Product Expert Lindsey S's Opinion
Friction in brackets and in head works to prevent and correct trailer sway. Chainless brackets with automotive-style friction pads hold spring bars firmly in place to help keep trailer in line with your tow vehicle. Adjustable shank included.
Features:
Specs:
| Included w/ System | Required - Sold Separately | Optional Add-Ons |
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Create a stable ride for your tow vehicle and trailer with a weight-distribution hitch. Adding spring bars to your towing system applies leverage, which transfers the load that is pushing down on the rear of your vehicle to all the axles on both your tow vehicle and your trailer, resulting in an even distribution of weight throughout. The result is a smooth, level ride, as well as the ability to tow the maximum capacity of your hitch.
The tongue weight rating is the most important factor in determining which size weight-distribution system you should use. If the bars of the system you choose are rated too high for your setup, they will create a rigid ride, which can result in a bouncing trailer. If, on the other hand, the bars are not rated high enough, the system will be unable to properly distribute the weight, rendering it virtually useless.
To determine the proper weight rating for a weight-distribution system, you must first determine your trailer's tongue weight. Then add to that the weight of the cargo behind the rear axle of your tow vehicle. These two measurements make up the tongue weight rating for a weight-distribution system.
Integrated Dependent Sway Control
The Steadi-Flex weight distribution system works to stop trailer sway before it begins. This is achieved in 2 ways. First, the system head is designed to firmly hold the spring bars in place to provide tight resistance and help ensure that your trailer tracks behind your vehicle. Second, the spring bar brackets that mount on your trailer's frame produce friction with the bars whenever any side-to-side motion occurs. This keeps the bars from moving, also helping to hold your trailer in a straight line.
System Head with Steel-on-Steel Friction
The head of the Steadi-Flex system firmly holds the spring bars in place at the hitch point. This tight hold helps to keep the bars from moving, which in turn helps to ensure that the trailer is held firmly in place behind your vehicle. If any sway or side-to-side movement does occur, the spring bars will move only slightly inside of the system's head. This steel-on-steel contact produces frictional resistance to limit further side-to-side motion of the bars, limiting the motion of your trailer in the process. The Steadi-Flex head is wider than most weight distribution heads. This design allows for greater surface area for the spring bars to move against. This makes it easier to produce the friction that resists sway.
Sway Control Brackets with Automotive-Grade Friction Material
The spring bars attach to the trailer frame with fixed, sturdy steel brackets. They sit on top of the brackets instead of being suspended by chains like the bars that are on traditional weight distribution systems. Chain suspensions typically allow a good deal of side-to-side play in the system. Because the Steadi-Flex has brackets in place of chains, that unwanted movement of the spring bars is eliminated. This helps to keep your trailer in line behind your vehicle. In addition, these brackets create friction to limit any side-to-side movement that may occur. When each spring bar on the Steadi-Flex system moves within the bracket, it rubs along the surface of the bracket, creating friction. This resistance limits the movement of the spring bar, thus preventing further side-to-side movement of the trailer.
Most systems with sway control brackets use bare steel brackets to create friction with the steel bars. Steel-on-steel friction typically causes a much louder ride, and it can result in wear and tear on the brackets themselves. The Steadi-Flex brackets, on the other hand, are lined with automotive-grade friction material. This material is more abrasive than bare steel, which allows more friction to build up faster and easier. The long-lasting friction material also reduces the banging noise created by the bars hitting the inside of the steel brackets. This provides a quieter ride while towing.
Fast, Easy Installation
The Steadi-Flex system is easy to install and set up. On the trailer side, simply clamp the spring bar brackets around your trailer's frame. Then prepare your vehicle by sliding the included shank into your 2" x 2" hitch receiver, and bolt on the head. The system head can be easily adjusted to achieve the proper angle and optimum leverage for your specific setup. No drilling is required to install this weight distribution system.
Head Tilt Adjustment
The Steadi-Flex system uses the traditional washer-style adjustment method to achieve the perfect tilt. Controlling the head tilt helps you to fine-tune the leverage and maximize the amount of tension in the whole system. To adjust the tilt, simply slide washers onto the adjustment pin and insert the pin into the head assembly. To increase the angle, add a washer. To reduce the angle, remove a washer.
