Forum Discussion

1jeep's avatar
1jeep
Explorer II
May 05, 2016

lite weight trailer sway

I have a friend that recently purchased a wolf pup trailer that weighs under 3900lbs and has a tongue weight of under 400lbs, it is 18' long. He is towing with a 2011 ford f150 using a friction sway control.

The issue he has sway with speeds over 50mph, tried cranking down the sway more and loading the tongue with weight by transferring everything inside to the front. This trailer is a single axle unit, is this common with such lite weight trailers of this type?

His next step would be to try my old reese dual cam, but I feel that is over kill for this trailer/truck combo?
  • wing_zealot's avatar
    wing_zealot
    Explorer
    May 05, 2016
    3900 lbs trailer and 440 lbs of tongue weight is only 11 percent. Probably all he needs to do is get more weight on the tongue. He needs to somehow get about 50 lbs more tongue weight on it. The smaller the trailer, the better it is to go even higher percentage on the tongue weight. If that's a toy hauler, he needs to move them toys into the living room cause the more the toys are behind the axle, the worse off he is going to be.
  • 1jeep's avatar
    1jeep
    Explorer II
    May 05, 2016
    not a toy hauler, I did tell him to put everything up front. We will have to see if that helps, I just wasn't sure if this was something common wit such a small trailer on a single axle.
  • 1jeep's avatar
    1jeep
    Explorer II
    May 05, 2016
    level, I did tell him to try a hitch head that will drop it an inch or so.
  • WNYBob's avatar
    WNYBob
    Explorer
    May 05, 2016
    What tires does he have on the F150? P tires have soft sidewalls, upgrade to a stiffer tire!
  • 1jeep's avatar
    1jeep
    Explorer II
    May 05, 2016
    it isn't a truck tire issue, this I know as when I was behind him I could see the trailer swaying. Im pretty certain if I towed it with my truck it might do the same, but wouldn't bother me as my truck is much bigger.

    Having never owned a single axle camper and add in that small I wasn't sure if this was something common with that type of trailer.
  • BarneyS's avatar
    BarneyS
    Explorer III
    May 05, 2016
    Sounds like a typical low tongue weight issue. The number of axles does not matter nor does the size of the trailer.
    Barney
  • 1jeep's avatar
    1jeep
    Explorer II
    May 05, 2016
    im going to have him add some weight into the front, I think this being their first rv they tried to pack as light as possible.
  • nineoaks2004's avatar
    nineoaks2004
    Explorer
    May 06, 2016
    One way to add tongue weight is to add another LP tank, (if he only has one now)
    I always set my TT with the tongue down a bit instead of level. Also some units just do not pull well due to the design.

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