# Towing - E2 Hitch Questions



## Krista

Group,

We picked our new 2012 280RS up from Lakeshore RV last friday (yay!). We love it and camped out in it last weekend. What a difference from our last TT (a Cirrus Hybrid). Here's my question. Lakeshore put a Equalizer E2 hitch on the trailer. We had an old chain style and friction sway bar on our previous TT, so this is new to me. I did notice that the nose of our TV (a 2005 Excursion 6.0L) was a bit up - TV not quite as level as I'd expect. I'm assuming they didn't do a great job setting the weight distribution bars at Lakeshore. We'll have to figure out how to fix that - any ideas (again this style hitch is completely new to us)? Also, it was very windy on our way home last night. There were several moments of swaying (and some were a bit scary). We never had this issue with our last TT. I was looking into how to fix this issue, but I can't seem to find anything. Apparently the E2 has built in sway control? Are you able to adjust it? Any thoughts?

Otherwise, when it was not windy, the TT towed like a dream and our TV didn't seem to be working any harder than it did with our old light hybrid.

We did have the TV fairly empty (just the dogs and my husband and I = ~550 pounds) and we put our luggage, supplies, dog crates, etc. in the nose end garage of the TT.

Any thoughts you have would be appreciated!!

Thanks!
Krista


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## Jewellfamily

Some of the folks that have the Equalizer brand hitch will have to chime in here. I am going to buy one for this season but havent yet. My understanding is there are 2 different styles. The E2 and the 4 point sway control option. The E2 is the lower $$ one and the only sway control is the friction where it rides in the brackets. The 4 point system has those 2 points for friction, plus the friction applied by the mounting system where the bars mount on the receiver. The set up for the hitch sounds like it will have to be tweaked if your front end is up. The hitch should have instructions with it, but it takes some time and some trial and error. You should get lots of feedback on this post, there are lots of people on the forum with the Equalizer brand hitch.

Good luck!


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## love2camp

The E2 requires the WD bars to be adjusted properly to give good friction to help with sway. Your's sound like they may not be adjusted correctly since your rear is sagged compared to the front. Applying more force to the WD's will increase sway control as well.

The other problem is that your TV is maxed out. Your under the tow rating, but over on trailer length to wheelbase safe limit and right to the limit of GVWR. Your wheelbase of 137" allows you up to 27' of trailer. The 280rs is 5+' over that, so even with a proper WD setup you will have issues on windy days or passing big rigs. Dial in the E2 and see if it does better, but you may need to upgrade TV to be really safe.


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## Krista

love2camp said:


> The E2 requires the WD bars to be adjusted properly to give good friction to help with sway. Your's sound like they may not be adjusted correctly since your rear is sagged compared to the front. Applying more force to the WD's will increase sway control as well.
> 
> The other problem is that your TV is maxed out. Your under the tow rating, but over on trailer length to wheelbase safe limit and right to the limit of GVWR. Your wheelbase of 137" allows you up to 27' of trailer. The 280rs is 5+' over that, so even with a proper WD setup you will have issues on windy days or passing big rigs. Dial in the E2 and see if it does better, but you may need to upgrade TV to be really safe.


Love2camp,

I'm not sure if the length is really the issue here. I asked around a lot about towing this TT with the 6.0L diesel Excursion and no one thought I would have any issue. The length on the 280RS is 32 feet, but I believe that's only after the rear king slide is extended. The label in our TT lists the length as ~29 feet.

I agree that the hitch probably needs to be adjusted. My husband is currently reading the manual and seeing what he can figure out. Any other thoughts you have would be appreciated though!

Thanks!
Krista


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## Northern Ninja

My 280 is 32' to the tip of the hitch, with the slide in. I still don't think your Excursion should have much trouble towing it with the wd set up the right way.


