F150 and active sway

There is no way that the built in sway control should come on unless in extreme circumstances. Something isn't correct in your setup. I have towed over 20,000 km's in my setup and not once hit the built in sway. Do you have a picture of your connected setup?

Ryan

If you eliminate the most likely causes of sway such as tongue weight and load positioning try checking the hitch. On the bottom of the hitch under the bars there is a bolt sort of thing you can tighten. Do it without the bars on. If you can easily move the bar sockets with the top nut tightened call EAZlift. They sent me a new one no questions asked and no charge, not even the freight.

am1958 wrote:
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.

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.

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?

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.

Here is what my 2013 F150 manual says about it:

TRAILER SWAY CONTROL (IF EQUIPPED)
WARNING: Turning off trailer sway control increases the risk of
loss of vehicle control, serious injury or death. Ford does not
recommend disabling this feature except in situations where speed
reduction may be detrimental (such as hill climbing), the driver has
significant trailer towing experience, and can control trailer sway and
maintain safe operation.

Note: This feature does not prevent trailer sway, but reduces it once it
begins.
Note: This feature cannot stop all trailers from swaying.
Note: In some cases, if vehicle speed is too high, the system may turn
on multiple times, gradually reducing vehicle speed.
This feature applies your vehicle brakes at individual wheels and, if
necessary, reduces engine power. If the trailer begins to sway, the
stability control light flashes. The first thing to do is slow your vehicle
down, then pull safely to the side of the road and check for proper
tongue load and trailer load distribution. See the Load Carrying chapter
for 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

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?

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.