Correct and just be sure to adjust the “L” brackets Up or down so that the bars are as close to parallel to the A frame as feasible. There are tons of YouTube videos that are very helpful on this topic, I prefer the Curt videos myself.

No if your using a hitch like the Equalizer you would be setting a variety of adjustments such as the overall height of the hitch, and the angle of the ball to determine how much pre-load your putting on the bars. So your trailer height may change as well as the truck but this is all in the set up documents for such a hitch to achieve the optimum adjustment. What the 1200lb bars will give you is resistance under severe conditions such as sinusoidal road conditions or rough roads in general. For light suspensions systems as found on half ton trucks, additional force is required to prevent bottoming the suspension on rough roads. The 1200ln bars on a 7000 GVW trailer will do this.
For me, I purchased the 1000lb bars and on such roads, the porpoising was a PITA. So I installed air bags which work great. But had I purchased the 1200lb bars, I may not have needed to do this.

Jim

Back to your original question, pro-active is nearly always better than reactive. A sway-control bar on a travel trailer will help to reduce or eliminate sway. Without it, once it occurs, the “reactive” control may take over. I’d rather not have to have a component that reacts, if it can be eliminated or reduced prior to the occurrence.

Tom,

I believe everyone agrees. The electronic sway control is set to a high gain and will control once sway is present and excessive. As you pointed out its best to have a proper hitch to not allow one to get there in the first place. I like redundancy so using both mechanical and electrical devices will ensure the trailer will not get into a dangerous situation.

Jim

Just so everyone understands, the Ford built in sway system controls sway by individually control the rear truck brakes. When the built in gyros "see" trailer sway, the system will apply either rear brake to try to get it under control. A Ford engineer, several trailer techs and a number of individuals who have the system on their trucks told me to turn off the built in sway system IF you are using a hitch with sway control. The issue seems to be the truck and the hitch sway controller would fight each other. Having been through that, I found once sway would get going (with sway control on), the only way to get it under control was to slow down. When I shut down the truck controller, I've found changing speed (either slightly speed up or slow down) to get things back under control.

The other thing is to purchase a good WD hitch. We were able to rid of virtually all sway issues by 1) turning off the truck sway control and 2) use a Blue Ox Sway Pro with 1000 lb spring bars. Our trailer is a 2020 Imagine 2600 RD. The design of the Blue Ox has sway control built in using the spring bars. Definitely beats the Equalizer hitch we first owned.

Good Information where systems or brands may vary. There are no issues with my GMC while running with my Equalizer hitch.

Here is some information on Yaw sensors. Also in stability programs are steering wheel angle sensors which can provide feedback on the intended action of the driver.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaw-rate_sensor

Jim

I was told by my Ford dealer to deactivate the Ford electronic sway control if I am using a mechanical sway control. I was told the 2 will "argue" with each other and can exaggerate any sway experienced. I have my off and find the truck handles better.

Blue Ox, who manufactures my sway control hitch recommends that the truck's built in sway control be turned off while the Blue Ox is in use.

"For all truck models with factory sway control, it is suggested that the sway control be disabled for the best performance of the Blue Ox® SwayPro™." Source: Blue Ox Manual

Jim

As Brian has stated no. The angle of the ball will determine the amount of preload that will be applied to the bars where the adjustment will be made to achieve the correct front fender height. What the heavier bar will do is provide more support to prevent suspension bottoming on the TV.

Jim

My Blue Ox factory rep told me that if a customer's truck has integrated sway control, they should disengage the truck sway control if they intend on using a wdh/sway control hitch (Blue Ox Sway Pro), as the two will work against each other.