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]

I will say, that towing a larger travel trailer needs some experience IMO.

I've towed many trailers, from driving an International 4900 Class 7 Crew Truck pulling construction equipment with a pintle hook to a Pathfinder towing a 12' box, none slide out, pop up. The hardest tow was towing my 29' travel trailer with any of my 3 F150s.

The F150s with the 29' travel trailer, pulls like nothing is back there (except an occasional tug) when there's no wind. With wind, it gets more difficult. You just have to go with the flow and not over react. When you get pushed, hold the wheel strongly and mildly turn the wheel back to where you need to go. Don't yank (out of shock) the wheel to counter the wind. That's what will put you into a sway condition.

Also when you getting pushed and pulled back and forth, slow down and if needed, put your blinkers on. Just slowing down makes the drive so much more manageable.

LT tires will make the tow more manageable as I said before, it can make a huge difference. Others have said rear sway bars make the rear end more planted as well for stability.

While many say buy your last camper first, meaning usually your biggest, I feel there's a learning curve to towing a bumper pull.

I should also point out I don't drive over 65 mph while towing. Usually right around 60 mph. Trailer tires are rated for 65 mph so I don't push them and at the same time, get better mpg and better handling driving at 65 mph and under. It's harder to do with speed limits at 70 mph, but you have to do what's safe for you and your family, not someone else's convenience.

[rbpru]

One was to also consider the "white knuckle" experience. One person's white knuckle ride might be another's annoying wind bumps.

Wind, trucks, busses and class A RVs will almost always rock the boat. It is just part of the RV life. My personal limits are; 60 mph in 25 mph winds, 35 mph in 45 mph winds. In winds above 45 mph we start looking for campgrounds.

Good Luck

[Mike_Up]

PolarisRich wrote:
Now correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I'm at 920 pounds roughly of tongue weight. And if the trailer weighs in at 5580 lb that means I'm at 13.9% tongue weight?

Subtract your Blue Ox weight from that 920 Obviously, which is around 100 lbs. So your tongue weight is really only 820 lbs. You said you left the hitch in for the truck weighing but didn't mention if you left it in also for the truck and trailer weight without the WDH hooked up.

None the less, you have a pretty heavy tongue weight.

[drsteve]

What is your level of towing experience? You will feel a TT behind you, especially in wind and when trucks pass by, and on uneven, bumpy roads.

It may be that you are interpreting the normal feel of pulling a tall TT as being out of control, when you really aren't. What should NOT happen is back-and-forth sway that doesn't want to stop. That indicates either improper loading of the TT, incorrect hitch setup, or both.

[lewisr]

PolarisRich wrote:
Now correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I'm at 920 pounds roughly of tongue weight. And if the trailer weighs in at 5580 lb that means I'm at 13.9% tongue weight?

920/5580=16.48%

[PolarisRich]

Now correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I'm at 920 pounds roughly of tongue weight. And if the trailer weighs in at 5580 lb that means I'm at 13.9% tongue weight?

[PolarisRich]

Okay so I just came home from a weekend trip with about 200 miles. I made a few changes to the wdh and TV. I up my air pressure to maximum 51 psi and started on the number 10 link. There was a little bit of sway and wind buffering so I pulled over tighten the chain to link 11 which seem to pull much better. On the way home the winds were gusting and the trailer seem to be all over the road. I decided to stop in at the cat scale to have my weight measured and this is what I came out with. Any help with these measurements would be greatly appreciated. I really don't know what to make heads or tails of this.

Now before I start I have to say that for the measuring I couldn't reach the call button on the cat scale so I stood on the front scale that would measure the steering axle for all three measurements. My weight is 280 lb. Also I never removed the hitch from the truck when measuring the truck only.

Truck only
Steering axle 3420 lb
Drive axle 2860 lb
Gross weight 6280 lb


Truck and trailer no weight distribution
Steering axle 3060 lb
Drive axle 4140 lb
Trailer axle 4660 lb
Gross weight 11860 lb

Truck and trailer with weight distribution link 11
Steering axle 3440 lb
Drive axle 3520 lb
Trailer axle 4920 lb
Gross weight 11880 lb


First thing I noticed on link 11 I was 20 lb too heavy on the steering axle so I reduced to link 10.

[rbpru]

One also has to account for towing experience. When driving the Interstates or any highway with a lot of truck, side bumps are so common they are no longer unexpected. Occasionally a large touring bus will grab my attention but reasonable cross winds not so much.

I do have the advantage of 25'x 9' profile and I certainly would have a different opinion with a 35'x 13' profile 5ver.

[NWnative]

Have been running the Blue Ox for 2 years now towing my 30ft AS with my 1/2 ton F150. Couldn't be any happier with the performance in all of the conditions I have faced while towing. If it is set up properly, it will do it's job well. Most WDH systems will do their job well...IF set up properly.

[busterbrown73]

Mike Up wrote:

busterbrown73 wrote:
I'm surprise no one has mentioned the only known solution.

