Help!!! 2016 F150 with Blue Ox SwayPro measurements!

[PolarisRich]

I recently purchased a 2018 Coachmen Apex 245BHS. I picked it up a few days ago and the drive home from the dealer was a 2 1/2 hour white knuckle nightmare to say the least! I know some of the problem was the weather that day, it was blowing steady 30 with gusts 45-50mph crosswinds. But that's not really what this post is all about! The dealer installed the Blue Ox SwayPro BXM1000 and said everything was set perfectly but after a closer inspection I noticed a few issues in the setup from what I've read online. I decided when I got home to redo the hitch setup. I think I have it setup properly but I'd like to run the measurements by everyone and get your opinions!

Here's a little info on the truck and trailer....
2016 Ford F150 FX4
Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude 275/65r/18 ( Garbage Tires I Know!) 35 psi

2018 Apex 245bhs dry weight around 4600lbs
Tongue weight is around 14% at the moment with propane and battery. Trailer is not loaded yet.

Now for the Measurements!

With the trailer level the top of the ball coupler is at 24 1/2".
Top of the ball in the receiver is at 25 1/2"
1" difference in height.

Truck tire "no trailer" measurements from ground to fender.
Front 37 1/8"
Rear 39 5/8"

Truck Measurements with the "trailer attached" and SwayPro hooked up.
Link #9, 3 1/2 links showing below rotating latch
Front 37 1/4"
Rear 37 3/4"

Link #10, 2 1/2 links showing below rotating latch
Front 37 1/8"
Rear 37 7/8"


To me Link 10 might be the better choice. The front axle is the exact same height loaded with the WDH installed as the "no trailer" height. The truck has a 1 3/4" sag in the rear but only a 3/4" difference from front to rear.
The trailer on link 10 is perfectly level to the ground when measuring font and rear points on the frame.

Now another question is about my tires!
I've done a little reading and I'm finding out that my tires are not the best for towing.
At 35 Psi I read the sidewalls are extremely soft and can cause the truck to feel like its swaying back and forth. I looked at the sidewall and it says Max Pressure 51 Psi.
Should I be running the tires at Max Pressure when I'm towing?

I'm a little scatterbrained right now so I hope this makes sense!!!

[Mike_Up]

Running my P-Series tires over 35 psi to about 42 psi (max is 50 psi) can result in the truck jumping off to the side when hitting large bumps as the tires are over inflated and hard. The same happened to my 2012 F150 even when I had the LT tires over inflated. Once to the correct inflation, side jumping over bumps never happened.

[Mike_Up]

Nothing is going to handle 40 mph crosswind well. Every truck and trailer combo I've had was white Knuckled with 40 mph crosswinds with Reese Dual cam or Blue Ox hitches.

It's not the sway but the push and pull of the whole rig from the gusts pushing then stopping. The oscillation of the pushing. With soft, cushy side walls of P-series tires, your truck will wobble back and forth. With the large side surface area, a travel trailer is about the worst trailer to have in wind gusts.

With E rated 10 ply LT tires, the stiff sidewalls of the tires will minimize greatly the wobble effect of the sidewalls, and make the truck much more stable but the rig will still be pushed from the gusts.

The problem is when the driver reacts to the push and as soon as the gust is gone, the driver needs to react as well. This constant reaction, if over done, can result in driver induced sway.

All said, my 2016 Aluminum F150 with the Blue Ox Sway Pro hitch offers a better and more stable tow with P-Series tires than my previous 2012 Steel F150 with the Reese Strait-Line Hitch System (HP Dual Cam).

None the less LT tires will make the tow much much better as I've experience when I went to E-Rated 10 Ply LT tires on my previous 2012 F150.

Living in Northern Indiana we have high wind gusts all the time. Mainly coming off of the lake (Lake Michigan) and no obstacles to break up wind coming across open farm fields.

I will say we just had 50 mph gusts and several roads were closed last weekend to semi truck/trailer combinations due to it. I of course was pulling my trailer right off of the shore of Lake Michigan which was at it's worst.

Driving between 45 - 55 mph, it was none eventful. Pushing me, yes, but not to an unsafe level. I definitely wouldn't tow above 55 mph with gusts that high.

[rbpru]

Part of the clue is 40 to 50 mph cross winds. We hit those on the Interstate in OK and TX, on our way to AZ. There is little you can do to improve that situation except slow down. I our case we chose side roads and 30 - 35 mph.

I suppose and alternate would be an F-350 dually but I live in IN with modest 15 to 25 mph cross wind gusts.


