Anti-Sway Broken--How Serious? Need Help!
OK, I am a total newbie who did very a bad thing on the very first day using my new travel trailer. Long story short, I sheared the forward ball on the anti-sway friction arm.
We were 13 miles shy of our day's destination and stopped to refuel before finishing for the day. While stopped, I put another quarter turn on the sway bar handle. After pulling out, I made a left turn at a stop light, heard a pop, then heard something dragging on the ground. When I got out I found the front end of the sway bar dragging and the ball still inside (lower part was sheared off). So if you are ever wondering, yes, you can adjust the friction too tight.
In hindsight I can see my error. There was a sticker on the bar that said to tighten the upper bolt (the one with a handle, and marked ON/OFF) all the way until the metal made contact. There is a lower nut that is for setting the tension. When I put it on, I got the handle part pretty tight and yet the metal had not made contact. I didn't realize that the dealer who installed it was probably using the upper (handle) bolt to set the friction, instead of tightening it all the way (with the lower bolt loose) and then tightening/adjusting the lower bolt for setting the tension. I just figured that more is better and that there wasn't any way I could set that tension too tight. Anyway, what is done is done and I can't unbreak it. The "eye" (or hole) on the side of my WDH is also a little stretched where I sheared the ball, so there was some really massive force being applied there.
Anyway, we are outside of Barstow now (it is Saturday night). We were planning to drive up 395 tomorrow, stay for one night at a lake, and arrive in Reno on Monday. We have a very important appointment in Reno on Tuesday that we can't really miss, then we plan to stay there in Reno until Saturday.
My question is how much risk would I be taking to drive it up to Reno as-as (WDH but no anti-sway), and then get it fixed (probably will have to get the hitch replaced) up in Reno? I had to drive the 12-13 miles on I215 just to get here, and honestly, I didn't notice any difference in sway. (Maybe I had it already set so tight that it was not working properly?) There's a dealer about 40 minutes south that opens at 10 AM tomorrow, but there's not much detail on their website so I don't know if they would be able to do the service anyway.
If it is adequately safe to drive, what steps can I take to mitigate the risk, if any?
BTW, I am driving a 1997 F250 HD (7.3L Powestroke), and the trailer is a '17 APEX 300BHS (Max weight ~7500#). The truck is supposedly rated for a maximum combined gross weight (truck & trailer) of 20K pounds.
Thanks for any advice or experience with this that would be helpful. Should I only go as far as I have to, or am I relatively safe as-is as long as I keep it slow (I don't go over 55 mph anyway). People towed a lot of trailers without anti-sway bars in the past, right?
Blessings!
CJ
We were 13 miles shy of our day's destination and stopped to refuel before finishing for the day. While stopped, I put another quarter turn on the sway bar handle. After pulling out, I made a left turn at a stop light, heard a pop, then heard something dragging on the ground. When I got out I found the front end of the sway bar dragging and the ball still inside (lower part was sheared off). So if you are ever wondering, yes, you can adjust the friction too tight.
In hindsight I can see my error. There was a sticker on the bar that said to tighten the upper bolt (the one with a handle, and marked ON/OFF) all the way until the metal made contact. There is a lower nut that is for setting the tension. When I put it on, I got the handle part pretty tight and yet the metal had not made contact. I didn't realize that the dealer who installed it was probably using the upper (handle) bolt to set the friction, instead of tightening it all the way (with the lower bolt loose) and then tightening/adjusting the lower bolt for setting the tension. I just figured that more is better and that there wasn't any way I could set that tension too tight. Anyway, what is done is done and I can't unbreak it. The "eye" (or hole) on the side of my WDH is also a little stretched where I sheared the ball, so there was some really massive force being applied there.
Anyway, we are outside of Barstow now (it is Saturday night). We were planning to drive up 395 tomorrow, stay for one night at a lake, and arrive in Reno on Monday. We have a very important appointment in Reno on Tuesday that we can't really miss, then we plan to stay there in Reno until Saturday.
My question is how much risk would I be taking to drive it up to Reno as-as (WDH but no anti-sway), and then get it fixed (probably will have to get the hitch replaced) up in Reno? I had to drive the 12-13 miles on I215 just to get here, and honestly, I didn't notice any difference in sway. (Maybe I had it already set so tight that it was not working properly?) There's a dealer about 40 minutes south that opens at 10 AM tomorrow, but there's not much detail on their website so I don't know if they would be able to do the service anyway.
If it is adequately safe to drive, what steps can I take to mitigate the risk, if any?
BTW, I am driving a 1997 F250 HD (7.3L Powestroke), and the trailer is a '17 APEX 300BHS (Max weight ~7500#). The truck is supposedly rated for a maximum combined gross weight (truck & trailer) of 20K pounds.
Thanks for any advice or experience with this that would be helpful. Should I only go as far as I have to, or am I relatively safe as-is as long as I keep it slow (I don't go over 55 mph anyway). People towed a lot of trailers without anti-sway bars in the past, right?
Blessings!
CJ
