# Trailer sway ??



## camping_man (Feb 18, 2004)

After reading "we crashed " I was sitting hear thinking to myself about who else might be having troubles with trailer sway. I know I am having truble with it and I have set up my hitch as described in the set up manual for my reese hitch. I have a large tow vehicle (2003 Excursion) and have many years experance towing a travel trailer. But I must say I have never towed a el-handling trailer as my 28RS-S. I get trailer sway if a mini-van passes me ! I have tried changing the set-up of my hitch and so forth with no real change in sway. I am really thinking hard about going to a pull-rite or Hensley. What I would like to know is if anybody else out there are having the same issues, or have a solution to my problems !! Thanks.

Mike.


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## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

Mike,

What hitch do you have?

I have the Reese WD with High Performance Dual Cam sway with the 1200 lb. trunnion bars. Which should prevent any sway when set up properly.

I have been having some issues. The rear suspension of my truck is a little on the soft side. When a truck passes me it feels like the rear of the truck is wagging. I doesn't look like the trailer is swaying. I am thinking I may not have enough tongue weight and the chains on the WD are too tight, I am going to experiment in the next week with adjusting this. I am not sure if I am sitting down on all 4 wheels the same, so need to check that again. I don't get out of control but it doesn't feel rock solid either.

Others here must have theirs set up better because they don't have any problems. I think my problems are all in the setup.

Does your sway get out of control or is it just slight?

The rear bed slide models have me wondering where the center of weight is on them. The rear slide seems like it would make the tongue light. I was thinking on mine with the rear bathroom, that there is more weight rearward of the axles than is ideal.

I am doing some experimentation with mine and weigh the tongue weight.

Kevin


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

I've had trailer sway in the past with another trailer, but it was because of soft tires and to small of a tow vehicle. With our 21RS and new LT tires, we've had no sway. I would get pushed around sometimes by passing cars like you have been though.

I found my problem was too little tongue weight. By moving my tools and gear that I kept in the back of the truck into the front storage area of the trailer to increase the tongue weight, the push pull was gone. It seems the more firewood, tools, bikes and firewood I can pile up front, the better it handles.

With your very stout tow vehicle, you should have a comfortable tow with a conventional hitch and the size trailer you have. Before you go spend a ton of cash on a high end hitch, maybe try more tongue weight and check to make sure all the tires are inflated properly.

Are you using any type of sway control?

Keep us posted!

Mike


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## Mac (Mar 26, 2004)

I have an 04 Excursion with the Equalizer hitch towing a 28BHS, and I have no sway problems. Tows as solid as a rock.


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## jgerni (Nov 10, 2003)

I agree add more weight to the front. I hope Keystone took into consideration the heavy rear slide on the rear slide models but who knows.

On our previous trailer (Aerolite 25ft) placing a heavy suit case in the rear would make it sway. Move that suit case to the front and it towed great.

Now I try to load heavy on the tougue.


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## NWcamper2 (Mar 28, 2004)

Ours seems to tow like a charm, very little to no sway.

We do make an effort to pack everything forward of the trailer tires. We utilize the bathroom area, packing the (3) 5 gallon drinking water containers in the tub itself. In the back under the queen slide/dinette table is where we put folding chairs, and other lightweight gear.

It is something Keystone and RV dealers should make buyers aware of! 
This is something we (I) knew growning up with TT's etc...

This is also something to take into consideration adding gear boxes and bike racks to the back of TT's.

Happy and SAFE Camping sunny


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## jgerni (Nov 10, 2003)

Also, make sure your trailer tires are aired up to the max presure. This will stiffen the side walls some.


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## Castle Rock Outbackers (Jan 18, 2004)

No sway experienced so far on the 3 trips we have taken. I do not have any sway control installed, just the w/d hitch. Our Yukon XL is 18'4" long, and the 26 RS is 26'4" long. That is only 8 feet difference in length between the tow vehicle and the trailer. The 26 RS also has a heavier tongue weight (600 lbs), which keeps sway mostly under control.

Randy


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

I don't see any major sway, when a semi passes me I noticed being sucked in then pushed away, the trailer may wiggle a bit but comes back in line quickly. Only major sway I felt was a major wind gust as I crossed the gorge and even that quickly dissipated.


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## KellerJames (Jan 19, 2004)

Mike,
I too, seem to be having more sway than I should. "We Crashed" made me start searching for a solution to this problem. I was pulling our 21RS with an F150. With windy conditions or passing vehichles, it swayed to a degree, but nothing that seemed out of the ordinary. It is ,after all, a huge box. It's going to catch some air and be affected by that from time to time. Howerver, after going to a new F250, I thought sway would be quite minimal. When returning from our last outing, the wind gusts were making the Out Back sway a bit more than I was comfortable with. I even stopped on the side of the highway to see if I might have had a tire go down on it. Everything was fine though. The sway felt somewhat different that time. I did notice that my wife had stored a few things in different places than where I normally store them after we got home and unpacked. Plus, I'm not totally convinced I have my hitch set at the right highth. I don't think there's enough weight on the WD bars. And I personally don't care for the friction sway control installed by the dealer.

