Electronic sway control trailer option?

My ego almost wants to go over your list of possible reasons we made it and assign myself the kudos...LOL. :) Really though, the Tuson system was designed after aircraft systems that auto correct based on an algorithm. It's pretty clever but as I said, something that likely will never be needed. Anyone interested should go to their website and check them out. They have videos and details on how it works. The ever annoying Mr. Truck even review it in a video that is linked from their site.

Tuson Sway Control

Whether it was the system, your driving ability or good luck, glad that one worked out for you and hopefully never happens again. I've only had one panic brake moment at 50mph. Hit the brakes so hard when a pickup truck from a side road ran the stop sign crossing in front of us so close his passenger put his arm and hand up over his face as we must have missed him by a foot or two. I thought sure we had bent the hitch or pin on the 5th wheel at least. That was back in the days of the old Hayes hall effect brake controller.

Grit dog wrote:

taken wrote:
In my application, it certainly isn't a placebo as suggested above. In a few situations where I never touch the brakes and a bit of sway starts, the system pulls me right back in line. It can be felt and when the system gets aggressive enough, you can briefly smell the brakes. It's not a gimmick. That said, it's also not a requirement. People have been running without a system like this since the dawn of RVs. For it's extremely low price, I'm glad I ordered it on mine though.

In your case I'm sure it's not. Takes one look at the pic in your sig to tell me that trailer will walk that little truck all over the road. I'm not the weight cops as everyone on here knows and I wouldn't want a 40' fiver behind a short box short cab srw truck. (Not saying I wouldn't do it, I just wouldn't consciously over estimate my tow rigs capability for long term service)
You fall into my severely overloaded category.

I still maintain, if you have the right weight bias on the trailer and aren't pulling the space shuttle with a Tundra, sway control is a placebo for not knowing cause/effect and the proper reaction while towing.

I am under on GVWR, GAWR, and tire ratings so not severely overloaded whatsoever but nice try at armchair engineering. I'm over on GCWR but when my 2017 lands, (still SRW SB) I'll be under that too with the new 28700# GCWR. That said, ratings have nothing to do with it. My truck tows my RV like an arrow until a rare panic situation occurs. (Which would have the same effect on a DRW.) This summer I was cut off and had to go full brakes at 70. The trailer started to walk side to side. I couldn't possibly do the "straighten out the noodle" routine by moderately accelerating and applying the trailer brakes at the same time as I needed to stay on the brakes hard. The system kicked in and saved my arse. Something your trailer brake control method or DRW could NOT have done. So, while 99% of the time you never need the system and I have no sway at all while towing during that 99% of the time, during that 1% that just so happened to occur this summer, it likely saved my truck and RV. Possibly the family too.

On a positive note, I'm hoping that was a once in a lifetime experience but even if it was, the system paid for itself.

Now the good news is, you don't have to buy it. Life is about choices and you choose not to try it because you've never needed it. Good on ya. I, on the other hand had the option to have it factory installed for under $400. I thought, hey, cheap insurance on a 70k rig. Turns out it was quite the value. I don't judge you for thinking it's unnecessary and get all excited over your decision. I don't see why you feel the need to get excited about mine?

My first experience with real sway was in the late '70s when I was about 16 years old. My dad didn't know and I was clueless. We got the bright idea to move the boat back on the trailer so we could set it on the ball by hand. Worked great from the house to the ramps and back. First trip on the interstate, those britches never did dry. We were extremely lucky we didn't lose it. We didn't even know why it was swaying until someone told us about it. Nothing beats a properly designed, built and loaded trailer and TV for eliminating sway.

I get the most push/pull with passing box trucks just the right length to push on the front of our trailer while pulling on the rear as they pass. But, like you said Grit Dog, it straightens right out. Not really sway, just a push. This push can startle people not used to it. Been there. My cheeks about wore out the seat on our first trip back in '94. With an improperly loaded trailer, common problem with the quest for lighter tongue weight by both the owner and rv industry, it can definitely induce dangerous sway. Show me a TT that has it's axles centered or advertises a light tongue weight and I'll show you a TT I won't even look at. U-Haul trailers have long tongues and back set axles yet people still load the heavy stuff to the rear or load the car on the trailer backward to lessen tongue weight. The results are often pretty bad. Properly loaded, you can't make a U-Haul trailer sway. If a cross wind is strong enough to blow a pickup/TT off the road, it's probably not safe for a 5th wheel or tractor trailer either.
Y'all don't take things on the internet so serious or personal. It's just opinions based on personal experience. Others have different experiences and different opinions as a result. Beers and brats on me. :B

I'll maintain that it's either a band aid or a placebo for the avg Joe who doesn't have the experience or knowledge to be running 15-30klbs down the highway when their previous life's experiences towing stopped at hauling a landscape trailer to the dump or a draw bar on the ole Honda with a Uhaul trailer in tow.

Unless someone can tell me what is magical about towing RVs and all the additional "gear" that is needed compared to other trailers.

And while this is blunt, If I was considering spending a lot of $ on something, like trailer sway control, I'd want to hear both sides of the story not just what the rv salesman and the rvnet party line has to say about it.

taken wrote:
In my application, it certainly isn't a placebo as suggested above. In a few situations where I never touch the brakes and a bit of sway starts, the system pulls me right back in line. It can be felt and when the system gets aggressive enough, you can briefly smell the brakes. It's not a gimmick. That said, it's also not a requirement. People have been running without a system like this since the dawn of RVs. For it's extremely low price, I'm glad I ordered it on mine though.

In your case I'm sure it's not. Takes one look at the pic in your sig to tell me that trailer will walk that little truck all over the road. I'm not the weight cops as everyone on here knows and I wouldn't want a 40' fiver behind a short box short cab srw truck. (Not saying I wouldn't do it, I just wouldn't consciously over estimate my tow rigs capability for long term service)
You fall into my severely overloaded category.

I still maintain, if you have the right weight bias on the trailer and aren't pulling the space shuttle with a Tundra, sway control is a placebo for not knowing cause/effect and the proper reaction while towing.

taken wrote:
LOL, you went from harsh to uninformed. Way to go.

That's why I'm asking, lol. What makes RVs ALL seem to need sway control, yet, utility trailers, cargo trailers, tag trailers, goosenecks or bumper pulls hauling anything from crushed rock to construction equipment, materials, etc don't ever seem to have it?

I'm certain I'm not as well read about pulling travel trailers or 5vers because I've only pulled a handful of different travel trailers over the years, but have been hooking trailers with pretty much anything imaginable (mostly construction related) to about every imaginable type of pickup truck and aside from the few instances mentioned above (which are painfully obvious when you hit 50-60 mph and the trailer doesn't want to stay put behind you) trailers stay straight.
Yes they sway with a gust of wind, passing semi, grooved road maybe, but they either come right back in check on their own or a stomp on the skinny pedal or a hit on the trailer brakes puts them back in line.

I'm curios to find out what everyone considers sway?
After better part of towing a lot of different types of sub 20klb trailers, I can't say that sway has been a problem more than a few times and of those times, each can be contributed to severe overloading the tow vehicle or too light of tongue weight.
All being hand loaded trailers that the weight and weight bias can vary greatly based on what and how it's loaded.
I'm stymied still over the great propensity for "sway control" in what appears to be only the RV market.

LOL, you went from harsh to uninformed. Way to go.