kudos to the Reese mini350

[campingeyedoc]

We just got back from our trip to Cape Cod, last year's destination of near disaster. We almost completely lost control on a downhill stretch of I-90, and I white-knuckled it for 10 hours. DW offered to drive, and lasted about 1 mile. It was our first trip with the 2001 Astro, which I thought would tow better than the '95, but was much worse. One year and a Reese mini 350 weight distributing hitch later, WHAT A DIFFERENCE! No drift from passing piggyback trucks. Changing lanes at 65mph without as much as a shimmy. The only problem was trying to get the sway bars off. Our driveway is pitched down between the sidewalk and the street, so it is a great place to hook and unhook, but we had a lot of trouble at the campsite. The jacknife technique did not seem to work. We drove the van off the road a couple of times which seemed to work, but only if we hit the right pitch.I thought about jacking it up, but was afraid of the stress on the dolly. Any suggestions?. Also, what kind of jacks do people use (ie for flat tires), and could you use some kind of hydraulic jack instead of the dolly?

[mike4947]

Rather than kill yourself use the tongue jack to raise the combo up to unhook or hookup the bars.  If the jack is going to fail, we found it gives you some warning. You'll have time to repair or replace it.

What I do for a tire changing jack is first let the air out of a tire and measure the clearance I have under whatever jack point the manufacturer recommends.
Bought several jacks over the years only to find when the tire is flat everything drops down a couple of inches.
A really good idea is when you have what you think will work  is to change a tire in your driveway. Much better to find out there is something is wrong than on the drivers side trying to change one on an interstate with trucks clearing your butt by about a foot.

[OC Campers]

Campingeyedoc, we had the same sway issues with our 1998 Astro and 2001 Westlake.   We also purchased the Reese mini 350 and it solved the problems.   Our only complaint was it was a fight to get the bars on.   My DH could do it but I just didn't have enough strengthto get them on.  My DH found a good way to get them off, he  found a driveway and pulled the van partly up the incline with the trailer still in the road.   They came off nice and easy.  To put them on, he usually found a speed bump in the campground.

We now have a Reese single draw bar hitch and it works even better.  Very simple to put on (even I can do it) plus you can still use the anti-sway.  
 
Jacqui