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Newell Gurus
Leveling the Tow Bar - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Leveling the Tow Bar (/showthread.php?tid=82)



Leveling the Tow Bar - encantotom - 08-07-2012

The hitch on my 2002 is much much lower than the one on my 1990. Russ when he was here reminded me I might need to get a Hi-Lo adapter so when we looked at it, not only did i realize i needed one but we saw that my hitch was a 2 1/2" receiver. a very heavy duty hitch that either pulled a stacker or hospitality trailer.

so i picked up a roadmaster 048-10 hi low hitch adapter. it is ONLY for adjusting the height of the tow bar for pulling a toad. not used for a trailer. you are supposed to be within 3 " or so of level. each tow bar has a different spec so you need to check your own.

when i measured the height of my hitch and my tow bar i needed 10" rise.

i got the 10,000lb version because i overdo everything.

the day we were leaving on our month long trip i put it on along with a 2 1/2" to 2" reducer i released the obvious....duh....i have to extend the tow cables and the electrical cable. so, 2 different trips to the hitch store (which thankfully is only a mile and half from my house) i got the right extension cables of sufficient strength. the cable i had to replace with one that was longer. all of this when it was 115 degrees out sitting on the asphalt in front of my house with the car ready to be hooked up. i finished it and we hopped in and left.

the hi-lo hitch not only raised it by 10" but EXTENDED it by about a foot. so everything needed quite a bit of extra length.

the amsuing part was this....i have the M&G braking system on our honda CRV. the 2002 had an air brake coupling so i assumed it was hooked up the same way as my 90. so after getting the hitch all fixed up, i hooked everything up including the air hose for the braking system. all 5 of us were in the newell, i took the parking brake off and started to go forward. but there was some resistance and our daughter ran up waving her hands frantically. she said i was dragging the car. the air hookup kept air on all the time so the brakes were locked up. so i just took the hose off and never worried about it. i will fix it later, but i never noticed any braking issues pulling the car without it.

tom