Tapered Spring Bars
The spring bars of the Steadi-Flex system slide into the weight distribution head for quick, easy installation. With a tapered design and hot rolled steel construction, these bars offer superior flex to evenly distribute the weight between your tow vehicle and your trailer.
The bars easily pin into place inside the system head - no need to torque or re-torque any trunnion bolts to adjust the tension. With fewer parts to manage, installing and maintaining the Steadi-Flex is simple.
Adjustable, Clamp-On Brackets
The spring bar brackets simply clamp around your trailer's frame - no drilling required. These brackets are designed to be positioned 27" to 32" back from your coupler and they can fit a wide range of frame sizes and can even be used on a trailer with a bottom-mounted coupler.
While other brackets use relatively thin L-pins to secure the spring bars in place on the brackets, the Steadi-Flex system uses steel pieces that are almost as wide as the brackets themselves to secure the bars. These retention brackets easily pin into place once wrapped around the spring bars. As a result, you can have greater piece of mind knowing that the spring bars are secure and less likely to rattle around inside of the brackets.
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Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Today, we're going to be taking a look a the Reese Light Duty Distribution System with sway control. With a six thousand pound gross trailer weight, in a six hundred pound tongue weight, part number RP66558. It's also available in a four thousand pound gross trailer weight and a four hundred pound tongue weight, part number 66557. You've decided you need a weight distribution system. The Reese Light Duty Weight Distribution System is perfect for an SUV and a small travel trailer set up as you see here. The sway control is going to help reduce the movement caused by wind, curving roads or sudden maneuvers. As with all weight distribution systems, it going to evenly distribute weight over both the tow vehicle and the trailer's axles.
This is going to provide a safer, more stable ride with less tire wear, better braking and handling. The spring bar hangers have integrated friction pads to help prevent sway. The hangers themselves do not take up very much space, making it perfect for smaller size trailers. It's a no drill installation with all the hardware provided. The kit even comes with weight distribution shank that you hook up with your own hitch ball.Speaker 2: As you can see with our hook up crosstalk 00:01:04 here at the rear.
crosstalk 00:01:10 raised up about an inch.crosstalk 00:01:06 In hitch ball, those require one inch diameter shank. The spring bars will flex appropriately over uneven terrain for a more controlled ride. The whole thing is coated in a black powdered coat so it's going to be corrosion resistant and it's going to stand up to the elements. Now that we've gone over some features, I'll go ahead and show how we got it set up. First thing we'll want to do is take some measurements on our vehicle.
From the ground up to underneath our wheel well, we've got 36 inches. We'll want to write that down. In the front, we've got 34-1/2 inches. These are the measurements we want to get back to when we engage our weight distribution system. For comparison, we're going to hook up our trailer without weight distribution and take those same measurements. As you can see with our trailer hooked up without weight distribution, here at the rear, we're squatting about 2-1/2, 3 inches and here at the front, we're raised up about an inch.
You can see the problem that we're having. The front of our vehicle is tilting upward. We'll want to take note of those measurements that way we have something to compare it to when we get our weight distribution hooked up. Then, when we re-engage our weight distribution and get it hooked back up, we're within a 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of our stock measurement. That's where we want to be. Now, if the front wheel height is higher than previously measured, the head tilt angle must be increased. That's tilted downward. If the front wheel well height is substantially lower than originally measured, an inch or more, the head tilt angle must be reduced. That's tilted upward. The next thing you want to do is make sure your trailer is level. The easiest way to do that is to raise or lower your tongue jack so that you have the same measurement in the front and in the back. We've got it. Keep in mind when setting up your weight distribution system, you need to make sure that your trailer is fully loaded and ready to go. The next thing we'll do is take a coupler height measurement. the reason we're going to do this is it's going to help us determine the correct ball height. We've got 22. We'll need to take note of that. We've gone ahead and swapped out our old ball mount with our new weight distribution shank. We've previously adjusted our ball height. I'll go ahead and show you how we did that. First, we got close to the desired height by selecting a mounting location for our bolts. First, to help us set the tilt of our head, we installed several of the included washers as spacers. The number of washers you will use will vary depending on your set up. Then to