Our Traveling Dilemmas (Ideas?)

[lawnspecialties]

Alright, in our recent trip report I stated we ran into our fair share of dilemmas and I'd explain later. Well here's the stories and a few lessons I've learned and am glad to share.

We left Raleigh on Friday morning, the 25th. It was about 20 degrees outside so the timing was perfect for a trip to central Florida. Our TT uses a Reese 1200lb. weight distribution setup with the dual-cam sway control. We've had this setup since we bought the TT in April, 2004, and it has always done great.

For some odd reason, we stopped quite often on this trip down to Georgia. We had reservations at Country Oaks RV Park at mile marker 1 just before the Florida state line. I wasn't worried about all the bathroom breaks since we left with plenty of time to spare. Plus, every time we stop, I always do a good walk around the camper to check and see if anything's amiss. As always, everything was fine everytime.

At mile marker 29 in Georgia, another bathroom break was calling a couple of us so I decided to stop at the Pilot truck stop even though we were only 28 miles from our overnight stay. Upon walking back to the truck, I made my pass down the passenger side and back up the driver's side. About the time I got to my door, I realized I'd just seen something that couldn't have been right. So I backed up a few feet and confirmed the weight distribution bar on the driver's side was gone! If you're familiar with a dual-cam setup, you know the bar actually rests on the cam instead of being fastened by a chain. The chain actually hooks to the cam which then lifts the bar. Oddly, the chain holding the cam was still fastened perfectly with the safety pin in place.

Well now I'm totally perplexed but we go ahead and head to Country Oaks (cautiously). Of course, nobody at Country Oaks had ever seen anything like this but they did give me the number to Dick Gore's RV just 20 miles down the road. I call and they close in 20 minutes so we just plan on being there first thing in the morning.

Of course, the next morning, it's raining like crazy. But we head out hoping and praying that the one weight distribution bar will still do the job meant for two. We get to Dick Gore's and strike one. They call a nearby trailer dealer (All Star Trailers I think) and we limp over there. He doesn't sell Reese but we'll see what he has. Strike two. He sells Curt hitches and they don't make a bar for a dual-cam setup. On a whim, he calls Cannon's Welding on the south side of Jacksonville but is fairly sure he's closed on Saturday. Cannon's Welding is one of the main distributors for Reese to the whole state of Florida. God was with us because sure enough the man answered the phone. Come to find out, he was supposed to go fishing up in SC that day but decided to stay home and do some inventory. He usually IS closed on Saturday.

So, we head south limping thorugh Jacksonville like a sick dog and finally find Cannon's. Thank God for GPS. Well guess what. Home Run baby! This fella' was as good as gold. Just good ole' folk kind of people. He sold me two weight distribution bars for distributor cost! I wanted a spare after what I'd been through. I threw that sucker on and we were finally on our way to the Fort. They worked perfectly all the way there and all the way home.

Now my question. Has anybody ever heard of anything like this ever happening before? Every one I've spoken to about this (even Cannon's) is totally baffled at what happened. The only guess I have is the missing one broke in two and fell out. But again, I've never heard of that happening before. Either way, how would you like to have been following me down I-95 when that sucker came out?

But like I said, all ended well. What have I learned?

1. If at all possible, never travel for a long camping trip on the weekends. If Cannon's hadn't been open, what would I have done? And what if we had been traveling on Sunday?

2. If at all possible, have spare parts with you if you travel long distances. I would never have thought to have a spare weight distribution bar with me but I bet I'll never travel again without one.

3. Always check your equipment before, during, and after each trip.

 

[RvUsa]

I have the same hitch on my truck, and had one on about 3 other trailers, I LOVE THEM BY THE WAY. The first two were car trailers, and heavy as all get out, we broke a bar on a speed bump once, BANG, very loud, bar fell out. So I would say going down the road if one broke in a big dip or hump you probbaly wouldn't hear it. Look on the underside of your trailer, if its enclosed like mine is now, you might see some carnage. If not, it may have just bounced under and gone.

