# Reese Dual Cam Wdh - Need Advice



## joeymac (Aug 19, 2010)

I just switched my receiver setup from my Ford F-150 to my Chevy Suburban 2500. 
I have the Reese Dual Cam Sway and WDH. I have the Reese Standard Long Shank which offers a 1-1/4" drop when used with my trunnion-bars setup. It appears that the tongue is high, and I can't get it any lower. I can place two links on the WDH, but then I can lift the sway bars by hand, which tells me that I will not have any sway control since there is no down pressure on the bars. 
Do I need a longer shank, or do I have something screwed up ? I lowered the head to the last bolt holes on the shank. The trailer towed like crap, worst than when I had the F-150. 
Are the shanks on these set-ups interchangeable ?
I found a longer shank on e-trailer,(Reese Weight Dist Shank X-Long) I guess I am looking for confirmation that I should switch to a longer shank and lower the tongue so that I can place more pressure on the sway bars. 
Help, please !


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Level the trailer and measure the height to the top of the toung. If you can't lower the ball to this level then you need a larger drop. You can check how far you are off to make sure the new drop you pick is correct.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Nathan said:


> Level the trailer and measure the height to the top of the toung. If you can't lower the ball to this level then you need a larger drop. You can check how far you are off to make sure the new drop you pick is correct.


X2 you need to measure then get the correct lenght drop length shank.


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## Wisconsin-Knight (Mar 10, 2011)

Very good responses, I agree that you level the trailer and figure out how to get the ball to at that height.

Rowland


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## Piecemaker (Nov 15, 2007)

You may have to turn your shank over. That will put the holes at a different height.


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## joeymac (Aug 19, 2010)

OK, so after countless efforts on trying to adjust this Dual Cam system, I took it to a local RV dealer this weekend. We lowered the head another hole, he took out some of the tilt on the head, and we took the links up to six putting more weight back on the trailer. 
It seems better than it was before, but still sways a bit at highway speeds. (55-65 mph)
A few concerns though:
1) Are the bars suppose to be next to the cams ? Will these rub the cams, and break them ? See pic 
2) The truck only squawts a 1/2 inch now with the WDH attached. Is there not enough weight on the rear end of the truck. The steering feels fine though.
I am still not that happy with the feel of the trailer and truck. What else can I do ? Lower the head one more hole ? The trailer seems a bit lower on the tongue end, so I dont think I am tongue high. Maybe I need to load more things in the front of the trailer, or sell this setup and get another brand of sway and WD ?


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## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

It's a little hard to tell from the photo, but it looks like your spring bars may not be centered on the cams. You can adjust the cam arm using the adjustment and locking nuts until the detent is *perfectly* centered on the cam. It also looks like you may not have enough tilt on the hitch ball and the spring bars are too horizontal. I generally run 5 links on the chains, but I guess installations do vary. I'm sure you've done this, but the first thing to do is to make sure that the hitch, ball, and spring bars are installed per the instructions - this includes getting the ball height correct, and the tilt of the head to get the ends of the spring bars at the correct height from the ground (when not snapped up). When that's done, move on to the Dual Cam installation. It takes a while to get it right, but if the truck and trailer are sitting level and the ground is flat, everything should work just fine. Remember to set the ball 3/4" to 1" higher than the top of the coupler to compensate for vehicle "squat". I've used ours for the past 4 years and never have problems with sway, even in 30-40 mph crosswinds coming off of the ocean or in mountain passes.

Just in case you don't have all the instructions, here they are:

For the hitch and WD bars:
http://www.reeseprod.com/content/downloads/installation/N66022.pdf

And for the Dual Cam:
http://www.reeseprod.com/content/downloads/installation/N26002.pdf


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## Bob in Virginia (Jul 15, 2010)

It also appears that the mounts on the trailer where the chains connect are a bit forward. If I recall correctly, the chains should be vertical when everything is connected. I am also running at 5 links on my setup.


