Pickup to trailer load control / sway - Blue Ox or Curt

andy r

Member
I need to put a load control / equalizer / sway control unit on my pickup and trailer combination. I think a unit in the area of up to 1000 pounds tongue weight and a maximum of 10,000 pounds total load would work. This is for a travel trailer, but if I like it maybe I will adapt it to my tractor hauling trailers as well. I seem to have three that I like. One is the Blue Ox 1000#/10,000#. Sway bars are mounted to the main unit in bearings. Still uses chains at the trailer mount, but sort of mechanically ratchets the chain tight. Looks heavy duty and also controls sway. A second one is the Curt equalizer hitch. Again the sway bars are mounted in bearings at the main unit so they can move left and right, but the sway bars are somewhat clamped to the trailer rather than using the usual chains. I also like the brand "Original Equalizer" but they are very expensive ($400 used and $700 + depending on retailer). Anyone have any experience with either the Blue Ox or the Curt equalizers? Thanks.
 
It’s not the same thing but will help some of the problems you are having I put firestone ride rite air suspension on my truck and it was the best upgrade I ever made and no adapting trailers and even with on board air system it about half the price of the sway bars
 
I am a dealer for about all brands of reciever hitches, sway controls, gooseneck hitches,etc. and have been for many years. I do not personally like anything Curt sells, Blue Ox is very good on tow bars etc. but I cant't say about the sway controls. I have always sold Reece or Drawtite equalizers and sway controls. I am 100% with NewHolland, put a set of Air Bags and an onboard compressor on your truck and go on down the road. I have 5 trailers. 3 goosenecks and 2 bumper pulls. I adjust the air pressure accordingly and travel on.
 
I wouldn't want to tow a modern travel trailer without sway control. They're poorly designed as far as axle positioning and weight distribution, and you can't just move the tractor around on the deck to get it to balance right. The high side walls and having half the trailer hanging off behind the axles leave it susceptible to any little puff of wind. Acts like a weather vane. Notice how box trailers and flatbeds have the axles at least 2/3 of the way back, while travel trailers put them right smack in the middle.

Travel trailers and flatbeds are totally different animals.
 
I added a set of air suspension bags to the rear of our daily driver (1/2 ton Chebby 4x4). Pulls like a dream now, and truck stays level also.

When I bought ours, I paid $350 for a basic pair of Firestone bags, which was the best deal I could find at the time. Now there are copycats on Amazon, and likely most other places. I have bought some of those copycats (for other projects) also and mine are [i:8e6b840d92]at least[/i:8e6b840d92] as good of quality as the Firestone.

Got the generic brand (a set of 4 bags with mounting hardware, nothing else) for under $160. Now the same Vixen bags are a little over $200, but again, that's for 4 bags. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=vixen+air+bags&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 Something they have now that they didn't have then was a dual-compressor system meant to adjust and monitor 4 wheels. Spendy, but if you tow a lot I believe it'd be well worth it.

I went the cheap route back then and had the bags manual-fill from near the trailer hitch. That's a mistake I want to correct. I have it so each bag can be filled to a different pressure to adjust the pull. That might be a benefit sometimes but not for us so far. With our summer skeeters and the winter cold, would have been much nicer to have the air valves inside the cab, along with an air gauge for each bag. If the PSI ever drops below 5 PSI, the bags could get damaged....and there's a leak in my system (I think in the bags). If you pull a trailer a lot (I don't anymore), I'd recommend getting the higher-dollar system with build-in air compressor, dual air gauges, etc. MUCH less headaches. But yes, those suspension bags really work!
 
Regardless of what you do to augment the rear suspension it is impossible to redistribute tongue weight from the rear axle to the front unless a weight distributing hitch is used. For some vehicles, particularly half-ton pickups, a weight distributing hitch is required by the manufacturer to achieve the rated tow capacity. My old 2001 F-250 SuperDuty was even limited by Ford to a 5000 lbs trailer weight unless a WD hitch was used. The reason behind this is that without the hitch and with the recommended 10% of trailer weight on the tongue the rear axle and tires can be overloaded. Just pumping up the airbags does nothing to solve this problem and does not bring the rig into compliance with the manufacturer's ratings if a weight distributing hitch is specified for your particular trailer weight.
 
Not meaning to hyjack the thread but while on the topic, what is a slightly used Reese weight distributing hitch (without sway control) worth.

Planning to put mine on CL.

Dean
 
(quoted from post at 06:19:55 08/03/20) Regardless of what you do to augment the rear suspension it is impossible to redistribute tongue weight from the rear axle to the front unless a weight distributing hitch is used. For some vehicles, particularly half-ton pickups, a weight distributing hitch is required by the manufacturer to achieve the rated tow capacity. My old 2001 F-250 SuperDuty was even limited by Ford to a 5000 lbs trailer weight unless a WD hitch was used. The reason behind this is that without the hitch and with the recommended 10% of trailer weight on the tongue the rear axle and tires can be overloaded. Just pumping up the airbags does nothing to solve this problem and does not bring the rig into compliance with the manufacturer's ratings if a weight distributing hitch is specified for your particular trailer weight.

You are correct. WD hitch transfers weight to front axle. Air bags do not.

Had a 2000 7.3 6-speed Super Duty....5000lb max bumper towing with out weight distribution. Had Firestone air bags too :)

For the OP, I use this for WD hitch, has sway control built in. Used it on two trucks for same trailer, I set it up correctly to put weight on the front axle and right hitch height, trailer is rock solid. Never had any sway period.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W-mes6qrZM
 
I used a Reece system for several years with no issue pulling 30 and 32 foot travel trailers behind a suburban. It was a weight distribution hitch with two bars and chains. The sway control was a separate item that attached to the hitch in the reciever and to the frame of the trailer on a small ball. The sway control was a sliding bar in a channel with an adjustable pad with a pad similar to a brake pad. In my day weight distribution hitches had no claim to stop sway. The Reece setup I had could use either one by itself or both together.
 
Both good systems. But the big difference is the bar locking into the hitch and using chains on trailer tounge is just an equalizer not a sway deterrent. The bars that hook to the tounge and then are clamped to the tounge are also made so that the friction of the bars on the tougne clamp is antisway system. We are big camper group and the clamped bars are the going thing.no complaints.
 
(quoted from post at 20:50:41 08/03/20) Both good systems. But the big difference is the bar locking into the hitch and using chains on trailer tounge is just an equalizer not a sway deterrent. The bars that hook to the tounge and then are clamped to the tounge are also made so that the friction of the bars on the tougne clamp is antisway system. We are big camper group and the clamped bars are the going thing.no complaints.

This is a picture of a BlueOx SwayPro set up.
Looks like nothing more than a conventional equilizer system without sway bars.
Yet BlueOx bills this as their top of the line weight equilizer and sway control hitch setup.
Swaypro-Full-Image.jpg
 

https://www.equalizerhitch.com/

Very happy with this hitch. Load equalization and sway control in one.
 

https://www.equalizerhitch.com/

Very happy with this hitch. Load equalization and sway control in one.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top