Major Sway Problems! Any ideas!?

[svt440]

Hey everyone, I'm new here! Hope you all had a nice weekend. I just got back from a 6 hour drive to Lake Cumberland, and ran into some pretty sketchy situations while driving.

I have a 6,100lb travel trailer (Keystone Sprinter) that is 25' in length. Trailer was dry with the exception of some clothing and food/drinks. When it was all loaded up, it was easily less than 7,000lbs.

My truck is a 2003 Silverado 2500HD with the 6.6l Duramax. Short bed, extended cab, and has a tow capacity of 12,000lbs. I also am equipped with the "Curt TruTrack Weight Distribution System w/ Sway Control - Trunnion - 10,000 lbs GTW, 1,000 lbs TW".

With this setup, I wouldn't expect many problems with sway, but the moment I drove any faster than 65mph, it got a little out of hand.

On the way down I almost put the truck in the median of the free way because it got to swaying and I almost didn't hold on to it. I just had new E-Rated tires put on and noticed a lot of sidewall roll when the truck was pushed side to side, so I stopped on my way to Cumberland and had all brand new tires put on, (BF Goodrich, also an E-Rated tire), and they have 3ply sidewalls rather than 2-ply. This helped a little, (maybe gained 5mph without sway), and allowed me to run right at 64-65mph and would then sway as I got closer to 70mph. I got my doors blown off my travel trailers all day today. One was even a half ton pulling a 29' travel trailer that put the hurts on me!

I then noticed it didn't sway hardly at all at 65-68mph with less fuel, and as soon as a put a full tank in it, it was a little more sketchy. But even at that rate you're talking a few hundred pounds on a truck thats 5,000+ lbs below its rated tow capacity. I'm not even close to the limit and it is scary to drive! Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance everyone!!

[badercubed]

svt440 wrote:

cruz-in wrote:
With a 250/2500 series truck, due to limited truck payload, there are very few 5th wheels that will not have you excceding the payload of the truck...perhaps/probably by a lots...

As a fellow owner of a 250/2500 series truck, kinda a bummer but these trucks are limited on payload.

True, but the dry weight of the one I'm looking at is 7,610lbs with a hitch weight of 1400. Its a relatively small fifth wheel with one slide out. Looks like the payload of the 2500HD is somewhere near 3,437lbs. I'd think I'd be okay? I'm not going to ever travel with much more than a few hundred pounds of extra stuff. Maybe I'm over looking something.

Where did you get the payload number? I could be wrong, but that seems like a lot available for a shortbed extended cab diesel. I would have thought you'd be more in the 2400lb range.

[svt440]

cruz-in wrote:
With a 250/2500 series truck, due to limited truck payload, there are very few 5th wheels that will not have you excceding the payload of the truck...perhaps/probably by a lots...

As a fellow owner of a 250/2500 series truck, kinda a bummer but these trucks are limited on payload.

True, but the dry weight of the one I'm looking at is 7,610lbs with a hitch weight of 1400. Its a relatively small fifth wheel with one slide out. Looks like the payload of the 2500HD is somewhere near 3,437lbs. I'd think I'd be okay? I'm not going to ever travel with much more than a few hundred pounds of extra stuff. Maybe I'm over looking something.

[cruz-in]

With a 250/2500 series truck, due to limited truck payload, there are very few 5th wheels that will not have you excceding the payload of the truck...perhaps/probably by a lots...

As a fellow owner of a 250/2500 series truck, kinda a bummer but these trucks are limited on payload.

[svt440]

cruz-in wrote:
Having owned several 5th wheels and now a TT, IMHO, a TT with a Hensley arrow or propride hitch will pulll just about as good as a 5th wheel.

These hitches are not cheap ($2K to $3K) but they do work as advertised and completely eliminate sway. While expensive, it might b cheaper than trading for a 5th wheel.

It would undoubtedly be the cheaper option, but I like the layout in the fifth wheel that I picked out, and while they try to keep the layouts similar in both TT and fifth wheels, the fifth wheel I picked out has a rear living room that has the entertainment center very conveniently placed in respect to the couches/recliners. All other RL setups I've seen in TT have the entertainment center on the other side of the kitchen. Very annoying imo. While the fifth wheel will be better to tow and eliminate the issue of sway, it also is something the wife and I just want. Two birds with one stone kind of thing.

[svt440]

badercubed wrote:
Just because it hasn't been said and OP mentioned how he was way under the towing capacity, I find that payload availability of the truck maters tenfold over towing. Just because it says 12k for towing doesn't mean you can hook up and pull a mini-excavator down the road. I think GVWR of your truck is only 9200lbs and you will eat that up quick.

Other notes, I always switch to E rated BFG All-Terrains. They seem to support any load better that any "stock" tire on a truck I've had. I don't condone driving over 70mph when towing down the highway, even though I have and my truck can handle my trailer well at higher speeds. I just don't trust everyone else on the road and I am a very proactive driver.

