Weight Distribution vs Sway Bars

[Larryzv7]

I am told that some people have both a weight distribution hitch and a sway bar for their travel trailer; while others have told me that you only need one or the other. I just purchased a new trailer; GVWR 9k and it fish tails when I tow on the highway. What is your opinion on weight distribution hitches verses sway bars?

I sold my 5th wheel and downsized to a 30 ft. travel trailer. With a 5th wheel trailer you do not need sway bars or weight distribution hitches, so this is all new to me. Thanks in advance for your input.:)

[handye9]

Larryzv7 wrote:
What is your opinion on weight distribution hitches verses sway bars?

The two of them perform two completely different functions.

The sway bars help to control trailer sway.

When you hang the tongue weight on your rear end, it's like putting weight on only one end of a see-saw. All of that weight adds to your rear axle and takes weight off from your front axle. If there is too much weight taken off the steering axle, even subconscious movement from something simple as breathing, can induce trailer sway and steering control issues. The primary purpose of weight distribution (WD) is to restore lost weight on your steering axle. It uses leveraging to restore some (in some cases all) of that lost weight on the steering axle. It's second function is meeting the weight ratings on you hitch receiver. The receiver has one rating with (higher) and one rating without (lower) weight distribution. And, it's third function is leveling of the trailer / tow vehicle combo. The sway bars don't perform any of these functions.

With a 9000 lb trailer, you need a weight distributing hitch that is rated for the gross weight of the trailer. If you get one with built in sway control, that's even better.

There are some who would tell you, if the truck and trailer are a good match, the WD is properly setup, and the trailer is loaded properly, you don't need sway control. I personally think sway control is a good idea whether it's built into the hitch, or added bars.

[rbpru]

I certainly would agree with a 10% minimum tongue weight. But my dry weight figures showed less than 9%. The scales showed about 8% when lightly loaded.

Fortunately we are rarely loaded light. :).

[Huntindog]

rbpru wrote:
My Blue Ox has the stabilizer built into the WD hitch design.

I have between 8 and 13 % of the TT weight on the tongue depending on how heavy the TT is loaded. I adjust the WD hitch links so the TT and TV are level or a bit nose down.

Less than 10% in a TT can be problematic.

Having experienced light TW induced sway once.... I strongly advise against pushing it too low.

The sway in my case was immediate and severe when I hit a certain speed (IMC about 45 MPH).
It was totally uncontrollable. I was lucky, even though I suspected the TW might be too low, and was on a deserted stretch of interstate. I needed both lanes and the aprons on both sides before I was able to get it straight. I pulled over and added some TW, and it was fine afterwards.

[Earl_E]

As all others are saying, it sounds like you are too light on the tongue. That said, get a system that has both equalizing and anti sway. There are many systems out there but you need both. We use the Andersen and love it.

[rbpru]

My Blue Ox has the stabilizer built into the WD hitch design.

I have between 8 and 13 % of the TT weight on the tongue depending on how heavy the TT is loaded. I adjust the WD hitch links so the TT and TV are level or a bit nose down.

[Mark_and_Linda]

Some very good advice has been presented. I have a ProSeries WDH with SC built in. After I got my WDH adjusted where I wanted it, I could tell it in the steering. I added a friction sway bar also to it to help. I always check my tire pressures on the trailer each time I go out...want everything equal. When my trailer is connected the front of my truck returns to about the same measurements now great squatting.

[Hannibal]

We also recently went from a 5th wheel back to a travel trailer. For the first year, I used a Reese HP trunion style WDH with no sway control. I had no sway but did feel the occasional truck push and pull on the trailer as it passed. A line of trucks could get annoying.
A few months ago, I found a barely used Equalizer 4 point hitch on eBay for a song. It's weight distribution bars are also sway control. It stopped the push/pull from passing trucks.
Our travel trailers are bordering on light tongue weight empty in order to accomodate lighter tow vehicles. It takes very little to upset that balance. We have a rule for loading our TT. We can load anything we can carry as long as it's in front of the trailer's axles. If you don't have much cargo aft of the axles, you're likely ok on tongue weight but a trip to the scales is still a good idea. When hitched up to travel, the trailer should be level or "slightly" nose down. The truck's front bumper should be at least half way back down to it's unloaded height by use of the WD bars.
Equalizer has a good write up on their website on how to set up a WDH. There are several Youtube videos as well.

