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

Go get it weighed before any advice is given.

Mwolfe450 wrote:...2015 Prowler 32pbhs trailer and towed it home with my 2015 f150 ecoboost pickup....I plan on re-installing the hitch myself, You are on the right track. Download the manual and start from scratch taking the time to perform and record all measurements as instructed. Having said that, and having towed the TT in my sig with a tuned 2011 F150 EB with gobs of power, that trailer really is too much for an F150. You may try replacing the squishy P tires with E loads, but you will never overcome the limits of the F150 chassis.

Hornnumb2 wrote:Go get it weighed before any advice is given.Getting weights before making sure the hitch is set up properly is a waste of time and money IMHO. You need an accurate baseline first.

Most sway issues I've encountered are having too much weight aft of the trailer axles and not enough forward. I also agree that over 8K lbs. is at the limit for a 1/2 ton truck. You should be able to make it all work but it's something I wouldn't do for continuous long range travel.

The nearest scale is about 30 miles from me and I'm honestly nervous going that far in its current setup. Just curious if anyone had similar symptoms with the hitch setup or trailer size. I'll admit it's more trailer than I was looking for but for the price I paid I was hoping I could make it work. I'm not looking to go cross country with it, but I need to be safe also. I have access to an old Reese system and also a f250 I can hook to it for comparison. Really trying to make the f150 work with it though.

New truck, New trailer, TONS of sway! | Good Sam Community

4Kellys
Explorer
May 04, 2016
Why would someone say don't worry about the weights. You should have done all that before you bought a trailer, course the dealer probably told you you'd be fine. What's your payload, do you have the max tow package, what's your trucks max hitch weight, what's the trailer weigh loaded, what's the trailers tongue weight loaded, did you load it correctly? Other than all that, no sweat!
Atlee
Explorer II
May 02, 2016
I've never turned off the TSC on my 2014 truck when towing. The trailer is happy as a clam at high tide back there, which in turn makes me as happy as a clam at high tide.
93Cobra2771
Explorer
May 02, 2016
Mike Up wrote:
RinconVTR wrote:
Retired JSO wrote:
I have a sway pro and now 2000 lb bars on a work and play wb25 pulled by a 2016 f250. I kept experiencing sway even after changing from 1500 to 2000 lb bars. I quizzed e trailer and other ford forums and discovered the ford trucks with built in sway control act against the actions of the sway pro making the trailer sway more. We just returned from Charleston, about 260 miles. I had turned the sway control off, you have to do it every time you start the truck, and drove all the way with one hand and no, no sway.

Yup. This is also what I recommended the OP try. This is a common situation, but few Ford owners want to come out and talk about it, or they dont realize TSC can be part of the problem.

My post was without the explanation as I dont own a Ford. But I have hands on, direct knowledge and experience with this.

This is why turning off TSC is worth trying when people are experiencing problems, to feel the difference with it on and off, and confirm if it has a negative affect on your set up...or not.

No one wants to hear this...no one wants to believe it...but its real.

Hum, I've towed my current trailer with a 2010 and 2012 F150 with Electronic Sway control turned on, plus with a Reese Strait-Line System (HP Dual Cam Sway Control), never any sway.

Two different trailers with my 11' F150. Three different hitch setups (EZ Lift/friction slider, Reese Dual Cam/Hensley Arrow). Never had to disable mine either.
dodge_guy
Explorer II
May 02, 2016
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?

But, but but..... it can`t be! so many people say it wont be safe! surely you don`t want to undermine the weight police! :B

seriously, glad you got it figured out. sometimes all it takes is a bit of patience and work to get something right! too many times I see people go out and buy a bigger truck, because they thought or were told that's what they needed! which is scarry, because the majority of those people now have an improperly setup trailer on a bigger truck. at the wrong time they will find out it isn`t setup properly. it took me a good year to get mine to tow perfect. mine had too much tongue weight and maxed out load range "D" (on an 11k+ lb TT!) ST tires. lowering the tongue weight to 1200 from 1400 helped, then the tires (ST LR E`s) were the final cure.

