# Reese Dual Cam Hp Hitch



## Birdman1991 (Mar 5, 2011)

Hi,

We are in the process of purchasing an Outback 312BH from Holiday World of Dallas. After reading quite a bit from this forum ( Thanks!!), it sounds like a Reese Dual CAM HP hitch would be worth the upgrade. In talking to the sales person they are wanting $995 installed for this hitch. Looking online, it seems that they are about twice as much as everyone else out there. The sales person didn't tell me if this was for a 800# or the 1200# but I wanted to see what you all thought would be best for this travel trailer. I am going to be pulling this with an Infinity QX56. I didn't know what install would run for one of these, so I also wanted to see if that was a fair price.

Thanks,

Greg Good


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## huntr70 (Jul 8, 2005)

We get $809 installed for the Reese Straitline hitch, no matter what weight bars.


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## TexanThompsons (Apr 21, 2009)

Hey Greg! You're gonna love the Travel Trailer my friend. We love ours (same floorplan as yours, just a little older)









One thing I did want to mention as you said you're going to pulling it with a 1/2 ton SUV. For what its worth I started towing ours with a Ford Expedition. Granted, our numbers are a little different from yours, but I wanted to share my experience. When we first bought it, I just thought pulling something that large was supposed to be a white knuckle experience until one day I came too close to nearly losing control. The power was OK at best, but it was the lack of wheelbase that really was hard. So, needless to say after pulling it with my parents' 3/4 ton diesel, I noticed the difference immediately. I now drive a 3/4 ton excursion and I can't say it removed all of my white knuckled experiences, but it is not a common occurrence.

I'm hoping the best and on our travels that are many people that pull RVs that large with 1/2 ton SUVs and I guess they do fine. Just know that you may not feel that comfortable behind the wheel. There are ways to make it better/easier and a Reese is a step in the right direction.

Not trying to scare you at all, just want to make sure you are able to enjoy the trailer not just when its setup, but on the way there and back as well.

Oh, and welcome to the club of having the largest bumper pull made by Outback! Ya, we're better than everyone else, we just try not to flaunt it too much


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## Birdman1991 (Mar 5, 2011)

TexanThompsons said:


> Hey Greg! You're gonna love the Travel Trailer my friend. We love ours (same floorplan as yours, just a little older)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for the information! You have hit on one worry I do have and that's why I was going with this hitch. We used to have a 2003 Expedition and pulled a 26' K&Z sportsman with it. Funny thing it was about the same weight as the 312BH but 10' shorter. The QX allows for a little more weight than the Exp did( 9000# vs. 8000#) and I didn't seem to have a problem with it other than the effect the 18 wheels have when they come up beside you, so I am hopeful that that will be the case here, or I will be looking at trading in my jeep for a truck. Of course the sales people say I won't have any problems.....


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

Birdman1991 said:


> Hi,
> 
> We are in the process of purchasing an Outback 312BH from Holiday World of Dallas. After reading quite a bit from this forum ( Thanks!!), it sounds like a Reese Dual CAM HP hitch would be worth the upgrade. In talking to the sales person they are wanting $995 installed for this hitch. Looking online, it seems that they are about twice as much as everyone else out there. The sales person didn't tell me if this was for a 800# or the 1200# but I wanted to see what you all thought would be best for this travel trailer. I am going to be pulling this with an Infinity QX56. I didn't know what install would run for one of these, so I also wanted to see if that was a fair price.
> 
> ...


IMHO, the dual cam is by far the way to go.

My dual cam roundbar setup with 1200lb bars was $550 installed when I bought the trailer (hitch, shank, ball, bars & cam's). However, I do know the trunnion bar is more expensive, and if you go with a 2 1/2" shank it's quite a bit more expensive. So without knowing exactly what they are installing, it's hard to say how reasonable the price is.

