New Jayco 28bhs, 2014 F150, towed it from lake George and it was allllllllllll over the road. Have an EAZ-lift Trecker system. Found out after a stop at camping world and Ford dealer, that the active sway in the f-150 is fighting the Trecker sway system.. solution... turn off the truck sway system.

Since the truck's system doesn't kick in until it actually detects sway, you need to address the sway that your trailer has that causes the truck to activate its sway control.

Sorry. Your dealer is full of $hit.The Ford antisway system is reactionary, and probably kept you out of the ditch. If it's kicking in, you have an inherent instability issue your hitch can't overcome.Start with the basics. What's your actual trailer weight and what's your actual tongue weight?

Here is what my 2013 F150 manual says about it:TRAILER SWAY CONTROL (IF EQUIPPED)WARNING: Turning off trailer sway control increases the risk ofloss of vehicle control, serious injury or death. Ford does notrecommend disabling this feature except in situations where speedreduction may be detrimental (such as hill climbing), the driver hassignificant trailer towing experience, and can control trailer sway andmaintain safe operation.Note: This feature does not prevent trailer sway, but reduces it once itbegins.Note: This feature cannot stop all trailers from swaying.Note: In some cases, if vehicle speed is too high, the system may turnon multiple times, gradually reducing vehicle speed.This feature applies your vehicle brakes at individual wheels and, ifnecessary, reduces engine power. If the trailer begins to sway, thestability control light flashes. The first thing to do is slow your vehicledown, then pull safely to the side of the road and check for propertongue load and trailer load distribution. See the Load Carrying chapterfor specific loading information.I think you'll know when you have serious enough sway to trigger it in the first place..I think you and your dealer is misunderstanding the function of the built in feature on the truck?Also, that trailer is 33' long and has a dry weight of #6600 and a dry TW of #800 with a GVWR of #8750.. That's a whole lotta trailer...Good luck! Mitch

Actually, the F-150 sway control is an interesting beast. I tow a Bullet Premiere 31BHPR and I can feel cars passing me at times. When large trucks come barreling by we can get a nice push but the F-150 sway control never says a word.Coming home from Myrtle Beach a year ago we were in the Blue Ridge Mountains in a high wind warning and coming down hill we'd hit bridges over the bottom of the valley and the curtain of trees would end so the wind had a free shot. Most of the time I wouldn't feel a thing but the sway control would kick in, the cruise would be knocked off and the brakes applied for a second. My usual reaction was to hit resume on the cruise and carry on.I have only had the F-150 complain a couple of other times in the 4 years of towing this rig over 12,000 miles.I'd make sure your hitch is set up properly and that the tongue weight etc. is correct. If all that is in order then I'd get a new sway system for the trailer.

I’d be willing to bet you don’t have nearly enough tongue weight. By chance, did the camper have anything loaded in it’s rear? Perhaps full tanks behind the axles?

F150 and active sway | Good Sam Community

18 Replies

rbpru
Explorer II
Jul 17, 2018
I do not know what is on all the whiz-bangs of my 2011 F-150, but it has kept me in control on a couple of really hard serves.
NYWarren
Explorer
Jul 17, 2018
I'll definitely try adding pressure next trip!!
TurnThePage
Explorer
Jul 17, 2018
When you say your tires are properly inflated, what does that mean? When towing, especially with typical P rated tires, you might want to consider going with the maximum pressure listed on the tire side wall instead of the more conservative pressure listed in the door jam. Been there, done that. HUGE improvement all by itself.
NYWarren
Explorer
Jul 17, 2018
The other thing to note is that I wasn't experiencing sway exactly, but more of a general instability. Like even a passing SUV would push me around, and a Semi was VERY annoying. The truck has 4 brand new GoodYear Wranglers that match original equipment for the truck, and they are properly inflated, yet it more felt like I was towing with 4 nearly flat tires. Still, the trip home from the dealer seemed a LOT better. Is it possible that the active sway is now working properly in the truck? I purchased the truck a bit over a month ago and it came off the 3 year lease with only 30k miles, and it was clearly well cared for.
NYWarren
Explorer
Jul 17, 2018
Wow, ok.. checking back in and didn't expect all the responses, so thanks guys!!! So, after towing back home (about 45 minutes on some interstate, and secondary) the trailer towed just fine. I had the tanks empty, and pretty much most of the weight in the trailer was in the storage up front with the exception of food in the fridge :-) a couple bikes in the bed of the truck and 3 passengers. The eazlift rep looked at the picture included here and said it looked fine.

https://www.snapfish.com/photo-gift/share?via=link&token=Hd70ZWukSWn5bxJTAGwXAQ/AUS/27947858692070/SNAPFISH
BurbMan
Explorer III
Jul 17, 2018
NYWarren wrote:
New Jayco 28bhs, 2014 F150, towed it from lake George and it was allllllllllll over the road. Have an EAZ-lift Trecker system. Found out after a stop at camping world and Ford dealer, that the active sway in the f-150 is fighting the Trecker sway system.. solution... turn off the truck sway system.

So have you tried towing with the Ford sway control off? Was it better? I'm on board with everyone else, you got baaaad advice from both CW and Ford.
beemerphile1
Explorer
Jul 17, 2018
LT tires or P-metric on the F150? Proper tire inflation of truck and trailer tires?

Correct adjustment of the WDH (weight distribution hitch)?

The problem isn't likely the Ford sway control.
2012Coleman
Explorer II
Jul 17, 2018
NYWarren wrote:
New Jayco 28bhs, 2014 F150, towed it from lake George and it was allllllllllll over the road. Have an EAZ-lift Trecker system. Found out after a stop at camping world and Ford dealer, that the active sway in the f-150 is fighting the Trecker sway system.. solution... turn off the truck sway system.
A better place to stop would be a CAT Scale to get your setup weighed - that will help you figure out how to correct your issues.
Acdii
Explorer
Jul 16, 2018
Blue Ox is telling Ford owners to deactivate it because it interferes with the hitch. I can tell by the other posters here that is BS. I don't believe that to be the case either since the anti-sway only activates when there actually is sway. I have purposely activate the anti-sway while towing a dump trailer just to see what it does, and it worked perfectly.
am1958
Explorer
Jul 14, 2018
coolmom42 wrote:
We had a similar experience with a wind gust on a bridge in Wyoming a few weeks ago. No doubt that the F150 sway control saved us that time, because it reacts faster than a driver can. This is on a correctly set up trailer with an Equal-i-zer sway control system.

The Ford system kicked in ONCE, in a 6000 mile trip, with a lot of bad roads and crosswinds.

I strongly advise against de-activating that system. You need to address the problem that is causing your sway in the first place.

Interesting, I have the Equalizer too...

I'd agree not to deactivate the F-150s sway control too... If it's noticing things before I do when I notice other comparatively "huge" things that it ignores then it's probably doing something good.

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F150 and active sway

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