Minor sway issue

[RobWNY]

This past weekend we went camping and on the way home on the interstate I noticed just the slightest swaying of my camper. I didn't think this was possible with the Propride P3 but it was happening. At 55mpg, the towing experience was perfect but while in a 70mph zone, I brought the speed up to 60mph and the rear of the trailer started to sway back and forth about 3 inches. Nothing uncontrollable but I had never experienced this before with the Propride. I simply brought the speed back down to 55mph and everything was fine again. My trailer is a 27 footer that weighs about 8,500 when loaded and my TV is a 2015 Chevy 2500HD. Tongue weight was at 1,100 lbs before we left home. I had no way to check it for the trip back home but it had to be very similar. I did crank the weight distribution up more on the trip home. No real reason for doing so, I just did. Any thoughts on why this happened? Maybe I cranked the weight distribution up too much for the trip home and took off too much tongue weight? Tires on the trailer? I'm scratching my head as to why this happened. Your thoughts are appreciated.

[ktmrfs]

You mention towing with a 2015 GM 2500. one thing I discovered with our new 2015 GMC 2500, is it came with 20" wheels. On our first trip out, I had the tires at 60psi front and rear towing the same trailer I pulled with our 2004 2500 exact same configuration, CC/SB/4x4. while we didn't have sway, I noticed the truck "wiggled" more than the 04 did when going around corners or changing lanes. like it had soft sidewall tires. DW commented. Next trip I put the back at 80psi, big improvement, but still not as stable as the 04. This last trip I went to 80psi all the way around, and it made a dramatic improvement. Now it behaves like the 04. However the 04 was not near as sensitive to tire pressure.

Both trucks were set up with the reese dual cam, I had readjusted it for the 2015 since the 2015 is 2" higher than the 04. had to drop the ball, and readjust the bars to get the front to settle correctly, did all that before the first trip.

Now I wonder if getting the 18" tires would have been a better choice, or if it is just the stock 20" LRE tires have a softer sidewall than the tires I ran on the 04 (Michelins). I was expecting the 20" 55 series tires to actually have less flex and a stiffer sidewall than the 16" on the 04.

[RobWNY]

miyzfrider, Overall I'm sure you will be very happy with the ProPride. I know I am. I will be putting less tension on the jacks as Sean at ProPride has suggested on our next trip in two weeks. I will also report my findings. I'm betting this was the cause and all will be fine. Congrats on the new camper and ProPride!

[miyzfrider]

Rob, I just purchased a ProPride for our 2016 Jayco 28BHBE, being towed by our 2006 GMC Sierra 1500HD. I towed our trailer home about 200 miles yesterday for the first time, and I experienced the same thing you mentioned; a little "sway" at times from the trailer within the 65-70mph range. I even felt it at times when a car would pass me. It never was close to what I had been experiencing with our prior, inexpensive, hitch setup, but definitely a surprise given the claims of the hitch and other users. It was never uncomfortable to me, but was surprising none the less. And while I definitely agree with a few of the posters here in this thread, that there is no substituted for correct loading and WD, it still surprised me because I have weighed everything and found things to be right where they needed to be.

Sean had told me before I left for our trip to bring the WD jacks up a bit further if we felt any porpoising, which we did for the first 10-15 miles. But now I'm wondering if I just cranked them up a bit too far. We started around 3 inches up, but then went to 4, so it wasn't a major increase. But even that one inch seemed to make a difference.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know I experienced the same thing you did. We aren't going camping again till the end of Sept, but I'll make a few adjustments and post back my experience. I'd be interested any adjustments you make and your experiences as well.

[TXiceman]

PP3 or HA is not a cure all for sway problems. It does a fantastic job of masking towing issues such as improper trailer weight distribution and poor hitch set up.

The OP needs to go through a complete hitch set up with the truck and trailer loaded for a trip.

Ken

[Ron_Gratz]

Rob,

Since changing the height of the WD jacks did not cause any changes in the deflections of the TV's front and rear (up 1/2" in the front and down 3/4" in the rear), it is reasonable to conclude that raising the weight distribution jacks did not cause too much weight to be removed from the rear axle.

This leaves two other possibilities to consider:
1) the sway you experienced was caused by raising the jacks -- but, via some other mechanism, or
2) the sway you experienced had nothing to do with the raising of the jacks.

In consideration of 1), it would be good to hitch the trailer and raise the jacks is several steps while checking the condition of the hitch and receiver at each jack height.
A close up photo of receiver, hitch, and bars at each step might be informative.

In consideration of 2), have you followed the recommendation of BarneyS to check the frame bracket assembly which controls lateral movement of the rear end of the yoke?
Also, have you checked the connections at the front of the yoke, and have you checked the ball and coupler for any looseness?

Good luck with your search for the cause of this sway.
Please keep us posted on what you find.

