May well be. I guess the question is why.

Steve

 

It could be the # of links under tension. Hopefully we'll hear back after an inspection of the bar and the cam arm.

 

So I have nothing really new to report. I don't see any abnormal signs of wear on the trunion bars, from what I can tell. I have removed the cams and taken them to the dealer to get them replaced under warranty. It is slowly coming out that they are aware there are issues with the installations they did and the fact that rivet nuts were not used from the beginning. All the attached pictures were taken with the knowledge that the drivers side cam is already bent. I still don't see where it could be binding up though, there was no contact between points while testing.



Trunnion bars, nothing out of the ordinary from what I can tell.





View of hitch with TV and TT straightline.





Position hitch was in when taking right hand turn pictures, no touching.





Position of truck and trailer during right hand turn pictures.





Angle of hitch on left hand turn.





Position of truck and trailer during left hand turn pictures.





Passanger cam on left hand turn.





Drivers cam on left hand turn.





Drivers side cam on left hand turn.

 

I forgot to mention. I am running 5 links on the cam arm. It was originally set up from the dealer with three links, I have since re-adjusted everything and the numbers and pictures provided have been after that adjustment.

 

I have spend a good deal of time on the Internet trying to research this issue as it seems to be somewhat common and happening in exactly the same manner as you report here. Interestingly, I also found several comments noting the problem either only happens or is far more likely with trunnion bars than round bars, the issue being the added width of the bars.

It looks to me like the bars are in a bind in a couple of the pictures and even though the instructions call for at least five links, I would drop the chain so the tips of the bars are down slightly and adjust the head tilt to see if you can gain clearance in that manner and still obtain the weight shift you need. Since the problem seems to be reported due to chain length, I would go to six links and look at things again.

I would also contact Reese customer support directly and see what they have to say. I would not expect them to say their instructions are wrong, but this is all over the Internet so it could not be their first rodeo.

I would also go back to the instructions and see how things stack up using their "alternate" installation instructions and measuring everything to see where you stand in comparison to what they show.

Again my two cents worth in what I am sure is a vexing issue.

Steve

 

This is not related to the bending, but you may want to double check the centering of bars on the cam. The wear pattern should be on both sides of the bump. This photo makes it appear as if the wear pattern is also somewhat even across the width of the bar. That's not really the case:





Is the bar loose and floppy at that point?


I'm focusing here because people believe that this bending issue may involve the bar hitting the cam lobe. It's really close in that photo, but it's hard to tell.

Here's mine with 6 links under tension. I would suggest that you move to 6 links under tension as well. You might need to tilt the head back 1 notch to add a link:

 

You do gain clearance by doing that.

 

I had this thought. Given that all the complaints I can find so far occur with trunnion bars, I wonder if it makes sense to encourage folks to just go with round bars ?

Steve