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## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

I thought the same, but figured it could be the angle of the photo. I'd start by extending the cam arms and tapping the snap-up brackets rearward until the detent on the spring bars is centered over the cams and the chains are hanging vertical.


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

joeymac said:


> OK, so after countless efforts on trying to adjust this Dual Cam system, I took it to a local RV dealer this weekend. We lowered the head another hole, he took out some of the tilt on the head, and we took the links up to six putting more weight back on the trailer.
> It seems better than it was before, but still sways a bit at highway speeds. (55-65 mph)
> A few concerns though:
> 1) Are the bars suppose to be next to the cams ? Will these rub the cams, and break them ? See pic
> ...


I have a dual cam and I've set them up and IMHO your setup is NOT correct.

First, the bars need to be centered in the cams to work efectively. Yours don't appear to be centered, the look way off.

Second, IMHO you have two few links left. Reese says at least 5 links left, DC actually often needs more. You need either more head tilt or stiffer bars if the weight shift is correct. since you have a trunnion bar setup, I'd suggest going towards max tilt and fewer free links. It looks like your not near max tilt on the trunnion setup, but it's hard to see from the pictures.

And most importantly, the bars usually need to be below the cam arms, not above. Your likely in danger of breaking the cams or bending the snap up bracket in a turn. the way to check is to do a sharp turn very slowly. when the bars come out of the cams they MUST not hit the cam arms!!! Every DC setup I've seen the bars must be below the cam arms to avoid this. Generally this means using the second or third link from the top on the lift bracket.

The front of your truck should be at the same level as unloaded. the back may squat anywhere from nothing (same as unloaded) to 1 1/2" or so. Ideally the front and back would squat the same amount, but in reality many TV manufacturers recomend only bringing the front back to level. In some cases (specifically many GM trucks/suburbans), there are bump stops on the front suspension of the TV that keep you from squating the front below the unloaded level. I'd guess on your Burb, that the front must NOT be below the unloaded height. It takes lots of force to compress the bump stops.

Don't give up, once set up the DC is a fantastic sway control system.


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## joeymac (Aug 19, 2010)

KTMRacer said:


> OK, so after countless efforts on trying to adjust this Dual Cam system, I took it to a local RV dealer this weekend. We lowered the head another hole, he took out some of the tilt on the head, and we took the links up to six putting more weight back on the trailer.
> It seems better than it was before, but still sways a bit at highway speeds. (55-65 mph)
> A few concerns though:
> 1) Are the bars suppose to be next to the cams ? Will these rub the cams, and break them ? See pic
> ...


I have a dual cam and I've set them up and IMHO your setup is NOT correct.

First, the bars need to be centered in the cams to work efectively. Yours don't appear to be centered, the look way off.

Second, IMHO you have two few links left. Reese says at least 5 links left, DC actually often needs more. You need either more head tilt or stiffer bars if the weight shift is correct. since you have a trunnion bar setup, I'd suggest going towards max tilt and fewer free links. It looks like your not near max tilt on the trunnion setup, but it's hard to see from the pictures.

And most importantly, the bars usually need to be below the cam arms, not above. Your likely in danger of breaking the cams or bending the snap up bracket in a turn. the way to check is to do a sharp turn very slowly. when the bars come out of the cams they MUST not hit the cam arms!!! Every DC setup I've seen the bars must be below the cam arms to avoid this. Generally this means using the second or third link from the top on the lift bracket.

The front of your truck should be at the same level as unloaded. the back may squat anywhere from nothing (same as unloaded) to 1 1/2" or so. Ideally the front and back would squat the same amount, but in reality many TV manufacturers recomend only bringing the front back to level. In some cases (specifically many GM trucks/suburbans), there are bump stops on the front suspension of the TV that keep you from squating the front below the unloaded level. I'd guess on your Burb, that the front must NOT be below the unloaded height. It takes lots of force to compress the bump stops.

