improving sway control

Get a Hensley Arrow or a ProPride. Problem solved.

Friction bars work fine, the ball slop is hardly anything.

More importantly, if you experience sway in normal conditions you have other problems. Tire ratings, are pressure and trailer loading are usually the problem.

My first trailer was a 30 foot somthing or other with the tanks way in the back.. It always swayed when thlthe tanks were full... One husky friction controller was all I needed.

Be sure there is 12 to 15% of the camper weight on the tongue.

Try one of these.
Barney

First, don't go backwards if you are using any friction stand alone sway bar. They potential to bend and break when backing and especially when turning and backing. (you didn't say how you broke yours). And yes, if you have to go backwards, you have to get out of the tow vehicle, walk to the hitch, and un-connect the sway bar. Then when you are ready to drive forward again, you put it back on.

Second, tighten it down as much as you can. Put all your weight into the final "umph". Then back it off about 1/4 turn. They are suppose to be tight. The greater the friction, the more effective they are.

There is always a little slop where the bar attaches to both little balls.

If you are already doing this, then, as stated above, something else is causing the sway.

The most common problem for sway is loading the rear of the trailer too heavy, making the tongue light. Even with the best of hitches and sway control, a tail-heavy trailer will sway ... horribly.

If you are loaded correct with good tongue weight, the suspension on your tow vehicle may not be stout enough.

Another problem may be the tow vehicle is just too short for the length of trailer you are towing (wheel base).

Worn rear shocks on the tow vehicle is also a potential for agitating trailer sway.

If your weight distribution is not set right, you may experience unwanted sway. Front wheels too light can cause steering issues that will induce trailer sway. Rear of tow vehicle too light also and weird things can happen.

First, you can't fix an inferior tow vehicle. If the tow vehicle is just not adequate for the trailer being pulled, no matter how you try to patch it, it won't fix the problem.

Second, an inferior friction sway bar will work pretty much the same as an expensive top name brand one will. The only difference is, the inferior one may someday fail, fall apart, or breaks where the better made one would not.

Third, consider a weight distribution system that already has sway control built in. For example Reese Dual Cam or the Equal-i-zer type systems. Then backing is not an issue at all.

To spend thousands of dollars on a tow vehicle, and then to spend thousands of dollars on a trailer, and then load your most precious cargo (your family) all riding on a mediocre hitch system is just nuts!

Remember the tire commercial on television with the baby sitting inside the automobile tire. And then the statement is made, Michelin - Because so much is riding on your tires. .... same is true for your hitch.

Reese dual cam with active sway control. Works a lot better than friction sway control and actually applies more pressure as the trailer gets more out of line. Works a lot better than the frinction based hitches I used before.
Also very quiet.

BTW, I never had any problems backing with a hitch like yours. If it is installed exactly per the instructions then nothing will happen backing.
As with any hitch or trailer, don't jackknife it.

sway is not an issue and I hae full confidence in my setup
its the quality or lack of in the generic friction sway controller that concerns me. I don't know how the preious one broke, one eyeend broke off last year, found it broken during a regular fuel up/check everything stop

I drive off a curb every time we leave for a trip. One time I drove off just a little too fast and the back end came down further than usual with a hard thunk. It cracked the head of my hitch.
So it could have been something as simple as that.

Seems like a simple solution to me: Rather than getting another generic one, get a name brand like Reese.

You don't need a Propride or Hensley for a 5000lb trailer behind a 1500-series pickup unless the trailer is beyond hope as far as the sway goes. If it's that bad, though, I'd recommend getting rid of the trailer...

stevemorris wrote:
sway is not an issue and I have full confidence in my setup
its the quality or lack of in the generic friction sway controller that concerns me.

That is exactly what you want concerning a good setup. A sway control device is there for a well tuned setup where an outside force, strong side wind after exiting under an overpass or tractor trailer bow-wave, is controlled better by having sway control. It is there in the event that outside force impacts you and your trailer. Sway control should not be used as a bandaid to correct a constant sway issue.

I personally hated the friction sway bars and come to find out, many recommend having two of them if your trailer exceeds 25' as a general practice.

mkirsch wrote:
Seems like a simple solution to me: Rather than getting another generic one, get a name brand like Reese.

Yep. I got rid of my friction bar and went with an integrated WDH with sway control... a Reese Dual-cam. I've been running it for years and it has worked very well. It did take a bit of fine tuning in the beginning, but once set, I've been very happy with it. Husky, along with other manufacturers, also make a WDH with integrated sway control. That etrailer link above has examples of different ones available and they are not overly expensive like the ProPride or Hensley.