The OP had the same sentiments I had when I hitched my 1/2 Ton Yukon XL Denali during our first season to a 35 foot travel trailer by way of a Blue Ox Sway Pro. It did ok for the first couple of local trips. But...no so much when any significant wind was present. Towing through a wind storm with uncontrollable sway one July afternoon will forever stay in my memory. A normally 3 hour ride home took 5 hours as I couldn't drive faster than 40 mph. After this hair raising white knuckle experience with 35 MPH crosswinds, I knew it would be the last time I would drive with a Blue Ox.

So, it was either upgrade to a new $50K HD truck or find a different sway solution.

I choose the cheaper route...a Hensley Arrow.

The Hensley solved it completely and provides a completely relaxed towing experience. Lateral trailer sway is now non-existence in ALL driving conditions.

For kicks and giggles, I reverted back to the Blue Ox for 1 trip when I upgraded TVs to a 3/4 ton RAM megacab. I only upgraded TVs as I ran out of payload with my Yukon. Instantly, the 'sway control' hitch brought back white knuckle memories. I was dumbfounded as I assumed the 160 inch wheelbase of my new 3/4 ton truck would inherently curtail trailer sway. My former Yukon XL was limited to 130 inches from axle to axle. The tail was wagging again when passing trucks of any substantial size. The Blue Ox attempted to control it but you could still feel it in the steering wheel.

With the HA, that feeling never exists. Lateral forces on the sides of the trailer are carried over the entire rig, keeping the trailer in perfect alighnment with the TV. There is never a sway condition.

Since using the Hensley on two long distant trips from Michigan to Florida, the ride is extremely relaxed cresting a mountain, passing 100 ft semi's, and movin through 40 mph crosswinds. My DW (who has never towed before) has been in the driver's seat for about half those miles. We almost forget we're towing a 35 foot travel trailer.

Again, you really have to pull with a Hensley in order to understand how well it works.

Good luck.

Nope, Blue Ox does really well in the wind with my light 2016 F150 compared to my Reese HP Dual Cam system (Strait-Line) with my Steel 2012 F150. Seems the Reese was more prone to sway with very high winds (40+ mph) where the Blue Ox wasn't when properly setup.

Sounds like your Blue Ox wasn't setup properly. Never had any sway with the Blue Ox except when it wasn't setup properly and didn't have enough tension on the spring bars to keep sway from happening.

Of course pulling a 35' travel trailer with a short Wheelbase, 130" Suburban SUV is a combination for a bad pull to begin with. Then a 1/2 ton where the axle rating and payload most likely could be overloaded by such a heavy tongue weight of a very large 35' travel trailer.

A Megacab Ram 3/4 ton, would be worlds better pulling a 35' trailer trailer just by wheelbase alone when sway is concerned.

Nope, there was practically no difference with sway control (via the Blue Ox) with the Yukon XL and my current Ram 2500. I've read reviews of Blue Ox owners that pull trailers over 28ft. Many had the same regret. I'm under the impression that a BO is better fitted for sub-28' pull behinds.

And yes, I had my BO setup perfectly. Went to the scales several times. Numbers were perfect. Tongue weight was 14% loaded. In fact, if I didn't have the funds for a Hensley, I would have converted over to a 4pt Equal-i-zer hitch.

[Mike_Up]

PolarisRich wrote:
I believe I didn't have enough tension on my Spring bars! I'm sure there were many other factors in play on that first trip and with me being a newbie I should have pulled over to the side and tried going up one link to add more spring pressure to the bars! As for the tires I've read many other post that have the same pressure as Mike has suggested running them at 42 PSI. I just want to say thank you to everybody for the comments and suggestions this is really helping me understand and inform me on other choices that I'm sure will be made in the future!

My trailer dry is 5050# and wet about 6500#.

I have 8 links on top of the slot, hanging over, on the rotary latch with 3 1/2 links showing from the bar to the bottom of the rotary latch under tension.

This works "perfectly". I initially only had 7 links hanging and 4 1/2 links showing under tension and that was not enough. It left my trailer nose and truck rear noticeably low, and allowed some sway with very bad 40+ mph crosswinds.

1 link made a "world of difference" pulling the trailer nose and truck rear up, and putting more tension on the spring bars so that the bars has some curve to them.

I was told that these bars need to be tensioned where you see them bend or they don't do their job very well with sway control.

I will say when I said that 42 psi caused the truck to jump to the side over large bumps, that was when the truck was solo. Not sure about towing, but I've never had issues with the truck solo aired to 35 psi to 40 psi. So "I" wouldn't air my tires over 40 psi cold solo or towing.

[PolarisRich]

I believe I didn't have enough tension on my Spring bars! I'm sure there were many other factors in play on that first trip and with me being a newbie I should have pulled over to the side and tried going up one link to add more spring pressure to the bars! As for the tires I've read many other post that have the same pressure as Mike has suggested running them at 42 PSI. I just want to say thank you to everybody for the comments and suggestions this is really helping me understand and inform me on other choices that I'm sure will be made in the future!

