Video of Fastway e2 Weight Distribution w/ 2-Point Sway Control - Round - 8,000 lbs GTW, 800 lbs TW
Video Transcript for Fastway e2 Weight Distribution System Installation - 2017 Chevrolet Colorado
Speaker 1: Today on our 2017 Chevrolet Colorado, we're gonna be taking a look at, and showing you how to install, the Fastway e2 Weight Distribution with 2-Point Sway Control, part number: FA94-00-0600. And that's gonna be for 6,000 pound gross trailer weight, along with a 600 pound tongue weight. It's also available with an 8,000 pound gross trailer weight and 800 pound tongue weight, using part number: FA94-00-0800. And also available with 10,000 pound gross trailer weight and 1,000 tongue weight, using part number:FA94-00-1000.Now, the way our weight distribution system is gonna work is, it's gonna take our tongue weight and it's gonna evenly distribute all that weight between the axle on our trailer and the axle on our truck. Now, this is gonna give us a stable ride, not only for our vehicle, but also for our trailer. Now, this is gonna allow for a smooth, level ride, and it's gonna allow us to tow the maximum capacity allowed by our vehicle's hitch.
Now, our weight distribution system is also gonna have sway control built into it. It's gonna have metal-to-metal contact, which is gonna create friction, causing less sway between our spring bar here, and the bracket attached to the frame. And that's gonna be real nice, because we're driving down the road and there's cross traffic, curvy roads, or any time we need to make an evasive maneuver, it's gonna keep our trailer in track with our vehicle in a nice line.We already talked about it having built-in sway control. Now, compared to the styles that use chains, those are gonna rely on a separate component that you're gonna have to install on your trailer to achieve that. Our system's also gonna come with an adjustable shank.
Now, in our position, we have it in the drop position, but you can also put it in the rise position to ensure that your trailer's gonna be nice and level when you're towing down the road. Now, the shank is gonna work with 2" by 2" receiver tube openings. Our weight distribution system is gonna feature our round bar style, opposed to the trunnion style, which makes it a little bit easier to install. And getting them in place or taking them out is simple. You just come to this spring clip here and we can pull out, and the bar will come right out.Compared to other weight distribution systems, our Fastway is gonna weigh about anywhere from 15-20 pounds less than others, which is gonna make installation just that little bit easier, and make it easier on your back.
Your system's even gonna come with a tool to help us get our spring bars in place so we don't have to fight them. Simply take the hook, hook it around the spring bar itself, and we can take this tab, put it in the hole, and rotate the bar up so we can get our spring bar in place. Now, what I really like about this weight distribution system is the fact that I don't have to drill into anything. Everything's gonna use brackets that are gonna sandwich in between the frame of our trailer, or it's gonna hook up into the hitch, and we're not gonna have to worry about welding or any kind of cutting.Our weight distribution system is gonna feature a steel construction, with a nice black powder coat finish to resist corrosion and rust. All the features that we've gone over so far are gonna apply to all three weight capacities of our Fastway e2 systems.
