Loud straining moans and noise

[mo11]

Just wondering if anybody has heard all sorts of noises while making a turn with their TT. Not sure if its the WD hitch chains being too tight, ball etc.. I'm told by some this is normal, but seems to be exessive at times and kinda embarrasing... any help will be appreciated.

Thanks, Mo

 

[boatto5er]

I get the same noises. Put on one of the Teflon hitch pin discs and that helped a little, but I still hears sounds (of course, there are those who say I have all kinds of things in my head).

 

[rick_h]

I had the exact same thing 2 weeks ago. I am new to the equalizer hitch and on a previous (heavier) trip I needed them tightened. That day I make it the same tightness and the noise was as you describe. Everyone was looking at me. I loosened up the chains a link on the stabilizers and the noise was more normal. Hope that works for you too !

 

[kakampers]

Towed travel trailers for years before moving to a 5er...weight distribution hitches are supposed to be noisy...if they're not you should be worried! Relax, it's normal...

 

[gmc]

When I pulled a tt my creaking was coming from the anti-sway bar. don't grease it but you may be able to sand it down a little.

 

[mo11]

Thanks for all the quick responses. I loosened the sway bar a little and it was much better. I had a dealer tell me when I bought my 1st tt a 19 ft hideout that I should tighten the sway bar just snug with two finger pressure then one more quarter turn and it seemed to be fine. When I traded it in for the 28 RLS the dealer told me to crank it as hard as I could so I did and there were the loud noises. So I figure tightening it somewhere in between will work?

Thanks again Mo

 

[pensadawg]

Mo,
I use an Equi-li-zer brand and the bars are sometime very loud and can vibrate the whole truck. I spray mine with a little white lube, where the bars contact the L-shaped pins, at the start of every pull and that quiets them down considerably. I've had zero problems with doing this and the TT still stays very steady when towing. This probably won't apply to yours with the chains, but at least you know it's something others have to deal with also. Rick.

 

[OBX-GL]

My Reese WD bars have little cups that the Bars pivot in, i was told to put some grease in the cups and the noise would disappear.

 

[GOTTOYS]

Mo,
I use an Equi-li-zer brand and the bars are sometime very loud and can vibrate the whole truck. I spray mine with a little white lube, where the bars contact the L-shaped pins, at the start of every pull and that quiets them down considerably. I've had zero problems with doing this and the TT still stays very steady when towing. This probably won't apply to yours with the chains, but at least you know it's something others have to deal with also. Rick.

That brand of hitch relies on the metal to metal contact of the bars rubbing on the saddles on the tongue of the hitch as well as tension at the head where they are plugged in. Any lube applied to lessen the noise will result in less sway control. I've had 2 of them and making noise is an inherent part of their operation. They work very well if set up properly. I say let em make noise..who really cares? Anybody that has one understands it is part of it....Don

 

[Peteandsharon]

Mo,

Dual cam sway control is going to be noisy as the the cams pop in and out of their slots. But whatever you do, do not grease them. You're absolutely right that it would be quieter if you greased them. It would be even quieter if you didn't have them at all but they are predicated on friction and greasing them totally defeats the purpose.

 

[Manzan]

This is the third tt we have had the same Dual Cam sway control. 22 years. Starting out on a trip with a nice coat of rust, quite noisy but after a few turns it quiets right down. Still works great and all i have done to it is change trailers. Would like to do something to stop the rust, (I live in Seattle) but don't want to compromise it's efficiency.

 

[pegmikef]

Interesting. My eaz-lift WDH has grease zits where the bars attach to the hitch. I always just grease them before I insert them and they work great. I guess all WDHs aren't the same.

 

[TeJay]

Hi to all,
I've read several posts regarding the 4-point Equalizer hitch. Most have said not to lub them because they need friction to control sway. However the factory manual says to lube them at all contact areas. They also indicated that it will reduce sway control some but not significantly. In fact they sell a special lube just for that purpose. We have pulled our 24RBS for about 4,000 miles and I lube the bars before they go into the sockets, the socket swivel surfaces and all contact areas where the bars set in the L bracket. I also lub the hitch ball. Occasionally we'll get a creak on a turn with a difference in levels but for the most part we have little to no noise and sway control is just fine.

