Thanks for the helpful response. I posted this on another forum also and have been learning and working through some things. Along with noticing that the spring bars are a bit light for this rig, I also noticed that when I level the truck with the air bags, the trailer nose tips up slightly. There's a lower adjustment on the ball to drop that down so I'll do that also. I've also ordered the 1200 lb bars for this hitch. As a test, I did move my load as far back as possible (and emptied the truck) and took it back over to the scales. It dropped my weight on the truck from almost 2000 lbs to about 1000 lbs, and stabilized the truck during accelerating and braking, but made the sway worse. Which makes sense, I was doing some reading and as some of you pointed out, loading tongue heavier will reduce sway, to the point that it's not overloading something else and causing another problem. So I'm hoping to find a happy medium with the stiffer bars, a little less weight on the truck, around 1200 lbs, and by lowering the front of the trailer so it's level or slightly down. Yes, I realize I'm pretty maxed out on this truck, which is why I'm trying to do everything correct to maximize stability and safety.
I do have E rated tires on the truck and trailer and run them at 80 psi on the rear of the truck and trailer and 65 on the front of the truck.
Thanks for your help. I'll try this out, then maybe a sway bar for the truck, while I save for a bigger truck.
*edit* just ordered the rear sway bar too.
Thanks!
Jesse
handye9 wrote:
Here's a link to a calculator that might help.
There are a number of things that can cause trailer sway, main causes listed first:
Overloading, insufficient weight distribution, insufficient tongue weight percentage, towing trailer nose up, unbalanced tire pressures, tow vehicle tire sidewall flexing, mechanical (bearings, axles, struts, springs, etc) failures. If you have a sway issue, it's possible your cause is anywhere in between just one item (listed above) to a combination of all of them. Getting accurate weights and ratings on truck (curb weight, GVWR, GCVWR, and tow capacity), trailer (GVWR, actual gross weight, actual tongue weights) and hitch equipment (weight rating) is a good start. You already know, tongue weight is not a constant number, so you need to plan on it being it's heaviest.
I've heard toy haulers run heavy on the tongue (average travel trailer runs about 12 - 13 percent) to compensate for toys in the garage. So, I used 15 percent tongue weight to calculate your approximate gross weight and based on 1500 lb tongue weight I came up with 10,000 lb loaded trailer weight. That's a lot of trailer for a Tundra with 4.7 V8. Even if your Tundra's advertised max tow weight rating were 10,000 lbs, once you add a passenger or cargo (like a bike in the truck bed), it no longer has 10,000 lb tow capacity.
There are band-aids that might help with comfort, but, there is nothing you can do to increase your tow rating.
As far as moving things around in the trailer, if you get your tongue weight percentage too low, it will increase your sway issues.
Check your truck tires for a good PSI (E rated LT tires should be good for about 80 PSI). If your running lower tire pressure, you could have a little bit of sidewall flexing. Make sure they are equal in pressure. Check trailer tires for equal PSI readings
If the truck doesn't have a sway bar, maybe adding one would help with truck body twisting.
It's possible your WDH is not restoring enough weight (it's primary function) to your front axles. If your front axle has lost too much weight, you loose some steering control and create more of pivot point at the hitch. One of the main causes of trailer sway. BlueOx Sway Pro has WDH models rated for 1500 and 2000 lbs.
I too, think you may be pushing the limits on your Tundra.
