Cheap Sway Control

[johnnylawless]

Would something like this for $45 be perfectly fine for a 15' (19' bumper to tongue) trailer, pulled by a 1/2 ton truck:

Curt Manufacturing 17200 Sway Control Kit
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HLO7QA/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER


Are the $250+ with the spring rods worth getting?

Should EVERYONE have sway control? Why isn't it standard?

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

poncho62 wrote:
I think what he is saying is that the air pushes the boxy travel trailer around a lot more than a car trailer...from all directions

My race car trailer is a 28 footer that is totally enclosed. It's taller, wider and weighs more than my TT and tows dead nuts straight with 0 sway. So much for assumptions.

OP, listen to Mower. Get your TT to not sway in any condition. Then if it makes you feel warm and fuzzy get a sway bar if you want. I personally think it's ridicules to put a sway control bar on a 15' TT towed by a 1/2 ton pickup but that is just me. If it makes you feel good, go for it.

Friction sway bars are like taking an aspirin when you have a nail stuck in the bottom of your shoe. Will it help with the pain? Yes it will. But it's not the best way to take care of the problem. IPW's. fix the base problem first. (if there even is one?)

The OP has a 15' trailer. A 15 footer!!!! Gesus, it's not like the guy is pulling a 40 footer with a Chevy Luv in 50 MPH side winds!!!

[mowermech]

johnnylawless wrote:

mowermech wrote:
"I'm not having issues per se, but just am freaked out about seeing 30'ers flipped over from a crosswind with TV on its side."

I have seen it, or at least the aftermath. NO fancy hitch is going to save you if the wind is that strong! If it can upset an 80,000 lb tractor/trailer rig, your light little RV doesn't have a chance.
A cross wind is an entirely different thing from a trailer sway event. If the highway patrol says high profile vehicles should park and wait, it most certainly means RVs. ANY RV!
Be careful out there, the world is a dangerous place!

How does one get notifications from the highway patrol? Are there signs out? Or do you have to check their Facebook page 🙂

I don't know about other areas, but around here, where they often have severe crosswinds, there will often be electronic readerboards alongside the highway giving advisories, or it will be announced on local radio stations, and sometimes on the NWS weather radios.
Just another reason to listen to LOCAL radio instead of satellite radio!

[johnnylawless]

poncho62 wrote:
I think what he is saying is that the air pushes the boxy travel trailer around a lot more than a car trailer...from all directions

That was my take away as well.

Unless you are a magician and can poke holes through your TT with a sword.

[poncho62]

I think what he is saying is that the air pushes the boxy travel trailer around a lot more than a car trailer...from all directions

[johnnylawless]

mowermech wrote:
"I'm not having issues per se, but just am freaked out about seeing 30'ers flipped over from a crosswind with TV on its side."

I have seen it, or at least the aftermath. NO fancy hitch is going to save you if the wind is that strong! If it can upset an 80,000 lb tractor/trailer rig, your light little RV doesn't have a chance.
A cross wind is an entirely different thing from a trailer sway event. If the highway patrol says high profile vehicles should park and wait, it most certainly means RVs. ANY RV!
Be careful out there, the world is a dangerous place!

How does one get notifications from the highway patrol? Are there signs out? Or do you have to check their Facebook page 🙂

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

2012Coleman wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
I've towed my way heaver and longer car trailer for over 30 years with no sway control and I'm not dead yet. Get the setup correct and you won't need any stuff like that.

I do have a sway control on my TT just like the one pictured. But only because it was given to me yeas ago.

So - I guess your setup isn't correct.

Thanks to the poster of the giant pictures - I like reading the fine print on the stickers.

What? :h

[2012Coleman]

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
I've towed my way heaver and longer car trailer for over 30 years with no sway control and I'm not dead yet. Get the setup correct and you won't need any stuff like that.

I do have a sway control on my TT just like the one pictured. But only because it was given to me yeas ago.

So - I guess your setup isn't correct.

Thanks to the poster of the giant pictures - I like reading the fine print on the stickers.

[johnnylawless]

I just bought a brand new Curt 2" rated for 550#, but the trailer is single axle, so I have no idea if it's front/back heavy.

Tongue weight scales are $150 😞

I just read instructions on how to use a commercial scale. Do they mind us RV'ers just popping in?
http://www.etrailer.com/faq-how-to-determine-trailer-tongue-weight.aspx

EDIT: actually my Curt is 7500 lbs GTW/750 lbs TW

[beemerphile1]

johnnylawless wrote:
Since my trailer is so light (15'box, 19' bumper to tongue), I'm just going to try the sway bar for now....

Before you make that decision weigh the tongue of the fully loaded trailer. Check the rating of your receiver. Receivers are often rated for a maximum of 500# without a WDH.

[mowermech]

"I'm not having issues per se, but just am freaked out about seeing 30'ers flipped over from a crosswind with TV on its side."

I have seen it, or at least the aftermath. NO fancy hitch is going to save you if the wind is that strong! If it can upset an 80,000 lb tractor/trailer rig, your light little RV doesn't have a chance.
A cross wind is an entirely different thing from a trailer sway event. If the highway patrol says high profile vehicles should park and wait, it most certainly means RVs. ANY RV!
Be careful out there, the world is a dangerous place!

[johnnylawless]

Since my trailer is so light (15'box, 19' bumper to tongue), I'm just going to try the sway bar for now.

I'm not having issues per se, but just am freaked out about seeing 30'ers flipped over from a crosswind with TV on its side.

EDIT: I've not seen this in person, thank goodness.

[pitch]

short wheelbase, high profile, inconsistent weight distribution.
I will bet you that with your car hauler you have marks for the exact placement of the tires or at least place them in the same spot
everytime.
Sway bars and weight distribution hitches have nothing to do with economy.
WDH does just as the name implies, and reomoves the concentration of weight on the rear suspension and spreads it forward to the rest of the suspension

[mowermech]

The cheapest possible "sway control" is making sure your trailer is loaded properly, with 10 to 15% of the GVW as tongue weight. A properly built, properly loaded trailer hitched to a proper tow vehicle should NOT sway! If it does, find out why, and FIX IT!
THEN, if it makes you fell safer, get whatever "sway control" gadget you want.
A Weight Distributing hitch doe NOT "reduce the tongue weight on the hitch". If your trailer tongue weighs 500 lbs, you will have 500 lbs on the hitch with the spring bars connected. What the WD hitch does, is force some of the weight to be "distributed" to the front of the vehicle by pulling up on the back end of the vehicle. In fact, since WD hitches are so heavy, they ADD weight to the back of the vehicle!
I towed a 15 ft. camp trailer and later a 19 foot TT with a Ford E150 Club Wagon (passenger van) around the mountains of Wyoming and Montana with no sway control and no WD hitch.
However, when towing the 19 ft. TT with a Jeep Wagoneer I HAD to use the WD hitch to keep the back bumper off the ground, and the headlights out of the treetops. Interestingly, that is what the WD hitch was originally advertised to do many years ago!
However, I did have a flatbed cargo trailer that had a sway problem. There was no way to load that thing to keep it from swaying! It was very poorly designed homebuilt trailer. Well built, but built WRONG! I sold it, advising the buyer that the axles HAD to be cut loose and welded back in the proper position.-

[beemerphile1]

johnnylawless wrote:
...Is it a fair statement to say sway control and weight distribution save fuel?

No, they don't save fuel. They save lives and equipment.

A WDH (weight distribution hitch) transfers some of the trailer tongue weight onto the front axle of the TV (tow vehicle) to restore steering response and reduce the load on the hitch.

Sway control helps to prevent trailer sway.