SOhappy

I picked up one of these a few months back on my way to buy a travel trailer, it was the only 1,000lb WD hitch I could find in town (sold my Equalizer-brand one with my previous trailer). This was about $180 o.t.d. with the 20% off coupon.

Just wanted to give a quick run-down on it:

Positives+
1. Price. With the discount it was about $30 less than a comparable EAZ-Lift type of WD Hitch on Amazon.com (not a big deal).
2. Looks a lot like the EAZ-Lift knock-off, installs, adjusts and functions about the same (except as noted below).
3. Availability. It was in-stock, didn't have to wait for it to come UPS or pay shipping (again, not a big deal most of the time).

Negatives (see pictures)-
1. When doubled-over, the insides of the lift chains are too small to go over the hooks. This is a definitely a design flaw. It can be remedied by making the length adjustment at the bar connection instead (inconvenient) or by grinding flats on the lift hooks like EAZ-lift does.
2. The u-bracket that goes around the drop-hitch shank is about 3/16" wider than it needs to be. Not a big deal, but way more slop than needed.
3. The A-frame lift brackets are not at all like the EAZ-lift. Only a small cotter pin is used to hold the lift hooks into place when over-centered. Interestingly the pictures on the box and on their website show a set-up identical to the EAZ-lift instead. Not sure if this will ever be a problem, just seems Mickey-Mouse.

I've owned several different brands of WD hitches over the years and I can't really recommend this one for a low-cost solution. The EAZ-lift for example is about the same money and a better hitch as it doesn't have the issues cited here.

KATOOM

I'll shop HF time to time for some cheap and basic stuff but I'd have to say that a trailer hitch is not one of the things I'd be looking for there.

1-2-3

he did say that it was his only choice. Not all of HF stuff is junk. Their hand tools like sockets and wrenches have lifetime warranty. At least in our store the signs say that. I've got some big socket sets fro them and they are really tough. Thier spray guns are very good, especially their HVLP guns. The down side is they don't have any replacement parts, and tips and needles do wear out but a new one is less than what spray gun parts would be anyway.

It looks like this hitch, with a little adjustment would be just fine. Like a different set of chains. I would just be concerned about the spring bars loosing their strength over time.

KATOOM

Dont get me wrong. I'm not down on SOhappy's choice to give the HF hitch a try. I'm just pointing out that out of all the items I rarely buy there, a hitch geared around hauling my expensive RV trailer wouldn't be one of them. ALL Harbor Freight stuff is ultra cheap hecho en China thus the ultra low costs. You dont buy from HF and expect long term reliability..... At least thats what most people feel as they express how they're surprisingly pleased if their cheap HF product lasted longer than expected. No body posts negatively shocking discoveries about HF stuff since we all know to what to expect from this place. And that said, even though its appealing, "lifetime" warranty doesn't always mean what we think.....

And.....this wasn't his only choice either. Only choice in town but he also stated that he just didn't want to wait for UPS or pay for shipping. Again, no slamming on my part but just making it clear.

Busboy

Talking hitches.. I have always had a 5ver rv and never owned a TT what I don't understand is people use a WDH with a 10,000lb TT yet hook a 14,000lb dump or flatdeck trailer directly to the hitch. My Reese class 5 hitch is good for 18,000lb/ 2000lbs weight carrying so a WDH is not required for a 14,000lb trailer, why mess with the chains if you don't need them?

1-2-3

They also keep sticking their fingers in light sockets.

1-2-3

TT are also built different. And I believe a big part of that is people buy more trailer than they have truck. Every (well alot of) RV salesman will tell you the day before the commission window closes that your little matchbox truck will pull the biggest rv he has for sale. I've seen it. Try leaving your Dodge CTD at home and take the wifes Yugo RV shopping and you'll have a hard time getting a salesman to talk to you. Show up in a 4X4 3500 and the president of the store will greet you at the driveway.

We have a TT (and a 5'er) and the salesman insisted they sell me a WDH that was required by law (which it is not). We had already set it on my '99 and it didn't even drop it 1/2". I told him he can give me a WDH if it made him feel better but if the sale depended on me buying something I didn't need then we were going to go somewhere else. Funny, he gave it to me. Set it in the back of the truck. It went home in a box. Truck pulled it perfectly.

SOhappy

In retrospect I could've easily towed my new acquisition home on the interstate without a WD hitch (it was even empty at the time, about 6,000 lbs is all) but I was planning on loading it up a couple of days later and going camping and didn't have time to wait for a hitch to arrive on the Big Brown Truck of Happiness (UPS). My truck can pull 10k lbs without a WD hitch but with the lousy condition of the roads and lots of mt. passes and cross winds around here I prefer the safety of a WD hitch. Cheap insurance.

SOhappy

When I was selling my previous trailer (24' Skyline Sportwagon..what an awful PoC that was) a guy showed up to get it in a Durango. Had a rusted through-class III hitch and no trailer brakes. I refused to sell it to him until he came back with an appropriate vehicle. He'd driven 40 miles to pick it up and went away very upset. I said wasn't going to be party to him killing someone on the way home.

KATOOM

Kudos to you.....

1-2-3

X2 on that. Until a trip to the DMV is complete, you still own it, no matter who is pulling it. Of course the liability is suppose to be tied to the two vehicle and driver, but still. I've actually seen a 5'er being pulled with a modified hitch. There was a 3x3 maybe angle iron welded up next to the pin, then a 2" coupler welded to the bottom of that, then hooked onto a ball. I didn't stay close enough to it long enough to get a picture. That one was not worth the risk of driving beside that thing.

Another "PLUS" you get with a WDH, is the way the bars are built and attached, it will take more than a loose or forgot to snap shut coupler for it to pop off. I have a pin I use on all my trailers, that go in a certain place on each one of them before they move. Like the coupler on the little one and the spot on the handle on the 5'er, and my trailers do not move until it's in place. it's just not worth getting anyone hurt over.

j_martin

My son, who lives in Kalispell, said he sees a rice burner "1 ton" with a fiver folded up in the ditch on the Whitefish hill every once in awhile.

Just got back from Montana with the D350 and Fiver. Had terrible cross winds in the Eastern MT foothills. On seeing the warning sign wind sock standing straight out, I radioed my wife from the trailer to see if she wanted me to drive. She said she wasn't even aware of the cross winds. I said, keep both hand on the wheel anyway.

Proper and reliable equipment is a must, period.

KATOOM

Just a heads up..... If you let people know you actually ride in the 5th wheel on most of these forums you'll be bombarded with slanderous accusations by the critics.

j_martin

So what? It's legal most places, and safe as a commercial bus. Exception might be an old one with the forward facing windows that can eject you over the tractor in a collision.

KATOOM

I agree.....but just letting you know.