Trailer Sway

rwj146 wrote:
This is the exact system I have but mine is branded Equalizer Elite. I will post some pictures later today, the trailer is at the storage area.

https://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Distribution/Pro-Series/PS49903.html

The hitch you linked to is not an Equal-i-zer brand hitch from Progress Mfg like this genuine Equal-i-zer . The one you linked to shows a unit that distributes weight (but that's all), and has a supplemental friction sway bar (doing all the sway control work) mounted on one side. The Equal-i-zer has square bars that fit into sockets in the head, the sockets are tight enough in the head to provide friction, and the bars ride on L-brackets which provide another friction point on each side. All 4 friction points serve to dampen any sway (oscillation of the trailer) that starts. A flat friction sway bar on the side also does this, but only at one point and only as much friction as you tighten it down to produce; note that in rainy driving the water lubricates this single point, so it must be reset more tightly for those conditions.

But here's the thing: for a trailer to sway, you have a problem. The friction, which dampens the sway, is a safety measure sort of like a band-aid that keeps dirt out of a wound. On a trailer, you need to heal the wound and not just slap on a band-aid. What is the trailer's wound in this metaphor? 99% of the time, it's having improper amount of weight on the hitch. The tongue of the TT needs to have 10% to 15% of the total TT weight resting on the hitch ball. You need to get that trailer tongue weighed, and the TT weighed, as it will be when you are loaded for camping. Then if it does not have 10%-15% on the hitch, you must adjust loading until it does. That is your #1 priority to avoid sway.

When I was young and innocent, I towed a 4x8 utility trailer all over the place to deliver parts (I didn't own a pickup, couldn't afford one). One time I loaded a 9.5' steel backbone in that 8' bed (so it stuck out the back), and I had a negative hitch weight (it was pulling UP on the ball). I was lucky, I managed to drive 3 hours before the trailer almost jackknifed. As you can see, any size trailer is unstable with insufficient weight on the hitch. Of course, the longer the trailer, the longer the lever prying at your hitch ball fulcrum point, so I like to use sway control with any TT over 20' total length. But I've towed 16'-17' trailers hundreds of thousands of miles (for work and play) without sway control... I just make sure they are loaded correctly.

If you have too little weight on the ball, the WD hitch is doing zilch, nada, nothing for you! That one little friction bar on the side is doing all the work of trying to control the sway that an improperly front-to-rear balanced trailer wants to engage in.

What is your tow vehicle? Make sure all tires are set to max psi inflation as indicated on the sidewall; you don't want flexing sidewalls that let your back end move from side to side due to the fulcrum effect of the TT.