Questions for all;
Could 1 or 2 inches in ball highth make THAT much difference in performance?
How does one know when there is too much hitch weight?

KellerJames


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

KellerJames,

If your one or two inches high in front, it can make a difference. Should be level or a little low in front.

Sounds like you're a little low on tongue weight too. I've got our yukon (which is a much lesser truck than yours) with LT tires and a friction sway control and have no problems at all. Towed in high winds, heavy truck traffic, rain, made sudden stops, etc. I don't know how much tongue weight is too much, recommended is at least 10% and optimal is 12-15%.

http://www.classicmfg.com/manual3.htm This link describes how to check tongue weight using a bath scale.

I know our loaded trailer is about 4900 and I've weighed the tongue and it is about 500 which is slightly over 10%. It's probably a little more since I didn't have all my gear up front at the time.

A trailer the size you have hooked to the truck you have should tow very nicely with just a friction bar. An equal-i-zer hitch would be a nice step up though. I think the tongue weight would be a little low for a dual cam.

Mike


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

No sway with our 26RS towed behind a 2002 Avalanche. I'm using a Reese Dual Cam HP with 800# bars. Every now and then, I feel a little bounce, like the truck is being pushed, but this occurs mostly on back roads, at speed less then 25 mph, and the more stuff packed up front, the less I feel it. I will be going over the setup again just to make sure, after reading "we crashed", I want to make sure everything is right.

I do check the lug nut torque on the trailer, and the pressure in all 8 tires before each trip.

You can't go wrong with the Hensley though. It was my hitch of choice, until I saw the price. It is still on the list, but the DC HP will work until the funds are available.

Tim


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## camping_man (Feb 18, 2004)

I like that everyone is giving me good idaels to fix my problem. First of all let thank everyone that replied "Thanks" ! I thought that I had it loaded heavy in the front but I am going to repack everything before next weekends trip to the NASCAR race. Also I am looking for a dual cam set up for my hitch I just have chain type bars now. My father always pulled with dual cam set-up. And I agree with alot of you with the tow vehicle that I am using I shouldn't even know the trailer is back there. I would like to avoid having to go and buy a $2500.00 dollor hitch if I don't have too. I think everybody is right when they say that the rear slide models are pron to be heavy in the rear due to the queen bed. If you look on the spec sheet the 28RS-S has less tounge weight then the smaller 25RS, I know because we were first looking at the 25 RS until the wife entered the 28RS-S and then there was no pulling her out of it back to the smaller 25RS. I love everything about our Outback expect for pulling it, but I am sure I will get that claimed down also !

Oh ya just to answer some of the questions ask--
I have all the tires at max psi trailer/TV. I have raised and lowered the bars a link both ways. set up the hitch myself following the instructions to the tee. tighten up the tension on the sway control bar.


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## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

EQUAL-I-ZER.

No sway. Period. It won't cost $2500 either.

Note the responses of what hitches are having sway issues. Kinda sums it up.


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## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

Jolly,

It looks roughly like:

Reese with dual cam sway-2
Reese with friction control-1
Equal-i-zer-3
No sway control-2
And some don't list what hitch they are using.

I don't have any sway problems, just seems a little loose between the truck and trailer connection, a little truck rearend wag like. Not rock solid like others here are claiming theirs are.

Mikes point about not having enough tongue weight for a Reese dual cam to work properly, may be a very valid comment that needs more looking into.

I am still not convinced that there is a huge difference in these hitches. It is really sounding like the setup of each is the problem. It sounds as if the Equal-i-zer is easier to setup or is a little more forgiving. Perhaps I am wrong, not the first time.

Specifically on the 28BHS, most of the areas that you would store stuff is mid wheel or farther back, the front is the bedroom, which typically would be lighter weight clothes and such, there is not that much that contains weight. And I was putting all of the coolers with beverages, wood, and other stuff in the back of the truck for ease of loading. When I really look at my weight, there is not much tongue weight except some tools in the front drawer. All of the food and such is about on the rear axle. And then I was set at chain link 5, which was tight, probably too much weight to the front truck axle.

I am really going to start from the beginning again and check everything over.

If when I am done and feel confident that the hitch is setup properly, and I still don't have that rock solid feel, then I will think that this hitch is not as good as it is touted to be. But I am hoping that your Equal-i-zer and my dual cam will perform the same. I hope.

In the next week I can see what happens with the setup.

Kevin


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## jlstew (May 29, 2004)

I have no problems with my set up (see sig.) and equi-l-izer hitch. I have done lots of towing and have had no white knucklers as of yet. I give lots of attetion to the proper hitch set up including height of ball.


