Buy the Andersen if your trailer is big enough for it and you take the hitch off often. Buy the Equal-i-zer if it is not.
That second clause is the one nobody mentions. Andersen’s smallest hitch is rated for a 10,000 lb trailer. Equal-i-zer starts at 4,000. If you tow something modest, this comparison is already over.
Where both are available, the difference the ranking pages describe — chains versus spring bars — is only the weight distribution half. Both hitches control sway by friction. What separates them is what the friction is made of, what the whole thing weighs, and whether you have to grease it.
Andersen No-Sway 10K
3324
Tensioned chains instead of spring bars, and a single brake-liner friction cone at the ball. Under 60 lb, grease-free, 10,000 lb gross and up.
$$$$
Check price at Andersen Hitches(opens in a new tab)Equal-i-zer 10K
90-00-1000
Rigid steel spring bars and four points of steel-on-steel friction. 106.5 lb for the 10K kit, grease on the head but never the brackets, from 4,000 lb gross.
$$$
Check price at Equal-i-zer(opens in a new tab)Specification by specification
| Specification | Andersen No-Sway 10K | Equal-i-zer 10K |
|---|---|---|
| Gross trailer weight Matched deliberately at 10,000 lb | 10,000 lb | 10,000 lb maximum |
| Sway control Both friction. The material and the geometry differ, not the principle | Friction — a single self-adjusting cone at the ball, made of brake-liner material | Friction — four points of steel-on-steel contact, integrated rather than added on |
| How the sway control works Andersen's rises with tongue weight; Equal-i-zer's is set by the bracket position | The ball assembly sits in a cone of brake-liner material. When the trailer tries to rotate, the ball turns against that liner and the friction resists it. The trailer's tongue weight presses the ball down into the cone, so the friction rises with the load rather than being set by a fixed clamp | Points 1 and 2 are rotational friction inside the hitch head, where the spring arm sockets slide against the head itself. Points 3 and 4 are the spring arms sliding along the rigid L-brackets bolted to the trailer frame |
| Weight distribution The visible difference, and the one every comparison leads with | Tensioned chains with motion-dampening springs rather than rigid steel bars. Andersen states the chains resist bounce "by pulling at the right-angle to the up and down movement" | Rigid steel spring bars, tensioned by raising the arms onto the L-brackets. The bars are also two of the four sway control surfaces, so distribution and sway control share hardware here |
| Hitch weight Under 60 lb against 106.5 — close to half | Under 60 lb, per Andersen Better | 106.5 lb for the 10K kit, per etrailer's measured shipping weight. Equal-i-zer does not publish a figure |
| Lubrication Grease-free against grease on the head and never on the brackets | None. "No grease required for clean, low-maintenance operation" — the tapered ball is described as grease-free and the friction cone as self-adjusting Better | Bearing grease (Equal-i-zer part 91-00-4250) on the hitch head friction surfaces, "both to manage the sound and to keep the wear under control" — but **"we don't recommend greasing the L-brackets"**, because that friction is two of the four sway control points. Equal-i-zer sells Sway Bracket Jackets (part 95-01-5150) instead |
| Noise Not a win for Equal-i-zer on the outcome — a win on disclosure. It documents its noise; Andersen says nothing either way | Not addressed on Andersen's product page either way. We have not tested it, so no claim is made here | Documented by the manufacturer. Equal-i-zer's owner's guide says "sound is normal with any weight distribution hitch and means it is working as it should" and that "with friction comes sound", naming the hitch head sockets and the spring arms on the L-brackets as sources. Loudest during slow, tight turns and during break-in Better |
| Sizes available Equal-i-zer covers small trailers. Andersen's range simply does not go there | 10,000 lb / 1,400 lb up to 16,000 lb / 1,600 lb | 400/4,000, 600/6,000, 1,000/10,000, 1,200/12,000, 1,400/14,000 and 1,600/16,000 lb tongue weight / gross trailer weight Better |
| Warranty Different shapes, and one of them is disputed between the maker and its retailers | Lifetime against manufacturing defects in materials or workmanship, per Andersen, with "certain components like cables and locking pins" at 1 year. See the note below on a retailer discrepancy | Lifetime to the original purchaser, latent defects only |
| Price | $$$$ | $$$ Better |
Both use friction. That is the part the category misses
The standard framing, and the one the top-ranking pages use, is that Andersen uses a chain and ball system where Equal-i-zer uses spring bars. True, and it describes weight distribution — how the tongue load gets shared onto the tow vehicle’s front axle and the trailer axles.