Drive safe

[Community Alumni]

You can air the tires up to 51 PSI. Run the truck and trailer across a CAT scale. It's better to base your adjustments off of actual weights vs fender measurements. You can clearly see where the weight is moving with scale numbers.

[SoundGuy]

PolarisRich wrote:
The dealer installed the Blue Ox SwayPro BXM1000 and said everything was set perfectly but after a closer inspection I noticed a few issues in the setup from what I've read online.

It most likely was ... for an empty trailer. :R It's unrealistic to expect any dealer to set up a WD system on an empty trailer and not have to readjust that system later once you've figured out your trailer loading, compensating for the change in trailer weight and weight bias. Almost all of us have had to do this so your situation is hardly unique ... heck, back when we owned our K-Z Spree I readjusted my Equal-i-zer 8 times before I got it just the way I wanted it. :E

[rbpru]

I have about the same set up and have over 30,000 towing miles. The truck is an F-150 4x4 with E-boost, the TT is a 25 ft. Dutchmen. 5000 lbs. dry weight.

The Blue Ox hitch ball was set by the dealer one inch high before hook up, when both were level. I left the dealer with everything riding level at seven links and instructions to adjust the links when the rig was loaded for the road.

Loaded for the road the CAT scales show a TT weight of 6200 lbs. with 750 lbs. of that weight on the tongue. I find nine links level the rig with just a bit of nose down. I found the Wrangler tires worked fine but wore rather quickly. I inflate the tires to 40 psi when towing.

Cross winds and truck buffets are part of towing. However, in gusts of 35 to 40 mph. I bale out and drive on the side roads at about 30 mph.

It is perfect combo for us. No sway during a swerve or hard stops. No issues in the Rockies or the desert and small enough to wind though city streets to find quilt and gun shops.

Safe travels

[PolarisRich]

I'll have to keep trying between links 8 9 and 10 to see what the difference is when pulling. Looks like there's some testing in my future!

[NWnative]

Sounds like the link #9 spec is set up per what the manual recommends for WDH hitches on the ford. With that said, for my set up, i run on link #8 with 4 1/2 links showing and it's perfect. I also run a 305 tire that has an XL load rating which provides for a stiffer sidewall. With every link you add, you are sending more weight to the front axle of the truck making the back end lighter. Try going the other way and see if that helps at all. I should also mention when I first bought the trailer, i had 1000lb bars and was getting a porpoising effect at times. I swapped them for the 1500lb bars and Link #8 to get it dialed in. Good luck.

[PolarisRich]

This is from the 2016 Ford manual

Park the loaded vehicle, without the trailer, on a level surface.
Measure the height to the top of your vehicle's front wheel opening on the fender. This is H1.
Attach the loaded trailer to your vehicle without the weight-distributing bars connected.
Measure the height to the top of your vehicle's front wheel opening on the fender a second time. This is H2.
Install and adjust the tension in the weight-distributing bars so that the height of your vehicle's front wheel opening on the fender is approximately a quarter the way down from H2, toward H1.
Check that the trailer is level or slightly nose down toward your vehicle. If not, adjust the ball height accordingly and repeat Steps 2-6.

[PolarisRich]

I never thought about taking that measurement! I went off the measurements that Blue Ox suggested for their style of weight distribution hitch! It seems like what Ford says and Blue Ox says kind of contradicts each other! Blue Ox says no more than 1/2 inch difference on the front

[Lynnmor]

You didn’t say what the front measurement was without the SwayPro and the trailer on the ball. It should lift a fair amount and Ford says to adjust the weight distribution to bring it back down one half of what it raised. Probably somewhere between that one half and all the way back would work best.

The recommendation to inflate tires to full sidewall specs should help.

[camp-n-family]

Air the tires to the max on the sidewall for towing but even then they may still be too soft. Consider upgrading to E rated tires when the time comes to replace (or sooner).

Do yourself a favor and load the trailer up first,as you would to camp, otherwise your measurements will be off again and adjustments will need to be done a third time.

[Lwiddis]

“and the drive home from the dealer was a 2 1/2 hour white knuckle nightmare to say the least! I know some of the problem was the weather that day, it was blowing steady 30 with gusts 45-50mph crosswinds.”

Then pull over and wait the wind out. White knuckles are unnecessary. Don’t tow in wind that makes you uncomfortable. Experienced dealer says set up perfectly. Newbie says dealer wrong. Hmmm

TV tires at 35 psi? What were you thinking?