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## DANJOGAVINMO (Apr 17, 2004)

I have also been contemplating this after "we crashed" article. I feel I am set up good currently, because I hardly know the trailer is there (sway). I have a slightly different twist to this....I have read often that after hooking up the WD, that the weight sent to the truck should cause front and back of truck to drop identically. I have also read that front should stay about same (loaded vs unloaded) and back should come to within an inch of unloaded.

My rig is set up in the latter. I am wondering if too much WD can be having an affect on some folks rigs when they are trying for the perfect match of drop front to back? Maybe too much WD can hurt sway?

Just a hypothesis. I am wondering what others have their rigs set up like regarding drop??

Another comment, Someone else posted similar thought and I am in agreement. I don't question much whether outback has right tongue weight as a % of total weight (due to rear slide), however I think they have axles back further to achieve this. The distance from axle to hitch seems to probably have some affect on sway.

Thx
Danny


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## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

Hensley Hitch Information just sent to me, for any of those interested...

Hensley is offering a 12 month interest free plan if anyone will be purchasing a Hensley hitch you may want to look into this.

Terry Powell
Hensley Mfg., Inc.
1097 S. State RD
Davison MI. 48423
(800) 410-6580 ext. 117

Just in case anyone wanted to know.

Kevin


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## wapiti13 (Jan 27, 2004)

Also have EQUAL-I-ZER, tows exceptionally well at all speeds and wind conditions.


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## CamperDC (Oct 30, 2003)

Kevin,

Are you running on LT tires? I am not sure what the FX model is but I know some manufacturers are putting passenger rated tires on some of their trucks instead of light truck tires.


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## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

I have LT 265/70/ 17 Tires Goodyear Wrangler AT/S. 
Sidewall: 2 plies polyster cord
Tread: 2 plies polyster cord, 2 plies steel cord
Load range C

The FX4 means that it has the off-road package, Rancho shocks, skid plates, heavier rear springs, etc. (means it rides like a truck on rough roads)

I have a 139" wheelbase also. I think my slight problems are in the tongue weight. However this past weekend I measured it with the scale method and it is around 700 lbs. I am going to add more.

I checked the hitch all over and I am going to lower the ball mount to the next hole, it is now slightly high from being level.

I received the Hensley info while I was looking at an ad I saw somewhere, I am not going to buy one, I just wanted to share that with anyone who may be buying one.

I really believe that this hitch will get me the solid connection that I am looking for, just need to adjust the weighting. This weekend I hopefully will be able to get it out for a trial run.

We will see..

Kevin


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## CamperDC (Oct 30, 2003)

Sounds like you are on the right track with the ball height. You seem to have everything else taken care of.

I know we are pulling different TT's, but I have been really happy with my hitch setup and how it has performed on the road with semi's and heavy cross winds. I agree with you that once you get it all right you will be happy with that hitch.

Good Luck


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Kevin:

I just pulled mine (28BHS & dual cam) close to 1000 miles in the last week and it worked very well. Not a hint of sway and definately the solid and safe feeling you are looking for.

At 700# it sounds like your tongue weight is just about right and close to 13.3%. Also, take the time to really check and measure your wheel well distances to the ground when setting up the dual cam. Get the truck to drop as evenly as possible on all 4 corners. This will assure that you are carrying the load evenly and apply a good amount of pressure to the cams.

I know you will be happy when it's set-up right.


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## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

Thanks Jim,

What lb bars are you using? I have the 1200 lb bars.

Lastnight I lowered the ball mount one hole. What chain link are you on? I have been on the 5th, but will re-do the measurements to verify if ball mount tilt is good enough and wheel drop is the same.

Thanks

Kevin


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Kev:

I had to go up to the 4th link to get the pressure I needed. This is because the Reese hitch wont tilt the ball back any further than it is now. If the ball could tilt farther back I would be able to do it at the 5th link which I would prefer. As it sits I had to notch the propane bottle mount to keep the cam from rubbing on it.









The bars are still fairly level to the trailer frame and not far out of whack though. And my Dremmel tool made fast work of the metal obstruction









I'm using 1000# bars.

Good Luck!


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## lukn2doit2 (Jun 4, 2004)

When we had the starcraft 21' I had a lot of sway with the friction system and LIGHT tongue weight. When we moved to the 28RLS and its 760-800# tongue weight, I moved to the Reese dual cam HP sway with 1200 bars. They had to redo the hitch 5 times to get the ball height and tahoe to sink the same - so on the 7th link from the end it is tight, but all is level (the tahoe sinks the same on front and back). This setup, for the last few run arouds on the interstate have felt so solid that i was suprised. I get the normal pull/push with semi's but no noticable sway.

I have not had this setup out for LONG trips, but time will tell.

I love the dual cam sway and actually like the heavy tongue weight, so far. I think it's on the higher 15% side.

That's my 2 centz.

Now my breaking leaves something to be desired.
prodigy for fathers day? ummmm.....

Cheers ALL!


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

> prodigy for fathers day?


Don't leave home without it!









Tim


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## Martybeech (Mar 13, 2004)

It tows like on rails with my new TV. With my older Expedition I would get some push/pull but no sway.


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