Sway control

Eric I/w736 wrote:
Hey all! I have a 03 f150 fx4 and a 2010 keystone springdale. The trailer is 33' total and weighs 7100# dry. With w/d truck is good for 8700#. Now I have frictional sway control and wonder if I should add 1 more or if I should switch my set up to the reese streight line? Anyone used both? And which is better. The way I see it is if a tractor trailer flys past me,doesn't matter what I have I'm gonna feel it! It's not too bad what I have now,just want a bit more stability. Thanks

Hi Eric,

A friendly heads up, your are going to be into a rear axle and GVWR issues towing a camper that large with your 03 F150. Odds are high your are on P type tires and if it is the stock Ford receiver still, you will be over the limit of the receiver even with WD when you load the camper.

You will need the correct weight rating WD bars for the loaded camper and sway control for that large and long of a trailer. A minimum of 2 friction sway bars. The Reese DC is better than the friction bars however you are going to be into other issues surrounding the weights on the truck. It may not be a major issue minute you roll out onto the highway, but when the wrong situation comes you have high odds an issue will present it self.

The DC is a good tool in an stable towing setup, however it will not correct for the truck being unstable due to being over the suspension ratings. And the Hensley will not fix that either.

You have come here for help and we will try and help. We are not born with this stuff, it has to be learned and what better way then a fellow camper. Suggest for starters to weigh the truck as it is today with all people inside, full gas and the bare minimum of must have camping gear in the truck bed. Get a front and rear axle weight. Now you can see the actual GVW of the loaded truck. Look on the driver door for the rear axle rating. GAWR and the GVWR.

Look at the scale tickets and subtract the actual from the rating to see what is left in both cases. What is on left on the GAWR is the rear axle capacity to hold up the trailer loaded tongue weight. What is left on the GVWR it the max the entire truck with camper hitched can hold. The older F150 did not have a lot of rear axle rating nor did the truck receiver. Check the receiver rating for a sticker on it or it may be in the owners manual. An 875# or 900# max TW in WD mode was about it. It was driven by the capacity of the rear axle.

See here for the Ford Towing guides. See 2003. Read all of it, it explains it. https://www.fleet.ford.com/towing-guides/

How Ford came up with that infamous 8700# tow rating is based on a stripped option truck, qty,150 Lb driver and a max of 10% trailer tongue weight (870#) and a frontal area of the trail less than 60 sq ft. Think open flat bed trailer. These TT's we tow have heavy tongue weights far above the 10% range and are 8 feet wide 10 plus feet tall. We are well over the 60 sq feet of frontal area.

Yes get your hitch fixed up, however start researching how to create the truck to be stable enough to handle it. You then will find the weak areas of your truck and find that camper needs more truck.

Hope this helps and good luck

John