With everything hooked up, let's go ahead and take our truck and trailer and see how it handles. Once I pull it out I can tell you, I feel a difference. Going around the turn, it genuinely feels like the trailer wants to come back in line with my truck and track right behind it. And it genuinely just feels like it's a smaller trailer than it is, and just feels a lot more stable and safe.To begin our installation, you're gonna want to disconnect your truck and trailer, and you want to go ahead and pull out the ball-mount you've been using. Next thing we need to do is make sure that our trailer is sitting nice and level, and you can either take a tape measure or a level, and you want to make sure, front to back, that it's nice and level, and where it's gonna be towed at. You'll want to grab the head out of the packaging. Our kit's not gonna come with a ball, but you're gonna want to choose a ball that's gonna fit your coupler, and that's gonna have a long enough shank to go through so we can mount it. Now, with the ball loosely in place, we can go ahead and put the lock washer and nut on. Now we're gonna need to put the ball in the vise so we can tighten this nut down without it spinning. Now, in order to torque our nut down, you're gonna need a thin wall 1-7/8" socket so you can get it in between on the head here, and you're also gonna need a torque wrench that's capable of going up to about 450 pounds. So we're gonna go ahead and torque this. And if you don't have these tools available, I suggest you take it to a shop that can install the ball for you.Once you have your trailer level and the ball is mounted, you want to come up and you want to measure from the ground to the top of the coupler on your trailer. And you're gonna want to either write down that measurement or remember it. Now, every trailer's gonna be a little bit different, but you just want to make sure that it's nice and level, and you measure from the ground to the top of the coupler. Now, you're gonna want to take the adjustable shank and you're gonna put it into your hitch, and secure it with the pin and clip. If we look at the back of our head, we're gonna have a bolt on the bottom and a hole in the top right here. Now, we're gonna want to grab our spacer rivet, and we're gonna start with six spacer washers here. And we're gonna slide the washers onto the rivet, and then we're gonna slide the rivet into place. And we're gonna need to get the head in place on the shank, and you're gonna want to get that top of the ball as close to that measurement as you can, and then you're gonna see where the corresponding holes line up, and then we can get some hardware in place.Now, the way we're gonna be attaching the head to our shank here, is gonna be with this 3/4" bolt and a conical tooth washer. You're gonna want to slide the washer onto the bolt, making sure that the teeth are just gonna face the channel right here. So once you figure out where it needs to sit . in our application we're gonna be using the second hole from the top. So we can take our bolt, slide it through, and it'll help support it a little bit. Now, once the bolt's through, we're gonna take another one of our conical tooth washers, slide it over the bolt, and then secure it with a lock nut. And we're gonna repeat that process for the bottom hole, wherever it may line up.At this point, we're gonna want to snug up our bolts. We don't want to tighten them down all the way, just hand tight a little bit snug. So I'm gonna come back with an 1-1/8" socket for the bolt head, and then 1-1/16" wrench to hold the nut on the other side. The bolt at the bottom of our head here, we're gonna grab a 15/16" socket, and we're gonna tighten it up until it makes contact with the shank. But also, we're gonna tighten it up until that rivet with the spacers is also making solid contact, as well. Now, once that rivet is making solid contact with the shank, we're gonna want to turn that bolt one more half turn.We're gonna have to take a few measurements along the frame and the tongue of our trailer here, so I'm gonna go ahead and remove the cover for my tanks just to make it a little bit easier to see what I'm doing. From the center of our coupler, we're gonna go along the frame here, and we're gonna measure out to 27", and then we're gonna mark a spot on our frame on both sides. Now, every trailer's a little bit different, but where we had that 27" mark, it was gonna interfere with our gas tanks here. So we removed the gas tanks and just moved the tray forward with the self-tapping screws. You need to determine if your coupler is top-mounted or bottom-mounted. And what I mean by that, the coupler on here is mounted to the top of the frame; it's gonna determine how you mount your sway bracket assembly.So we can go back to that 27" mark now. We'll go ahead and grab our link brackets here, and the one with the two studs, that's gonna be on the outside of our frame here. And we're gonna put it against our frame, and the edge of it should be lined up with that 27" mark. Now, you want to make sure that the L with the studs coming out are going towards the outside of the frame, and are towards the top of the frame. And you want that single hole at the top. So we can grab our other bracket, and you want to watch for any electrical lines or anything else that's on the inside of the frame there.And then we can take our 1/2" by 4" bolt, and we're gonna slide it through both brackets. With the bolt through, we're gonna come back with a lock washer, slide it over our bolt, and secure it down with a nut. We're gonna take another one of our 1/2" by 4" bolts, and we're gonna want to go through the hole closest to the