Looking for better Sway Control

[dmcf]

Just bought a new to us 2006 KZ Frontier 2405 TT, and I am towing with a 2007 Nissan Armada. Before this TT I was towing a Antigua 215SSO, which was about a foot shorter, and 1200 lbs lights. It towed great, but I do not enjoy towing the new trailer. I get some sway, and we are bouncing all over the place. Currently using basic WD bars, and a simple friction anti sway bar. So, I am looking for a new set up with much better sway control. I just watched a video on the Anderson Hitch, and I like the setup, but not sure how well it works. Anyone have suggestions of systems I should be looking at?

Thanks,
Darren

[myredracer]

I also agree that you likely do not have the hitch set up correctly. You should not have bad sway issues with a trailer that is only 25&1/2' long and if you have a basic WDH and sway control. I could not find much info. on that KZ model either. I found 5300 lbs as the dry weight which means the actual loaded weight is going to be around 6500 lbs. GVWR is 7,000 lbs.

A fancy & expensive WDH hitch is not going to solve any weight, payload capacity or other issues you may have that need addressing first.

My own experience with our KZ TT is that the tongue weight ended up being almost double the dry tongue wt. and the loaded trailer weight is only 200 lbs under the UVW. Tongue ended up at 15% of the TT weight. Our TT weight is very close to yours and our Reese DC works extremely well. We tow with a 3/4 ton though. Even with a 3/4 ton, we don't have a lot of payload capacity left over to play with.

Without going to a scale, I would use 7000 lbs as a figure to base the tongue wt. on. Judging by a photo, the axles seem set farther back from the hitch than the average trailer (I *think*) so I would use 15% of 7000 lbs as the tongue wt. = 1050 lbs.

I'm not sure what rating your WDH bars are but I highly suspect your old ones are too small. I would say that you should have at least 1000 lb rated bars and potentially even more. But until you know exactly what your tongue weight is, you are just guessing. Not sure if your bars come in 600, 800, 1000, then 1200 lb. ratings? Ours jumped from 800 to 1200 lbs.

We bought 800 lb bars for our KZ unit before it arrived and the tongue wt. ended up being so much higher, we had to go to 1200 lb bars (Reese trunnion type). I initially had major problems trying to set up the weight transfer but with the 1200 lb bars, it worked out easily. The handling was almost much improved.

The best thing you can ever do is take your tow vehicle and trailer to a scale and get the trailer, tongue and truck weights and to also determine what weights are being transferred to the 3 axle sets. You want to end up with about 50% to the drive axle and which will end up about 25% each to the steer and TT axles. If your bars are undersized, you'll never get the WDH set up right. Not only that, you may find that you have a lot of bounce in the rear of the trailer, like we did. That increased bounce can also affect the handling of the tow vehicle.

Have you looked the payload and towing capacity of your Armada? In the Nissan Towing Guide it lists the max. tongue wt. as 650 lbs and max. trailer wt. as 6,500 lbs. It looks to me that you will be slightly over on trailer weight but way over on max. tongue weight. Not good to be towing way over the tongue capacity. Could not find the listed payload capacity but I would want to check that too. The only way to know what your actual payload capacity is to take the TV scale weight and subtract it from the GVWR. If you are significantly overloaded, that will definitely not help handling. Don't forget you need to allow for passengers, pets, groceries and other payload in the Armada.

Don't forget to look at checking for correct tire pressure. I'd also check to see if your shocks are worn and could do with replacing.

[bigcitypopo]

they are very similarly priced...

[PopsRacer]

Unyalli wrote:

PopsRacer wrote:
I've seen a couple Hensley hitches and a Pro-Pride and they are really sweet setups. I have an Equalizer and it's been working well for me but if I wanted better, it'd probably be a Pro-Pride or Hensley.

FYI propride 3p is simply Hensley version 2.
Hensley Hitch Story
There is no comparison between the equali-z-er and propride 3p. One is a sway reducing hitch the other a sway eliminating hitch.

