Questions About Reese Strait-Line Weight Distribution System

Updated 05/24/2024 | Published 05/13/2024

Question:

I have 2020 f250 ford and new grand design imagine 22foot , 6300 gross and 500 empty tongue weight. I have a 20 year old reese round bar hitch with chains and frame brackets. rated 12000 and 1200 tounge weight and bars rated 5. Generally carry 400 behind truck axle. It all fits together perfect but need sway control. 1 are these bars to heavy for trailer 2 would reese straight line sway control work with this hitch? 3From center of hitch ball to center of V notch in end of spring bar is about 27. would this be any different with a new head with trunion system? at 27inch I will have to move propane tanks forward 3to keep chains perpendicular In one of your other answered questions, I understood that center of ball to center of cam notch would be 29inch with new hitch so thought the bars might be longer unless I misunderstood. Im trying to figure out if it would benefit me enough to warrant buying a whole new hitch. Either straight line or Dual cam II. Or if just the straight line sway control with my hitch would be just as good. Thanks Phil

asked by: Phil J

Reese WD hitch
(click to enlarge)

Expert Reply:

Hello Phil. It does sound like your 1,200 lb bars are too heavily rated for your trailer. I would be looking at something more like 600-800 lb range for your trailer. Something like the Reese Strait-Line Weight Distribution System # RP66073 would be ideal for this setup and it will allow you to re-use the shank from your old hitch. It will work well on trailers with a tongue weight between 400-800 lbs so you would see good results as far as sway control.

This system requires the lift brackets to be 30" back from the ball so you will want to make sure you have room. If your current Reese hitch is 20 years old, I strongly believe that a new, correctly rated hitch will get you much better results. The dual cams will help a lot for sway control. From the looks of your picture you will need to relocate/modify your tank holder.

expert reply by: Jesse M

Phil J.

5/16/2024

Jesse. You say the lift brackets would be 30” from hitch ball. Is that from center of ball to center of lift bracket. If so then the new spring bars must be around 3” longer than my old round bars. Is that the case. I see you still sell the round bar setup like mine. I wondered why. I like the straight line II no drill system but am I correct that it would be harder to hook up and much harder to fine tune the cams when necessary. My truck is rated to carry 1520# hitch weight so I don’t need much weight distribution but enough to make sway control work. Phil

Jesse M.

5/16/2024

@PhilJ The 30" is measured from the center of the ball to the center of the frame bracket. The bracket itself is 5-1/2" wide so you will need 2.75" of free space on either side of that 30" mark. I can tell you that the Strait-Line spring bars are 33" long overall. There is a bit more to the strait line system so you are right it is a bit harder to hook up and fine tune, but it will get you much more noticeable sway control. If you are open to another suggestion take a look at the Blue Ox TrackPro Weight Distribution # BLU87FR. This is my personal favorite WD hitch. It is easy to set up and will get you superior results. just thought id throw that out there. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Phil

5/24/2024

@JesseM In my last question to you, I asked whether I would be better with a dual cam too or a straight line hitch and you said definitely a dual cam too. One of the main reasons I bought a new hitch was that you said the center of the frame bracket would be 30 inches from center of the ball and that was confirmed on a question I read that Connor answered that showed a picture of the spring bar being 33 inches long. My old round bars were only 31 1/2, so that would give me more clearance for my propane tanks. I got the new hitch cam two but the spring bars they sent are still only 31 1/2 inches long. My centerpoint on frame brackets is only 28 inches from hitch ball center. The spring bars they sent are number 66092. I’m really disappointed not to have the longer spring bars and wondered what the deal was.