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## willingtonpaul

Krista said:


> The E2 requires the WD bars to be adjusted properly to give good friction to help with sway. Your's sound like they may not be adjusted correctly since your rear is sagged compared to the front. Applying more force to the WD's will increase sway control as well.
> 
> The other problem is that your TV is maxed out. Your under the tow rating, but over on trailer length to wheelbase safe limit and right to the limit of GVWR. Your wheelbase of 137" allows you up to 27' of trailer. The 280rs is 5+' over that, so even with a proper WD setup you will have issues on windy days or passing big rigs. Dial in the E2 and see if it does better, but you may need to upgrade TV to be really safe.


Love2camp,

I'm not sure if the length is really the issue here. I asked around a lot about towing this TT with the 6.0L diesel Excursion and no one thought I would have any issue. The length on the 280RS is 32 feet, but I believe that's only after the rear king slide is extended. The label in our TT lists the length as ~29 feet.

I agree that the hitch probably needs to be adjusted. My husband is currently reading the manual and seeing what he can figure out. Any other thoughts you have would be appreciated though!

Thanks!
Krista
[/quote]

yeah, the ex is fine for this tow. it is the hitch that is not adjusted properly. i can't help you there, but when you do get it set up correctly it will be night and day....


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## duggy

I'm not familiar with the E2, but to adjust my Equalizer with 4 point sway control, you loosen or remove (it's been a while) two bolts on the shank, then add one or more washers to a small bolt that changes the tilt of the hitch head. As already stated, putting more pressure on the weight bars will increase sway control.


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## CW2Jason

Krista, I have the E2 hitch, it is a very good hitch and does a great job when properly adjusted, there is a you tube video on how to set up, but it isn't to difficult, just measure your tow vehicle wheel well hight front and back without the trailer hooked up. this measurement is what you are trying to achieve after hook up minus an inch or so. then level your trailer disconnected and get your hitch hight from the top inside where the ball goes to the ground. set the hitch on your tow vehicle to this same hight, this will allow the trailer to be level once connected. then hook up and install the wd bars, with everything installed and bars hooked up the bars should be parallel to the trailer frame. if not raise or lower the wd bar brackets on the trailer, and fine tune the tilt of the e2 hitch head by adding or removing the washers at the top of the hitch. dont forget to tighten everything up once done.

good luck, I think you will like it once it is set up properly

Jason



Krista said:


> Group,
> 
> We picked our new 2012 280RS up from Lakeshore RV last friday (yay!). We love it and camped out in it last weekend. What a difference from our last TT (a Cirrus Hybrid). Here's my question. Lakeshore put a Equalizer E2 hitch on the trailer. We had an old chain style and friction sway bar on our previous TT, so this is new to me. I did notice that the nose of our TV (a 2005 Excursion 6.0L) was a bit up - TV not quite as level as I'd expect. I'm assuming they didn't do a great job setting the weight distribution bars at Lakeshore. We'll have to figure out how to fix that - any ideas (again this style hitch is completely new to us)? Also, it was very windy on our way home last night. There were several moments of swaying (and some were a bit scary). We never had this issue with our last TT. I was looking into how to fix this issue, but I can't seem to find anything. Apparently the E2 has built in sway control? Are you able to adjust it? Any thoughts?
> 
> Otherwise, when it was not windy, the TT towed like a dream and our TV didn't seem to be working any harder than it did with our old light hybrid.
> 
> We did have the TV fairly empty (just the dogs and my husband and I = ~550 pounds) and we put our luggage, supplies, dog crates, etc. in the nose end garage of the TT.
> 
> Any thoughts you have would be appreciated!!
> 
> Thanks!
> Krista


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## Krista

Thanks Jason! I forwarded this message on to my husband and we'll try to fix the hitch. Sounds like it won't be that difficult. After reading some other forums, a poorly set up hitch could cause the problems we had. Fingers crossed that this will fix the problem!!

Thanks!
Krista


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## Scoutr2

duggy said:


> I'm not familiar with the E2, but to adjust my Equalizer with 4 point sway control, you loosen or remove (it's been a while) two bolts on the shank, then add one or more washers to a small bolt that changes the tilt of the hitch head. As already stated, putting more pressure on the weight bars will increase sway control.


