FastWay e2 600/6000 Trunnion Hitch

I installed my FastWay e2 trunnion hitch Monday.  It is the 600/6000 model, and it appears to be a bit too much hitch for my setup.  It's not going well.

My setup is a 2018 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 V6 Access Cab, upgraded with OME heavy duty springs and shocks all around.  Nothing in the truck bed. My trailer is a 2016 RP-171 with one FULL 20lb propane tank, Lippert electric tongue jack and two 235aH 6v batteries, boxes and associated wiring.  Water tank and waste tanks were empty.

I installed the hitch per the instructions.  I put the L brackets in the middle set of holes, and I used 5 washers (the manual says no fewer than 5 washers and no more than 9 washers).  Fewer washers gives less WD effect.

I put a piece of blue painter's tape on the body about an inch above the front wheel well to give a distinct measurement point to measure between there and the ground, going through the center of the wheel.

With the trailer uncoupled from the truck the distance from the ground to the tape was 38 1/4”.

Then I hooked up the trailer with the full tongue weight on the hitch but without the WD bars in place.  That measurement was 38 3/8”.  Only 1/8” higher than without the trailer weight.  That was a surprise, but I do have upgraded suspension in the truck.

With the 5 washers and the L-brackets on the middle set of holes (per the instructions) and the WD trunnion bars in place providing weight distribution (WD), the measurement at the tape was 37 3/4”, which is an indication there is too much WD happening.  The goal is to get that distance back to ½ way between the unloaded and loaded heights.  That target distance would be (38 ¼ + 38 3/8 / 2), or 38 5/16”.

Since I was already at the minimum number of washers, the next alternative is to lower the L-brackets.  I moved them down one set of holes which reduces the WD effect.  Now the measurement was 38” even... still too much WD.

Moved it to the next set of holes down (which is as low as you can go), and the measurement was 38 1/8”... still a hair too much WD.  But that was the minimum I could set it up for according to the instructions.

Strangely though, with it still having slightly too much WD, the trunnion bars have very little tension on them.  With maybe 10-20lbs of effort I can lift the bars off the L-brackets.  That can't be right.  Not enough friction there to give any sway control.

I called e2 support and told him the story with all the measurements.  He said I can actually go as low as 3 washers (it would have been nice if the manual said that instead of the minimum being 5).  So he wants me to move the L-brackets back up (he didn't know if I should go up one set of holes or two sets of holes) hoping to get the trunnion bars as parallel to the trailer frame rails as possible.  If there is too much angle between the bars and the L-brackets it reduces the contact patch and there is not enough friction for sway control.  Further he wants me to try either 4 or 3 washers instead of the current 5 washers.

I will follow his instructions, but my feeling is that this is too much hitch for this setup.  Perhaps the light duty 450/4000 version would have been better, but since I have installed it I can't return it.

Things will change a little for the better when I have stuff in the TV bed and some water in the tank though.

You can try your local county waste transfer station. As a taxpayer you should be able to use that if they're not busy. That's what I do here in NC.  Asking nice always helps as with anything in life. 

In your case the worst scenario sounds like it might be a full gray tank reducing tongue weight below 10-11% of trailer weight, resulting in risk of sway. Placing as much load as far forward as possible in the trailer will mitigate against that.