As is seen here, spend some time with your setup and you will see a world of difference. how do you think all the people that show up in a campground with a 1/2 ton and large trailer do it. there are so many, all of them can`t be dangerous!
Mike_Up
Explorer
May 02, 2016
RinconVTR wrote:
Retired JSO wrote:
I have a sway pro and now 2000 lb bars on a work and play wb25 pulled by a 2016 f250. I kept experiencing sway even after changing from 1500 to 2000 lb bars. I quizzed e trailer and other ford forums and discovered the ford trucks with built in sway control act against the actions of the sway pro making the trailer sway more. We just returned from Charleston, about 260 miles. I had turned the sway control off, you have to do it every time you start the truck, and drove all the way with one hand and no, no sway.

Yup. This is also what I recommended the OP try. This is a common situation, but few Ford owners want to come out and talk about it, or they dont realize TSC can be part of the problem.

My post was without the explanation as I dont own a Ford. But I have hands on, direct knowledge and experience with this.

This is why turning off TSC is worth trying when people are experiencing problems, to feel the difference with it on and off, and confirm if it has a negative affect on your set up...or not.

No one wants to hear this...no one wants to believe it...but its real.

Hum, I've towed my current trailer with a 2010 and 2012 F150 with Electronic Sway control turned on, plus with a Reese Strait-Line System (HP Dual Cam Sway Control), never any sway.
RinconVTR
Explorer
May 02, 2016
Retired JSO wrote:
I have a sway pro and now 2000 lb bars on a work and play wb25 pulled by a 2016 f250. I kept experiencing sway even after changing from 1500 to 2000 lb bars. I quizzed e trailer and other ford forums and discovered the ford trucks with built in sway control act against the actions of the sway pro making the trailer sway more. We just returned from Charleston, about 260 miles. I had turned the sway control off, you have to do it every time you start the truck, and drove all the way with one hand and no, no sway.

Yup. This is also what I recommended the OP try. This is a common situation, but few Ford owners want to come out and talk about it, or they dont realize TSC can be part of the problem.

My post was without the explanation as I dont own a Ford. But I have hands on, direct knowledge and experience with this.

This is why turning off TSC is worth trying when people are experiencing problems, to feel the difference with it on and off, and confirm if it has a negative affect on your set up...or not.

No one wants to hear this...no one wants to believe it...but its real.
Mwolfe450
Explorer
May 01, 2016
I learned that towing my box trailer before I got a TT. I make it a point to always shut off sway control, it seems to hurt handling more than help it.
Retired_JSO
Explorer
May 01, 2016
I have a sway pro and now 2000 lb bars on a work and play wb25 pulled by a 2016 f250. I kept experiencing sway even after changing from 1500 to 2000 lb bars. I quizzed e trailer and other ford forums and discovered the ford trucks with built in sway control act against the actions of the sway pro making the trailer sway more. We just returned from Charleston, about 260 miles. I had turned the sway control off, you have to do it every time you start the truck, and drove all the way with one hand and no, no sway.
gmw_photos
Explorer
Apr 26, 2016
Here is an example of how gross combined weight rating ( GCWR ) might change, while the axle, payload and tire/rim ratings stay the same:

our 2006 F350 Ford diesel dually, has a GCWR of 23,500 pounds. This truck is equipped with 4.10 gears. If we look in the Ford towing manual, we see that if we make one change, that is, go to 4.30 gears, the GCWR goes up to 26,000 pounds.

This tells us this change has to do with the ability of the powertrain to maintain speed on an incline, accelerate the combined load from a standstill, and to maintain proper powertrain cooling ( among other things likely ).
This change is independent of axle ratings, payload, etc.
The OE manufacturers are good about publishing this info on their websites.
bid_time
Nomad II
Apr 26, 2016
No more useful information to be gathered on this thread folks - Move Along.