frame of our trailer. So if you can't get it through the hole, or if it's just half of a hole, you're gonna want to use the next available one. Just stay as close as you can. And we're gonna be securing it with the same hardware; a lock washer, followed by a nut. You're gonna want to make sure that the edge of your plate is right at the edge of that 27" mark that we made, and you're gonna want to have the two brackets laying flat against the trailer frame, and you're gonna tighten down those nuts hand-tight for right now. And we'll repeat that for the other side, as well.We're gonna come back with a 3/4" socket and wrench, and I'm gonna start tightening up my bolts. Now, when you're tightening these up, you want to tighten them up a little bit, and then alternate to the other bolt so that it doesn't start bowing out or getting bound up. Now, we're gonna get these nice can snug, and you're gonna want to come back with a torque wrench. We're gonna torque down our bolt to the specified amount in the instructions. And again, you want to go back and forth, alternating between the two, so you don't get a weird bind or a bow in your plates. We'll go ahead and tighten and torque the other side, as well. So, we're gonna grab our L bracket, and initially we're gonna set it up, we're gonna leave two holes at the top. So we're gonna slide those studs through our L bracket, and we'll secure it down with some nylon lock nuts. And we'll go ahead and put the other one on the other side. I'm gonna come back with a 3/4" socket and snug up the nylon lock nuts. I just want to mention, we don't want to tighten them up all the way, we just want them nice and snug. We'll snug up the other ones too.We're gonna need to put our spring arms in place, but before we put them in, we're just gonna take a little bit of grease and just put a thin layer around the notched end that's gonna be going into the head. Then we're gonna take that notched end, and if we come to the bottom of our head, we're gonna push it into place. And we'll see that it locks in and it won't come out unless we pull on the release tab. Now, we're gonna put the other arm in place, as well. At this point, you're gonna want to back your truck up, and hook up to the trailer. You want to lower the tongue onto the ball, and until the jack is coming up off, and make sure that's locked into place.Once we have our trailer coupled to our truck, we're gonna take our spring arms and we're gonna get them on top of our L brackets here. Now, if you've reached the top of your jack, and you don't have anymore room to lift it, they're gonna give you a tool that comes in our kit. We're gonna be putting that right in that square hole, and we're gonna take our spring arm and put it in the pocket. And then we can lift upwards. And once it's sitting there, we're gonna take our L-shaped pins, slide them down to the square hole, then secure it with a clip. And you're gonna do that on both sides. Now you're gonna go ahead and lower the jack back down so your trailer is back on the weight of your hitch, and you're gonna want to look and see that you have a minimum of 3" on your spring bar here to the L bracket.Now with the weight distribution installed, we're gonna need to make sure that it's adjusted properly. Now, you're gonna want to uncouple your trailer from your truck, and you're gonna want to take the measurement from the ground to the inside top edge of the thunder well here. After you have that measurement, you're gonna hook up to your trailer with the weight distribution in place, and you're gonna take that measurement again. Now if it's too little and the front end is coming up, we're gonna need to adjust it. But if it's pushing it down, we're also gonna have to make some adjustments. The second measurement after we have it hooked up, you're gonna want it to be as close as possible to that original height measurement. And if you are, you're ready to go.Now, after our initial setup, we found that we do need to make a little bit of an adjustment, because it's pushing the front of our vehicle down. And if we look at our spring bar here, it's kind of slanted up, and we want that nice and parallel with the frame on our trailer. So we're gonna be loosening these bolts, taking the spring bar off, and then moving this down. If your spring bar is sitting nice and parallel, or you just need a little bit of adjustment, we're gonna go to the back of the head and you're gonna need to remove the bolts and uncouple the trailer. And you're gonna be removing the spacer washers from the back here. And then you're gonna want to hook everything back up and remeasure and check everything.Once you have your weight distribution set up the way you want it, your front measurement and your fender is back to original height, and the tongue on your trailer is sitting nice and level, we can go ahead and take everything back apart one more time and do our final tightening. So I'm gonna come back to our brackets holding our L brackets in place, and tighten down the bolts and torque them to specification that we're gonna find in our instructions. And we're gonna do that for both sides. Finally, we can come back to our two 3/4" bolts coming though our shank, and we can tighten that up using a 1-1/8" socket and holding the nut on the back with a 1-1/16" wrench. We're gonna repeat that for the remaining bolt, as well. With everything torqued down, we can re hook up our trailer and put our spring bars and everything else back into place.And that'll finish up our look at the Fastway e2 Weight Distribution System with 2-Point Sway Control, on our 2017 Chevrolet Colorado.
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