Ron

[RobWNY]

Hi Ron,

No, even cranking the weight distribution as much as I did does not make any difference in where the rear and front of the truck ends up. It's the same with any tension I use but I don't have the slight sway issue when the weight distribution isn't cranked up as much as I had it for my trip home. The truck doesn't drift at all when not towing either. Steering has never been an issue so I'm sure the weight on the front axle is sufficient sice that height changes so little regardless. On my next trip out, I'm going to just use the weight distribution at it's minimum. The Chevy specs say I don't need it at all when towing less than 13,000 lbs. but because it's part of the hitch system, I have to either remove it completely which I don't want to do or at least get them tight enough not to dangle in the wind. We'll see what happens and if there's improvement or it's worse, I'll report my findings here.

[Ron_Gratz]

RobWNY wrote:
I received an email response from Sean at ProPride. Here it is

"Removing too much weigh off the rear axle of the tow vehicle by raising the weight distribution jacks too much can certainly throw some movement into the hitch and then the trailer. The hitch will only move from the tow vehicle side so if the rear end is light it could have been drifting a little at higher speeds."

Rob, in a previous post, you stated:

"---When I crank up the weight distribution as far as I can, I can't get the truck back to where it was before hooking up. I can get the front within 1/2" of where it was originally and the rear of the truck to 3/4" of where it was originally but that's all.---"

On your recent trip, do you think you were able to crank up the weight distribution enough to restore the front axle load to its unhitched value?
Even if you were able to achieve 100% front axle load restoration, your 1100# tongue weight still would be causing a load of around 800# to be added to the rear axle of your 2500HD.

Have you ever noted any tendency for the rear of the truck to "drift" when not towing?
If it doesn't "drift" when not towing, I'm wondering what might be causing it to do so when you are towing with an additional load of 800# or more on the rear axle.

Removing too much weight off the rear axle would be accompanied by adding to much weight to the front axle -- both of which could cause an "oversteer" condition.
During those periods when the rear of the trailer was swaying back and forth about 3 inches, did you notice any increased sensitivity to steering inputs?

If you are able to reproduce the TV and TT loading with the WDH adjusted as it was when you were experiencing the swaying, it would be very informative to measure the hitched and unhitched axle loads under those conditions.

Ron

[RobWNY]

I received an email response from Sean at ProPride. Here it is

"Removing too much weigh off the rear axle of the tow vehicle by raising the weight distribution jacks too much can certainly throw some movement into the hitch and then the trailer. The hitch will only move from the tow vehicle side so if the rear end is light it could have been drifting a little at higher speeds."

[BenK]

Agree...over dependence on the expensive hitch system...

Also suggest going out and weighing the whole setup, axle by axle
fully loaded

With the WD Hitch system tensioned and no tension

That is the only way to know

Post back with the actual weights (tensioned and no tension) and your
TV's ratings: GVWR, F/R GAWR, GCWR Forget about the MTWR (Max Tow
Weight Rating), unless you have a stripper TV and a trailer with
10% tongue weight

[RobWNY]

I have sent an email to Sean at Propride. I appreciate everyone's input and will check everything to make sure it's tight. This has never happened in the past since using the Propride hitch so it has to be something I did or something is loose or some other reason I'm not thinking of. I'll report back here once Sean answers my email to let everyone know his thoughts.

[mkirsch]

IMHO this is telling you that without that hitch you would've been dead on the way home or maybe long before that. You have a very bad sway problem that is being masked by the Propride, but it's so bad that even the Propride can't completely mask it.

[BarneyS]

Check the yoke under the frame. It may be loose allowing the hitch head to move around which will destroy the sway prevention qualities of the hitch.
Barney

[aftermath]

I think the only real way to figure out what is going on is to weigh your truck, your combination W/O WD connected and then weigh it again with the WD hooked up. That way you can determine the actual tongue weight and how much weight is being transferred back to the front axle.

This might be the first story of issues with the Hensley/Propride hitch I have ever read. From reading the Airstream forum you would think that it is impossible for this to happen because these hitches are designed "to prevent sway" not just to dampen it down. I do believe this claim but like all hitches, you will have to get it set up properly.

You can call Shawn at Propride and he will be able to instruct you as to how the set your hitch up. I have heard lots of good feedback about their customer service.

Driving 55 is safe but my sweet spot is right at 65. No sway at all with my Equalizer which is a far inferior hitch when listening to Hensley/Propride owners.

[camp-n-family]

Anything in the tanks? Sometimes 1/2 full tanks can start sloshing around. Better to be completely full or empty.

I have felt the occasional wiggle even with the Hensley. It won't sway for me but the movement will go to the weakest point, usually the tires, if not aired up.


Was the tt loaded differently on the trip home. I have found that even moving one heavy item from the rear room to the front of the tt make a noticeable difference in towing.