As an interesting related story, we were traveling around DC one time with a car trailer, and dually ford with a cap on it, it had no tailgate, just a double door for the cap. Well, we were cruising around the bypass at warp 3 and hit a bump. The cap door sprung open and a commercial jack stand fell out. Well the best we could figure, it hit the front of the trailer, bounced under, hit the door step well, exploded it into a million pcs. then hit the front axel tube, dented it, the exited the back of the trailer taking a peice of the back with it. We moved over and pulled of, and were looking at the damages when some guy pulls up behind us and says "whatever you guys hit, bounced up and went through some guys grill" well my buddy yells to me to get back in, and he hot foots it out of there. LOL

I have towed 5 or 6 different trailers probably 300k miles total, and been around hundreds of others that did the same, I have heard tons of stories.

John

 

[stacktester]

Jamie, I still have the hitch you have just in case I tow a trailer heavy enough to need a leveler. New trailer is a 5'er. I had one of mine fall out several times but it happened at home where I had to make sharp turns backing up so I never lost it. Guess I just didn't make a tight enough turn to lose it out on the road. What was happening was when you put the leveler in the hitch part it clicks into place. Well one of the pins that locks it in was wearing out and when I turned sharp it would fall out. BTW Cannon owners are friends of mine and only a few miles away from me. I went into Cannon and they sold me a kit with the new pins in it. Replaced them and no more problem. I've pulled my previous TT without the levelers and it really is not a big deal. I don't recommend it because it helps with stability so much. I'll post some pics tomorrow of the repair I did so you can see what I'm talking about.

 

[lawnspecialties]

Thanks for the stories. Up until now, nobody I spoke with had ever heard of a WD bar breaking.

Unfortunately, you will soon see how South Carolina's I-95 has the most potholes of any interstate in the country and Georgia must have a state law that says their portion of I-95 must always have heavy construction work being done to it.

I'm sure I lost it between exit 57 in SC (fuel stop) and exit 29 in Ga.

 

[Drew A]

I also have the same hitch as you have and have been using is since 2004 also. I dropped a bar once and it was due to the ball mount. Apparanty, on my first ball mount the bottom cup where the bar nests was not a full cup. It had a small cut out in it for installing the bar. This let the bar fall out. I called Reese and they sent me a new improved version for free.

Check this out, you may still have the old style ball mount.

 

[lawnspecialties]

I also have the same hitch as you have and have been using is since 2004 also. I dropped a bar once and it was due to the ball mount. Apparanty, on my first ball mount the bottom cup where the bar nests was not a full cup. It had a small cut out in it for installing the bar. This let the bar fall out. I called Reese and they sent me a new improved version for free.

Check this out, you may still have the old style ball mount.

The bottom cup does indeed have a cut. But if it didn't, I'm not sure how you could install the bars.

Either way, I'll be calling Reese tomorrow and see what happens.

 

[RvUsa]

This is the third reese dual cam I have owned, and all of them had the little cut out, the first had little widget thingies that you had to pull up to get the bar in, but the new one doesn't.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Its metal and under a lot of tension, I bet your guess on it breaking is right on the money.
I caught a big chunk of steel in Columbia SC in 99 driving a brand new Tahoe with less than 1000 miles on it so I have been on the wrong end of falling parts.
Our last 2 trips have had tire issues, in Jan I noticed the right rear was low and it was down to 20 psi, figured I would stop at the car care center and get it plugged but they were 4 hrs behind, I ended up throwing the spare on and got it fixed when we got home. The trip in June had one shred on I-75 just North of the turnpike plus got my windshield busted in TN by a guy that had just been off road before he came on the E-way.
It pays to be prepared and build a little extra time into the trip for unforseen problems. I travel with a small tool kit and ALWAYS have fix-a-flat and tire tools.
My favorite is the kid that has to puke while your doing 65 on the expressway, always a batlle to safely get over before they spew.
Its all a part of traveling

Scott

 

[lawnspecialties]

Yeah, I always keep plenty of tools, Fix-a-Flat, tire plugs and a tire kit as well. But I must admit, I never imagined to keep an extra WD bar. Well, I'm ready now.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Yeah, I always keep plenty of tools, Fix-a-Flat, tire plugs and a tire kit as well. But I must admit, I never imagined to keep an extra WD bar. Well, I'm ready now.