get the approximate height of your ball, you'll want to install your shank in the rise or drop position and then choose the desired location to put in your bolts. With the approximate ball height set and loosely installed, lets go ahead and line up our coupler with the ball. Now, with our ball attached to our coupler and our trailer back to level we can bring in our spring bars to help us determine the location of our frame brackets. We'll bring it in. You'll need to grab the pin and the clip. We're going to insert it between the head there. Drop the pin in when it's lined up and put the clip in on the bottom. Here's where it gets tricky. You want to be sure that your brackets are between 25 and 32 inches from the center of your coupler and you want to make sure that there's nothing interfering like your propane tanks or your battery box. You also need to position them so that your spring bar extends at least 3 inches beyond the bracket. With our bracket location determined, we can go ahead and install it. We'll then install our L-bracket and leave it loosely installed. We can repeat that same process for the other side. With our bracket torqued down and our L-bracket loosely installed, we'll need to be sure that our spring bar is 4 inches from the bottom of our L-bracket. That's for the six hundred pound system which is what we have here. For the four hundred pound system, it needs to be 3 inches from the bottom of the L-bracket. Now, if for some reason that didn't work out, you'll need come back to the tilt of your head and add or subtract washers. If you run out of washers, you may need to adjust the height of your L-bracket. The next thing we need to do is lock in the tilt of our head by torquing it down to the manufacturer's specifications. Now, we're ready to take our included tool and put our spring bars into place on the L-bracket. To make it easier, we can raise our tongue jack. How the tool works is it goes underneath the spring bar and hooks into the L-bracket. You want to stand off to the side to avoid injury. Because we left our L-brackets loosely installed, they have adjusted to accommodate our spring bars. Now, we can install a tension bracket to keep our spring bar in place. With that in place, we can now torque down our L-bracket bolts. With everything installed, let's go ahead and lower our jack. Once you get to your destination, in order to disconnect, you want to raise your tongue jack all the way up and this is going to make it easier to safely remove your spring bars. We can go ahead and remove our tension bracket. Now, we can just remove the spring bar from the L-bracket. We'll just repeat the same process on the other side. With our spring bars disengaged, we can go ahead and take them off. Now, we can just lower it back down, uncouple it and we've got it. That's going to complete our look at the Reese Light Duty Weight Distribution System with sway control at six thousand pounds gross trailer weight and six hundred pounds tongue weight, part number RP66558.
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (142 Customer Reviews)
Friction in brackets and in head works to prevent and correct trailer sway. Chainless brackets with automotive-style friction pads hold spring bars firmly in place to help keep trailer in line with your tow vehicle. Adjustable shank included.Very helpful, thanks so much! 501761
Working well for my Boat Trailer with surge brakes. I'm happy I went with this 600/6000 LBS version instead of maxing out the 400/4000 LBS version on my 380/3700 LBS rig. I'm now towing legal again since down-sizing my tow vehicle to a 2015 Ford Flex, AWD, V6 EcoBoost, Even with the factory tow package the Flex is only rated for 200/2000 without WDS, but 450/4500 with WDS. I did a couple trips to my local lake before WDS (30 mile round trip via 45 MPH roads) and the Flex felt safe for that distance/speed, but it had a lot more trailer jolt and was not quite as stable as my old GMC Envoy XL. The WDS has improved the towing stability and ride well beyond my expectations, and is now even better then towing was with buddy's full-size Pickup. I did have to use a Pole-Tongue Adapter (RP58393), and customize the adapter mounting to my trailer, but I can already tell this added hassle and expense will be well worth it for the long-haul trips I do a few times a year. 228117
Was used to tow a 3500lb. travel trailer with YJ Jeep with a 5.3ls engine conversion. Set bars to a very light setting. Trailer tows very nicely. Great product. The braking system for anti-sway is one of best on the market. Replaceable brake pads are the way to go, just like in tow vehicle. 666976
Very happy with my purchase, etrailer is a fabulous company to deal with , great installation videos for this item as with all the products I’ve purchased from them over the past few years. 655717
Still can't figure out how to level the trailer! To undue the spring bars I need to raise the trailer and truck very high! Deciding whether I should just tow on the ball and not use this setup. Not very happy 655021
Mike L - 06/10/2019Very happy with hitch system. Has made a difference in towing our camper. Easy to install, and easy to use for each trip. 642260