[Passin_Thru]

Go to the closest place with a truck scale, a feed mill or truckstop and get your axle weights. Do all axles and GVW also. You may ahve to go to the Flying J in Lodi but get it weighed.

[jerem0621]

Are you just towing on the ball right now or do you have a Weight Distribution hitch?

What specific trailer did you buy?

A Weight Distribution hitch works to distribute the tongue weight across the axles of the vehicle. Mostly to return the unloaded weight off the front axles back onto the axles.

You can add on sway bars to a standard weight distribution hitch. Use two for a camper Your length.

You can also buy a hitch with integrated sway control. Equal-I-Zer and Reese Dual Cam are popular hitches.

I personally prefer the old fashioned standard weight distribution hitches and add on sway controls.

X2 on weighing the rig.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[aftermath]

dfm wrote:
As previously said you need to get 10-15% loaded to camp tongue weight.
Then you need to get a wdh and equalizer.
I now use a Reese Dual Cam which has the sway control built into it because of the cams. Best hitch I have ever used.

The use of the word "equalizer" can be confusing. There are weight distributing hitches out there and there are anti sway bars too. These are two completely separate entities. There are also hitches that combing WD and sway control all into one. A popular brand of such hitch is an "Equalizer" but note that is a specific brand. There are also others like the Anderson and the Reese just to name a few.

I agree with the others and you might want to have your trailer checked out first. Are the tires in good shape, are there problems with alignment and of course you should check the weight. Your tow vehicle might have some issues as well with weak and/or underinflated tires. Once these things are address I would also suggest you get a WD hitch with built in sway control. There are a lot of them out there to choose from.

[lawrosa]

He could have too heavy TW and the front of the truck is very light.. This will also cause issues..

What travel trailer do you have?

Towing with that 150 I think too much weight may be the issue..

Also what WD system do you have.. Whats your angle of head and how do the bars look in relation to frame of trailer..

A pic tells 1000 words. Post one of the truck hitched up. We can tell you in a minute if your set up correct...

[epeters]

For me, when I read your post, the first thing I wanted to ask was to better define fish tails. If it really doing that, you are in fact in a very very dangerous situation that others have already indicated you need to address immediately.

If it wiggles some, while still something to work out, there could be a few other things to consider.

1. is the road smooth or rutted at all? When we got our Nash, it wiggled. Our previous trailer which I pulled for 10 years never moved. So this was new to me. I found that the stretch of I-84 I was on was slightly rutted enough to cause us to wiggle. Once off that onto state highways, it was smooth as my prior trailer. That said, I have a weight dist set up I have used for more than a decade now, I will likely upgrade to an Equalizer for peace of mind. Oh, this also made me realize that strong winds could be an issue where before it never affected us much.

2. Length of the trailer versus the length of your truck. The longer the trailer, the longer your tow vehicle should be (ideally). so while the result is the same, the cause "may not" be too light of a tongue weight. You'd need a sway bar or a better solution in my opinion is the Equalizer or equivalent hitch.

3. Of course, too light of a tongue weight is still a likely cause.

These are just my opinions and experiences.

[dfm]

As previously said you need to get 10-15% loaded to camp tongue weight.
Then you need to get a wdh and equalizer.
I now use a Reese Dual Cam which has the sway control built into it because of the cams. Best hitch I have ever used.

[SoundGuy]

Larryzv7 wrote:
Question: How do you increase your tongue weight?

You don't, at least not until you weigh your trailer loaded and ready to camp so you know what's it's average gross weight is. Once you know that and knowing you want an average 13% to 14% of gross tongue weight you can then determine what that gross tongue weight should average. Only then would you then decide if you need to come up with a method of increasing or decreasing gross tongue weight, or leave it as it is. Don't do this and you'll only be guessing. Weighing the trailer to determine it's average GVW is easy - just take it to a scale. To determine gross tongue weight some of us use a Sherline tongue weight scale but you can also use a bathroom scale and tongue weight beam. If your calculations do indicate you need more tongue weight it's time to move more cargo from behind the axles to in front, perhaps add more weight to the trailer tongue - another battery for example, or if the tanks are located on the aft portion of the tongue move them closer to the coupler. If your spare tire is hanging off the bumper perhaps move it to the front pass through cargo compartment, as I have. FWIW, with a properly balanced trailer I tow with weight distribution but no sway control as I find it's not needed. Every towing combination is different though so you really need to find out what you're dealing with before making any adjstments.

[Larryzv7]

Thank you for your replies. Question: How do you increase your tongue weight?