terrible trailer sway

My father had a Stryker 2912 with 760lb tongue weight and 7063 unladen weight (mfr ratings). He had terrible sway unless he loaded his RZR backwards in the living area. Even then he needed a friction sway bar.

If you loaded anything behind the axles it would wag the dog with a Ram 3500 drw cummins towing. Following I could watch when he hit bumps or dips and the the trailer would unload the rear axle of his truck when he loaded his RZR facing forward.

I'm willing to bet the OP can grab the hitch of his set up when hitched and pull it up without much effort.

kwlincoln wrote:
I guarantee you he has too much tension on his WD bars. He should take as much tension out of it as possible. After that, he needs to transfer more weight to the nose of the trailer.

This is common. Too many want to use the bars to put the rear of the truck back to it's unloaded height. This can cause steering issues.

BenK wrote:
Goal for the the setup when done...is to have the trailer level at its highest
pointing (recommend pointing slightly down), the TV is leveled/WD'd as per
its OEM recommendations, the setup is within and not over the 'actual' ratings
and the tongue should be in the 12%-15% 'actual' tongue weight

This applies to all classes of TV, but the lowest class benefits the most
from this final setup goal

^^^^ This should be a sticky because it's right on.

Sadly, there are many threads on this subject that contain posts of quite dubious value.

Goal for the the setup when done...is to have the trailer level at its highest
pointing (recommend pointing slightly down), the TV is leveled/WD'd as per
its OEM recommendations, the setup is within and not over the 'actual' ratings
and the tongue should be in the 12%-15% 'actual' tongue weight

This applies to all classes of TV, but the lowest class benefits the most
from this final setup goal

I guarantee you he has too much tension on his WD bars. He should take as much tension out of it as possible. After that, he needs to transfer more weight to the nose of the trailer.

myredracer wrote:
The photo below is on the OP's profile page. Can't tell what brand it is, but doesn't seem to look like a KZ. Could be the photo, but the TT looks a little nose high. What is the correct brand, year and model no.?

We tow a 29' 7K lb TT with an F250 and have zero sway on freeways and on twisty roads the handling is superb. OP's issue has to be an improperly set up WDH, maybe inadequate psi on TT or truck tires, TT is nose high, no or improperly adjusted friction sway bars (if so equipped). It would be a good idea to go to a scale and get the actual tongue wt. and TT GVW and truck's payload capacity. Truck isn't that old but is anything thing in the front end worn?

Once you've done all the "right stuff", you'll be amazed at how good towing can be. A photo of the hitch setup and one showing the TT and truck together on level ground would help.

Fuzion 290 toyhauler. 11.5 percent tongue weight unloaded. Looks pretty easy to put a load in the back and decrease tongue weight even more, especially if it is nose high as it appears.

The photo below is on the OP's profile page. Can't tell what brand it is, but doesn't seem to look like a KZ. Could be the photo, but the TT looks a little nose high. What is the correct brand, year and model no.?

We tow a 29' 7K lb TT with an F250 and have zero sway on freeways and on twisty roads the handling is superb. OP's issue has to be an improperly set up WDH, maybe inadequate psi on TT or truck tires, TT is nose high, no or improperly adjusted friction sway bars (if so equipped). It would be a good idea to go to a scale and get the actual tongue wt. and TT GVW and truck's payload capacity. Truck isn't that old but is anything thing in the front end worn?

Once you've done all the "right stuff", you'll be amazed at how good towing can be. A photo of the hitch setup and one showing the TT and truck together on level ground would help.

I don't know of a Keystone KZ290. Now if you are speaking of a KZ 290 then they come from the factory with barely 10 percent hitch weight. If that is your trailer and your hitch isn't set up properly and just barely nose high, there will be sway.

First, do you really have sway? Some people think that any sort of motion from the trailer is "sway" when it is just an unavoidable bobble caused by uneven road surfaces. When the trailer starts whipping back and forth uncontrollably, forcing you to hit the trailer brakes, THAT is sway. When the trailer just moves a little and goes right back behind the truck, that is not sway.

There are other behaviors such as push-pull (side-side motion) from passing traffic, and porpoising (up-down motion) due to uneven road conditions, that also may be mistaken for sway. Push-pull and porpoising are issues that can be helped by proper adjustment of tire pressures, your weight-distributing hitch and/or upgrading to a hitch with integrated sway control.

Squirrelly or floaty steering is also not sway. It is an indication of too little weight on your front tires, which means your weight distributing hitch needs adjustment.

Second, do you have an "equalizer bar setup" meaning a generic weight-distributing hitch, or do you have the EQUAL-I-ZER *BRAND* weight-distributing hitch with built-in sway control?

Third, which "key stone KZ290" do you have? I tried to look it up and there are no less than three different models by Keystone with KZ and 290 in their names, and neither of them are KZ290. There's a "KZ Sportsman 290 RLS" and a "KZ Spree 290 BHS" and the current "KZ Sportsmen S290RL".

The current S290RL has a GVWR of 8000lbs, a dry weight of 6260lbs, and a dry tongue weight of 790lbs. This should be well within the capability of an F250 diesel, and there is no way it's lifting too much weight off the front end of the truck with that big heavy diesel engine.

We would need a lot more information to help including trailer make and model, WD hitch specs, etc.