New truck, New trailer, TONS of sway!

[Mwolfe450]

I recently took delivery of our 2015 Prowler 32pbhs trailer and towed it home with my 2015 f150 ecoboost pickup. The dealer I bought it from also sold me and installed a blue ox sway pro system. The ride home was downright scary on the highway. A 5 mile trip was about all I could handle staying in the right lane, well some lane and some shoulder, well below the speed limit. I even had a few panic and grab the brake box slide moments to straighten back out. I got it home and thought they set the bars too tight. The rear of the truck felt unplanted and very unstable. Today I hitched back up and went for another ride with less tension on the bars, which helped the truck feel more planted, but still had way more sway than I was comfortable with. I plan on re-installing the hitch myself, and also getting everything weighed up but I need to figure out what issues I might be faced with. The trailer is a touch over 8k empty, and has a tongue weight of 950lbs. The truck is good for 10,700 pounds, so I know I am at the higher end of my truck's capacity, but still within it, especially with the trailer completely empty. Any research I found made the hitch seem like a good unit, and the truck seems to carry the weight ok considering what I'm towing. Any thoughts, or insight is greatly appreciated.

Matt

[LarryJM]

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:

RinconVTR wrote:

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:

camp-n-family wrote:
The Hensley and Pro-prides are excellent hitches, but they are not fixes for under sized trucks.

🙂 Hi, and the weight of these hitches will take up more of your payload.

Not exactly.

On a scale with a trailer...what does the payload rating mean to you?

Correct answer = NOTHING.

When towing, you are "combined" and weights on the scale are what matter. Axle weights and gross combined what you need to focus on. Not payload. A TT with WDH this becomes more useful info than a 5th wheel, however the same basic statement remains true.

🙂 Hi, and your answer is just a play on words. Mentioning payload is simpler for some people to understand. Yes, the extra 150 lbs of a Hensley type hitch can put some people over their payload, GVWR, GAWR, or GVWR. You/I don't want to go over any of your vehicle ratings. Payload is just one of them and one not to be ignored.

I agree and IMO it was RinconVTR's "broad statement" about payload that was bad advice and quite a few posters have correctly pointed out and I agree with. Payload is a very important number for planning purposes to try and ensure you don't bust any of the more specific numbers such as AWRs when you finally get to a set of scales.

Larry

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

RinconVTR wrote:

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:

camp-n-family wrote:
The Hensley and Pro-prides are excellent hitches, but they are not fixes for under sized trucks.

🙂 Hi, and the weight of these hitches will take up more of your payload.

Not exactly.

On a scale with a trailer...what does the payload rating mean to you?

Correct answer = NOTHING.

When towing, you are "combined" and weights on the scale are what matter. Axle weights and gross combined what you need to focus on. Not payload. A TT with WDH this becomes more useful info than a 5th wheel, however the same basic statement remains true.

🙂 Hi, and your answer is just a play on words. Mentioning payload is simpler for some people to understand. Yes, the extra 150 lbs of a Hensley type hitch can put some people over their payload, GVWR, GAWR, or GVWR. You/I don't want to go over any of your vehicle ratings. Payload is just one of them and one not to be ignored.

[RinconVTR]

elidodge@msn.com wrote:
Untill you experance a Hensly/ProPride don~t set in judgement. After owning a propride I would never go back!

I could not agree more.

They take a good setup and make it great.

The OP seems to be content at this time, but I would add, before considering a new truck should that come to mind...keep the truck you love and try one of these 3P (Pivot Point Projection) hitches before making a big move unnecessarily.

[RinconVTR]

gmw photos wrote:

RinconVTR wrote:
....snip...

On a scale with a trailer...what does the payload rating mean to you?

Correct answer = NOTHING.

When towing, you are "combined" and weights on the scale are what matter. Axle weights and gross combined what you need to focus on. Not payload. A TT with WDH this becomes more useful info than a 5th wheel, however the same basic statement remains true.

To any interested "new folks to towing", the above is bad advice. I would suggest new folks do some homework regarding payload as stated by the vehicle manufacturers.

Just my opinion on a comment made on a forum....

If you are going to post a bold comment like this I would suggest you state why PRECISELY why the advice the advice is bad.

I bet you'll figure out before posting again.

[elidodge]

Untill you experance a Hensly/ProPride don~t set in judgement. After owning a propride I would never go back!

[AF_ENG_RETD]

In my limited experience your truck such be ok. Most sway can be directly related to hitch weight. My brother with his Ranger pickup towed a trailer with a mini excavator within 100 lbs of the max tow rating for the little truck. The first time he got to the highway he never got 1 mile before we pulled over to the side. Removed the straps on the excavator and moved it forward approximately 1 foot and re-secured the excavator. pulled back onto the highway and finished our 2 hour one way trip without any hint of sway. He kept the same setup for another 3 years before upgrading to a F150 5.0 supercab.
All this said the biggest cause of sway is usually related to not enough tougue weight. My brother drives commercially and at that time had more than 10 years driving tractor trailers.

Good luck on getting everything setup.

[Walaby]

RinconVTR wrote:

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:

camp-n-family wrote:
The Hensley and Pro-prides are excellent hitches, but they are not fixes for under sized trucks.

