Lubing my Reese Strait_Line hitch w/Dual Cam

[Bobbo]

Whenever I hook up my TT, I grease the ball before putting the coupler on it. I grease the hinge pins on the torsion bar arms before putting them in the hitch head. Should I be greasing the underside of the torsion bar arms where they sit on the Dual Cam arms?

[Wishin]

I agree with pretty much all of the above, I've used the Reese DC for 11 seasons and over 30,000 miles. The first 6 years were with a trailer with about 850 lbs of TW and I never used any lubricant on the cams. My current trailer has over 22k miles on it and has about 12-1300 lbs of TW and I use 1200 lb bars. I have found the vaseline is fairly important. I lube it up a few times per season.

[Bobbo]

Thank you JBarca, that is very informative.

[JBarca]

I'll add a little to hopefully help the cause.

Reese changes their instructions from time to time, and I must admit the instructions of today are a lot better than years ago.

See here for the current issue as of this post from the Reese Products site. These are dated 5/31/2017 Rev T. http://www.reeseprod.com/support/installation/N26002.pdf

On page 9 of 33 they state:

Reese Products wrote:
MAINTENANCE:

1. DO NOT – use grease on the cams or cam arms.
2. If noise of the system is offensive, a very light coating of lubricant such as Vaseline may be used on the portion of the cam where the spring bar rides on the cam. Tongue weights in excess of 1,200 lbs. may require the use of such a lubricant to prevent excessive wear.
3. Keep all painted parts painted to prevent rust and maintain a good appearance. (Do Not paint over labels

Reading the words as written, if noise is offensive, you can use a light coat of Vaseline to tame down the noise. It really does not state what TW needs the noise reduction. On loaded tongue weights of over 1,200#, Vaseline may be used to reduce excessive wear as now stated. However it does not declare what excessive wear really is. Years ago (pre 2006), 1,200# WD bars were the largest they ever made and using vaseline was OK back then when used on 1,000# TW's.

Years ago, they would describe the vaseline as a weak lubricant in their instructions and it was OK to use on the cams as it not considered an actual grease in their mind.

I have been using the Reese DC on several different trailers for the last 15 years. On our large camper, I have one pair of DC's that have over 50,000 miles on the original set. While the spring bars changed size from camper to camper, I kept using the same cam arms and cams.

I found these things out which are not mentioned in the lastest instructions.

When the cams are brand new, you will notice a lot of metal wear, (metal chips dust) on the cams. This is normal. This wear is the WD bar wearing off the contact spots on the cam arms. As mileage increases, the wearing dust slows down as the contact patch of wear on the cam is larger.

The WD bars and the latest new DC lobes are not machined. The WD bars are forged and DC is cast steel. The older DC had machined cam lobes but the WD bars have been forged. The lengths of the WD bars are not exact nor the cast steel DC lobes.

I have found that you should mark the WD bars left and right once the DC is adjusted spot on perfectly centered in the WD bar V. Then always use that same WD bar on the same side going forward. The WD bar and the cam over time become a worn in matched set. The contact patch on the DC matches the wear pattern on the WD bar. If you do not use the same WD bar on the same side all the time, that contact patch wear will start all over again because you flipped the bars around from side to side. And that flip flopping can create higher wear then leaving them on the same side.

My tongue weights on the original cams have varied from 1,000# to 1,600# across a few campers. The current camper we have had since 2007 has 1,700# WD bars on it with a 1,600# loaded TW. I do use the vaseline for wear and it tames the noise. As BarneyS stated, I do not reapply every trip. The Vaseline is good for many trips. When you start seeing new metal wearing (metal chip dust) or hearing the grinding, then it is time to put another light coat on. In time, you will know when to add.

I have a smaller camper also with a 800# TW using the new cast steel DC and 800# bars and I do not use the vaseline. It is not really needed on this lighter setup.

The vaseline will reduce the friction of the DC. It has to in order to reduce the wear. However, a light film of it "normally" will not affect the anti sway. But, a larger quantity can reduce the sway control a small amount pending other factors in your truck setup. You really do not need much lube to tame down the noise and wear.

Hope this helps

John

[mosseater]

I've used a dab of Vasoline on my cams since new. Tongue weight runs around 1050 */-. I have not seen any issues with control. Really helps quiet it down. I also shoot a little penetrating spray on the snap chains. As the bars shift, the links can pop and groan a little. Mine doesn't make a peep.

[Hannibal]

I put just a dab of marine grease on the L brackets of my Equalizer 4 point. I can’t tell the difference from the driver’s seat except that it’s quiet. If it were me, with your trailer, properly loaded and hitched, I would do the same for the same reason. Not a recommendation nor am I telling anyone else what to do. Just stating what I do and would do.

[Bobbo]

Thanks all. I will just keep on doing as I have been doing.

[dodge_guy]

You only grease the cams when there is more than 1200lbs. I forget the terminology but it says something like “do not use grease, ise vaselinne only. I’m certain instances with higher tongue weights a very light coating of grease can be used to decrease excessive wear!” It’s in the owners manual.

[BarneyS]

You can, as already mentioned, put a small amount of Vasoline on the cams to reduce any noise or excess wear, but that should not be necessary on the size/weight of the trailer in you signature. Using Vasoline is supposed to be for very heavy tongue weight trailers and primarily to reduce wear on the cams.

Mine, for instance, is over 1300lbs and I did use Vasoliine on the cams when I used the Dual Cam hitch many years ago. Didn't have to put it on very often. If I recall correctly it was only necessary a couple of time per season.

You are doing the right thing greasing where you mentioned but if you do use the Vasoline, just put it on the cam itself and not on the spring bars. Using Vasoline will not reduce the amount of sway control like grease would but does reduce the wear and noise. I had none with mine.
Barney

[DustyR]

mooky stinks wrote:
Not with grease. I believe the instructions say that you can use a small amount of Vaseline to keep the noise down, but do not use grease.

X-2

[mooky_stinks]

Not with grease. I believe the instructions say that you can use a small amount of Vaseline to keep the noise down, but do not use grease.