Fair price for Equilizer & install

[mtnguy]

Originally Posted by wneise

Go ahead and buy a good say 150 ftlb torque wrench too. It wont do you any good on the ball or shank bolts, but it will be useful with the frame bracket and friction (eq. 4 point) bolts as well as checking wheel lugs. The smaller nuts on an eq 4 point hitch will tend to loosen quicker since the parts they attach are repeatedly pulled back and forth. You should check the torque at the spring arm receiver bolts as well as the trailer frame bracket bolts on each trip.

A 150 lb. torque wrench is a good thing to have around the house. But a 450 lb. torque wrench to torque the bigger bolts is expensive, and probably unnecessary.....plus I don't have enough "oomp" anymore to handle something like that.

Ft/lbs. is a simple formula. I weigh about 190 lbs., so if I put all of my body weight 1 ft from the axis of the wrench, that is 190 ft./lbs.

This is what I do: Turn you hitch 1/4 turn in the receiver so you have to push down to tighten the ball nut. Take your body weight and divide by 12. With my weight at 190, that figure is 15.8. For me to torque to 450 ft./lbs., I need to put all of my weight on a point 28.5 inches from the axis of the wrench (450 divided my 15.8). I will get a metal pipe and mark it about 28"........I need to take off about 1/2" since the bar will not go all of the way to the axis of the wrench. I will then put my hand centered over the mark, put my knee on my hand, and put all my weight on that knee....a little balancing act is needed.

For me, 300 ft/lbs of torque would require a balancing point of 18.5" on the bar.

You will probably need a 3/4" breaker bar and appropriate socket to use this method. If calculated correctly, I betcha this method is more accurate that a torque wrench.

[Palomino_G210]

I have done something similar but I use a longer extension/pipe and a bathroom scale. I mark a 5 ft radius from the nut, put the scale under the mark, get on the scale and press down til the scale reads reads 90 lbs less. 5 ft x 90 lbs = 450 ft lbs. Works for all high torquing. Adjust distance and weight as needed.

[mtnguy]

Originally Posted by Palomino_G210

I have done something similar but I use a longer extension/pipe and a bathroom scale. I mark a 5 ft radius from the nut, put the scale under the mark, get on the scale and press down til the scale reads reads 90 lbs less. 5 ft x 90 lbs = 450 ft lbs. Works for all high torquing. Adjust distance and weight as needed.

WOW......I really like that method!!! No balancing act needed.

You would still need to be accurate with centering your hand over the 5' to wrench axis, or whatever measurement preferred.

[Triguy]

Originally Posted by mtnguy

WOW......I really like that method!!! No balancing act needed.

You would still need to be accurate with centering your hand over the 5' to wrench axis, or whatever measurement preferred.

Nice! I like both techniques and the scale to see the difference is an elegant solution. I'll have to try this, but I don't have a 5 ft pipe to extend. I think its 3' long so if I use the pipe to extend my breaker bar and place my hand 4' from the socket and stand on the scale, than I would need the following, right?

430ft./lbs. / 4 = 108lbs for the hitch ball
320ft./lbs. / 4 = 80lbs for the shank bolts

[mtnguy]

Originally Posted by Triguy

Nice! I like both techniques and the scale to see the difference is an elegant solution. I'll have to try this, but I don't have a 5 ft pipe to extend. I think its 3' long so if I use the pipe to extend my breaker bar and place my hand 4' from the socket and stand on the scale, than I would need the following, right?

430ft./lbs. / 4 = 108lbs for the hitch ball
320ft./lbs. / 4 = 80lbs for the shank bolts

Looks right. But I don't think I would choke up the extra foot on the breaker bar. I can't see where right off where that would be a problem with the specs, but not sure. Could be a safety issue if the extension came off of the breaker bar.

In either case, make sure you measure carefully from the center of the breaker bar axis, to a point on the extension pipe, then center your hand over that point to get the closest torque possible. An inch or 2 can make a huge difference, and throw things way off.

Ideally, there should be someone at the breaker bar making sure the socket stays on the nut.

A trip to Lowe's or Home Depot and spend a couple of dollars on a longer pipe might be in order.

[Taranwanderer]

UPDATE: I decided to bite the bullet and had my dealer do the install yesterday. I did manage to get them to come down on the price a little, so it was a good compromise. I'm pretty sure I could have installed it myself, but not so sure on adjusting it. But anyway...

So on a nice foggy, rainy morning in NEPA, there I am driving my truck and TT down there, mirrors are fogged up, can't see crap, and holy white-knuckle drive! I get there, they install it, go over it with me (adjusting it, etc,) and I'm off on my way. Holy crap, what a difference! I could actually drive at highway speeds and not feel like the TT was yanking the back of my truck all over the road. Big +1 for the Equilizer! Thanks for all the advice, everyone.

[Triguy]

That's great! Amazing devices, aren't they?

[Gkconfer]

Originally Posted by Triguy

That's great! Amazing devices, aren't they?

Would never leave home without it!