# Towing With A 2011 And Newer Ford F-150



## scuba0331 (Dec 7, 2011)

Hello, I just took a towing seminar at the local RV dealership. There was a representative from Blue Ox who indicated that the 2011 and newer F150'have active sway on the vehicle. He said that you have to turn the sway control off on the vehicle prior to towing a trailer with sway control. He said the the vehicle sway control and the trailer sway control will work against each other.

I don't have a Ford so I cannot validate what he told us but I don't think he was lying!

I thought i would pass along what I learned today!

Thanks!


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## atlantadave (Jul 5, 2010)

I have a 2011 F150 with a ProPride hitch. I don't disengage sway control. I've had the sway control system engage on two seperate coccurances due to extreme crosswinds. It quickly reduced the speed of the vehicle and in my opinion helped keep the trailer in line.


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## Sean Woodruff (Dec 20, 2007)

Please don't shoot the messenger.... BUT

He's wrong.

If you think through his logic, it makes no logical sense.

He is saying turn off sway control so that sway control does not work against sway control.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Well I agree with Sean. The built in sway control on the truck functions differently then the mechanical sway controls, no matters whose it is. The built in system operates by applying trailer brakes when sway is detected to force the trailer to come back in line behind the truck.

One of the procedures used by people without built in truck sway control is the manually apply the trailer brakes when you feel sway.

Are you sure he was not talking about auto load leveling? On some vehicles they must be turned off as they can affect the weight distribution hitch function.


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## scuba0331 (Dec 7, 2011)

Sean Woodruff said:


> Please don't shoot the messenger.... BUT
> 
> He's wrong.
> 
> ...


Ok good some real world results!

Like i said I couldn't confirm the validity of this since I have a Ram 1500! Maybe it has something to with how the Blue Ox and the F 150 work together?

Either way just passing on what I heard. I know sway won't be an issue as I have a ProPride too!


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## scuba0331 (Dec 7, 2011)

CamperAndy said:


> Well I agree with Sean. The built in sway control on the truck functions differently then the mechanical sway controls, no matters whose it is. The built in system operates by applying trailer brakes when sway is detected to force the trailer to come back in line behind the truck.
> 
> One of the procedures used by people without built in truck sway control is the manually apply the trailer brakes when you feel sway.
> 
> Are you sure he was not talking about auto load leveling? On some vehicles they must be turned off as they can affect the weight distribution hitch function.


I'm positive he said sway control as some one in the class asked him how to turn it off on his truck.

How it came about was the Blue Ox rep received a call from a dealer saying the Blue Ox they installed on a new F150 wasn't working properly. So the Blue Ox rep went to the dealer to see what the problem was. The rep took it out on the highway and by the time he was up to 40 mph they were all over the road. So the Blue Ox rep pulled over and he said they went through the owners manual and saw that the truck had sway control. So they turned it off and went down the road without and issue.

So thats the story! Makes for an interesting discussion at least!


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

I don't see how that is really possible but I have learned to never say never when it comes to things like this.


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## Sean Woodruff (Dec 20, 2007)

I have no doubt he probably said that.

Good question for the Blue Ox Rep...

So, you were towing the trailer with a Blue Ox Sway Pro hitch and the truck sway control had the need to kick in... hmmmmm?

Sorry, Mr. Blue Ox Rep, but I don't think when they came up with the name "Sway Pro" they meant that the trailer would be professionally swaying when you use it!

It certainly does make for an interesting discussion but it DRIVES ME CRAZY when some of this stuff gets spread around the internet. I end up answering the question OVER AND OVER again on the phone to clear it up. LOL

-


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## Todd&Regan (Jul 1, 2010)

I've never had any issues with trailer sway with my 2012 F-150 which has the factory trailer sway control. Speaking from my experience, I would not recommend additional trailer sway components with vehicles that have factory trailer sway control. Not because I think it'll cause an issue, but because it's not needed.


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## raynardo (Jun 8, 2007)

I have a 2012 F-250 with built-in sway control. I also have a sway control bar on my trailer.

Since my previous 2006 F-250 did not have built-in sway control and I had pulled my trailer about 60K miles with it without an sway incident, I decided I did not want to tempt fate and try something new with the new truck. So, I hook it up the exact same way as I did with my old truck, and it has worked like a charmer for me for the past 6K miles.

The question I asked myself was: is it possible to have too much sway control? I didn't think so, so I went with what worked for me. I've never heard otherwise.


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