Sway. Before, during and after.

[Ricky Bobby]

A thing that is not mentioned.
1. Sway will occur if the trailer any trailer is loaded with more weight behind the axles. ALWAYS load all trailers with more load in front of its axles. The load must be in front to avoid most sway.
2. Also, the location of the receiver to the rear axle of the TV is important.
The closer the ball is to the rear axle of the TV the better performance the trailer will have following the TV.
.

[Rofsteinmd]

During a recently completed trip, I learned what sway is all about. Being somewhat of a cynic, I wondered if the extra $1,000 or so for the Equalizer Sway Control Hitch was just an up sale. It is not. We tow a 27' