Anti-Sway Bars Needed?

Here is an excellent article on trailer sway.

https://hensleymfg.com/trailer-sway-101/

owenssailor wrote:
So you have an expensive new truck and a brand new trailer but you are wondering about spending another 500 to 700 dollars for a good integrated WD and sway control hitch? I don't understand that thinking at all.

On top of the value of your combined rig you have the passengers in your unit and others on the road.

a good WD will likely make towing more relaxed. It may prevent a wreck.

If you can afford the rig you have finish it off with a proper hitch.

No, it's a 5 year old truck. And no, it's not about spending another 500 to 700 dollars. It's about getting what I need, not what someone wants to sell me, to ensure safe operation and family safety. So I came here looking for advice from fellow RVers, not sarcasm. But thanks anyway.

I've noticed RV delivery drivers showing up at our local RV dealerships with no WD or sway control. Often towing over 30' travel trailers. What are they doing differently?

Tachdriver wrote:

mosseater wrote:

TomG2 wrote:
If you experience sway, then take care of it. After that, you can add all the gizmos and toys you want. Real sway is so scary and uncontrollable that you will wish you never hitched up a trailer. It can be caused by many factors but the most common is insufficient rear suspension including tires. Wind buffeting is not sway by my definition.

I'm by no means an expert, but I believe the definition of what sway actually is has been perverted to mean "anything that makes the trailer pull the rig off the intended track", and speaking as someone who has seen the vids AND in person, that is not what sway is.

The uncontrolled build up of forces, for whatever reason, that make the trailer overtake and upset the control of the tow vehicle is what sway actually is, IMHO. And that can be a very ugly day indeed. More likely than not, you will just be along for the ride if it happens. You may never need the control a system can provide, and may regard it as needless. But if the perfect storm ever catches up to you some day, a properly sized and adjusted system may just save you from getting a good, close look at the median grass upside down. Why take the risk?

Sway isn't a swerve or push caused by wind, or a passing truck, or emergency braking, though all those things can start, or contribute to starting the cycle in motion. Sway is the cycle that you can't break out of, that will quickly cause loss of towing composure, and set the entire rig into a series of unrecoverable serpentine snaps, back and forth, until upset occurs and the rig rolls over, usually taking the tow vehicle with it. This is just my take on it, but I believe I'm pretty close.

^^^^^^^^

This is correct.!!!!

Well actually it is only partly correct: I agree with Mosseater's definition of "Sway" however if as he says comes the day that your trailer is induced to set up an ever increasing "Harmonic" violent fishtailing the simple solution is to know how to handle it and recognize it early on.

The proper response is to ACCELERATE while lightly applying the trailer brakes. No sway apparatus needed. This combination of forces will counteract the so called sway and return the trailer's wheels to the ground.

What most people do, as I have witnessed several of these over the years on the highway, is to immediately tap or step on the TV brakes or at least DECELLERATE. It is this action, which I admit is the "built in" response for most folks, that actually makes an easily controllable situation much worse. Fear takes over and clear headed decision making goes to hide under the backseat very quickly at this point.

But the fact is if driven correctly and loaded correctly the chances of this kind of occurrence is nearly nil. But should it happen it is very easy to control. It very may well leave you with a few butterflies in your tummy, but there is absolutely NO evidence by ANY independent testing agency that the expensive "anti sway systems" work at all.

And finally THE DRIVER is the biggest cause of sway. By often doing the wrong thing in reaction to an event it is the driver who induces this action.

So you have an expensive new truck and a brand new trailer but you are wondering about spending another 500 to 700 dollars for a good integrated WD and sway control hitch? I don't understand that thinking at all.

On top of the value of your combined rig you have the passengers in your unit and others on the road.

a good WD will likely make towing more relaxed. It may prevent a wreck.

If you can afford the rig you have finish it off with a proper hitch.

mosseater wrote:

TomG2 wrote:
If you experience sway, then take care of it. After that, you can add all the gizmos and toys you want. Real sway is so scary and uncontrollable that you will wish you never hitched up a trailer. It can be caused by many factors but the most common is insufficient rear suspension including tires. Wind buffeting is not sway by my definition.

I'm by no means an expert, but I believe the definition of what sway actually is has been perverted to mean "anything that makes the trailer pull the rig off the intended track", and speaking as someone who has seen the vids AND in person, that is not what sway is.

The uncontrolled build up of forces, for whatever reason, that make the trailer overtake and upset the control of the tow vehicle is what sway actually is, IMHO. And that can be a very ugly day indeed. More likely than not, you will just be along for the ride if it happens. You may never need the control a system can provide, and may regard it as needless. But if the perfect storm ever catches up to you some day, a properly sized and adjusted system may just save you from getting a good, close look at the median grass upside down. Why take the risk?

Sway isn't a swerve or push caused by wind, or a passing truck, or emergency braking, though all those things can start, or contribute to starting the cycle in motion. Sway is the cycle that you can't break out of, that will quickly cause loss of towing composure, and set the entire rig into a series of unrecoverable serpentine snaps, back and forth, until upset occurs and the rig rolls over, usually taking the tow vehicle with it. This is just my take on it, but I believe I'm pretty close.

^^^^^^^^

This is correct.!!!!

TomG2 wrote:
If you experience sway, then take care of it. After that, you can add all the gizmos and toys you want. Real sway is so scary and uncontrollable that you will wish you never hitched up a trailer. It can be caused by many factors but the most common is insufficient rear suspension including tires. Wind buffeting is not sway by my definition.

I'm by no means an expert, but I believe the definition of what sway actually is has been perverted to mean "anything that makes the trailer pull the rig off the intended track", and speaking as someone who has seen the vids AND in person, that is not what sway is.

The uncontrolled build up of forces, for whatever reason, that make the trailer overtake and upset the control of the tow vehicle is what sway actually is, IMHO. And that can be a very ugly day indeed. More likely than not, you will just be along for the ride if it happens. You may never need the control a system can provide, and may regard it as needless. But if the perfect storm ever catches up to you some day, a properly sized and adjusted system may just save you from getting a good, close look at the median grass upside down. Why take the risk?

Sway isn't a swerve or push caused by wind, or a passing truck, or emergency braking, though all those things can start, or contribute to starting the cycle in motion. Sway is the cycle that you can't break out of, that will quickly cause loss of towing composure, and set the entire rig into a series of unrecoverable serpentine snaps, back and forth, until upset occurs and the rig rolls over, usually taking the tow vehicle with it. This is just my take on it, but I believe I'm pretty close.

camp-n-family wrote:
A properly loaded trailer shouldn't sway but there are environmental factors that could cause it such as draft from semis, clipping the shoulder, emergency manoeuver etc. Only takes once to wish you had it. Pretty cheap insurance for an expensive truck and trailer if you ask me.

Assuming that a Sway Bar system is any kind of "insurance" against any kind of mishap is pure folly.

If you dont know how to handle that trailer or have the right instincts already when something dire happens then no sway bar system is going to save you. Your fate is in YOUR hands and in your head not in two metal bars on your trailer tongue.

The fact is "sway" is in the mind of the driver. Drafts from Semis dont cause sway. Hundreds of semis have passed me both ways on four and two lane roads and never once have I experienced any trace of what you would call sway.

This entire sway issue is really one of education: Learning to drive your trailer and learning to load it correctly.

If you experience sway, then take care of it. After that, you can add all the gizmos and toys you want. Real sway is so scary and uncontrollable that you will wish you never hitched up a trailer. It can be caused by many factors but the most common is insufficient rear suspension including tires. Wind buffeting is not sway by my definition.

A properly loaded trailer shouldn't sway but there are environmental factors that could cause it such as draft from semis, clipping the shoulder, emergency manoeuver etc. Only takes once to wish you had it. Pretty cheap insurance for an expensive truck and trailer if you ask me.