Reese Dual Cam Installation

[George Miklas]

I installed my Reese Dual Cam yesterday and did everything according to the manual click here for the manual.. My Skyline has a Lippert frame, which had three crossmembers within the tongue. In order to get the Reese Dual Cam frame plates in the proper position for the 19-3/8” measurement, I had to cut off the forward position 1.5”x1.5” crossmember, that is directly below the LP tray (it did not support any vertical weight/force from above). There are still two cross members remaining which support the battery.

Figure 6 on page 3, is the illustration for a top coupler and trunion bars. I measured 19-3/8” from the center of the ball to the center of the pivot bolt and had both sides perfect. When I attached the bars, the cams didn’t line up with the bars. So I flipped the frame plates and everything lined up.

This is not my picture, but someone else whose frame plate is also reversed. Mine is just like this.


Can anybody shed light on this?
Did I make a grave mistake removing the crossmember?
Should I get a fabricating shop to install a crossmember to replace the one I removed?

[TXiceman]

More than likely the frame piece you removed was placed to prevent frame twist and should be replaced. Lippert is not known for building overly strong frames. Can you post a photo of the area that shows exactly where the frame member was located?

Glad to see you still around George. Safe travels. We are selling the big 5er and already sold the truck and bought a small house.

Ken

[Martian]

You did fine! That hitch is one of the most technical to set up but very satisfying when towing. Mine is now on its third trailer and has about 90,000 miles on it. One of the cam bars, the ones the chain hooks to, broke with about 40,000 miles on it and was replaced under the lifetime warranty. You should fine tune it after a few trips. Set your rig dead straight and level and loaded ready to go. Do not try this until you have the wd bars set for tv and trailer loaded for a trip and ready to go. While hooked up, loosen the lock nuts that hold the adjustment on the sway bars and let them center themselves in the notch in the wd bars. Once they are centered, tighten both nuts on each one and you will have a wonderful setup. Nice quiet setup under most conditions.
All in all a very easy hitch to use and very trouble free. I added a second battery box to keep the parts in when unhitched. Found that a rubber ball cover with a ring to go around the ball works great and lasts a long time. Happy camping!
On edit, if your frame is that high you will not get any issues.

[Cumminsfan]

JMO but I highly doubt a 1.5" pc of angle would do much for support of any kind on the a frame. Never seen anything of that kind on any TT's I've ever looked at. My guess is it was there for a spare tire to hang on and a decision was made somewhere down the build process that the spare would go elsewhere.
I had a spare hanging under the A frame on a 2010 Northtrail. I don't remember exactly what all the bracing was but that would be my guess.

[TandW]

Originally Posted by Martian

You did fine! That hitch is one of the most technical to set up but very satisfying when towing. Mine is now on its third trailer and has about 90,000 miles on it. One of the cam bars, the ones the chain hooks to, broke with about 40,000 miles on it and was replaced under the lifetime warranty. You should fine tune it after a few trips. Set your rig dead straight and level and loaded ready to go. Do not try this until you have the wd bars set for tv and trailer loaded for a trip and ready to go. While hooked up, loosen the lock nuts that hold the adjustment on the sway bars and let them center themselves in the notch in the wd bars. Once they are centered, tighten both nuts on each one and you will have a wonderful setup. Nice quiet setup under most conditions.
All in all a very easy hitch to use and very trouble free. I added a second battery box to keep the parts in when unhitched. Found that a rubber ball cover with a ring to go around the ball works great and lasts a long time. Happy camping!
On edit, if your frame is that high you will not get any issues.

It appears you've swapped sides for the frame plates, according to the installation drawings. In case I ever get one of these, why did you do that?

[George Miklas]

Originally Posted by TXiceman

More than likely the frame piece you removed was placed to prevent frame twist and should be replaced. Lippert is not known for building overly strong frames. Can you post a photo of the area that shows exactly where the frame member was located?

Glad to see you still around George. Safe travels. We are selling the big 5er and already sold the truck and bought a small house.

Ken

Ken,
When I originally counted the 3 cross members in the tongue, I forgot the plate under the jack. That plate functions as a gusset too. You mentioned a photo to see exactly where the cross member was. Well, consider the picture in the original post, and my cross member is approximately where the rearward bolt is in the Reese bracket.

Yes, of course, I'm still around. Through the past 20 years, the time since I was last an iRV2 forum moderator, we de-emphasized family camping due to career and job conflicts. I retired from high school teaching in 2016 but kept my "second job" driving a tour bus/motorcoach. I had driven a tour bus part-time since 1995, then began full-time one year when I was in between school teaching jobs, and then kept up full-time bus driving even when I was a full-time teacher again. I ran myself hard, 25 hours a day and eight days a week for five years. After retiring from the classroom in 2016, I kept on the bus driving full-time while I went back to school for two more degrees. In 2022 I took on a part-time university faculty job (click here to check it out) and a full-time high school teaching job, but finally gave up bus driving. Now again, I have weekends back to go camping!

[George Miklas]

Originally Posted by TandW

It appears you've swapped sides for the frame plates, according to the installation drawings. In case I ever get one of these, why did you do that?

You are absolutely correct! I did switch the frame plates. This is why...

I measured the alignment (19-3/8") multiple times before I drilled the holes for the Rivnuts. After the frame plates were installed, I then discovered that the cams did not align with the bars. The easy remedy at that point was to reverse the frame plates.

Everything is aligned now and works properly.

[Martian]

Originally Posted by TandW

It appears you've swapped sides for the frame plates, according to the installation drawings. In case I ever get one of these, why did you do that?

Good question. This is the third trailer that system is on and the other two had slightly different geometry on the tongue than my current one. Tried doing this one per the instructions and the adjustments on the anti sway arms were all the way in but needed to go more. Swapped sides and everything fell into place. The OP's pic has them swapped also. Not uncommon and it does not seem to affect function. I have stopped suggesting the Reese dual cam system because it seems nobody can install them right the first time. Most other systems are a much easier install.
My pic is in the middle of a fine tuning episode as witnessed by the backed off nut on the cam arm.

[TandW]

Deeper into the installation manual is a drawing with an optional frame plate install showing reversal. My bad for not seeing it sooner. Sorry!

[George Miklas]

Originally Posted by TandW

Deeper into the installation manual is a drawing with an optional frame plate install showing reversal. My bad for not seeing it sooner. Sorry!

Thanks for pointing that out. I missed it too! Now I'm bummed!!!!!!! That I cut away that cross-member! I'm steaming over it...