Trailer sway control

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.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

Terryallan wrote:

I am still wayne_tw wrote:


. Another example is a semi truck and trailer or bus, especially those double decker "Megabus", passing at a high rate of speed. Of course, many defensive maneuvers to avoid a hazard in the lane of travel will induce sway. None of these examples have a thing to do with a "properly built and loaded" trailer.



Therefore, I discount the posters statement as inherently false.

Not so. A properly loaded, balanced trailer with a correctly adjusted WDH WILL not be bothered by a truck, bus, or anything else passing it. and in truth. Cross winds haven't ever scared me either.

Sorry Wayne, but Terry is 100% correct. I have designed and built a few trailers in my life.

My last one started life as a flat bed car trailer. It towed so easy I could fall asleep because towing it was so uneventful.

Fast forward a few years. I want an enclosed trailer because that is what all the cool teams had. So I put a box on my nice flatbed. First time I took it on the road un-loaded it was all over the place. What happened to my nice handling car trailer? :h Oh,forgot to tell you, I welded a big ol heavy door on the back that doubled as a ramp.

So now I had a trailer that I could not move the axels back and it towed like s%%^t. So I started to pile and build things up front like a work bench and stove and oven and a big ol heavy tool box.

Well guess what? After welding several hundred pounds of stuff up front the trailer is back to a great handling trailer. No sway at all.

BTW this is about the only forum on the net that almost insist in having sway control or you're a danger on the road. If you go to a race car forum or a horse forum or a farm forum you would get laughed at such a thought. Just saying. :B

BTW how many trailers have you designed and built?

You both are very wrong. A tow vehicle trailer combination has, by its very design, an articulation point. Either vehicle can pivot on that point without influence from the other. That is a fact of geometry. The tow vehicle, being the vehicle under control by a driver, will influence the trailer on that articulation point. The trailer, having no control other than the influences from the tow vehicle, can and will articulate on that point when an exterior force, greater than the forces keeping it from articulating, exert force upon it. That is a fact of physics.

The laws of geometry and physics make both of your assumptions invalid.

Terryallan wrote:

I am still wayne_tw wrote:


. Another example is a semi truck and trailer or bus, especially those double decker "Megabus", passing at a high rate of speed. Of course, many defensive maneuvers to avoid a hazard in the lane of travel will induce sway. None of these examples have a thing to do with a "properly built and loaded" trailer.



Therefore, I discount the posters statement as inherently false.

Not so. A properly loaded, balanced trailer with a correctly adjusted WDH WILL not be bothered by a truck, bus, or anything else passing it. and in truth. Cross winds haven't ever scared me either.

Sorry Wayne, but Terry is 100% correct. I have designed and built a few trailers in my life.

My last one started life as a flat bed car trailer. It towed so easy I could fall asleep because towing it was so uneventful.

Fast forward a few years. I want an enclosed trailer because that is what all the cool teams had. So I put a box on my nice flatbed. First time I took it on the road un-loaded it was all over the place. What happened to my nice handling car trailer? :h Oh,forgot to tell you, I welded a big ol heavy door on the back that doubled as a ramp.

So now I had a trailer that I could not move the axels back and it towed like s%%^t. So I started to pile and build things up front like a work bench and stove and oven and a big ol heavy tool box.

Well guess what? After welding several hundred pounds of stuff up front the trailer is back to a great handling trailer. No sway at all.

BTW this is about the only forum on the net that almost insist in having sway control or you're a danger on the road. If you go to a race car forum or a horse forum or a farm forum you would get laughed at such a thought. Just saying. :B

BTW how many trailers have you designed and built?

I am still wayne_tw wrote:


. Another example is a semi truck and trailer or bus, especially those double decker "Megabus", passing at a high rate of speed. Of course, many defensive maneuvers to avoid a hazard in the lane of travel will induce sway. None of these examples have a thing to do with a "properly built and loaded" trailer.



Therefore, I discount the posters statement as inherently false.

Not so. A properly loaded, balanced trailer with a correctly adjusted WDH WILL not be bothered by a truck, bus, or anything else passing it. and in truth. Cross winds haven't ever scared me either.

The best set-up trailer in the world can have catastrophic sway induced during an emergency maneuver. This kit should help with that situation.

I like it anything that can help me control the trailer is good.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
Here's a thought.

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.

While this on the surface makes sense and is factually correct, the statement fails to recognize other events that can cause sway to the extent that catastrophic loss of control occurs. Bursts of cross winds, especially when coasting down a grade where no power from the tow vehicle is required to maintain speed will cause a perfectly balanced trailer to sway often uncontrollably. Another example is a semi truck and trailer or bus, especially those double decker "Megabus", passing at a high rate of speed. Of course, many defensive maneuvers to avoid a hazard in the lane of travel will induce sway. None of these examples have a thing to do with a "properly built and loaded" trailer.

Also, the phrase "sucks tons of fuel to work" is basically false. While applying brakes to individual wheels to initiate drag will slow the vehicle minutely and fuel will be required to regain that fraction of a mile per hour lost by the braking event, measuring that minuscule amount of fuel would challenge even the most precise laboratory.

Therefore, I discount the posters statement as inherently false.

I thought it was interesting when they intentionally swayed enough to make the factory sway control built into the truck activate... they weren't happy with how it worked, but it worked.

Video was not really useful... I think I would have to be driving that test myself to see how the system worked.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
Here's a thought.

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.

Great response! You know you are the MAN!

will this give the HA or PP a run for thier money?