Anti-Sway Bar or WD with Anti-Sway for 19' FC?

[banderabob]

Opinions on all sides, which gives you the opportunity to pick the one that tracks with your own inclinations. With no towing experience at all, do what makes you feel safe. We had lots of prior experience, and though our 19" Bambi came with some kind of hitch set-up (honestly, I don't know if it is WD or sway, no instructions, and no mfg name), we have never used it. I'd estimate about 15,000+ miles over 4 years, all at 65 mph or less. and no problems or scary moments using an '08 Expedition Limited with the towing package. Welcome aboard....hit the road and enjoy the streamin' life.

[floridalarry]

I had a Reese WD with anti-sway. Each time I would need to back up and make a turn, I had to remember to remove the anti-sway bar or I would bend it. Needless to say I bent it a couple of times. Went with a Blue Ox and never looked back (LOL)! I'm towing my '66 (3,100 lbs) with my 2015 Nissan Frontier. For short trips, I can tow without the WD, unless I put stuff in my bed then I need the WD.

[lletteney]

I tow a 19 foot Globetrotter with a Toyota 4 Runner.
I use an anti-sway hitch that transmits some of the tongue weight to the front wheels leveling the car and trailer. It works perfectly.

My experience with The Toyota technical people is that they will only repeat information in the owners book. They do not risk any other information or suggestions.

[DaKs]

I tow a 25" with a Ford Sport Trac Adrenalin. I use this

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRoQ_yQZQwQ

hitch from Andersen. I really like it and it works like they say.
It is also much lighter to pack up.

[xrvr]

If your trailer is set up properly with WD hitch, then loosening the bars to see how it handles completely throws off the set up. This is not a way to see how it handles witjout WD. To see how it handles without WD one must set up the trailer and hitch for this, not just disconnect the WD bars on a previously set up system. Towing with a proper ball mount with sway devices attached when properly set up will tell you how your truck handles witjout WD.

[ShinyPete]

I'm on the "you need both WD and SC" team. Trust me you'll end up with more than 500 lb of hitch weight alone hanging off the end of your truck. You'll put someone else in the truck or 3 or pets or young-uns, and you'll put camping gear in the bed, and suddenly you've suspended 1100 lbs over and behind the rear axle and raised the front 2".

Like others I recommend the Blue Ox Sway Pro. Not terribly expensive, easy to setup, clean, quiet, and you can backup with it engaged. Does WD and SC well. Check with them or a local dealer on which bars you'll need.

We started towing our Pete, a FC 27fb with the BO and it performed well. Started with a weak F150 and went to a properly equipped F150 and it performed even better. Got a steal on a used PPP hitch (towing gold) and moved the BO to our 7x16 enclosed cargo trailer with the towing dynamics of a breadbox (doesn't tow like an AS). BO made a huge improvement on it.

Just do it, don't spend Airstream money and save $600 on a hitch setup. Hope this helps.


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[m.hony]

As with so many things in life...
It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.


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[rmkrum]

Amen.

Rather have excess safety hardware instead of not quite enough. When you are talking safety, overkill is not unreasonable.

When you are talking combat, there is also no overkill, just 'open fire', and 'time to reload!'


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[CanonFan]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. My first impression was to just get the WD hitch with integrated sway control. But someone told me this would actually be detrimental to the light trailer and cause it to "porpoise" while driving down the highway. No one has commented on this so I assume no one reading this thread has had this experience(?).

[m.hony]

Not sure it would be detrimental or cause porpoising if you got the correct weight bars that correspond to your trailers tongue weight- 400# bars, 600# bars, 800# bars, 1,000# bars, 1,200# bars, or 1,400# bars...

[HiJoeSilver]

If anything it will reduce the porpoising. The way it's putting torque between the truck and trailer is in a direction counter to porpoising. For such a small trailer get some light bars, that way they will have a good amount of spring, and be able to flex well.

[floridalarry]

After having a Reese, Andersen and Blue Ox, I prefer the Blue Ox. Just remember that you need at least 1" bend in the weigh transfer bars. Do not use 1,000 # bars on an AS with 750 # tongue weight. You will not get the proper bend. There is a forum dedicated to Blue Ox. You may want to check it out.

I had a terrible experience with the Andersen. Due to so much forward pressure required, it deformed by locking lever requiring a new coupler.

[DaKs]

This is one of the reasons I went with the Andersen No Sway.
It is completely adjustable. It does not have incremental steps like bars do. Also the sway is dependent on how much tongue weight you have.
DaK