Major Sway Problems! Any ideas!?

mkirsch wrote:

svt440 wrote:
I'm ready to pull the trigger on one as soon as I can sell mine. Made the ad this morning. I'd like to cover some serious mileage and I don't care to do it with a trailer that wants to sway at 60mph. I've already got my new one picked out. I think tongue weight is the issue. I wasn't aware that it needed to be closer to 15 percent. Mine is 10 percent when the camper is dry, and thats before I load the cabinets in the kitchen full of food and drinks etc. Not to mention I had over 200lbs of bicycles on the back of the camper. I've learned a lot in this thread, and I appreciate all the advice. I will own this trailer for a bit longer, as its not going to be easy to sell a 2005 imo. I will load the tongue heavy and give it a try here soon just for my curiosity. Thanks again!

Did you mention the bikes earlier? I don't think you did.

Unless you include ALL the details, we can't help but be IGNORANT (i.e. lacking knowledge)!

If you started with a 10 percent tongue weight, then loaded everything into the rear kitchen, AND added 200lbs of bikes to the back, it's no wonder you had sway!

Here we are chasing down this grand mystery, and come to find out you were stacking the deck against yourself from the get-go...

15 percent tongue weight isn't necessary, it's just the upper end of the range of what's practical. Some trailers will tow fine at 10 percent, most end up at 12-13 percent.

Probably just moving the bikes will be enough to straighten things out.

I wish moving the bikes would help. The only ignorance I was calling out was somebody telling me that changing tires was a silly thing to do. They actually magnified the issue because the truck had zero stability with those lousy tires. I put BF's on with a 3ply sidewall, and it helped control the issue a LOT. But the issue still exists. I've commented a couple of times in this thread saying and appreciating the input, because I've learned that the tongue weight is most likely the issue here. That being said, yes, I also had a couple hundred pounds of bikes hanging off the rear of the trailer making matters worse.. for 9 miles that is. 9 miles into the trip I took the bikes off the rear of the camper and put them in the bed of the truck because it swayed so much it nearly trashed my bike rack. Moving them to the bed didn't help the sway issue at all, and one of my most nerve-racking experiences happened after I removed the bikes from the rear of the camper, but before I changed the tires. In the first 60 miles I had three scary experiences, two of these with the bikes in the bed of the truck. At the 60 mile point I changed the tires, and had zero nerve-racking experiences for the next 250 miles, OR the 310 miles coming back home. However the sway still existed, and sometimes at even less than 60mph. SO in conclusion the tires helped. The truck could barely stand on its feet when a guy rocked it side to side until the new tires where installed. The sway still exists, PROBABLY due to MY ignorance of tongue weight. I'm sure it was probably more like 7% when I stocked my kitchen and my fridge for enough food and drinks for 5 people for 4 days.