That's why I brought it up, looking at them side by side any difference was not terribly obvious but the Pro-Pride cost significantly less especially if a previously used one can be found.

[Unyalli]

kennethdochenetz wrote:
I bought a Pro Pride Hitch and I have no sway problems . We are hauling a 35 ft trailer.They are worth the money.It was a little trickly getting use to it the first couple of times hooking up but after that piece of cake

I'm with ya. Out side of the best towing experience i've ever had I really like the infinitely adjustable load bars. On the fly adjustability for varying loads like water tanks.

[LarryJM]

I am still wayne_tw wrote:
Hensley Arrow. Completely eliminates sway, not just control it. www.nosway.com

IMO while that is a great hitch your blanket recommendation is IMO dangerous and not something I would recommend like you did. Listen to Terry et. al. and fix the problem first then you might find what you have now is satisfactory albiet not the best.

Larry

[kennethdochenet]

I bought a Pro Pride Hitch and I have no sway problems . We are hauling a 35 ft trailer.They are worth the money.It was a little trickly getting use to it the first couple of times hooking up but after that piece of cake

[relliott75]

I'm a huge fan of the Reese dual cam - it's been great and I have only really felt sway while driving across Nebraska with 45 mph cross winds.

[Unyalli]

PopsRacer wrote:
I've seen a couple Hensley hitches and a Pro-Pride and they are really sweet setups. I have an Equalizer and it's been working well for me but if I wanted better, it'd probably be a Pro-Pride or Hensley.

FYI propride 3p is simply Hensley version 2.
Hensley Hitch Story
There is no comparison between the equali-z-er and propride 3p. One is a sway reducing hitch the other a sway eliminating hitch.

[PopsRacer]

I've seen a couple Hensley hitches and a Pro-Pride and they are really sweet setups. I have an Equalizer and it's been working well for me but if I wanted better, it'd probably be a Pro-Pride or Hensley.

[ktmrfs]

CincyGus wrote:

thirtydaZe wrote:
For those of you saying a properly setup wd and sway system eliminates sway, does this also include a stiff cross wind? My tt trails well with the wind, or light to no wind conditions, however in NE he wind is almost always humming from the south, and im almost traveling east or west.

It treks well, but id be lying if i siad i could feel it move the truck from time to time.

If your towing something with as much surface area as a travel trailer, you are going to feel it move once in awhile when a wind gust hits you or larger vehicle (semi, another trailer) pulls along you and changes the amount of wind resistance you are getting. What having the proper amount of tingue weight, a properly setup W/D bar and some form of sway control does is minimize these instances to just a change of direction and not the back and forth sway that can cause you to lose control.

Lack of tongue weight makes the trailer more likely to sway back and forth.

Improperly setup W/D hitch can cause to little tongue weight, lack of weight on the steering axle of your vehicle causing a floating feeling in your steering or a lack of sterring response.

They all work together and if properly setup, work well together to help your vehicle to be predictable and safe to drive when towing.

Mine moves about 6-8 inches when a semi passes me but is very predictable. If I see a semi gaining on me, I even scoot over a little, knowing I'm going to move when he gets along side. And I have never had more than a single direction movement when properly setup. I've had plenty of white knuckle, downhill sways that almost got away from me before I knew how to properly setup a tow rig. NEVER Want to do that again.

x2 with our trailer and setup, (dual cam) I usually don't notice anything when big trucks pass, or with a constant sidewind. Occasionally a truck will give me a little push and big gusts will cause a little wiggle, that's it. Worst is going down the columbia river gorge with it's notorious gusty conditions, but unless it's so bad they close it to trailers, I just notice a little wiggle.

But IMHO the key is to set up the trailer so it is inheritely stable WITHOUT sway control, and then add sway control as a safety measure, NOT as a bandaid to stop a trailer that is inheritently unstable.