While this COULD be your problem, raising the L-Brackets could also be the correct fix for this problem - or raising the shank up. There are several adjustments to consider. Your best bet is to assume the dealer installed it quickly and incorrectly (which is usually the case), then start from the beginning of the installation and make sure everything is properly adjusted. Here's a link to the page on the Equal-i-zer website, where you can download the Installation Instructions.

I removed the chain-style WD hitch that the RV dealer threw in when we bought our Outback. It took me about 4 hours to remove the old hitch, install and adjust the Equal-i-zer. After a couple of short trips, I had everything tweaked and dialed in properly. When you get this accomplished, no more "nose high/steering light" driving, no more sway problems, and both truck and trailer will ride level - for the most part. (Depends how you load gear/firewood/etc. from trip to trip.)

Just one tip I can give you . . . NO trailer will ride perfectly level. When you are making adjustments to the hitch and you discover that one setting causes the trailer to ride "tongue low" and the next adjustment causes the trailer to ride "tongue high," go with the "tongue low" setting. My trailer tongue rides a bit tongue-low. The trailer frame is 3/4" lower in front than in the rear - which is not much, spread over 30 feet. If you are "tongue-high," sway will be harder to control.

Also, make sure that when you set up the hitch that you are loaded the way you are when you tow the trailer the most. If you always/usually carry water in your fresh tank, fill it up before you adjust, because 50 gallons of water adds 400# to the trailer, which affects tongue weight/height. Then, make sure you load your trailer and truck the same way each time.

I *LOVE* my Equal-i-zer hitch!









Mike


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## W5CI

I let my E2 Hitch go with my 210RS, and got the E4 for the 268RL, It is my understanding that the E2 offers very little sway control, but the E4 will hold it steady no matter what.


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## duggy

Scoutr2 said:


> I'm not familiar with the E2, but to adjust my Equalizer with 4 point sway control, you loosen or remove (it's been a while) two bolts on the shank, then add one or more washers to a small bolt that changes the tilt of the hitch head. As already stated, putting more pressure on the weight bars will increase sway control.


While this COULD be your problem, raising the L-Brackets could also be the correct fix for this problem - or raising the shank up. There are several adjustments to consider. Your best bet is to assume the dealer installed it quickly and incorrectly (which is usually the case), then start from the beginning of the installation and make sure everything is properly adjusted. Here's a link to the page on the Equal-i-zer website, where you can download the Installation Instructions.

I removed the chain-style WD hitch that the RV dealer threw in when we bought our Outback. It took me about 4 hours to remove the old hitch, install and adjust the Equal-i-zer. After a couple of short trips, I had everything tweaked and dialed in properly. When you get this accomplished, no more "nose high/steering light" driving, no more sway problems, and both truck and trailer will ride level - for the most part. (Depends how you load gear/firewood/etc. from trip to trip.)

Just one tip I can give you . . . NO trailer will ride perfectly level. When you are making adjustments to the hitch and you discover that one setting causes the trailer to ride "tongue low" and the next adjustment causes the trailer to ride "tongue high," go with the "tongue low" setting. My trailer tongue rides a bit tongue-low. The trailer frame is 3/4" lower in front than in the rear - which is not much, spread over 30 feet. If you are "tongue-high," sway will be harder to control.

Also, make sure that when you set up the hitch that you are loaded the way you are when you tow the trailer the most. If you always/usually carry water in your fresh tank, fill it up before you adjust, because 50 gallons of water adds 400# to the trailer, which affects tongue weight/height. Then, make sure you load your trailer and truck the same way each time.

I *LOVE* my Equal-i-zer hitch!









Mike
[/quote]

I agree with everything you said. I was trying to give the short, simple answer, but in hind sight, that leaves out a lot of important information. I also noticed that in the second post, she said her husband was reading the instructions, so I figured he should get all the required information from there.

I also love my Equal-i-zer hitch, which required a couple hours of initial setup, followed by a slight tweak after that. Our trailer towes like a dream.


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