New trailer swaying, looking for advice

[Gussie757]

Hello! Brand new posting, but have read the forum for a long time.

Brief intro.. We have camped for many years, our first camper was a 17 foot Palomino Stampede Hybrid. We towed it with a Nissan Pathfinder, and more recently a Honda Pilot. Both towed it fine, no issues whatsoever.

We recently bought a 16 foot Scamp Deluxe. When my husband towed it back empty from the factory here in MN, he had some sway issues at highway speeds, 55-60. Since then, there have been more sway issues locally, so we don't want to take it out until we get the problem solved.

We did take it to the cat scale, it weighs 2280 pounds, with not much in it. I now know we need to get the tongue weight to see if it is too light. The tongue has just the battery and one full propane tank, not yet used.

Ok, my questions, I didn't want to get too long-- Where to go from here? Get the tongue weight. If the tongue weight is too light how do we increase it? We're really light weekend campers, and besides clothes and food, it wouldn't be much. I get that the cooler would be heavy, but it would be empty coming home so that would be a problem?

And in my starting research, just getting a weight distribution hitch or anti sway bars without finding out the reason behind the sway sometimes isn't the best solution? Could there be something wrong with the Scamp? How would I find that out?

Anyway thanks for reading, hope I covered everything, any ideas would be great. My husband is super busy at work so I thought I'd read up and see what I can find out. We've just never experienced this before. I'm pretty sure the Palomino weighed more and for sure had a higher and wider profile, but the weight distribution must have been right or something. Thanks! Karin

[Hybridhunter]

rexlion wrote:
A 3/4 ton pickup to tow a 16' TT weighing less than 2500 lbs. Yup. Better make sure it's a diesel, too. :R

Good grief is right.

My situation - My trailer has water tank in front of the axle. The trailer weighs 3800# loaded, with about 480# on the tongue. Without water, it sits just under 3600#, with about 360# on the tongue. It tows fine, with the odd provoked wobble. I purposely tow with the tank full when I can, but when coming home front remote camping, I'm dry with by behind the axle black tank with prolly 100# in it. That leaves me in the low 300#'s on the hitch, and it gets jiggly, maybe wobbly, but never sways appreciably, but at that point I can feel it.

Point being, 10% can yield a very nice balanced tow setup, especially with the Honda, which recommends against WDH, and does not like heavy tongue weight. Note that it's a fine line at or below that number.

Something else going on here. When you loaded the extra 40# in the trailer, (call it 30 on the tongue), that should equal close to 12%, that should have quelled the sway completely.

[rexlion]

A 3/4 ton pickup to tow a 16' TT weighing less than 2500 lbs. Yup. Better make sure it's a diesel, too. :R

[RCMAN46]

If the trailer is level or slightly nose down and sways it probably needs more tongue weight period. If the TV can not handle the extra tongue weight try WD and if that does not work get a real TV such as a 3/4 ton pick-up.
You already had the trailer on a Cat scale and for a couple more dollars you could have determined what the tongue weight really was and in addition you could have determined if the tires on the trailer and TV are up to the job.

[RinconVTR]

I tow with a 2012 Honda Pilot, and I can tell you what to look for.

1. The Pilot does not do well with a heavy tonque weight. Anyone telling you to go for 13-15% is out of their mind. If your trailer weights 2800lbs ish....shoot for a 280-300lbs tongue weight.

2. You dont need a WDH at that weight.

3. Check tire pressures of both the trailer and the Pilot. The trailer should be at max cold, and may be try bumping the Pilot up too.

4. Check the angle of the trailer. It shoud be level, or pointed slightly down.

[tekman741]

Check tire pressure, and tongue weight. Then get a sway bar or friction bar=cheap money for piece of mind.

[Road_Ruler]

If you suspect an issue with the trailer as a test try to tow it with a different tow vehicle.

Would also like to see some pics of the Scamp hooked up to your tow vehicle.

Thnxs.

[rexlion]

Well, yeah, Scamp never seems to change anything even if everyone wanted them to, I know...

But suppose they started buying axles from a different manufacturer? Or started mounting some heavy interior component a couple inches farther back, for reasons only they know? Something like that. Maybe even a different tire brand. Or some new employee is using a jig the wrong way and the axle is getting attached slightly crooked. Stuff happens.

I have always felt that 10% tongue weight should be plenty. But maybe I'm wrong.

I think some Scamps may have their fresh tank in the rear. If such is the OP's case, and if it's half full, perhaps the sloshing water could be influencing sway.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

Gussie757 wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

We tried a few different things this past weekend,

Like?

Hi-- Well, first we tried to weight the tongue with a bathroom scale, 236 pounds, but not sure how accurate that was.... My husband got a hitch with a lower mount, we put a 40 pound bag of water softener salt in the trailer, at the very front. He thought it was better, I was following behind him, I thought at one point on the freeway he was swaying quite a bit, but he said he wasn't aware of it like he was before. It was a lot more bouncy though, and the curtains rods all fell off, and that never happened before. That was all we had time to do...

I guess I should mention this is close to an empty trailer, there are two camping chairs, two hoses, a few pans and silverware and paper plates and cups, a bucket with some cleaning supplies, sheets and a comforter, that's about it, we haven't stocked it much yet. Oh, my husband has some tools, but they are in the SUV. So it's hard when people say to distribute the weight because we haven't camped in it really yet so not much to move around. Once again, thanks in advance for any advice!

IMHO there is your problem. You are right at 10% on the tongue. Too light. I would put at least 200+ more pounds in the front of the trailer if your TV is ok with it and take it for a drive!

[Gussie757]

McZippie wrote:
Do the easy stuff first .... Check tire pressure of trailer and tow vehicle. Try different tire pressures.
I've had trailers that swayed a bit when new and settled down after a 1000 miles or so.

Noted, thanks!

[Gussie757]

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

We tried a few different things this past weekend,

Like?

Hi-- Well, first we tried to weight the tongue with a bathroom scale, 236 pounds, but not sure how accurate that was.... My husband got a hitch with a lower mount, we put a 40 pound bag of water softener salt in the trailer, at the very front. He thought it was better, I was following behind him, I thought at one point on the freeway he was swaying quite a bit, but he said he wasn't aware of it like he was before. It was a lot more bouncy though, and the curtains rods all fell off, and that never happened before. That was all we had time to do...

I guess I should mention this is close to an empty trailer, there are two camping chairs, two hoses, a few pans and silverware and paper plates and cups, a bucket with some cleaning supplies, sheets and a comforter, that's about it, we haven't stocked it much yet. Oh, my husband has some tools, but they are in the SUV. So it's hard when people say to distribute the weight because we haven't camped in it really yet so not much to move around. Once again, thanks in advance for any advice!

[McZippie]

Do the easy stuff first .... Check tire pressure of trailer and tow vehicle. Try different tire pressures.
I've had trailers that swayed a bit when new and settled down after a 1000 miles or so.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

We tried a few different things this past weekend,

Like?

[Gussie757]

Scamp? Design change? Am I in some weird parallel universe?

:B


Good one, doesn't help much, but whatever.......

Hope your Livin Lite wasn't near the recent Mn hail storms!

[Gussie757]

rexlion wrote:
This is a new 2013 Scamp 16. Today I read of two other people with 2013 Scamp 16s who are having sway problems as well. I am beginning to wonder if Scamp made a design change that is causing this! You should call Scamp and make them aware of your sway troubles. This really should not be occurring unless you've misloaded the trailer badly.

Thank you for letting me know! We tried a few different things this past weekend, still trying to figure this out--