Trailer sway

[cactusdog]

I recently bought a new 23-ft trailer, my old one was 18-ft. I have only taken it on one trip so far. I have noticed that this trailer has considerably more sway than the old one. I am set up with a WD hitch and a sway bar on the passenger side. I'm looking for some suggestions to control the sway.

• Maybe another sway bar installed on the driver's side?
• Does which link you put your spring bars on affect sway? (It seems like it has less sway on the 2nd link vs the 3rd)
• It also seemed to have less sway when I towed it home from the dealer - they had filled the fresh water tanks - 80 gallons worth.

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions!

[Terryallan]

cactusdog wrote:
I recently bought a new 23-ft trailer, my old one was 18-ft. I have only taken it on one trip so far. I have noticed that this trailer has considerably more sway than the old one. I am set up with a WD hitch and a sway bar on the passenger side. I'm looking for some suggestions to control the sway.

• Maybe another sway bar installed on the driver's side?
• Does which link you put your spring bars on affect sway? (It seems like it has less sway on the 2nd link vs the 3rd)
• It also seemed to have less sway when I towed it home from the dealer - they had filled the fresh water tanks - 80 gallons worth.

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions!

First. You NEVER try to fix a sway problem with sway control. that can get you wrecked. You fix sway with trailer balance, and hitch setup. Fix the problem, and then, and only then add sway control.

From you post. You need to start over. The reason it towed better home from the dealer is. they set it up empty. You loaded it, and sounds like you loaded it to the rear. Move the weight to the front, and reset the hitch. Do the measurements. Get the front right, and the rear will take care of itself.

Read your truck WDH setup instructions to find how much drop you need to return to the front axle. I'm in the return it to the unhitched height camp. Always has worked for me. your truck may be different. But you have to get the weight back on the front.

[Cummins12V98]

downtheroad wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
It's called needing more truck than you think to control a TT!

Baloney...he has a very do-able combination..
I agree with others who say he needs to re-tweak his hitch some.

First problem he probably has is P tires with soft sidewalls and a larger TT is going to cause more sway.

Throw a set of "E" tires on the truck and a lot of the problem will disappear.

[campigloo]

I too think you have the right truck for the task. Looking at the chains on the torsion bars you may have too much tilt on the head. Try taking a washer or two out. The idea is to put a little more weight on the ball. You may have to drop another link or two but that's normal. Dropping the head one notch may also help since the trailer would ride a little more nose down. Moral of the story, adjust the WD hitch. Your truck looks fine.

[downtheroad]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
It's called needing more truck than you think to control a TT!

Baloney...he has a very do-able combination..
I agree with others who say he needs to re-tweak his hitch some.

[myredracer]

You MUST learn how a WDH needs to be set up. Read the hitch setup sticky threads at the top of this towing forum, by BarneyS and Ron Gratz.

The weight exerted onto the trailer hitch ball from the tongue weight of the trailer removes weight from the steer axle on the tow vehicle. If you do not have enough weight transferred back onto the steer axle, the tow vehicle handling can be affected and feel like it's hard to control, even to the point of being very unsafe and losing control if improperly adjusted.

You need to be measuring the front fender height before you hook up the trailer and then after it's hooked up and the chains are engaged on the snap up brackets. You need to restore an amount of weight as per your truck's owners manual as not all trucks are the same.

It would help to know what your actual tongue weight is by going to a scale which takes 3 passes for a travel trailer. WDHs have different spring bar ratings and should be matched to the actual tongue weight.

You also need to have the truck and trailer tires inflated to the right psi. The TT tires should be inflated to the max. psi on the tire's sidewall (if load range C is 50 psi).

[MitchF150]

It's called needing more truck than you think to control a TT!

Well, that's not necessarily correct... 😉

I once loaded my little 8' utility trailer with too much weight on the back end (placed 3 bags of instant cement on the end and towed it home about 1 mile... Well, that little 8' trailer was all over the road!

I guess the OP should get a 4500 series truck to tow his #7500 TT.. 😉

Mitch

[MitchF150]

Not enough tongue weight would be my first WAG.

If the photo in your sig is your current setup, it looks like the trailer is a bit tongue high and the trucks rear end is sagging a bit... I like to tow with the tongue just a bit lower and the truck level..

But, pics are deceiving, so it could just be the angle of the pic... 😉

Adding "sway control devices" to control an uncomfortable tow is NOT a fix.. A properly loaded, setup, engineered trailer should just not 'sway' as you go down the road.. If it does, it's not loaded, setup or engineered properly IMO..

Get some weights on your new rig setup and then you might be able to see where the issue is.

Good luck!

Mitch

[Cummins12V98]

It's called needing more truck than you think to control a TT!

[K_Charles]

You don't just try a different link, you set up the hitch every time you change truck or trailer.