[thirtydaZe]

CincyGus wrote:

thirtydaZe wrote:
For those of you saying a properly setup wd and sway system eliminates sway, does this also include a stiff cross wind? My tt trails well with the wind, or light to no wind conditions, however in NE he wind is almost always humming from the south, and im almost traveling east or west.

It treks well, but id be lying if i siad i could feel it move the truck from time to time.

If your towing something with as much surface area as a travel trailer, you are going to feel it move once in awhile when a wind gust hits you or larger vehicle (semi, another trailer) pulls along you and changes the amount of wind resistance you are getting. What having the proper amount of tingue weight, a properly setup W/D bar and some form of sway control does is minimize these instances to just a change of direction and not the back and forth sway that can cause you to lose control.

Lack of tongue weight makes the trailer more likely to sway back and forth.

Improperly setup W/D hitch can cause to little tongue weight, lack of weight on the steering axle of your vehicle causing a floating feeling in your steering or a lack of sterring response.

They all work together and if properly setup, work well together to help your vehicle to be predictable and safe to drive when towing.

Mine moves about 6-8 inches when a semi passes me but is very predictable. If I see a semi gaining on me, I even scoot over a little, knowing I'm going to move when he gets along side. And I have never had more than a single direction movement when properly setup. I've had plenty of white knuckle, downhill sways that almost got away from me before I knew how to properly setup a tow rig. NEVER Want to do that again.

thanks for you answer. we just made an upgrade to our tt yesterday, heavier, and longer. driving home, we had a good cross wind, i felt a good jolt or 2, but it was more like you described, 1 direction. all said on done, the new tt has heavier tongue weight, and heavier gross/dry weight. driving home dry yesterday, towed quite a bit nicer than the old tt.

i was always concerned about how well my wd was adjusted. seems to be better now.

thanks again.

[CincyGus]

thirtydaZe wrote:
For those of you saying a properly setup wd and sway system eliminates sway, does this also include a stiff cross wind? My tt trails well with the wind, or light to no wind conditions, however in NE he wind is almost always humming from the south, and im almost traveling east or west.

It treks well, but id be lying if i siad i could feel it move the truck from time to time.

If your towing something with as much surface area as a travel trailer, you are going to feel it move once in awhile when a wind gust hits you or larger vehicle (semi, another trailer) pulls along you and changes the amount of wind resistance you are getting. What having the proper amount of tingue weight, a properly setup W/D bar and some form of sway control does is minimize these instances to just a change of direction and not the back and forth sway that can cause you to lose control.

Lack of tongue weight makes the trailer more likely to sway back and forth.

Improperly setup W/D hitch can cause to little tongue weight, lack of weight on the steering axle of your vehicle causing a floating feeling in your steering or a lack of sterring response.

They all work together and if properly setup, work well together to help your vehicle to be predictable and safe to drive when towing.

Mine moves about 6-8 inches when a semi passes me but is very predictable. If I see a semi gaining on me, I even scoot over a little, knowing I'm going to move when he gets along side. And I have never had more than a single direction movement when properly setup. I've had plenty of white knuckle, downhill sways that almost got away from me before I knew how to properly setup a tow rig. NEVER Want to do that again.

[steeleshark]

I tow a larger trailer with my Armada. I will only get a little bit of sway on windy days or when large vehicles pass. I have 2 friction bars on a basic WDH. However, I am currently upgrading to a new Equalizer for easier hookup and a bit more sway resistance. OP. I would have to say either your hitch is not setup correctly for your trailer or the trailer has to little weight on the tongue.

[thirtydaZe]

For those of you saying a properly setup wd and sway system eliminates sway, does this also include a stiff cross wind? My tt trails well with the wind, or light to no wind conditions, however in NE he wind is almost always humming from the south, and im almost traveling east or west.

It treks well, but id be lying if i siad i could feel it move the truck from time to time.