I just bought a new trailer that is 7 feet longer than my last and heavier and I now have a truck instead of an SUV so I needed to get a new weight distribution hinge with sway control. etrailer had all the best brands at the best price and delivery was fast. Unfortunately that's all I can comment on so far. I'm not picking up the new trailer till mid April, so I can't comment on how well it works or show pictures. I'll update later. 616797
quick ship had it in three days expecting hitch to work as intended. 508730
I've towed a few thousand miles with this hitch on my Astro Van (properly equipped) pulling a 15ft open deck car trailer(~4000lb loaded with 450lb TW). I have been very happy with this purchase. The anti-sway system on the WDH works very well even with my smallish tow vehicle. No issues when towing in crummy weather with strong winds and driving rain, the hitch handled wonderfully. The sway control is fairly quiet when making sharp turns or backing up. Great product! 502392
I searched many different companys on line. I kept going back to Etrailer for many many questions regarding various other hitches and weight issues. They were extremely helpful with all my questions and very patient. Plus once I placed the order I received my order two days early. They are the best in customer service and price. I would differently use them again. 497933
I searched many different companys on line. I kept going back to Etrailer for many many questions regarding various other hitches and weight issues. They were extremely helpful with all my questions and very patient. Plus once I placed the order I received my order two days early. They are the best in customer service and price. I would differently use them again. 497932
Excellent customer service and helpful installation video online. I was disappointed in the quality of the product (not etrailer's fault) due to poorly tapped holes and paint in the holes that made assembly slightly more difficult than should have been required. Just be aware of this so you don't cross thread any bolts and strip out the threads! 497723
Recommendation by etrailer was perfect. Easy to install Trailer pulls with no sway, wandering Or porpoising. Take the recommendation and go with it. They know what they are doing. 488576
Chuck C - 03/25/2019Delivered very fast. Great price and great customer service. Will definitely be buying again 485261
Great product, easy install. Fast shipping, thanks 378974
Hitch works great. Sometimes use it without sway bars (for short trips), but noticeably less sway and bobbing with sway bars attached. Used with Ram 1500 and Lance 1995 trailer. After a few trips, one of the friction pads cracked and separated. Etrailer was very helpful getting it replaced quickly. No problems in the subsequent trips. 240305
Works great. I am able to tow a 3,500 lb travel trailer with a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. Jeep sits level. No sway from wind or emergency lane changes. Works fine on mild off road trails. Hook up only takes about 8 minutes longer once the process is well known. 239998
Review from a similar Steadi-Flex in Weight Distribution Hitch
The item arrived with a large hole in the box. One of the pieces to the hitch was missing. I called up etrailer and spoke with Noah and he was great. I had the part in 2 days. Thank you etrailer for wonderful customer service!!!! 641773
Review from a similar Steadi-Flex in Weight Distribution Hitch
Awesome product!! Even better service specially after the purchase when parts were missing. The staff at etrailer took care of it immediately! 612976
Review from a similar Steadi-Flex in Weight Distribution Hitch
Very heavy duty. Well made and easy to assemble. It “groans” a bit in tight turns until you shoot the trunnion bars with lube at the hutch end. Otherwise a really nice piece of equipment for the price. Does a terrific job stopping bounce and sway. 638561
Review from a similar Steadi-Flex in Weight Distribution Hitch
Good price ,in stock, and easy to install, etrailer makes finding the right hitch easy 662327
Review from a similar Steadi-Flex in Weight Distribution Hitch
This product works very well, I have used several different types of distribution systems in the past. The integrated sway and weight distribution saves time and effort. Once set up into place there is no sway and the distribution really helps to make pulling our camper much more pleasant. 638372
Review from a similar Steadi-Flex in Weight Distribution Hitch
easy to install and can back up with this hitch 405982
jim c - 07/15/2018Review from a similar Steadi-Flex in Weight Distribution Hitch
When I upgraded my trailer, I was told the Pro-Series #800 hitch, with a separate sway control would be fine. I apparently don't set the sway control tightness the same everytime, so I experienced various levels of sway and bouncing with that hitch. So, I did some research and I bought the Reese Steadi-Flex 1000# w 6 point sway control. It was a night and day difference. No more anxious moments and my confidence even grew when the trailer behaved in gusty cross-winds and when the big trucks would pass. I had to do some running around to complete the assembly, since I didn't have all of the right sized tools; But, so happy with the results. 688166
Review from a similar Steadi-Flex in Weight Distribution Hitch
Product worked perfectly 691249
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