Friction, is reduced by lubrication that is understood. However the 4-point W/D hitch design creates TENSION & FRICTION using the heavy spring steel bars, the trailer tongue weight and the TV weight which combine to control ride and trailer sway. I just thought about this aspect of the design. If the company relied on the friction created at those area with no lubrication present how consistent would the sway control be? Since friction has to vary somewhat from hitch to hitch they would be hard pressed to reliably predict sway control. If they wanted no-lube friction they would design a way to control what might get into those friction areas so they could then predict the friction created. So they tell us to lubricate those areas and rely on the W/D design of the system to create friction/tension to control sway. I think the best approach is to lube the friction areas and adjust the the ball tilt or spring tension if I need more ride or sway control.
That's just my 2 cents worth.
TeJay

 

[pegmikef]

Yep, the eaz-lift manual specifies that the bar ends and hitch ball be lubed before each use and to use a good quality grease such as that used for bearings. I manually lube the bars instead of using the socket zits and also have very little if any noise (and that is usually just after I have hooked up). I've towed our NT26LRSS about 3500 miles and towed our Edge M21 before that for 3000 miles using the same procedure. I'm kind of a believer in following the manufacturer's maintenance instructions.

 

[TeJay]

Hi,
Thanks, I feel better now that at least one person agrees with what the manufacturer stated. I was beginning to think that what I was reading was not really on the page. There are many myths that have lasted over many, many years just because they did. My students used to tell me stories about what their Father told them to do when it came to servicing their cars. I had a student who told me that his father used to completely fill the drum hub with grease. I asked why and his only answer was that's just what he told me to do. I preceded to explain that filling the hub with grease reduced the ability of the heat generated by breaking from dissipating into the atmosphere. That explanation didn't matter. When he went home his dad took it all apart and completely filled the hubs with grease. Ever try to explain why a car batter stored on a concrete floor won't get the juice sucked out of it overnight??? That's another myth that still exists today.

I've posted about three items regarding TTs. Why do they recommend packing wheel bearings every year or 6-K miles??? Cars and trucks go 40-K miles between services. Why don't TTs have shock installed from the factory and why don't they come with self-adjusting brakes???? The only reason I can think of is it may be a cost saving factor.

TeJay

 

[porthole]

Thanks for all the quick responses. I loosened the sway bar a little and it was much better. I had a dealer tell me when I bought my 1st tt a 19 ft hideout that I should tighten the sway bar just snug with two finger pressure then one more quarter turn and it seemed to be fine. When I traded it in for the 28 RLS the dealer told me to crank it as hard as I could so I did and there were the loud noises.

I think the last person you should take advice from on this is the dealer. Get the manual and learn how to set it up correctly for your truck trailer.
And when you do that you will find it makes some noise, this is normal.

But if you really want to hear some noise, try backing up making a fairly tight turn. You''ll hear some noise when the bars pop out.

And of course, don't ask me how I know this

 

[porthole]

I just knew I should have kept track of this!

A year or so ago I mentioned about some of the thread titles - and here is another one :angel:

Loud straining moans and noise

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

I just knew I should have kept track of this!

A year or so ago I mentioned about some of the thread titles - and here is another one :angel:

Loud straining moans and noise

I'm not even thinking of going there...

 

[Yellowreef]

I will add this experience lesson to this thread. My first time out with a friction sway bar, I tightened the crap out of it. The label and instructions said "bottom out the threads" which I took to mean "the tighter the better.". Not so. Worked fine on the freeway, then I pull into a shopping center parking lot and hear all kinds of creeking and moaning which I figured were normal. Next I hear a loud bang and snap at the tightest part of the turn. When I go check, I realized the sway hitch ball had snapped clean off the ball mount. I also realized that bottoming out the threads din't mean cranking down to the max.

These friction bars work fine with moderate pressure and without lubrication. They don't creak as much and they don't snap. All I do now is go a quarter turn past snug. I could probably crank two more turns out of it, but already saw what happens there. When I went to buy the replacement hitch ball, the guy at the service center told me he was surprised I didn't break the bar itself because he has seen that a lot. He now tells people to take off the sway bar as soon as you get off the freeway. I wont go that far, but I will never crank it with my full body weight ever again either.