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!
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!
