Sway with new truck

[hujorgan1]

I have a 27' Salem travel trailer with a Reese WD hitch, and previously towed it with a 2005 Tundra. I would get a little bit of sway on the highway when a big rig would pass, but no big deal. Just bought a 2016 Tundra - bigger and more powerful than the 2005. Nothing changed except the truck - same trailer, WD hitch, etc. - but I am now experiencing sway when anything passes me (even cars and minivans). Any ideas?

[BenK]

hujorgan1 wrote:
I have a 27' Salem travel trailer with a Reese WD hitch, and previously towed it with a 2005 Tundra.

I would get a little bit of sway on the highway when a big rig would pass, but no big deal.

Just bought a 2016 Tundra - bigger and more powerful than the 2005. Nothing changed except the truck - same trailer, WD hitch, etc. - but I am now experiencing sway when anything passes me (even cars and minivans). Any ideas?

Again...the effect is just more so with the new truck

#1 are NEW tires...get a couple of thousand miles on them to break them in. Moss's old thread was all about this and it settled down for him after breaking them in

#2 Even though same trailer...setup or orientation different. Recheck the trailer orientation...with my preference to be pointed slightly down
Double check your weight...have you added anything or mods ?

These push pulls are the beginings of sway, that is normally handled...but can become ever higher oscillations (sway) if not managed by your setup, driving and components

[mkirsch]

After all that, I feel the need to point out what you are experiencing is not really "trailer sway." The truck/trailer may "sway" in response to the bow wave of a passing vehicle, but it's a momentary thing. Trailer sway requires input from the driver to correct, generally application of trailer brakes.

What you are experiencing is commonly called "push-pull" or "bow wave effect" to differentiate it from sway. The solutions for push-pull are different from trailer sway.

[mosseater]

BenK wrote:
Oh...forgot that many tires need to break in and almost as if the compound needs
to cure or setup

They are squirrelly at first

Get some miles on them before spending tons of money on new ones

I'm putting most of my money behind this one. I've bought two sets of tires for my current truck, and they're the same brand, model, and size. Both times, the tires "hair brushed" for several thousand miles. That is, the tread was so deep and the rubber so new, it was literally like a hair brush making contact with the road. Pretty mushy and disconnected. I'd check the other measurements, but betting it will settle down when you get some miles on it.

[webwrangler]

I went from a 2000 Tundra to a 2011 (1st generation to 2nd gen) and ended up going through a complete re-adjustment of my Equal-i-zer. Had to change the height (2011 2nd gen is lower--go figure), ball angle (I'm now at pretty much the maximum ball tilt) and sway bar bracket height. I even moved the sway bar brackets farther back on the trailer in order to get more leverage on the bars.

The 2nd gen Tundra (at least the TRD version) has a much stiffer suspension that the 1st gen, and it takes more leverage to transmit the proper amount of weight to the front wheels.

An old thread here suggested that Toyota doe not recommend adjusting according to Equal-i-zer's instructions regarding obtaining the same amount of "settling" with weight on the Equalizer. I elected to stick with Equalizer's recommendations and adjusted for close to the same amount of "settling" on front and rear axles.

I had LT tires on the 1st gen and the 2nd gen trucks--wouldn't tow without them.

Tows great now!

[aftermath]

I am with Barney, if it towed fine before it isn't a tongue weight issue.

A new truck, even if it is the same brand, will be different than your old truck. Make sure your hitch is adjusted properly. Simply moving the head up (or down) might be a good way to have the trailer ride level but that alone does not help your weight distribution issue. Read the directions on the hitch, or call the manufacturer, and follow them for setup. Go to the scales and weight the setup to make sure that you are returning enough weight to the front axle. Light front ends combined with P radial tires that are under inflated is a recipe for sway.

Are you experiencing sway or just a squirmy feeling? My original P radials on my Tundra required that I air them up to the max and that really helped.

[rhagfo]

BarneyS wrote:

RCMAN46 wrote:

hujorgan1 wrote:
Tongue weight is always the first thing I consider - however, nothing has changed as far as the weight distribution of the trailer and it pulled fine with the old truck.

Do you know what you tongue weight percentage is?


A lot of guessing what your problem is but if you have low tongue weight percentage you can waste a lot of time and money trying to correct a low tongue weight problem.

He said in his first post that it towed ok with his old truck and now it doesn't with his new truck. I doubt that tongue weight is his problem if nothing is changed but the truck.
Barney

Worth checking, BUT as it towed fine with the old TV, I would assume something with the new TV, and either the WD setup, or the TV tires.

[BarneyS]

RCMAN46 wrote:

hujorgan1 wrote:
Tongue weight is always the first thing I consider - however, nothing has changed as far as the weight distribution of the trailer and it pulled fine with the old truck.

Do you know what you tongue weight percentage is?


A lot of guessing what your problem is but if you have low tongue weight percentage you can waste a lot of time and money trying to correct a low tongue weight problem.

He said in his first post that it towed ok with his old truck and now it doesn't with his new truck. I doubt that tongue weight is his problem if nothing is changed but the truck.
Barney

[DirtyOil]

Before going out and buying new tires as "kind of" suggested by some you may want to watch this video...its a Curt WD set up video but, can be applied to any manufacturer's WD system...

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=wd+hitch+set+up&&view=detail&mid=68D405CAAA05BDA2C41068D405CAAA...

[RCMAN46]

hujorgan1 wrote:
Tongue weight is always the first thing I consider - however, nothing has changed as far as the weight distribution of the trailer and it pulled fine with the old truck.

Do you know what you tongue weight percentage is?


A lot of guessing what your problem is but if you have low tongue weight percentage you can waste a lot of time and money trying to correct a low tongue weight problem.

[blt2ski]

hujorgan1 wrote:

TyroneandGladys wrote:
Just a note on tire pressure. Do not know if it is just the age of our rig or not but the tires max pressure is 80 but the rims max pressure is 65

That sounds like a mismatch - the wheels should always at least match the max pressure of the tires.

This is actually not unheard of, or is it to be not expected in some cases.

When the 265-75-16 tires came out in 88 on GM 1500's, they were an LR-C. BFG came out eventually with an LR D. Then a few years later, LR E's came out. Now try to find a C or D rated tire with 45 or 65 lbs of sidewall PSI max is hard to do. You are pretty much limited to buying an LR E tire. So if you have one of the as early as 88 GM pickups with this tire size.......You end up with a tire good to 80 lbs, with rims good to 45-50 lbs max.

My son had to get LR E tires for his GM 1500 in the 265-70-17 size, as he could not find a LR C as it came stock, in the tire tread brand he wanted. Does not do him any good. But that was only option. I am sure if someone knows Dodge or Ford rigs as well as I know GM's, you can find similar issues.

Marty

[hujorgan1]

TyroneandGladys wrote:
Just a note on tire pressure. Do not know if it is just the age of our rig or not but the tires max pressure is 80 but the rims max pressure is 65

That sounds like a mismatch - the wheels should always at least match the max pressure of the tires.

[TyroneandGladys]

Just a note on tire pressure. Do not know if it is just the age of our rig or not but the tires max pressure is 80 but the rims max pressure is 65

[BenK]

Oh...forgot that many tires need to break in and almost as if the compound needs
to cure or setup

They are squirrelly at first

Get some miles on them before spending tons of money on new ones

[bguy]

More air in the tires will reduce the squirm in the truck. The max pressure on the sidewall is determined by the tire manufacturer. Feel free to use it. Just don't run it that way all the time or you'll soon discover why the vehicle placard says what it does to produce the best quietest smoothest ride and longest tire life.