chain, but the front of the trailer frame can actually touch the hitch head. And, you don't have to be at a very great angle to do it. It would be possible to have the two touch each other by simply making a turn while driving down the road. Jayco has apparently redesigned the front of the trailer and it's not compatible with this hitch??? The only fix I can see is to have some sort of a tall shank on the hitch ball that would raise the trailer frame above the hitch head... I can't be the only person with this problem. This trailer/hitch combination is far too popular.
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Old 07-13-2014, 09:43 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SouthCo View Post
Pic 3 looks like problem is your hitch. My trailer chains attach to my trailer just like yours. Why does your shank go rearward past the ball? That your problem....
I think those are the tension bars not the shank
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Old 07-13-2014, 11:08 AM   #8
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I have a Husky Centerline, very similar design to Equal-I-Zer.

On my previous trailer, like yours, the coupler was mounted on top of the frame. This makes the geometry tight for any of the trunion bar mount type hitches. Spcifically in my case, when backing at an angle greater than 45* the Trunion Cam would contact the frame and caused to damage. From what I can see in your pictures you are having the same issue, except it's the hitch head not the trunion that is hitting. Also the contact is the safety chain not further back on the actual frame like I had. Eitherway I think the same solution is required.

My solution was getting a new ball with a 2" rise in it. This allowed the coupler and bottom of frame to sit high enough that the when turning the trunion freely cleared under the frame and safety chain mount. Although this solved the problem, it required a complete re-setup of the hitch to get the trailer to ride level and properly distribute weight.

I realize Equal-I-Zer has a special ball and not just any ball will work. If they don't offer a riser ball you may need to go with a different hitch to solve the problem. That is something I didn't want to do because I liked the integrated sway control and round bar hitches don't offer that.

My new trailer the coupler is mounted on the bottom of the frame. So I went back to the original ball with no clearance issues at all.

The top mount/bottom mount makes a big difference in hitch selection and set up but rarely do you hear it discussed nor do dealers seem to be aware.

Good luck
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Old 07-13-2014, 11:19 AM   #9
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If you closely at Pic #3 -- imagine having the gap between the coupler and hitch head being 1-2" more, that is what a riser ball will get you. May require you to extend the safety chains, but that is easy.

Just trying to give a visual reference to what I tried to describe above.
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Old 07-13-2014, 07:21 PM   #10
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Thanks for the advice clubhouse. I'm glad to hear you're seeing the same thing I am. I already looked at some of the high rise hitch balls on the internet. I agree with you that this would probably solve my issue. My only problem now is I'll probably have to take time off of work to make the five hour drive back to the dealer to get it fixed. I'm amazed that someone who is around hitches daily didn't recognize the issue when he set it up.
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Old 07-13-2014, 07:56 PM   #11
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My 2014 trailer looks same and my blue ox WDH doesn't hit anything. I've never seen where the shank goes further back than the ball..
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Old 07-13-2014, 07:57 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robo59097 View Post
I think those are the tension bars not the shank
No it's the shank
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Old 07-13-2014, 09:23 PM   #13
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^^^ @ SouthCo -- I am not sure how you are orienting to the pictures, but that is most certainly the spring arm that you are thinking is the shank. That spring arm is inserted the trunnion cam which you can see the wear marks on top of as it rotates under the hitch ball. It took me a minute to see the pictures correctly too -- might have helped if we had on a bit further back of the whole set-up.
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Old 07-13-2014, 09:33 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by 12VOLTMAN View Post
Thanks for the advice clubhouse. I'm glad to hear you're seeing the same thing I am. I already looked at some of the high rise hitch balls on the internet. I agree with you that this would probably solve my issue. My only problem now is I'll probably have to take time off of work to make the five hour drive back to the dealer to get it fixed. I'm amazed that someone who is around hitches daily didn't recognize the issue when he set it up.
You last sentence says it all -- DO NOT take it back to the same idiots who didn't know, or didn't care, enough to begin with. You can do this yourself. The hitch ball needs to be really torqued (250-300 lb ft I think), I had the local tire shop do it for me -- complimentary. The rest of the bolts you should be able to torque with a clicker wrench and do this yourself. If you don't have a clicker type torque wrench, you really should and keep it in the TT. Great for re-torquing lugs. You can get adequate ones a Harbor Freight for ~$30.

Just setting up the hitch one time you will learn so much more about your hitch and how it works and where to look for problems should something else happen in the future.

When I did this (twice now) I started by changing the hitch ball. Then reset the ball height by turning over and using a lower setting on the drop shank. Next re-set the head angle and swing arm bracket height. The last two steps I had to do a couple times to get it right, but the first couple are one and done.
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Old 07-14-2014, 06:37 AM   #15
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I thought about doing it myself. I'm concerned about getting a hitch ball that would fit the Equalizer head correctly since they do have their own ball. I'll have to check it out more closely to what might be different about it. And, I sent Equalizer an email explaining the issue to see if they can offer a suggestion. I do have a torque wrench so that's not a problem. My only problem would be that I can't weld so I would have to use one of those 'screw type' chain links to fix the broken link.
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Old 07-21-2014, 07:28 PM   #16
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Finally got around to fixing my issue over the weekend. After my dealer screwed up the installation so badly, I decided to do it myself. I bought a high rise hitch ball with a 2" lift and reconfigured the Equalizer hitch. I managed to get the front wheel well of my truck back to just about it's unloaded measurement while the rear wheel well went down only about 1/2 to 5/8 of an inch. And, the trailer is riding perfectly level. While in the process of going over everything, I also discovered that the dealer had one of the wires from the runaway brake control pinched between the trailer frame and the mounting brackets for the load bars. It would have been cut in half for sure if I hadn't noticed it. I took the bracket off and re-routed the wire so everything should be good now. I have attached a picture to show how much more clearance was gained with the new ball. No chance of anything pinching now!
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Old 03-22-2015, 05:51 PM   #17
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Hate to bump a old thread, but I found similar damage to my safety chains while preparing my Starcraft (hey its almost a Jayco) 26bh for our first trip this year. I have the same hitch and same points of contact, just not as severe. Can you tell me what ball you used and what you used as a spacer to keep the ball shank from protruding too far downward and interfering with the weight distribution sockets? Also, would a one inch rise give enough clearance, or is the two inch necessary? Thanks
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Old 03-22-2015, 07:03 PM   #18
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Hello, and welcome to the forum. I used a Curt 40087 hitch ball http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And I used two grade 8 washers that I bought locally to make sure the bottom of the shank didn't contact the hitch sockets. As far as the lift, it's hard to say if 1" would be enough. It might have been, but I wasn't willing to take the chance. I hope this helps you out!
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Old 03-23-2015, 06:15 AM   #19
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Thanks. This helps greatly. I may try the one inch first to keep the hitch adjustments to a minimum.
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