I think carrying an extra WD bar would be a little too prepared, at that level of neurotic I think travel would be a problem

 

[LarryJ]

I've never heard of that before, but if your spare is mounted under the bed with a winch mechanism I have heard more than one instance of folks with Fords loosing their spare tire due to winch cable failures. In one case it did several thousand dollars damage to their trailer. What a lot of folks have done including me is to put two crossed vinyl covered wires crossed under the tire and secured to the frame. I like you check out all connections/tires including the spare at each stop. In fact my trailer spare is mounted up under the A-frame and I have also secured that with a positive retaining system.

Larry

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

I've never heard of that before, but if your spare is mounted under the bed with a winch mechanism I have heard more than one instance of folks with Fords loosing their spare tire due to winch cable failures. In one case it did several thousand dollars damage to their trailer. What a lot of folks have done including me is to put two crossed vinyl covered wires crossed under the tire and secured to the frame. I like you check out all connections/tires including the spare at each stop. In fact my trailer spare is mounted up under the A-frame and I have also secured that with a positive retaining system.

Larry

Chevy changed their cable system on their spare a few years back, they are now a PITA to wind down but supposedly it locks if there is a sudden drop.

 

[LarryJ]

Chevy changed their cable system on their spare a few years back, they are now a PITA to wind down but supposedly it locks if there is a sudden drop.

Just remember I said the cable brakes so it's not the mechanism failing, but the actual cable. Of course I know absolutely nothing about the Chevys only the Fords.

Larry

 

[lawnspecialties]

I spoke with Reese today and they didn't really have any likely ideas as well. The guy gave me a few ideas about checking around the hitch for some rubbing points but nothing concrete.

He also made no initiative to replace it as a "good will" gesture or anything like that. He even finally admitted I quite possibly had a "failed part". Duh

I think carrying an extra WD bar would be a little too prepared, at that level of neurotic I think travel would be a problem

It only cost me a little over $50 for one bar so another seemed a no-brainer. Yes, I'll probably never use it but considering all the hassles and troubles losing this one gave me. Plus remembering they don't fail while sitting around the house, but when I'm most likely hundreds of miles from home. I'll spend the $50.

 

[LarryJ]

I spoke with Reese today and they didn't really have any likely ideas as well. The guy gave me a few ideas about checking around the hitch for some rubbing points but nothing concrete.

He also made no initiative to replace it as a "good will" gesture or anything like that. He even finally admitted I quite possibly had a "failed part". Duh



It only cost me a little over $50 for one bar so another seemed a no-brainer. Yes, I'll probably never use it but considering all the hassles and troubles losing this one gave me. Plus remembering they don't fail while sitting around the house, but when I'm most likely hundreds of miles from home. I'll spend the $50.

For only $50 that IMHO was a good investment. My Equal-i-zer uses some cotter pins, pins and L-bracket things that they sell an emergency set of which I immediately got since loosing any one of these can put you out of business and was only like $30. Of course I'm the type that carries spares of everything including water pumps, serpentine belts, radiator hoses, vacuum pumps (diesels can't generate a vacuum like gassers), etc. etc. I probably carry close to $1,000 in dealer priced parts for like $300, but I have them and don't have to wait when something goes south on the road.

Larry

Larry

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

I know who I am calling if I ever need a spare weight bar

Larry, I will resist the urge to be a smart guy and say that if you drove a Chevy you wouldnt have to carry all those spare parts, but that wouldnt be nice so I wont say it.

Scott