Trailer swaying problem

[lumpy]

Last weekend my fishing buddy used his Tahoe to trailer my boat 17 foot yarcraft up to Canada. We had a real issue with the trailer swaying back and forth. You could really feel the trailer pulling and moving the back end of the truck. The sway bar was not the issue as the tires where stationary in the wheel well. The oscillation would start and increase until you slowed down or went around a corner. Strangely it seemed to be worse on asphault surface than cement.

The tongue on the Tahoe is lower than my 93 full sized Blazer. I did not have this problem towing back from his house last night.

We put some more air in the trailer tires and that seemed to help but did not solve the problem. They are the best goodyear trailering radials.

Any suggestions?

[Wavey Davey]

My guess would be too much tongue weight.
His hitch being lower than yours.

[kjgmh]

Did he have anything in the boat. Maybe lots of wieght in the back of the boat. Sounds like it would be tongue light.

[rmh2o]

My guess is he needed more air in the rear tires of the Tahoe.Lots of weight in vehicle causes tires to squat makes for bad handling.

[joshb]

not enough toungue weight.

[This message has been edited by joshb (edited 09-27-2004).]

[Kingfisher]

I would check the tongue weight also. We had a problem like that with our boat trailer until we moved the axle back a foot. I don't remember now but I think the tongue weight should be about 10% of the trailer and what its hauling.

[Valv]

Check where the boat sits on the rollers or bunks on back of trailer, if you have 6"to 10" of room, you can move winch tower forward and gain more tongue weight by moving boat ahead, just few inches make a world of difference.
It could be your rig is heavier of the Suburban and never felt swaying. I have a 1 ton dually 4x4, and even if a 24ft sways 2feet each side, I can't feel a thing

------------------
Val Vignati

www.kvesurplus.com
[email protected]

[kslipsinker]

I had a similar problem on my return trip from Canada last year. After some inspection, I found I had lost a nut on the trailer tongue where it attached to the rear yoke. There are two bolts and one was just sitting in the hole without a nut. This made the whole trailer sway, especailly at high speed. Installed nylon locking nuts so it will not happen again.

[susi-4man]

Put a scale on your tongue wheel and see the
#'s make it read between 135-150 and should be ok move the axle back or the boat forward

[Ole1855]

I would guess you didn't have enough tongue weight, trailer sway usually occurs when that happens.

Ole

[Phred52]

Sounds like you were short of weight in the FRONT of the boat. Next trip, load more AHEAD of the axle. BTW, Bottles weigh MORE than cans!

[This message has been edited by Phred52 (edited 09-28-2004).]

[knoppers]

had the problem with snowmobiles on a trailer, and the cause was to much weight toward the rear of trailer, or too light tongue weight. we stopped and moved the snowmobiles forward, and the problem was solved.

[IFallsRon]

I sometimes pull the boat or camper using an extension that has a bike carrier attached. I always get sway with the extension but never with the normal dropdown ballmount regardless of if it's on the truck or Suburban.

In general:
- A tow vehicle with a longer wheelbase is less likely to allow sway.
- A heavier tow vehicle is less likely to allow sway.
- A stiffer tow vehicle suspension is less likely to allow sway.
- A shorter distance from tow vehicle rear axle to tow ball is less likely to sway.
- A longer distance from trailer axle to tow ball is less likely to sway.
- A tandem axle trailer is less likely to sway.
- A lighter trailer is less likely to sway.

[lumpy]

Well I weighed the tongue and it was 156 lbs without the boat cover on. It may have been slightly different than that on our trip with the boat cover on but shouldn't have been too much. According to specs my boat should weigh about 1050 lbs and 305 for the motor. Add trailer, 3 batteries, 2 electric trolling motors, anchor, cover, and modest amount of gear to that and the tongue weight should easily be in the 5 - 10 % range.

[hitthebricks]

The Tahoes stock tires are a P rated tire with soft sidewalls instead of a LT rated tire made for carring loads and towing. My 2500HD Chev. tows the 20' crestliner like a champ but friends suburban with P rated tires had problems above 55mph towing the same boat, trailer, motor. Norms tires diagnosed the problem and it solved it with the right type of tire. HTB

[joshb]

good post htb, never even thought of that. definately important to have properly rated tires. so his sway could be coming from too much tongue weight on a weak sidewall.

[lumpy]

Looks like tires may definitely be one of the major issues. They are 'P' rated tires. The ones on my Blazer are 'LT'. Probably explains why the swaying is negligible on my truck.