Trailer Sway
I have a small (18 ft) Terry Resort trailer, it's nothing fancy a 1988 but in good shape. I picked it up in California, combining a visit with a friend and getting this trailer. I had it loaded wro...
Forum Discussion
Controlling sway covers a number of factors.
- a WDH
- sway control friction bar or integral in WDH
- measure before & after front fender height to restore correct amount of weight back onto steer axle
- tongue wt. of 12-14% (or slightly more if TV payload cap. not exceeded)
- inflate TT tires to sidewall max.
- replace P rated tires on TV with load range E tires and increase psi for towing
- adjust hitch to get TT level to slightly nose down
- HD shocks on TV
- shocks on TT
- ensure no excessive play in receiver/shank/WDH
- as mentioned just above, ensure front end of TV is not worn if it is a few years old or more and has a lot of miles and/or hard use.
Inadequate TW and not having the spring bars adjusted properly is extremely important and the no.1 cause of accidents and incidents. A trip to a scale is always a good idea to get TV payload capacity, TW and TT GVW. The towing forum has a good sticky on WDH setup.
Our first TT was 20', towed with an F150. Sway was terrible but that was before I knew about any of the above. Now tow a 29' TT with an F250 and have zero sway but took a while to get there after addressing all the above. Addressing all of the above also helps substantially with handling on twisty/bouncy mountain roads, esp. at speed (max. 65mph). Zero sway is way cool to have... :)
- a WDH
- sway control friction bar or integral in WDH
- measure before & after front fender height to restore correct amount of weight back onto steer axle
- tongue wt. of 12-14% (or slightly more if TV payload cap. not exceeded)
- inflate TT tires to sidewall max.
- replace P rated tires on TV with load range E tires and increase psi for towing
- adjust hitch to get TT level to slightly nose down
- HD shocks on TV
- shocks on TT
- ensure no excessive play in receiver/shank/WDH
- as mentioned just above, ensure front end of TV is not worn if it is a few years old or more and has a lot of miles and/or hard use.
Inadequate TW and not having the spring bars adjusted properly is extremely important and the no.1 cause of accidents and incidents. A trip to a scale is always a good idea to get TV payload capacity, TW and TT GVW. The towing forum has a good sticky on WDH setup.
Our first TT was 20', towed with an F150. Sway was terrible but that was before I knew about any of the above. Now tow a 29' TT with an F250 and have zero sway but took a while to get there after addressing all the above. Addressing all of the above also helps substantially with handling on twisty/bouncy mountain roads, esp. at speed (max. 65mph). Zero sway is way cool to have... :)
