Need Advice for travel trailer SWAY......HELP PLEASE

[ratherbefishin]

My sister inlaw just got a new camper (bumper pull) It is 35' from hitch to bumper and says dry weight is 7500 pounds, We will be towing it a hand full of times this summer with my 2005 f350 6.0D ...This camper sways real bad when there is a decent side wind, last sunday i could only do 45 mph and was bouncing from line to line, NOT FUN....SO my ? is should i pick up a equalizer brand 4 point sway control hitch and would this take care of the sway problem?...We dont have any problems with the rear of the truck sagging as it only drops down a 1" or 2"

THANKS FOR THE HELP!!!!!

[Hory]

How do you load the camper? Make sure any weight in the rv is distributed evenly, and primarily over the tandem axles. Secondly, when a rig like that starts swaying, giving the trailer brake box a quick squeeze should activate the rv brakes, pulling everything into line.

(Test the brakes/gain knob alone prior to relying on this on the highway...they can sometimes be too touchy or non-existant).

[Hafnutz]

That's a mighty long travel trailer. Sway is often caused by not enough weight in front of the axle. Check how the rig is loaded. Many of these long trailers have rather poor road manners. I would also highly recommend a Equal-I-zer brand weight distributing hitch. I have owned a couple of them and they are pretty good for the price. Make sure you get the proper size for the tongue weight you have and take the time to set it up properly. I don't know if applying the trailer is the approved method to eliminate sway anymore. It used to be but according to my truck driving instructors it can also make the sway a lot worse. I would go for the proper hitch setup myself.

[ratherbefishin]

We tried loading everything over the axles and we did haul our fresh water each way, nothing changed from when the camper was empty. I think we are goin to order A equalizer brand next week for it...does anyone else have this brand and how big of a difference is this going to make...i dont want to drop all this $$$$ on a hitch if it doesnt help mutch.......Thanks Again!!

[Ryan_V]

I have a friction sway control bar. I don't use weight dist on my 30' using my diesel, and don't have a problem with just the sway bar. Its just a bar with a friction brake to stop sway. There is a small ball on my hitch and one on the camper. Check with a dealer, might be able to get a setup like this fairly reasonable. Its kind of old school sway control, but works for me.

[ratherbefishin]

Hey ryan i have looked into the sway control bars, I had read in a book some where that you should use 2 of them on bigger trailers. Do you use 1 or 2.?

[Ryan_V]

I only use one. But mine only goes a little over 5k empty. I figure as I tow it, its 6500 or so. Never heard of using 2. I have not had a problem at all with just one.

[fishing tech]

Try 1 first, you can always add the 2nd.

[upnorth]

I don't want to come off as elitist, but what you are experiencing with the sway is a large part of why we went with a 5th wheel.

[Powerstroke]

I would consider how you're loading the camper first and foremost. Its better to prevent the sway rather than trying to make it stop.

I noticed with my camper, our bathroom and the kids stuff is all behind the axles. Add in the dirty tanks had some stuff in them (less than half, but not empty) and we had two bad trips that were almost white knuckle driving. I have the same truck as you.

On another trip we were having the same issues, but I stopped short of the destination to fill our water tank (front of the trailer) before it got too late. Immediately the trailer handled better. After deciding having that weight in the front was the key, I left about 10gallons of water in front for the ride home. Same results. It drove great.

So, we unloaded the whole camper and quickly realized we were overloaded in the rear, probably 70% behind the axles. Once we repacked ( and I've since added 2 6volt batteries to the tongue, it pulls like a dream. NO sway control needed. Your 35' may still benefit from a quality hitch for weight distributions and sway control, but don't think the hitch will make up for bad loading.

Keep the weight forward, especially if that big trailier isn't making your truck squat a little more.

[woodsmanmn]

Found an article on tongue weight -

Ellen, knowing the correct hitch weight, or "tongue weight" as it is sometimes called, is crucial in order to establish a safe towing configuration with any conventional travel trailer. More prevalent in years past, inadequate tongue or hitch weight was a significant contributor to trailer sway. With today’s engineering standards being more defined, this probable cause from the past has been lessened quite a bit.

Still, in terms of most hitches, the ideal tongue weight should be about 12% of the total weight of the fully loaded trailer. Some of the larger trailers may have tongue weights nearing 17% of the total. Anything less than 12% could have a tendency to be the cause of trailer sway.

[Surface Tension]

Even though your towing with a F350 I'd get the equalizer hitch.

When you figure the correct tongue weight on a 7000 lb trailer should be 1000 lbs, the suspension of that truck is still getting a workout. When you add the dips and humps of the road, its no longer 1000 lb static weight and turns to dynamic weight. The equalizer will take out much of that pivot on the ball from lift and rise on uneven road conditions.

In a nutshell the tow vehicle and trailer become one.

So if you decide not to go with the E hitch you at least need to get the tongue weight up to what it should be.

Next thing is hitch height. A tandem axle trailer should be towed level or perpendicular to the road.

That will get weight of the trailer equal on both axles.

[ratherbefishin]

Thanks everyone!! We orderd a equalizer brand hitch should be coming next week. I will let you guys know what the outcome is after install, lets hope its 100% better

[ratherbefishin]

Hey, I got the new hitch installed and we went for a test run with it...so far so good id say about 90% better, the real test will be this weekend when the wife takes it for a 3 hour run up north this coming weekend. Im also thinking of getting a water tank to put in the front of the truck since the fresh water is behind the axle on the camper ..sometimes we dont have access to fresh water. Has anyone every transported water in the truck bed instead of camper?

[Surface Tension]

I'd do whatever you have to do to get at least 10% of the trailer weight on the tongue.

Of coarse pack the heavy items up front of the trailer even if that means you'll have to move them back into place when you get to your destination. If your hauling extra water put that in the fount of the trailer and use the water in the rear on board tank first. When your stay is over use the dump station at the site your at that way your not still heavy in the rear.

Remember when setting up your hitch the trailer should be level. You sort of what to keep the same amount of weight in the tow vehicle as to what your ball height was adjusted to because that will change the ball height. That won't change too much with your truck but these weight distribution hitches go way back in time when trucks weren't that common and the ones that were around were light duty.

It was common to see cars with weight distribution hitches hauling big trailers.

The hitch needs that tongue weight in order to work right. As the trailer is lowered onto the ball it should be putting a load onto the bars. This is what creates the bridge from trailer to tow vehicle. All that info came with the new hitch. I'd say that you'll be tweaking that as you go and eventually you'll know what works best and get a good idea of how much weight you need to load up front for best results. When this is all tweaked you won't have any sway and you can feel that bridge effect when going down the road. Something you should avoid an this should be in your manual, is steep approaches off the roadway. In this case with the length of your trailer you'd have to watch that anyway because you drag the trailers bumper but the because of the hitch consider your truck and trailer as one long rigid length with out much of a lateral pivot point.