Sway control is a separate mechanism, and both hitches use friction for it.
Friction is a way of damping an oscillation once it has begun, which is a different thing from stopping it starting — and it is worth knowing before you buy either that the fixes which actually stop most sway are free. Why does my trailer sway puts the causes in cost order.
- Equal-i-zer creates friction at four fixed points: two rotating sockets inside the hitch head, and two more where the spring arms slide along rigid L-brackets bolted to the trailer A-frame. Steel on steel.
- Andersen creates it at one point, in a cone of brake-liner material that the ball assembly sits in. When the trailer tries to rotate, the ball turns against that liner and the friction resists it.
Neither of us can point you at a comparative sway test, because nobody publishes one. What can be compared is the mechanism, and the mechanisms are genuinely different in a way “chains versus bars” does not capture.
The weight difference is the one you feel
Andersen: under 60 lb. Equal-i-zer 10K: 106.5 lb.
Andersen publishes its figure. Equal-i-zer publishes none, so the comparison number is etrailer’s measured shipping weight — attributed rather than presented as a manufacturer spec.
Nearly half is not a marketing distinction. It is the difference between lifting the hitch into a truck bed one-handed and making a job of it, and it compounds every time you take it off to use the truck for something else. If the hitch lives on the trailer permanently it matters much less.
It also lands on your payload. A weight distribution hitch sits in the tow vehicle’s payload budget, and 47 lb is 47 lb of the few hundred most half-tons have spare once passengers and gear are aboard.
Grease, and the thing Equal-i-zer tells you not to do
Andersen is grease-free. Its page describes a “grease-free tapered ball” and a self-adjusting friction cone, with “no grease required for clean, low-maintenance operation”. For a hitch you handle regularly and store in a truck bed, that is a real quality-of-life difference.
Equal-i-zer needs grease, in one place and not another. It recommends bearing grease on the hitch head friction surfaces “both to manage the sound and to keep the wear under control”. But on the brackets it says plainly: “we don’t recommend greasing the L-brackets.”
That instruction is the same one that decides Equal-i-zer against the Blue Ox SwayPro, and it is worth understanding once: those brackets are two of the four sway control points, so lubricating them would reduce the sway control the hitch exists to provide. The friction, the wear and the noise are one mechanism.
Andersen sidesteps the whole question by making its friction surface a consumable liner rather than bare steel.
The range problem, which decides more cases than the rest
Andersen’s weight distribution hitch is rated from 10,000 lb gross trailer weight with a 1,400 lb tongue up to 16,000 lb and 1,600 lb.
Equal-i-zer runs 400/4,000, 600/6,000, 1,000/10,000, 1,200/12,000, 1,400/14,000 and 1,600/16,000.
So for anything under a 10,000 lb trailer — which is a great many travel trailers — the only Andersen you can buy is one rated far above your rig, with nothing lower to step down to. Equal-i-zer will sell you a 400/4,000. That is not a criticism of the product; it is a fact about who each is for, and no ranking page for this query states it.
Neither manufacturer publishes a minimum tongue weight for any model, which is a gap in both and a real one, given how firmly this category warns against running bars rated far above your actual tongue load.
There is a second thing hiding in those two ladders. Equal-i-zer’s rungs pair every tongue rating with a gross rating exactly ten times larger, and Blue Ox’s do the same — while the tongue weight both makers tell you to expect runs to 15%. Andersen’s entry model is the exception at 1,400/10,000, or 14%. Which model you need therefore depends on your tongue weight rather than your trailer weight, and the two disagree more often than not: the towing payload calculator works out both from figures you can actually get.
Neither rung is quite the number to buy against, either. Equal-i-zer’s own sizing rule adds about a third of whatever is in the back of the tow vehicle to the tongue weight before you read the ladder — and its worked example crosses a model boundary because of it. That step, and the shank measurement that nobody covers alongside it, are in what size weight distribution hitch do I need.
A warranty worth reading rather than trusting
Equal-i-zer’s is straightforward: lifetime to the original purchaser, latent defects, ordinary wear and tear excepted. It does not transfer with the trailer.
Andersen’s needs care. Andersen’s own warranty page states a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects in materials or workmanship, noting that “certain components like cables and locking pins may have 1-year coverage”. Several retailer listings instead describe the hitch as “1-Year (Lifetime on Friction Core)” — a materially shorter term.