🙂 Hi, and the weight of these hitches will take up more of your payload.

Not exactly.

On a scale with a trailer...what does the payload rating mean to you?

Correct answer = NOTHING.

When towing, you are "combined" and weights on the scale are what matter. Axle weights and gross combined what you need to focus on. Not payload. A TT with WDH this becomes more useful info than a 5th wheel, however the same basic statement remains true.

All of the ratings and weights matter.
Separate GVWR for truck and trailer. Each matter independent of the other
Axle weights for both truck and trailer. Each matter independent of the other.
GCWR - total weights of both truck and trailer. This matters as well.

I don't think I qualify for the weight police badge, but I do believe in each of these areas, and one needs to understand how each are affected and make an informed decision to exceed any or all of them.

Mike

[gmw_photos]

RinconVTR wrote:
....snip...

On a scale with a trailer...what does the payload rating mean to you?

Correct answer = NOTHING.

When towing, you are "combined" and weights on the scale are what matter. Axle weights and gross combined what you need to focus on. Not payload. A TT with WDH this becomes more useful info than a 5th wheel, however the same basic statement remains true.

To any interested "new folks to towing", the above is bad advice. I would suggest new folks do some homework regarding payload as stated by the vehicle manufacturers.

Just my opinion on a comment made on a forum....

[RinconVTR]

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:

camp-n-family wrote:
The Hensley and Pro-prides are excellent hitches, but they are not fixes for under sized trucks.

🙂 Hi, and the weight of these hitches will take up more of your payload.

Not exactly.

On a scale with a trailer...what does the payload rating mean to you?

Correct answer = NOTHING.

When towing, you are "combined" and weights on the scale are what matter. Axle weights and gross combined what you need to focus on. Not payload. A TT with WDH this becomes more useful info than a 5th wheel, however the same basic statement remains true.

[Walaby]

Thanks for coming back and updating everyone. Too many times people never come back and it leaves everyone scratching their head.

Glad you got it worked out. As Tom commented, 4 links is a huge change. When I picked up my trailer from the dealer (had them install my Blue Ox), I ended up making a 1 link adjustment tighter (more WD) than they had it. Having to back off 4 is alot.

Mike

[TomG2]

Mwolfe450, thanks for the report. I can't imagine a four link change in bar chains. They must have had the rear tires almost off the ground. Too much of a good thing.

[downtheroad]

Mwolfe450, thanks for reporting back. I wish more folks would do the same after such an interesting and informative thread.

Glad it worked out for you.

[Mwolfe450]

Finally had a chance to adjust things. Aired up truck tires to 45psi, adjusted ball height, and took 4 links out of sway bars. It's a totally different trailer now. Tows night and day compared to dealer setup. I even took a few small highway runs with one more link and one less link in the bars to get an idea of the difference. Also filled the fresh water tank to help with some weight in front of the axles. Almost all sway is gone, only a little wiggle when passing or being passed by a truck which I would expect with that much trailer. I feel safe driving now. So I had a combination of high nose, light tongue, and way to much weight distribution. I'm learning a lot!!

[Community Alumni]

Mwolfe450 wrote:
Wow. Thanks for all of the input. I haven't had time to mess with the setup, I am hoping to do so soon. I understand I am at or above the limits of the truck once the trailer is loaded. I towed it home empty, with nothing in it. So I towed an 8k trailer with a 950lb tongue weight trailer and it was bad. I understand weight capacities are glorified on trucks, especially 1/2 tons. I have towed 10k with the truck and had no complaints, but that was an open trailer, much different than a 32ft sail. I also feel some people have responded thinking the truck had no suspension left with the trailer. In fact, I felt it had way to much travel left for being at capacity. When I took some resistance out of the bars it certainly helped. Not sure of tires on the truck but they're oem goodyears definitely not e rated, I'll guess lt tires. Payload on the truck is 2060lbs. Yes that's including passengers which is less than 550lbs. So I have 1500lb carrying capacity being conservative in the truck. The trailer would generally be towed fairly light for small weekend trips and full hookup sites. The dealers setup had the trailer level to slightly nose up. I will set the hitch up according to instructions and nose the trailer slightly and re try it. Then I will add tongue weight and try again. Lastly I will hitch it up to a v10 250 and see how that is. will the 250 pull it better, absolutely. If I'm still not comfortable in the f150 I will get a different trailer. I guess my original question in my first post was what might make it so squirrelly empty? Would prowler sell such an unbalanced trailer? Or can a poorly set up hitch cause that much sway?

Setting up the hitch with the trailer being slightly nose high could be the source of the problem. Typically this is done to account for lots of squat, but if your truck doesn't have much squat when the trailer is hooked up then the tongue will remain high. The more tension on the bars, the higher the nose will go as it transfers more weight to the front axle. The higher the nose the less stable a trailer will pull. This would probably explain why when you backed off the bars things got better, but it didn't correct the problem completely. Just a theory, but after backing off you're still too nose high. Additionally it could be possible the bars do not have enough tension to make the sway control aspect effective after backing off. Just tossing out some ideas.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

camp-n-family wrote:
The Hensley and Pro-prides are excellent hitches, but they are not fixes for under sized trucks.

🙂 Hi, and the weight of these hitches will take up more of your payload.