Trailer sway control

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

transamz9 wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

transamz9 wrote:

BTW how many trailers have you designed and built?

I have built everything from welding trailers to 40' goosenecks. When you get into long trailers with a lot of tail swing that are twice as heavy as the tow vehicle and you get into a panic maneuver situation, you will get sway no matter how well it is loaded.

I can't speak to that. I never overload my trailers or truck.

I can just speak that the trailers I have built handle like a slot car even in panic maneuvers without any type of sway control.

Seems like the trend in trailer design is high CG and low tongue weight to get into the SUV and 1/2 ton market.

This is exactly opposite of how I build my trailers.

Hey, wait a sec. Most new factory trailers are high CG and low tongue weight and a lot of them have sway issues. My trailers are low CG and high tongue weight and I never have sway issues. Do I see a trend here? :W Why yes, I think I do! :B

I don't overload my truck either. I know how to load a trailer but there are people on here that have trailers with rear bathrooms and rear kitchens that boon dock or for what ever reason have changing loads on the trailers. I can tell a difference when I go on a weekend camping trip as apposed to a two week trip. The trailer is loaded differently and pulls differently. If your don't then you need to get out into the real word or hook to a real load.

Sorry, I took your statement of building or towing trailers "twice as heavy as the tow vehicle" overloaded. I know mine would be. My diesel is a touch over 8K so I would be around 24 to 25K gross for "me".

And if you've never towed with an overloaded truck or trailer just how do you know "you will get sway no matter how well it is loaded." :h

but there are people on here that have trailers with rear bathrooms and rear kitchens that boon dock or for what ever reason have changing loads on the trailers.

Hence my: "Buy a trailer that is properly built and loaded and you won't have to rely on bandaids that sucks tons of fuel to work" comment.

Sorry, just not a fan of bandaids. I have no need for them. If you and others do, so be it. Bandaid away. :)

Some people think that a truck that has to constantly switch gears and run up hills at 4500 rpm's is overloaded but others don't. I'm pulling 18,000 with my 2500 and the truck is not overloaded. It handles just as good as a truck that has 3500 on the door and a GVWR large enough to carry it and stops it just the same.

I'm not for a minute saying that I need the sway control I just thought it was a pretty neat product and could be a real asset to our past time. I would say that the trailers that you pull today would have overloaded trucks today if it wasn't for these such "bandaids" that people came up with a few years ago. The reason trucks have the capacity they do today it because of these bandaids being installed at the factory.