We have recorded Andersen’s own wording, because a manufacturer’s warranty page outranks a retailer’s product listing and because trusting a listing over a manual is how this project has previously shipped wrong specifications. But the discrepancy is unresolved, and if the warranty is decisive for you it is worth a direct question to Andersen before buying.
Which one, for you
| If this is you | Buy |
|---|---|
| Your trailer is under 10,000 lb gross | Equal-i-zer — Andersen makes nothing that small |
| You remove the hitch between trips | Andersen — 47 lb lighter, every time |
| Payload is already tight on your tow vehicle | Andersen |
| You want the least maintenance | Andersen — no grease anywhere |
| You want the most sway control and will accept the noise | Equal-i-zer |
| The hitch lives on the trailer and never moves | Equal-i-zer — the weight stops mattering |
| You want a warranty you can read without ambiguity | Equal-i-zer |
If you take the hitch off often
Andersen No-Sway 10K
Under 60 lb against 106.5, no grease anywhere, and friction that rises with tongue weight instead of being fixed.
If your trailer is under 10,000 lb
Equal-i-zer 10K
Andersen makes nothing smaller. Equal-i-zer runs down to a 4,000 lb trailer and 400 lb tongue.
Related guides
- Equal-i-zer vs Blue Ox SwayPro — the other comparison worth making, where friction meets geometry.
- Best trailer hitch locks — securing the coupler once the hitch is chosen.
- What size coupler lock do you need? — the A-frame measurement worth taking while you are under there.
- The towing section collects everything published so far.
For how products on this site are selected and what we do not claim about them, see the editorial policy.
Questions worth answering
What is the difference between the Andersen hitch and an Equal-i-zer?
Visibly, Andersen uses tensioned chains where Equal-i-zer uses rigid steel spring bars — that is the weight distribution half, and it is what most comparisons describe. The half they skip is sway control, and both hitches do it by friction. Equal-i-zer uses steel-on-steel at four points. Andersen uses a single cone of brake-liner material that the ball turns inside.
Is the Andersen hitch really lighter?
Substantially. Andersen states its hitch weighs under 60 lb; etrailer's measured shipping weight for the comparable Equal-i-zer 10K is 106.5 lb. That is close to half, and it is the difference between lifting a hitch into a truck bed comfortably and not. Equal-i-zer publishes no weight figure of its own.
Does the Andersen hitch need greasing?
No, and it is the only mainstream option that does not. Andersen describes a "grease-free tapered ball" and a self-adjusting friction cone, with "no grease required for clean, low-maintenance operation". Equal-i-zer recommends bearing grease on its hitch head friction surfaces — and explicitly says not to grease the L-brackets, because that friction is two of its four sway control points.
Which has better sway control?
Nobody publishes a comparative test, so the honest answer is about approach. Equal-i-zer applies friction at four fixed points, two in the head and two where the spring arms slide on the brackets. Andersen applies it at one point, but that point is load-proportional: the trailer's tongue weight presses the ball down into the friction cone, so a heavier tongue produces more sway resistance rather than the same amount.
Is the Andersen hitch noisy?
Andersen's product page does not address noise either way, and we have not tested it, so this page makes no claim. What is documented is the other side: Equal-i-zer states in its own owner's guide that "sound is normal" and that "with friction comes sound", naming its hitch head sockets and its L-brackets as the sources.
Will the Andersen hitch fit my small trailer?
Probably not, and this is the practical limitation nobody mentions. Andersen's range starts at 10,000 lb gross trailer weight with a 1,400 lb tongue rating and runs to 16,000 lb. Equal-i-zer starts at 4,000 lb gross and 400 lb tongue. If you are towing a small or mid-size trailer, Andersen does not make a hitch for you.
Can you back up with an Andersen hitch?
Yes — the chain-and-cone arrangement has no spring bars to bind, which is one of the reasons owners of tight-site rigs like it. The same is true of Blue Ox's rotating latches. Equal-i-zer's rigid brackets are the setup that most rewards unhitching first.
Which has the better warranty?
Equal-i-zer's is clearer. It covers latent defects for the ownership life of the original purchaser, wear and tear excepted. Andersen states a lifetime warranty on manufacturing defects with "certain components like cables and locking pins" at one year — though several retailer listings describe the hitch as one year with lifetime cover on the friction core only, which is materially shorter. We have recorded Andersen's own wording and flagged the discrepancy rather than resolving it from a retailer page.