Tow Vehicle Feel

[RobWNY]

I'm new to towing anything this heavy so I have nothing to compare my experience to so I thought some of you could give me some information. While driving down the highway at speeds ranging from 40MPH to 60MPH, sometimes things would feel just fine and other times, the truck would feel like it's wandering a bit left or right and much of the time it felt like I was rocking left and right. A little like the feel you would get on a boat in small waves but just not that drastic. It also felt like the trailer was in control of the truck somewhat if that makes any sense at all. I didn't feel any push or pull and the truck pulled the trailer fine and stopped it fine, but when driving it was worrisome. This occurs without anything passing me and with very light and variable winds of no more than 10MPH. A typical light breeze. I know some will say I don't have enough truck or my trailer is too heavy and that may be the case but there isn't anything I can do about that now. What I want to know is the causes of this situation. Why it happens or is it a fairly normal experience when towing something this heavy?

Here is my setup 2014 Heartland Trail Runner. 6500 dry weight, 7500 loaded. 2012 F150 Ecoboost regular tow package. Husky WDH and Husky Anti-Sway bar Set up at the dealer. It has the Goodyear Wrangler standard P rated tires. Inflated to 39 pounds. Can inflate to 44psi max. Only payload was me and my wife. No extra cargo in the truck.

Granted, the truck weighs about 5,500 pounds and I'm towing 7,500 pounds so I'm going to know it's behind me. I believe regardless of what tow vehicle you have you're going to know you're towing something really heavy so I'd like some answers that will explain what I'm experiencing and why. Thank you!

[2012Coleman]

I'm not sure from reading this thread if the tires you have are OEM. If not, you can't expect OEM specs to apply as they were determined using a specific tire. Good luck and happy camping!

[campigloo]

I don't mean to beat up on the 1/2 ton will pull anything crowd, but you don't have enough truck. I also understand that is what you have and it will have to do for now. The best thing you can do now is replace the tires. TIRES. Also, with that long of a trailer, you really need two sway bars. They're cheap and make a lot of difference. I pull with a 3/4 ton and added Stable Loads. It made a huge difference in reducing the porpose effect. IMO, get some E rated tires, a second sway bar, and adjust the hitch then. Stable Loads are a nice feature, but not as important as tires. You will have to just get used to some sway, no matter what size TV you have, but it should not be so bad as to create a control problem. I would rather get smacked by the little woman than by the retaining wall. First, get some sturdy tires.

[APT]

If your WDH was set up by the dealer when the truck and TT were empty, you probably need to readjust it. Take a look at this thread for some tips.

[Airstreamer67]

Try the second sway bar and cinch them up tight. It will literally double the anti-sway force and is well worth the $75 or so. I use two bars and they work very well.

[Wishin]

Good to hear that your tongue weight is in the correct range, I'd probably try to keep it closer to the 13.2% if you can although 11.7% should be okay. My trailer ranges from 15-17%. I towed it for 6 seasons with my Roadmaster wagon. What you describe is exactly how it felt the first time I had it fully loaded and was on the express way. I had 1 friction bar, I'm sure 2 would have helped but I just upgraded to the Reese Dual Cam system since it was compatible with the bars I had. Made a HUGE difference. I towed about 8k miles with it all over the place including some long out of state trips, twice in the mountains out east in various places. The next change that made an improvement that was noticeable was upgrading my tires. I went from 245/60R17 all season tires to 235/65R17 V-speed rated performance summer tires. Probably the equivalent on a truck of going from P tires to LT tires. Stiffer sidewalls are noticeable.

For now, I'd start with checking on hitch set-up. Nose level or slightly down, putting the correct amount of weight back on the front tires, etc. See if that makes a difference. Then add another bar or upgrade to a better hitch like the dual cam or Equilizer. Next time you buy tires, definitely get LT tires. Maxing out air pressure on the current ones will help as well, although probably not a lot.

[RobWNY]

Thank you for all the information. I have weighed my trailer on scales when loaded and it's actual weight was 7488 pounds so I just rounded up on this post. I have also weighed the tongue with a Sherline scale when loaded and it varies depending on where I load the gear. Anywhere from 990 when everything is up front and 875 when evenly distributed so I am in the 11.7% to 13.2% range. I will play with the weight distribution and get a 2nd sway bar and see if that helps. I know tires makes a huge difference but I have all of 9,000 miles on the Goodyear tires. I think my wife would smack me if I went out and spent another $1,000 on new tires right now.

[RinconVTR]

I am not about to jump on the "too little truck" bandwagon, that's the easy way out and I don't think it fairly applies here.

Being new and not having towed something so large and heavy, what you're feeling could be normal. You'll always know you're towing 4 tons behind you, even with a 1 ton truck. Heck, even semi's get blown around by the wind and react to heavy trailers.

There are however big improvements to be had if your towing near a trucks limits. Most if not all common items have been mentioned.

#1 Know your weights...trailer AND tongue weight - using a truck scale. Tongue weight in my experience, often surprises people. And I know many say go right up to 15%, but that has not been my experience towing with 1/2 tons and SUV's. 11-12% has been a sweet spot.

#2 Make sure your WDH is set up correctly with the trailer loaded for a trip. (including payload in the truck)

#3 Tire upgrade. Tires make a HUGE...HUGE difference.

