Sway bar
Another fellow posted about adding a HD sway bar to the back of his truck and it got me to thinking.. Has anyone added a rear (or heavier front) SB to a truck used for towing a TT and if so did it ...
Forum Discussion
mericksonjr wrote:
Maybe he was referring to a sway bar on your hitch. I towed a 27' weekend warrior toy hauler for five years with a 3/4 ton pickup with out one in windy conditions here in Wyoming and there were only a hand full of times that I thought maybe I should have invested in one. Although my neighbor tows a 24' trailer with a older Ford Explorer and he swears by his sway bar. I think the secret is truck weight verses trailer weight. If your trailer ways alot more then your truck then maybe you need one more.
Trailer sway is actually not related to the robustness of the tow vehicle. In your example above, two different trailers (and loadings) were responsible for the different behaviour. No doubt, however, that a heavier truck vs trailer would handle wind "jostling" (not sway, which is a oscillating resonance condition) better.
Variables affecting sway principally include improper fore-aft weight balance, speed, external pertubation (such as wind and air pressure), and friction at the articulation joint. What anti-sway bars and WDHs with anti-sway built in do for sway is increase the friction at this joint. But the weight must be properly balanced first and the speed must be slow enough to be safe with respect to sway (i.e not close to the natural frequency(ies) of the combined rig). :)
