Need advice on toy hauler swaying on freeway

What WD hitch? Very few have built in sway control like Equalizer or Reese Dual Cam have. Dealers often install very cheap useless******unless you don't let them.

Also you need to verify total weight and tongue weight. You need 13% to 15% of total TT weight on tongue. If you just add weight in the rear, sway will get worse fast.

Where is fresh water tank? On last two toyhaulers we adjusted tongue weight with the amount of fresh water we carried.

Start by weighing the trailer, including tongue weight. Until then, its all a guess. The "dry" weight isn't all that useful since it does not include any options.

Chuck&Gail wrote:
What WD hitch? Very few have built in sway control like Equalizer or Reese Dual Cam have. Dealers often install very cheap useless******unless you don't let them.

Also you need to verify total weight and tongue weight. You need 13% to 15% of total TT weight on tongue. If you just add weight in the rear, sway will get worse fast.

Where is fresh water tank? On last two toyhaulers we adjusted tongue weight with the amount of fresh water we carried.

I believe it's this hitch:

https://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Distribution/Pro-Series/49569.html

with no sway control installed yet. I do have a friction bar I can add if that will help, but I'd like to eliminate the sway before adding the anti sway.

I haven't weighed anything yet, so I can only go off of what I've heard. The truck is just over 4k#'s and the trailer is 3600#'s dry with a supposed 620 TW.

Pulling it with your Dad's 3/4 ton with no problem has to be your first clue. You can't expect a japaneese shopping cart to do the job of a truck... IMO..

Jerrybo66 wrote:
Pulling it with your Dad's 3/4 ton with no problem has to be your first clue. You can't expect a japaneese shopping cart to do the job of a truck... IMO..

I could not have put that better.

But my guess is the weight distribution hitch might be set a little to tight.

I was going to say put more weight forward, it usually helps with sway issues. Putting the harley behind the rear axle will certainally make it totally unstable, if it was difficult before, might even be a challenge for the 3/4 ton Dodge.

The recomendation is to have at least 10% and more like 12% or 15% on the hitch to make it settle down and tow right. So with a 4,000 pound trailer, at least 400 pounds on the hitch, 600 would be much better. The factory seems to have set it up right - in the brochure. But a trip to the scales might find that the brochure is way off. Take it across the scales the first time with the WD bars hooked up, then with them off, get the weight again. Unhitch, and check the truck weight by itself. (don't unhitch on the scale, unless you are using a private scale and work for the company that owns it, you will get in huge trouble making any adjustments on a CAT scale, it messes with the calibration. )

By taking the truck weight without the trailer and subtract from the total weight of both truck and trailer, you can get the trailer weight.

Without the WD bars connected, you can tell how much the trailer hitch weight is by subtracting the unloaded truck weight from the loaded truck weight.

With the WD bars attached, the trailer axle weight will be slightly higher, say 75 to 150 pounds. Also the front axle will be higher - again by about 75 to 150 pounds because the weight distribution bars are distributing the weight from the rear axle to the front tires and trailer tires. There is a extensive post on this subject, look for the sticky at the top of the travel trailer page, on how a weight distribution system works.

If the bars are set to tight, then perhaps over 150 pounds is being moved to each axle, and the truck is acting like a spring is in the middle, and loosen it by one chain notch, it will act much better.

Did they give you a hint on how best to hitch up - that is raise the jack up really high, and then it is easier to attach the bars, and they are much less likely to spring out of your hands when unhitching?

I hope you get it figured out.

THe Harley needs to be at least over the rear axle, but at least keep as much weight forward as possible. At this point, filling the fresh water tank if it is forward of the axle is advisable, drain it if behind the axle. You might also want to consider filling the gas tank (if it has one ) if it is forward of the axles, just to put more weight up there. Or install a 50 pound toolbox, and see if it is hitch light, and will be more stable with more weight forward.

Stop by the Dodge dealer for a larger truck would not be a bad idea either.

Fred.

Do you have good tires for towing on the Toyota and were they aired up? You do need to have the proper adjustment on the WD hitch to get weight back on the front end of the rig that came off when you hooked up the trailer. If it towed fine with the 3/4 ton I think the tongue weight is not the problem with the trailer, but the weight and mass is a problem for the truck as it sits now.

sounds like not enough tong weight

hammer21661 wrote:
sounds like not enough tong weight

agree. The trailer wants to sway behind the 3/4 ton but it's heavier tires, suspension, and longer wheelbase overcomes it.

Behind your Tacoma maybe the sway shows up more. Shorter wheelbase, lighter tires & suspension.

You need to organize your weight and balance of the trailer as described above.

I watched an Eff Three Fifty Deezil driver coming downhill toward me pulling a 12 ft landscaper tandem dump trailer loaded back end heavy lose control due to trailer sway. The trailer gave about 3 or 4 good sways and then took the back end of the 1 ton truck off the side of the road. The whole unit swapped ends before the trailer coupler broke off the ball and the trailer roll upside down. It slid to a stop about 50 ft in front of me.

I doubt if the trailer and it's load weighed 8000 lbs. It hauled that Big Truck in a circle like they were on ice.

As mentioned above, more tongue weight might help. Another thing, I have a tandem axle trailer with 8k lb boat and 10k equalizer hitch and the only time it ever swayed is when one of the back tires was almost flat.

Firstly, thanks for all the constructive comments. Secondly, I headed to the scales after work. I first put another 5 lbs. or pressure in my rear tires to bump them to 45 psi. That seemed to help a little. I weighed the whole thing at once set up exactly like E-Trailer had it which was the WD Hitch on the last link (least w.d.).

Steer axle= 2560
Drive axle= 2860
Trailer axle=3320
Total weight=8740

I then un-hitched and weighed just my Tacoma.

steer axle= 2560 (no change)
Drive axle= 2060 (800 lbs. less)
Total weight=4620

I guess that means I had 800 lbs of tongue weight which was 150 lbs. more than the max Toyota says which is 650 lbs. I clearly had too much tongue weight.

I then hooked up the trailer, but this time dropped 3 links to the 4th link. As soon as I left the parking lot I could tell a difference. My truck seemed to have more even power and instead of feeling like the truck and trailer were working against each other , they felt more as one.

I decided to re-weigh just for kicks. This time....

Steer axle=2880 (320 lb. increase).
Drive axle=2400 (450 lb. decrease).
Trailer axle=3420 (100 lb. increase).
Total weight=8700 lbs. (40 less I guess cuz my Dad was driving this time and I got out of the truck).

End result, is once I lessened the tongue weight the truck quit moving all over the place as bad. The trailer sway was probably 80% better at least. I wouldn't even call it sway, but movement maybe instead. The front of the truck seems more planted and not so light like it's floating. I do still get some side to side feeling when I hit 60 to 70 on the freeway. But, I was actually able to drive on the freeway whereas yesterday I was afraid to and never got above 55 mph.

So, all in all, I went from completely dejected to feeling somewhat optimistic about being able to keep my truck. I still haven't loaded anything into the toy hauler. So, I'm wondering how the 983 lb. Harley will affect the equation. After I load the Harley, I'll head back to the scales to re-weigh to see where how it affects things.