Community Forums

jma24 · 07-26-2013, 08:51 AM

I have a 2013 F 150. The wdh is the Fastway Equalizer E-2. No problems with hooking up. My question, the way the dealer showed me to unhook, I raise the trailer as high as needed until the pressuer is off the bars and you can pull them off with just a minor pull. IS the normal? Sometimes the truck is quite high, just want to make sure nothing "snaps". Thanks

myredracer · 07-26-2013, 09:12 AM

How high is high? I usually raise ours up to maybe 3 - 5" (have never really looked that closely). It may depend partly on what your jack rating is too. If a jack had a 3,000 lb rating and your tongue weight was say 800 lbs, you'd be able to lift up to 2,200 lbs of the dead/static weight of the truck. The higher you raise the truck, the more force is required since you are relieving weight off the truck's suspension. If you have a manual jack, you won't want to raise it more than you have to and you want to raise it just enough to comfortably get the bars on and off. The amount you have to raise it will change depending on how you are parked and what the angle of the truck is relative to the trailer. With a 1/2 ton truck this should be fairly easy to do. If you have a heavier 3/4 ton truck with stiffer suspension, it's somewhat harder to wind up.

I doubt you are going to damage anything unless you have significantly overloaded your truck by towing a trailer with too high a tongue weight plus too much load in the truck bed and then I think the jack could be damaged, but I've never heard about that actually happening.

If you don't have an electric tongue jack, they sure help!

TXiceman · 07-26-2013, 03:33 PM

When we had bumper pulls, I would use the jack to lift the truck and take pressure off the W/D bars. Depending on how the truck and trailer were setting, some time it was 3" or 4" and other times it would be 6" plus.

Ken

jesilvas · 07-26-2013, 05:10 PM

It's normal to use the hitch to do that. That being said, you should never HAVE to go too high because the hitch should be set for your vehicle

Cumminsfan · 07-26-2013, 05:28 PM

On our last TT with a 10 F150 I had to go quite high. 4-6". TT had a TW of 900+lbs and the WD had 7 washers in the head so tilt was pretty good. Using 1200lb bars that's what it took to get them on and off the L brackets of the EQ.

jma24 · 07-27-2013, 09:47 AM

Called tech support at the manufacturer. He confirmed that the cheater bar is not designed to remove the bars. If on an incline or TV is not level left to right, there are times that you may have to lift the truck as high as the electric jack will take it. On one side the bar readily falls off, while on the other side, you may have to tap it with a hammer. Thanks for the input.