A BIG HINT. go for the trunnion bar setup. The newer round bar Reese system really limits the amount of tilt you can get on the head and may make it hard to get enough tension on the bars and not hit the cams. This is especially true on trailers with the ball on the top of the A Frame like outbacks. Trunnion bar setup has a different setup on the head tilt and can get much more tilt and gives better clearance to the bars. I ended up needing to go with a 1" riser ball to get enought tilt and tension on my setup. Once we got it set up it has turned out to be a great setup.

RV net has a LONG set of threads on issues with the round bar setup, trunnion bar is much less problematic.


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## TexanThompsons (Apr 21, 2009)

Birdman1991 said:


> Hey Greg! You're gonna love the Travel Trailer my friend. We love ours (same floorplan as yours, just a little older)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for the information! You have hit on one worry I do have and that's why I was going with this hitch. We used to have a 2003 Expedition and pulled a 26' K&Z sportsman with it. Funny thing it was about the same weight as the 312BH but 10' shorter. The QX allows for a little more weight than the Exp did( 9000# vs. 8000#) and I didn't seem to have a problem with it other than the effect the 18 wheels have when they come up beside you, so I am hopeful that that will be the case here, or I will be looking at trading in my jeep for a truck. Of course the sales people say I won't have any problems.....
[/quote]

I'm sure you've stumbled upon thread after thread discussing if so-and-so's vehicle could pull the trailer they bought or were about to buy. The only thing that could convince me was my own bad experiences. I just found taht when I got to the site I was so worked up from driving there that I was a little, shall we say, "snippy" to my lovely bride and the kiddos. Not the attitude to have when camping.

If that hitch doesn't work, there are other types of hitches that work in completely different ways to eliminate the biggest issue you're going to have and that is sway. Just don't let anyone's advice get to you (as I let it). We are all just speaking from our own experience and perceptions. And as my dad always told me, perceptions are realities to the ones that hold them.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

You'll need the 1200 lb bars. I'd try to negotiate the hitch price down a tad.


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## willingtonpaul (Apr 16, 2010)

Nathan said:


> You'll need the 1200 lb bars. I'd try to negotiate the hitch price down a tad.


+1

1200lb. bars with a 1/2 ton SUV.

two other comments:

1. excellent advice above on going with the trunnion bar dual cam. couldn't agree more
2. pack lightly


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## Red Beard (Feb 13, 2010)

Price seems VERY high...If I remember when I was looking a year ago I found a net price of about $480.00. Take a look on Craig's list and eBay. It's not like they wear out. 
I strongly recommend that you make sure that you test drive the dealers set up before you hit the road. Get you to highway speed and let some trucks pass you. If you are paying for the dealer to set it up then make sure it is right. Make sure they are measuring EVERYTHING front and rear height of TV before and after. Make sure the TT is level. They should really be measuring all 4 corners of the TV to make sure the weight is distributed evenly. 
I found out the hard way about the "dealer set up" 
You will have to tweak it once you get all your gear loaded. Get the directions for the hitch and get the wrenches to adjust the hitch you will need them.
IMHO you may find that although the weight of your new Outback is similar to your old TT the length could be a real issue


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## Birdman1991 (Mar 5, 2011)

Red Beard said:


> Price seems VERY high...If I remember when I was looking a year ago I found a net price of about $480.00. Take a look on Craig's list and eBay. It's not like they wear out.
> I strongly recommend that you make sure that you test drive the dealers set up before you hit the road. Get you to highway speed and let some trucks pass you. If you are paying for the dealer to set it up then make sure it is right. Make sure they are measuring EVERYTHING front and rear height of TV before and after. Make sure the TT is level. They should really be measuring all 4 corners of the TV to make sure the weight is distributed evenly.
> I found out the hard way about the "dealer set up"
> You will have to tweak it once you get all your gear loaded. Get the directions for the hitch and get the wrenches to adjust the hitch you will need them.
> IMHO you may find that although the weight of your new Outback is similar to your old TT the length could be a real issue


Thanks for the advise, you can bet that I will be test driving this setup before we leave the dealer. I will press a little harder on the price and see what I can get them down to.


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