Can't stop sway
I am relatively new to camping as my wife and I just bought our first camper this spring. We bought a Jayco Jayflight 287BHSW. I am pulling it with a 2016 F150 Super Crew with 5.5' box. I am using an ...
Forum Discussion
One thing that could help is if you post some photos - at least a couple of close ups of hitch and at least a couple from a distance with both TT & TV.
That TT is long at 33'-5" and heavy at 7500 lbs GVWR and could possibly be pushing the truck to it's limits unless you have the right options. A truck with a longer wheelbase would have been better for that length of trailer.
Relying on a dealer's WDH setup is not a good idea. Never trust them. They may not even have the bolts/nuts torqued properly. Did they measure the before and after front fender height? Even if they did, it would have been for an unloaded trailer and truck and when you are fully loaded the setup can change a fair bit. How much weight is restored back onto the steer axle? I thought newer Ford manuals say to restore approx. 50 percent (less than older trucks). How many chain links are under tension? You should aim for 5 links and if that transfers too much or too little weight, adjust the hitch head angle as needed. Less than 5 links may cause binding in turns. Getting a WDH set up correctly sometimes can take a lot trial and error tweaking of various things. Took me a whole season of fiddling last year to get it right, including playing with truck tire pressure, and I ended up having to get a ball with a 1" rise to get the TT to sit where it needed to be.
How much does the TT scale fully loaded for camping - is it 6900 lbs based on your 12.5 percent TW? Did you weigh the truck and subtract that from it's GVWR to get the available payload capacity? Actual payload capacity can sometimes vary a lot from the sticker number. Did you calculate the weights being transferred onto the steer and trailer axles? How much does the truck squat when you're hooked up?
It could be a combination or things, but I would say one thing that stands out is the truck's tires. If they're P rated, I would upgrade to LTs. I run our Michelin LT LRE tires at 75 psi front & 80 rear. Much less than that and it doesn't feel right. I would highly recommend some good heavy duty shocks on the truck like Bilstein. Shocks on the TT would help but that's not a simple or inexpensive bolt-on and go install. I would look at upgrading the WDH to something like a Blu Ox or Reese dual cam. We have the Reese DC hitch and it works great for us but it is not for everyone. I don't know how the two compare for sway control but I really like the proactive design of the Reese and the way it makes the truck and trailer almost snap back into line. Add the 2nd sway bar. However, it might just be at the end of the day, you need a bigger truck. We upgraded from an F150 to F250 and it is a huge improvement in towing.
That TT is long at 33'-5" and heavy at 7500 lbs GVWR and could possibly be pushing the truck to it's limits unless you have the right options. A truck with a longer wheelbase would have been better for that length of trailer.
Relying on a dealer's WDH setup is not a good idea. Never trust them. They may not even have the bolts/nuts torqued properly. Did they measure the before and after front fender height? Even if they did, it would have been for an unloaded trailer and truck and when you are fully loaded the setup can change a fair bit. How much weight is restored back onto the steer axle? I thought newer Ford manuals say to restore approx. 50 percent (less than older trucks). How many chain links are under tension? You should aim for 5 links and if that transfers too much or too little weight, adjust the hitch head angle as needed. Less than 5 links may cause binding in turns. Getting a WDH set up correctly sometimes can take a lot trial and error tweaking of various things. Took me a whole season of fiddling last year to get it right, including playing with truck tire pressure, and I ended up having to get a ball with a 1" rise to get the TT to sit where it needed to be.
How much does the TT scale fully loaded for camping - is it 6900 lbs based on your 12.5 percent TW? Did you weigh the truck and subtract that from it's GVWR to get the available payload capacity? Actual payload capacity can sometimes vary a lot from the sticker number. Did you calculate the weights being transferred onto the steer and trailer axles? How much does the truck squat when you're hooked up?
It could be a combination or things, but I would say one thing that stands out is the truck's tires. If they're P rated, I would upgrade to LTs. I run our Michelin LT LRE tires at 75 psi front & 80 rear. Much less than that and it doesn't feel right. I would highly recommend some good heavy duty shocks on the truck like Bilstein. Shocks on the TT would help but that's not a simple or inexpensive bolt-on and go install. I would look at upgrading the WDH to something like a Blu Ox or Reese dual cam. We have the Reese DC hitch and it works great for us but it is not for everyone. I don't know how the two compare for sway control but I really like the proactive design of the Reese and the way it makes the truck and trailer almost snap back into line. Add the 2nd sway bar. However, it might just be at the end of the day, you need a bigger truck. We upgraded from an F150 to F250 and it is a huge improvement in towing.
