Urgent help needed with Blue Ox Sway Pro swaying

I took the liberty to do a little research based on the numbers you have provided.

You state that you have a tongue weight of 850 lbs and you are using 1,000 lbs spring bars...you are within your tow rating and your GCWR...However you are WAY overloading your receiver.

Here is an excerpt from the 2014 Durango owners manual that addresses this issue.




So...

1) You have 130 lbs too much tongue weight
2) you have 270 lbs too much spring bar pressure (potential)

What does this mean?

Basically, your receiver is overloaded and more than likely flexing under the load/torque from the WD bars.

LT tires are great, The Sway Pro is a great hitch and the spring bars are appropriate for the tongue weight... but receiver flex will cause issues... really bad issues eventually.

In light of this I would crawl under the Durango and check the welds on the receiver for cracks.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

Are you at fort wilderness? I am and I use a Blue Ox. I can take a look if you like.

That is the one thing I am unsure about. The truck came with a tow package and 20" Goodyear Fortera HL (high load).

I still suspect them. I am thinking of changing them to a 10 ply but want to be sure it is the problem before I do.

The weird part is that it drives perfectly changing lanes at 65 MPH.

I would add:

6) Should have LT tires, not P tires on the Durango for more stable towing.

Not in any particular order:

1) Perfectly level
2) Only feels like oscillation when being passed. Could be being pushed around.
3) 1000 lb bars
4) all air pressure at max. Trailer at 50 and TV is at 36 psi

Durango is not a jeep. It is based argest Mercedes SUV model. Wheelbase is 119.8", compare that to Ford F-150 at 122".

Is it really sway? Sway is an oscillating side-to-side motion. If it's just being pushed around, that's not really sway, and has different causes.

Add more weight to the tounge and see how it handles. There will be many who say the Durango is too small that's BS it's fully capable to those loads.

First - when you are hitched up, are both the TV and TT level? If not, you need to adjust the chains to make it so.

Second: Your TV is likely too little truck. I was towing a 26' RV with a Jeep Commander and had a similar experience: When a semi would pass, I would get sucked over towards it as it began to pass me and then pushed away as it went by. Same with wind. Sounds to me like what you are experiencing. The only solution is to replace your TV, unfortunately - which is what I just did. The difference is amazing.

Let's also discuss what you are experiencing versus sway. Sway is when the trailer begins oscillating side to side, increasing with each swing - much like someone on a swing set. Left unchecked, it will eventually cause the trailer to jackknife. What you describe - and what I experienced - is more of the TT moving the TV due to inadequate weight/wheelbase of the TV. Imagine a wagon being pulled by a husky versus a poodle and the effect that the wagon could have on the dog as it is pushed side to side while in motion.

If this is the case, there are only two ways I found to mitigate it:

1. Minimize the speed differential between you and other vehicles. A semi passing you doing 15mph faster and one doing 1mph faster is dramatic. Of course, you might not want to drive that fast.

2. Reducing your own speed to where the TV is more easily controllable - which, of course, will affect you when semis pass as noted above. This is more helpful when it's windy.

We never went very far from home with the old TV due to this issue because the drive was that stressful. I cannot imagine driving from FL to Canada under those conditions.

My thread about these issues: http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27938656.cfm

Note that I tried most of the offered suggestions to no effect. Replacing the TV was the only thing that solved the issue - and by solved, I mean that it reduced it to insignificance rather than eliminated it. When a semi passes by doing 15mph faster, I now feel a VERY minor tug and go "Ah, a semi!" Instead of "HOLY ----" and freaking out.

One last note: I had a terrible time seeing where vehicles were to my rear and knowing if it was safe to change lanes, so I installed a backup camera on the TT. One nice thing about that was that I could see that I was NOT experiencing sway in this condition since the rear of the TT was not oscillating - after the large vehicle would pass, the rear of the TT was straight and not moving side to side (the lane markings didn't move in the camera picture).

It sounds like the dog is too small for the tail so moving over to the edge of the road when being passed may help BUT when the air from the semi first hits the back of the trailer it's going to send you closer to the edge. With some practice you can time a slight turn to the left when the air hits the back of the trailer to smooth things out but when it gets to the front of the trailer the opposite is going to happen so a slight right turn may keep the swaying down.
The amount of sway is also a function of tongue weight. You may need more tongue weight. Move something heavy from the back to the front of the trailer. If the fresh water tank is behind the axles, empty it when traveling.

What is the spring bar rating on you Sway Pro?

What is your tow vehicle tires air pressure?

Those are the first questions I need answered.

I suspect what you are experiencing has to do with wheelbase, P rated tires, Inexperience towing TT's, and possibly a receiver issue.

Thanks!

Jeremiah