Reese Friction Sway Bar

[amahaffe]

I recently purchased a TT . . . it came with a Reese Friction Sway Bar installed.  The first time I took the trailer to campground, I went to take the sway bar off and could not turn the handle at all.  I was able to remove the handle by pounding on it with a hammer.  Of course, this ruined the handle on the bar.  I am going to buy another sway bar, but I would like to know what I did wrong so I don't ruin another one.  Can anyone help?  Thanks.

 

[John From Detroit]

Basically what you did wrong was over tighten it.  You might consider this, get a short piece of pipe, just big enough to fit over the handle and about 2x as long as the handle, you can use this for extra leverage when LOOSENING the nut, but the big ting is do not over tighten it, do not under tighten it either (For obvious reasons)

I use two of these (one each at different times) for many years,  my best advice is to protect from the weather... Actually... A good part of the time I had a small plastic trash can only about 5" around and a couple of feet tall (some ball club logo on it if memory serves) and when i left the thing on the trailer, I pointed it more or less up and dropped the trash can, upside down, over it, good weather guard, very good in fact.   

Oh yes. and they worked like a charm,  Very happy with them