#4 Rear suspension upgrades such as shocks and air bags are a very common, proven upgrades. But note that bags are to be used to mask sag when using a WDH. The WDH takes priority, and sag should not exist when its set up right. The bags will add spring rate and reduce rear end movement.

[goducks10]

Typical 1/2 ton truck 8000lb TT towing scenario. Even cranking down the WD won't make it solid. Those friction sway bars aren't going to control much either. A Reese or EQ 4pt sway will improve things a little.
But to fully get rid of the problem you need a Hensley Arrow or Pro Pride hitch.

I'm guessing your TT is around 33' long. Which is a lot coupled with the 8000lbs you probably weigh. That's really 3/4 ton or F150 HD payload territory.

[Desert_Captain]

Get the rig loaded as you normally travel and get thee to the scale. I will be surprised if that trailer doesn't weigh something north of 8,000# (never, but never believe "Dry" anything weights!). The biggest problem you probably have and like everyone else here this conjecture until you get back from the scale, but....

Five will get you ten that you are over, probably waaaay over your trucks payload. An 8,000# TT needs to generate at least 1,000#+ of tongue weight. Add in another 100# for the WDH and then start subtracting from your trucks payload (see the sticker on the inside of the door post. You probably have around 1400# of available payload or less if it is a 4X4 or crew cab.

Also.... IMHO: You need to lose the P's. They have no business on a truck that pulls as much trailer as you have. Get a set of E rated LT's (I recommend the Michelin LTX M/S 2's but I digress), weigh your rig and reload as necessary to insure at least 13% TW and I think you will be much happier.

The F-150 Ecco Boost is a great truck but towing 8,000+# with anything less than the Max Payload and towing packages is NOT what they were designed to do. Can you do it? You betcha... but just because you can do something does not mean it is a good idea. :S

Good Luck!

:C

[elivi8]

I have a similar setup and it took a bit to figure out the settings on the WD hitch. The other guys are right, get it weighed. This will tell you a lot of information that can assist your setup.

[fla-gypsy]

The P rated tires can allow a lot of side roll. I agree you need to adjust the tension on the WD hitch also. In your case I would guess from your comments you may have to much but hard to say without actual TW numbers.

[skipnchar]

That's a fairly large trailer for a single friction bar anti sway system. I believe even the manufacturer recommends no more than 25 Feet in length when using one bar. Add to that, friction bassed bars are strictly REactive so they don't do anything until you have trailer sway. That being said some of the friction based (Reactive) integrated anti sway systems do have a pretty good reputation (Equalizer for example). Even better is a proactive system like the Reece duel cam system (about the same price as Equalizer) or some of the high dollar models like Hensley or Propride.

To begin with make sure you have the WD set up per instructions from Ford (see your owners manual). They are now recommending that you restore only half of the front end rise where as it used to be restoring 100% of the front end drop. Do NOT assume that since it was installed by an RV dealer because they are NOT hitch experts in most cases. Many very large ones will not even install hitches but refer customers to a hitch specialist for set up.

All of that assumes that everything ELSE is correct (axle alignment on the trailer, using truck tires for towing not passenger tires and tongue weight is correct (10% to 15% of total trailer weight).

Good luck / Skip

[Terryallan]

Turbo Diesel Dude wrote:
Need one more link on your chain and load range E on your tires. P's side walls are too soft. I have same truck in the SC 2013 4X4 and my TT is FR 831 Classic about the same weight, maybe a smidge heavier. I'm also adding heavier shocks and a set of overloads.

I'm going to agree with this. First the dealer set up an empty trailer. You loaded it, and changed it. It is normal to need to pull one more link after loading the trailer. I did as well. Really helped my towing. One chain link REALLY makes a huge difference

And the tires. Another 5 psi may help, but higher rated tires will help more. Tires that have a max 44 psi, usually have a max 2275 lb rating. I would look for a tire that is rated to at least 2601 lb. The stiffer sidewall will really settle down your towing experience

[the_bear_II]

Maximum air pressure on the tires and sounds like you may need more weight at the tongue so adjust your hitch.

Also the lines, cracks, tracks and grooves in pavement can play havoc. The truck follows one direction the trailer another direction (at least that's what it feels like).

[MitchF150]

I think you just need to pump up those tires to 44 psi when towing and see how that changes things. If it's still giving you those same feelings, you can try to 'tweak' your WD setup some.. You'll need to know some weights first, so you'll have to run it over a scale and get some actual weights.

Your truck probably weighs more than #5500 when it's hitched up and you 2 in it.. 😉

Probably close to it's GVWR which is probably around #7200.

How was the trailer loaded up? Was this the ride home from the dealer?

If the fresh water tank is above and/or ahead of the trailer axles, try filling it up and giving it a tow. The thought is that should raise your trailers tongue weight and that usually helps with keeping the trailer from 'wandering' around..

I don't think anyone is able to adjust their WD hitch the first time out of the gate... I made my first adjust to my hitch after about 3-4 tows and it made a big difference.. All I did was lower the hitch head one more hole and that was enough to make the nose of the trailer just a tad low in front, but the towing was much better after that.

Good luck!

Mitch