[Mike_Up]

busterbrown73 wrote:
I'm surprise no one has mentioned the only known solution.

The OP had the same sentiments I had when I hitched my 1/2 Ton Yukon XL Denali during our first season to a 35 foot travel trailer by way of a Blue Ox Sway Pro. It did ok for the first couple of local trips. But...no so much when any significant wind was present. Towing through a wind storm with uncontrollable sway one July afternoon will forever stay in my memory. A normally 3 hour ride home took 5 hours as I couldn't drive faster than 40 mph. After this hair raising white knuckle experience with 35 MPH crosswinds, I knew it would be the last time I would drive with a Blue Ox.

So, it was either upgrade to a new $50K HD truck or find a different sway solution.

I choose the cheaper route...a Hensley Arrow.

The Hensley solved it completely and provides a completely relaxed towing experience. Lateral trailer sway is now non-existence in ALL driving conditions.

For kicks and giggles, I reverted back to the Blue Ox for 1 trip when I upgraded TVs to a 3/4 ton RAM megacab. I only upgraded TVs as I ran out of payload with my Yukon. Instantly, the 'sway control' hitch brought back white knuckle memories. I was dumbfounded as I assumed the 160 inch wheelbase of my new 3/4 ton truck would inherently curtail trailer sway. My former Yukon XL was limited to 130 inches from axle to axle. The tail was wagging again when passing trucks of any substantial size. The Blue Ox attempted to control it but you could still feel it in the steering wheel.

With the HA, that feeling never exists. Lateral forces on the sides of the trailer are carried over the entire rig, keeping the trailer in perfect alighnment with the TV. There is never a sway condition.

Since using the Hensley on two long distant trips from Michigan to Florida, the ride is extremely relaxed cresting a mountain, passing 100 ft semi's, and movin through 40 mph crosswinds. My DW (who has never towed before) has been in the driver's seat for about half those miles. We almost forget we're towing a 35 foot travel trailer.

Again, you really have to pull with a Hensley in order to understand how well it works.

Good luck.

Nope, Blue Ox does really well in the wind with my light 2016 F150 compared to my Reese HP Dual Cam system (Strait-Line) with my Steel 2012 F150. Seems the Reese was more prone to sway with very high winds (40+ mph) where the Blue Ox wasn't when properly setup.

Sounds like your Blue Ox wasn't setup properly. Never had any sway with the Blue Ox except when it wasn't setup properly and didn't have enough tension on the spring bars to keep sway from happening.

Of course pulling a 35' travel trailer with a short Wheelbase, 130" Suburban SUV is a combination for a bad pull to begin with. Then a 1/2 ton where the axle rating and payload most likely could be overloaded by such a heavy tongue weight of a very large 35' travel trailer.

A Megacab Ram 3/4 ton, would be worlds better pulling a 35' trailer trailer just by wheelbase alone when sway is concerned.

[busterbrown73]

I'm surprise no one has mentioned the only known solution.

The OP had the same sentiments I had when I hitched my 1/2 Ton Yukon XL Denali during our first season to a 35 foot travel trailer by way of a Blue Ox Sway Pro. It did ok for the first couple of local trips. But...no so much when any significant wind was present. Towing through a wind storm with uncontrollable sway one July afternoon will forever stay in my memory. A normally 3 hour ride home took 5 hours as I couldn't drive faster than 40 mph. After this hair raising white knuckle experience with 35 MPH crosswinds, I knew it would be the last time I would drive with a Blue Ox.

So, it was either upgrade to a new $50K HD truck or find a different sway solution.

I choose the cheaper route...a Hensley Arrow.

The Hensley solved it completely and provides a completely relaxed towing experience. Lateral trailer sway is now non-existence in ALL driving conditions.

For kicks and giggles, I reverted back to the Blue Ox for 1 trip when I upgraded TVs to a 3/4 ton RAM megacab. I only upgraded TVs as I ran out of payload with my Yukon. Instantly, the 'sway control' hitch brought back white knuckle memories. I was dumbfounded as I assumed the 160 inch wheelbase of my new 3/4 ton truck would inherently curtail trailer sway. My former Yukon XL was limited to 130 inches from axle to axle. The tail was wagging again when passing trucks of any substantial size. The Blue Ox attempted to control it but you could still feel it in the steering wheel.

With the HA, that feeling never exists. Lateral forces on the sides of the trailer are carried over the entire rig, keeping the trailer in perfect alighnment with the TV. There is never a sway condition.

Since using the Hensley on two long distant trips from Michigan to Florida, the ride is extremely relaxed cresting a mountain, passing 100 ft semi's, and movin through 40 mph crosswinds. My DW (who has never towed before) has been in the driver's seat for about half those miles. We almost forget we're towing a 35 foot travel trailer.

Again, you really have to pull with a Hensley in order to understand how well it works.

Good luck.