Too little truck or a bad hitch?

Hey everyone. Been lurking for years and learned a lot, but now I wanna get in on the conversation. About my question, my folks have a travel trailer we all use, both of them, plus my family (wife and 2 kids). They are considering selling it to us and then upgrading. I'm concerned about my TV being up for the job and will explain why below. Here's the specs on the trailer and truck.

Trailer- 2005 sunny brook sunset creek 298bh. (approx.) 6600 lbs dry and I want to say about 920 hitch weight.

Truck- 2003 Expedition Eddie Bauer, 5.4L, 4x4, with tow package. I believe it is 3.73 gearing. 260hp 350ft tq. and is rated up to 8600 or 8900 lbs with a weight distributing hitch.

Hitch- ez-lift weight distributing and a standard side mount sway bar.

Typically we use my dads truck, but I wanted to see how well the expedition towed so on the last trip we loaded the expedition up like normal(basically folded 3rd row down and filled with gear) and then hooked up the trailer. I figured add 1000 lbs to the trailers dry weight and we got 7600 lbs. I should be able to have another 1000 in the truck and still be under, albeit not by much.

So we started off and around town it was pretty good. Not a power house, but it's flat around here and power wasn't an issue. It stopped well and the trailer brakes would actually slow down the TV when I adjusted the controller. Once I got closer to 55 however, I noticed it just didn't seem as stable as with my father's truck.

At 50 I felt reasonably confident, but if I went faster I got a little nervous. Hard to describe, but it seemed like out of the blue the rear of the truck would briefly pull to one side. Not noticeable to my wife, but got me nervous. This set up (with my fathers 05 f150 screw) is very stable. It was not sway from what I could tell, but maybe I am wrong? It happened twice and it only lasted a second. Like a quick jerk on the rear of the TV. As soon as it happened it was pretty much gone and back to normal. Wasn't passing or being passed while it happened. Both time I was at about 55 mph.

This truck has IRS and I wonder if that is a factor, or maybe I would need to invest in a better hitch? I would like to buy this trailer, but I need it to be stable at about 60MPH for a few hours to the places we like to go. If that means a better hitch....no problem. But if I need a new TV that might change things. What do you guy think is going on here? Thanks for any ideas!

Tow Vehicles

BurbMan
Explorer II
Jun 15, 2015
red92lx wrote:
I figured add 1000 lbs to the trailers dry weight and we got 7600 lbs. I should be able to have another 1000 in the truck and still be under, albeit not by much.

That's not how this works, you have an apple in your orange basket here....vehicles have separate ratings for how much they can carry and how much they can tow. If your tow rating is 8600 lbs and you are towing a 7600 lb trailer, that doesn't mean you have room to add another 1000 lbs in the truck.

How much you can carry is the GVWR. The weight of all occupants and cargo counts to this number. When you connect a trailer, the vehicle must carry the tongue weight, so in your case the trailer adds another 920 lbs to the truck in addition to occupants and cargo.

The fine print in most mfr tow ratings is that they are figured with only one (1) 150-lb driver in the truck and no other passengers or cargo. Every pound of passenger and/or cargo weight subtracts directly from the tow rating.

The Combined rating (GCWR) is how much the truck and trailer should weigh together.

Having owned a 2000 Expy, my guess is that with the family aboard, 3rd row folded down and stuffed with cargo, and 920 lbs of trailer tongue weight, the Expy is severely overloaded. The coil springs in the rear give you a great ride but don't have much load capacity. The last thing I did to mine was add airbags before I traded it for the burb.

If you want to confirm this for yourself, stop at a scale on your next camping trip. Friends of ours went through 3 transmissions on their Expy before they finally sold the trailer.

Regarding your sudden shifting in the rear, it was probably irregularities in the pavement. If one rear wheel drops down in a low spot or dip on the road, the soft coil springs will allow the weight to shift to that side, and then shift back as the wheel comes back up. Lateral motion in addition to vertical motion on a pothole is a pretty good indicator of being overloaded.
red92lx
Explorer
Jun 14, 2015
wcjeep wrote:
How much weight in the trailer is redundant items belonging to your dad? Can you go with limited on board water to save weight? Dump grey/black before every departure?

I think I definitely could do a better job of loading and getting weight off the tounge. And your right about redundant items also! I never carry water....almost always get a site with at least water and elect. And we always dump before hitting the road. No need to carry that .....stuff.
wcjeep
Explorer
Jun 14, 2015
How much weight in the trailer is redundant items belonging to your dad? Can you go with limited on board water to save weight? Dump grey/black before every departure?
red92lx
Explorer
Jun 14, 2015
KD4UPL wrote:
Do you have P tires? If so, change to at least a load range D or even an E. I would think it would help.

Yep, just looked and I have P tires.....bummer....just got them 2 months ago.
KD4UPL
Explorer
Jun 13, 2015
Do you have P tires? If so, change to at least a load range D or even an E. I would think it would help.
Ductape
Explorer
Jun 13, 2015
A good hitch with integrated sway control like Equalizer brand or Reese cam lock would help. Side mount friction devices are sub par IMO.

IRS is more stable; that's why it became popular in SUV's after rollovers became newsworthy.

+1 do not load the tv with cargo.
jjj
Explorer
Jun 13, 2015
As. cbshoestring stated if your trailer wheels are not the sway prolem take the weight out of the suv and load over the trailer wheels and axles. I had the same problem many years ago with a 86 full size Bronco and a single axle trailer. I got E rated tires and lightened the load in the Bronco and it worked out much better. Travel light and upgrade TV when possible.
ugh
Explorer
Jun 13, 2015
red92lx wrote:

Well I was hoping I could get by for a couple years with it. The kids are young 1 and 3 so long trips are out of the picture. It's two or three nights max so maybe that will help keep the weight down. Thinking about it.....we do keep a lot of things in the front storage and maybe that didn't help.

People do it all the time. My old truck was rated to tow 10,200 pounds. my fifth wheel camper was 11,800 pounds empty. I towed it for few years. Its not a legal issue, don't believe anyone else say it is, its not. I see truck towing camper that is just so wrong. As of now, my current rig is right at the max, but if I load bikes, kayak, add few other things, I am over by 500 pounds. I am hoping to get a better truck in few years too.
cbshoestring
Explorer II
Jun 13, 2015
I did not catch this the first time:

we loaded the expedition up like normal(basically folded 3rd row down and filled with gear) and then hooked up the trailer.

With a 32' trailer, what could you possible need to haul in the TV:h

If you can not find enough storage in that size TT for a family of four....you have packing issues. :S

Try loading the trailer :B preferable over the axels. This should lighten the payload on your TV. You may even be able to reduce some of the tongue weight.

Much of that "wiggle" tends to come from to much payload (as where a sway is caused by too much on rear of trailer). Getting some weight off those wiggly rear tires and suspension, may be enough to get you more in control for occassional trips. Many, long trips....refer to my 80% rule.

You can always tow much more than you can haul...load that big box, not that spot designated for groceries.
OutdoorPhotogra
Explorer
Jun 13, 2015
What I haven't seen is a discussion of your TV's GVWR. You dropped the third seat and filled it with gear, 1,000 hitch weight once TT is loaded, and a WDH that is close to #100, plus four pax, although two are small kids. That's a lot of weight. Really need to run the numbers on total weight of expedition vs. GVWR and GVCWR.

If you really need to make it work, best way is to take a second vehicle for cargo and one adult. That may get you under the numbers enough for local hauls.

And don't drive over 55 no matter what.