Stability, hitch and tongue weight....
Concerned over handling of my combo - but I'm inexperienced as to what "good" travel trailer towing should be like. Problem: Occasional small sway (measured in a couple of inches each way, but can ...
Forum Discussion
Personally did not like either sets of Michelin LTX-MS LT265/75R16E's. Found that the tread is deeper than most that causes the tread blocks to squirm more...plus the heavy sipe'ing likewise had the tread blocks squirm more.
That contributes to a higher slip angle, therefore less control and responsiveness to steering input. Outside influences affected it direction of travel or pointing more than I liked both running as a car and towing heavy.
Will say that they do have a much stouter tread edge to sidewall construction. Mine were on 16x10 alloys and had the side tread ribs wear faster than the center...even though aired them to 80 PSI ALL THE TIME.
Ask what is your wheel width, bead to bead, vs the tire's specification on recommended rim width? If it is towards the narrower end...too much sidewall bend-back for ride quality...but not a good thing for steering control...the sidewall will roll-over and dull the steering input to actual tire performance (slip angle). Why I have 10 inch bead to bead and is outside the OEM's spec for widest...on purpose for how I drive and want in my suspension
Am not a fan of Andersen, though like their basic architecture. Lost me to how they managed the details. The hand grinding/welding of the chain to clevis is something I'd expect from local welders who make iron gates as their main business...not an OEM selling to the country. Other is their bushing choice....hear too often that they hit bottom of their travel to pull/break the bracket off of the tongue...to move it. Or that the bushings cracked/blew-up/etc...should be a much longer stack *AND* much larger in dia.
Plus their 'friction bar' is a tapered cone inside the mating of the ball/shank to receiver shank. Have seen pictures of it walking out of that tapered hole, cracked and wonder if the bottom nut too tight...too loose ?
As for which WD Hitch system...almost religion and no sense in discussion, as they usually turn into arguments... Have looked at, inspected and noodled most all of them and personally like BlueOx SwayPro.
Most resist sway in some fashion. Andersen uses friction only. Cams has the bar end with a complimentary bend or cup for the cams to rest in...they make lots of noise and some folks grease/oil it so that the bar can slide out easier...but that is the whole purpose...to resist and by doing that...they make noise...plus once the cam is out of the bar end...no more anti-sway. Trunnions typically use friction between the bar and the 'L' bracket...they too make noise and some oil/grease it to quiet them down...but then a reduction in how they work. HA family/architecture projects the pivot forward of the ball...to somewhere closer to the TV's rear axle...but after hearing about and finding it happens to break a pin to then lose all sway control is not for me (especially at that cost). That leave me to BlueOx SwayPro and it works by increasing the WD bar tension against (both push back and pull back) on the tongue as it moves off center line.
More comments embedded in red below
That contributes to a higher slip angle, therefore less control and responsiveness to steering input. Outside influences affected it direction of travel or pointing more than I liked both running as a car and towing heavy.
Will say that they do have a much stouter tread edge to sidewall construction. Mine were on 16x10 alloys and had the side tread ribs wear faster than the center...even though aired them to 80 PSI ALL THE TIME.
Ask what is your wheel width, bead to bead, vs the tire's specification on recommended rim width? If it is towards the narrower end...too much sidewall bend-back for ride quality...but not a good thing for steering control...the sidewall will roll-over and dull the steering input to actual tire performance (slip angle). Why I have 10 inch bead to bead and is outside the OEM's spec for widest...on purpose for how I drive and want in my suspension
Am not a fan of Andersen, though like their basic architecture. Lost me to how they managed the details. The hand grinding/welding of the chain to clevis is something I'd expect from local welders who make iron gates as their main business...not an OEM selling to the country. Other is their bushing choice....hear too often that they hit bottom of their travel to pull/break the bracket off of the tongue...to move it. Or that the bushings cracked/blew-up/etc...should be a much longer stack *AND* much larger in dia.
Plus their 'friction bar' is a tapered cone inside the mating of the ball/shank to receiver shank. Have seen pictures of it walking out of that tapered hole, cracked and wonder if the bottom nut too tight...too loose ?
As for which WD Hitch system...almost religion and no sense in discussion, as they usually turn into arguments... Have looked at, inspected and noodled most all of them and personally like BlueOx SwayPro.
Most resist sway in some fashion. Andersen uses friction only. Cams has the bar end with a complimentary bend or cup for the cams to rest in...they make lots of noise and some folks grease/oil it so that the bar can slide out easier...but that is the whole purpose...to resist and by doing that...they make noise...plus once the cam is out of the bar end...no more anti-sway. Trunnions typically use friction between the bar and the 'L' bracket...they too make noise and some oil/grease it to quiet them down...but then a reduction in how they work. HA family/architecture projects the pivot forward of the ball...to somewhere closer to the TV's rear axle...but after hearing about and finding it happens to break a pin to then lose all sway control is not for me (especially at that cost). That leave me to BlueOx SwayPro and it works by increasing the WD bar tension against (both push back and pull back) on the tongue as it moves off center line.
More comments embedded in red below
Flapper wrote:
Well, so far things don't appear to be improving. On the 70mi tow up, had constant "waggle". No official sway noticed, but I did have to keep both hands on the wheel pretty much the whole time, and "suck" from semi's was pretty noticeable. Cold, tires were 55f/60r. For return, added 15 to the front, 20 to the rear, making it nominally 70/80. Except for feeling all the bumps more, no change. AND at one point I got enough rear sway to kick off the trucks anti-sway warning. Kinda spooky. Only other change was direction of cross winds, and wind speeds had gone from 8-12 to 10-17.
Here are the results from the weight station:
Steer: 3560 3380Removed 180 lbs and sounds okay for your TV
Drive: 2840 3900Added 1,060 lbs and is about 15%
Trailer: 0 6860
Gross: 6400 14140
I did have the WDH fully set.
more details on what you mean by "fully set"
And think more nose down should be tried
Should I have done another reweigh without the WD?
Would help fine tune the details, but from the previous seeing 15%,
that is in the neighborhood
Anyway to tell what tongue is from the above?
Only kinda sorta, as there is also weight put back onto the trailer tongue that another weigh in without the WD tensioned
I did do the bathroom scale weigh when I got home, as traveled, came up with 1076 for tongue. After draining water, came to 872.
Does the water tank have baffles? Few do and the sloshing may have contributed