Don't give up, once set up the DC is a fantastic sway control system.
[/quote]

Thanks everyone for the responses. 
KTM:
I was thinking that the bars should be below the cam as well. Your comments confirmed this for me. I am getting frustrated with this setup. 
I do think that I should have a better tow expereince than what I am getting now. Anyway, I will try more tilt on the head and less links and try moving the saddle back further so that the bars are centered in hookup arms better.


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## duggy (Mar 17, 2010)

joeymac said:


> It seems better than it was before, but still sways a bit at highway speeds. (55-65 mph)
> 
> Maybe I need to load more things in the front of the trailer, or sell this setup and get another brand of sway and WD ?


In my opinion, the trailer shouldn't sway at all at highway speeds, even with no sway control. The sway control is to save you when something out of the ordinary happens, like high winds or evasive maneuvers.
If you are having sway when nothing special is happening, and your trailer is riding level, I'm betting that moving a couple hundred pounds of weight forward will make a big difference. Whenever I load a trailer, I try to pay attention to maintaining the balance of the rig. If you add heavy items behind the axles, you're lightening the tongue weight, and looking for sway issues.


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## joeymac (Aug 19, 2010)

Well guys thanks for sharing all of the great advice! I finally got a weekend to spend some time getting this setup dialed in. I put the tilt of the head at the max allowed. Now the bars are 8'' off the ground as prescribed in the directions . I also ensured that the chains are completely vertical and that the detents are completely seated in the cam. I now have five links in the chain, as Willingtonpaul described. I took it out for a 30 minute test drive. What a world of difference all of these adjustments made. I hardly noticed the camper behind the TV. Towed very well, hardly noticed when the 18 wheelers came up along side me.

While I was out test driving, I took the setup to the scales. Trailer weighed in at 8,160 lbs fully loaded, with no water in any of the tanks. Trailer and TV weighed in a 15,060 lbs combined. TV is rated at 16,000 GCWR, so I feel good about that. 

Tongue weighed in 920 lbs, so that's 11.2% of the trailer weight, so I am thinking that the tongue weight is correct. (Correct me if I am wrong







)

Taking it up to Lake Rudolph in Santa Claus, IN for the July 4[sup]th[/sup] holiday, so that will be the ultimate test. Its about 3 hours from the house, so should be a good indicator.

Thanks again for all of the advice&#8230;Have a safe holiday !!!!


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

joeymac said:


> Tongue weighed in 920 lbs, so that's 11.2% of the trailer weight, so I am thinking that the tongue weight is correct. (Correct me if I am wrong
> 
> 
> 
> ...


10 to 15% is the range, I tend to the higher side. Now that you have it dialed in a quick way to check the tongue weight relationship is to measure the tongue height as it now sits. Since you are fully loaded you have a good bench mark. If the height goes up next time you load then you have shifted weight off the tongue and if it goes down you have added weight to the tongue. There are a few other variables but I use this rule of thumb and if it changes I look to move some load or try to account for why the height changed such as removing fire wood from the truck.


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## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

joeymac said:


> Well guys thanks for sharing all of the great advice! I finally got a weekend to spend some time getting this setup dialed in. I put the tilt of the head at the max allowed. Now the bars are 8'' off the ground as prescribed in the directions . I also ensured that the chains are completely vertical and that the detents are completely seated in the cam. I now have five links in the chain, as Willingtonpaul described. I took it out for a 30 minute test drive. What a world of difference all of these adjustments made. I hardly noticed the camper behind the TV. Towed very well, hardly noticed when the 18 wheelers came up along side me.
> 
> While I was out test driving, I took the setup to the scales. Trailer weighed in at 8,160 lbs fully loaded, with no water in any of the tanks. Trailer and TV weighed in a 15,060 lbs combined. TV is rated at 16,000 GCWR, so I feel good about that.
> 
> ...


Excellent! So much for the dealer's solution, eh? It's a bit tedious, but if you follow the instructions to the letter, the Dual Cam is a great hitch.


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