Trailer sway

[JohnDeere4300]

I have used this for about 8 years and it really does a great job.

Equal-i-zer Hitch - The “American Original” with 4-Point Sway Control and Weight Distribution

 

[Highbeam]

Well your axles are in the wrong spot but I will offer that this isn't what caused your sway. What caused your sway is not having enough tongue weight which is not difficult given the goofy axle location.

So, you can leave your axles where they are IF you can accomplish 10-15% tongue weight.

This will mean that the rear end of your trailer is worthless and you will need to crowd the tractor towards the front as though you had built a much shorter trailer.

I use a W/D hitch with my 18' equipment trailer and my 25' RV in order to distribute the tongue weight to both truck axles which gives many benefits. I do not use a W/D hitch to reduce sway and I do not use a friction style sway reducer. Load your trailer right and it won't sway.

 

[Skyco]

Load your trailer right and it won't sway.

Exactly. Any other means to reduce sway is just a bandaid, doesn't fix the real problem.

 

[brianMO]

I was looking at my trailer last night. I listened to my neighbor when I was putting this together. I took a trailer that was already built and tryed to improve it. The axles were already placed in the middle. He said that probably would not be a bad thing because he wished his axles were not so far back. He had tongue weight issues. I probably will move the axles back a little. Not that big of a deal. I have never towed this heavy before and I just want to be safe. This is why I found you guys. Your advice is valuable to me, very well could save my life, or someone elses. Everybody else that reads this gains the knowledge that really counts...experience. Bottom line...I was going to fast for the conditions and did not have my weight distributed correctly. Axle placement does not help either, but I have a lot of room to squat my truck yet. I know this thread has been discussed many, many time, but I don't think it can be discussed enough. That could be a real death trap running down the highway. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Diamondpilot]

I was looking at my trailer last night. I listened to my neighbor when I was putting this together. I took a trailer that was already built and tryed to improve it. The axles were already placed in the middle. He said that probably would not be a bad thing because he wished his axles were not so far back. He had tongue weight issues. I probably will move the axles back a little. Not that big of a deal. I have never towed this heavy before and I just want to be safe. This is why I found you guys. Your advice is valuable to me, very well could save my life, or someone elses. Everybody else that reads this gains the knowledge that really counts...experience. Bottom line...I was going to fast for the conditions and did not have my weight distributed correctly. Axle placement does not help either, but I have a lot of room to squat my truck yet. I know this thread has been discussed many, many time, but I don't think it can be discussed enough. That could be a real death trap running down the highway. Thanks for the advice!

Brian, you should pat yourself on the back. I can not tell you how many times we get questions such as yours and when we do not tell them what they want to hear the run away or stay and fight.

You are taking the right steps to get your rig safe. You have the right truck to tow with, a good heavy built trailer, and now the knowledge on how to make it safe to use. I am glad you listened to the advise. You will now be able to get right and enjoy your rig while towing.

Chris

 

[Hematite]

Most people don't know or care about tongue weight. I used to be among those people. As long as nothing unusual happens, they will be OK. When something does happen, they learn about the importance of tongue weight and trailer balance the hard way. In your case, Brian, you got very lucky. I'm glad to see that you are intelligent enough to realize that there is a problem and talked it out to find a solution.

This is an item that is essential to anyone who tows various loads on a trailer. With the Sherline scale you can always be certain that your trailer is balanced correctly. When you have your trailer set up correctly, it will tow behind your truck like the truck/trailer are on a rail!

Sherline Trailer Tongue Weight Scales

 

[windy acers]

I solved this problem by loading tractor backwards on a factory 18 foot trailer

 

[radioman]

Brain- so far you have gotten good advice from others on TBN. When Keith in space mentioned the WD made the world of difference, I can relate. However the trailers were already built with 60/40 Axel placement, that why it really helps with the towing feel. Once you get a high cross wind situation, high loads like tractor with canopy or a full sized camper that catches the winds, friction sway bars does really help in controlling the fishtailing pucker feeling. Now you are armed with knowledge to correct the Axel placement, then balance the load on trailer, measure the front/rear bumper with and without the load.
IMHO, Once this is figured out, then add the WD bars only to get the new feel since you already have dual axles and long open trailer. If the trailer is boxed in, I'd definitely add the sway friction bar depending on how long is the wheel base on the tow vehicle. the shorter the tow vehicle, the greater chance for swaying. the longer , more heavy duty the vehicle, the sway tends to lessens.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Do some research and find trailers like yours and make measurements before you go 60/40. Its not gospel. It may be 70/30, ect.

Chris

 

[burnetma]

My trailer and most if not all deck-over tilt bed trailers are made that way. I have 22' Econoline 7 ton tilt.

Like everybody else has said, getting the trailer loaded correctly is key. If you can move the axles or get a different trailer. Otherwise, re-think the loading.

FYI, I did add weight distribution and sway control (Reese Titan Dual Cam), but I needed it for the weight I was towing. I recently towed ~13,500 through the hills of NE PA and she followed and behaved perfectly.

 

[brianMO]

My neighbors trailer is also like this. It is a tilt trailer.

 

[Duffster]

Tilt trailers are typically longer (at the back) than you need to reduce the loading angle

 

[wkpoor]

I was going down my road today and thought a little about the sway issue when I noticed a neighbors huge boat in the driveway and he tows with an older Full size Blazer very short wheel base vehicle. It occurred to me that short wheel base trucks may be more susceptible to this than longer ones. Combine the 2 situations like light tongue trailer and short WB truck and it may make the condition worse.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I was going down my road today and thought a little about the sway issue when I noticed a neighbors huge boat in the driveway and he tows with an older Full size Blazer very short wheel base vehicle. It occurred to me that short wheel base trucks may be more susceptible to this than longer ones. Combine the 2 situations like light tongue trailer and short WB truck and it may make the condition worse.

You are right. I used a S-10 Blazzer to tow my first boat, a 18' Rinker that weighed 3,500#. It was a handfull but I did not know any better. My next vehicle was a first generation Ford Explorer that was 4 doors and about 2' longer wheel base. Night and day difference with the same boat.

Chris

 

[Bird]

What was the 4-wheel drive Dodge that was similar to the full size Blazer? There was a time when I thought that Dodge or a Blazer would be good to pull a little travel trailer, but fortunately, before I bought either one I learned that short wheel base does not make a good tow vehicle, and besides that, they're terribly rough riding.

 

[wkpoor]

I am in no way saying this because I have a van, but a guy at work has always said full size vans make the best BP tow vehicles. With so many quad cabs out there I doubt that is any longer the case.
I can say however that my van does a much better job than either of my bros PU's do and another anomaly is I have never spun out on a boat ramp while my bros PU does, both 2WD. Years ago when I was driving PU's (before I discovered the versatility of the van) I always encountered trouble at boat ramps. Now I pull a larger heavier boat and still have never slipped a wheel.