Add tongue weight and problem should be solved.

Agreed on the payload comment, and it is a great point! Also with the BFG All Terrains, that is the tire I switched to and I am more than glad I did! It is a great tire!

[cruz-in]

An option in a more traditional "on road" type tire is the Goodrich Commercial T/A.

I have been very happy with them...

[cruz-in]

Having owned several 5th wheels and now a TT, IMHO, a TT with a Hensley arrow or propride hitch will pulll just about as good as a 5th wheel.

These hitches are not cheap ($2K to $3K) but they do work as advertised and completely eliminate sway. While expensive, it might b cheaper than trading for a 5th wheel.

[badercubed]

Just because it hasn't been said and OP mentioned how he was way under the towing capacity, I find that payload availability of the truck maters tenfold over towing. Just because it says 12k for towing doesn't mean you can hook up and pull a mini-excavator down the road. I think GVWR of your truck is only 9200lbs and you will eat that up quick.

Other notes, I always switch to E rated BFG All-Terrains. They seem to support any load better that any "stock" tire on a truck I've had. I don't condone driving over 70mph when towing down the highway, even though I have and my truck can handle my trailer well at higher speeds. I just don't trust everyone else on the road and I am a very proactive driver.

Add tongue weight and problem should be solved.

[svt440]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

rhagfo wrote:

TucsonJim wrote:
You need to load much more weight in the front of the trailer to increase your tongue weight.

I haven't taken the time to read all the post as this is the nail on the head!!!!!!
Tongue weight at least 15 percent of your trailer wight, then trailer level or slightly nose down!

IMHO save all the headaches and buy a 5er and be done with it!!!

I'm ready to pull the trigger on one as soon as I can sell mine. Made the ad this morning. I'd like to cover some serious mileage and I don't care to do it with a trailer that wants to sway at 60mph. I've already got my new one picked out. I think tongue weight is the issue. I wasn't aware that it needed to be closer to 15%. Mine is 10% when the camper is dry, and thats before I load the cabinets in the kitchen full of food and drinks etc. Not to mention I had over 200lbs of bicycles on the back of the camper. I've learned a lot in this thread, and I appreciate all the advice. I will own this trailer for a bit longer, as its not going to be easy to sell a 2005 imo. I will load the tongue heavy and give it a try here soon just for my curiosity. Thanks again!

[krobbe]

I would scale the trailer and get a Sherline scale to keep an eye on the tongue weight. I have a heavy tongue(almost 14% dry and 18% loaded with water) on mine and use my scale when loading up and end up moving some weight to the back to try to lighten it. Looks like you may need to move some weight to the front. Filling your fresh water tank may take care of the weight balance issue. A Sherline scale will allow you to see the change in weights that loading in front/behind the axles has on the tongue weight.

[Cummins12V98]

rhagfo wrote:

TucsonJim wrote:
You need to load much more weight in the front of the trailer to increase your tongue weight.

I haven't taken the time to read all the post as this is the nail on the head!!!!!!
Tongue weight at least 15 percent of your trailer wight, then trailer level or slightly nose down!

IMHO save all the headaches and buy a 5er and be done with it!!!

[svt440]

Bird Freak wrote:
I agree hitch weight is a big issue but out of curiosity how much tire pressure are you running? When I had a tag enclosed car trailer I never ran sway bars or anything else with no sway at any speed. Tire pressure below 80 psi and I couldn't hold it in the road.

80psi in the rear on the truck, and the tire shops said the truck calls for something like 65psi (maybe 70?) in the front tires, so thats what they did. The trailer tires had 50psi which is what they called for. They are a C rated tire which is what the campers tag calls for. I'm looking into some issues (small issues I found) on the truck right now, but I've talked to enough guys in person who have sway issues too that I'm ready to dump it for a fifth wheel.

[svt440]

BarneyS wrote:
Lets watch the personal attacks against another member. When I have to start deleting posts, that is just about the quickest way to get a thread closed around here.
Barney

Barney, in my last post I explained my use of the word ignorant. Our society has made it a "bad name" that you would only use to hurt somebody, but it really wasn't meant that way at all. Ignorant is also defined as lacking knowledge, information, or awareness about something in particular. I chose that word specifically because of said definition. My apologies for coming of differently.

[svt440]

cruz-in wrote:
"Any body who disagrees, is ignorant. "

Posting this is a good way to shut down input and conversation....

I figured I'd upset some. Ignorant is a term that has been understood by many as another way of saying stupid. I was afraid of that. You see stupid is defined as lacking intelligence or common sense.
Ignorant on the other hand is defined as lacking knowledge, information, or awareness about something in particular. I wasn't calling names to be a jerk.

[BarneyS]

Lets watch the personal attacks against another member. When I have to start deleting posts, that is just about the quickest way to get a thread closed around here.
Barney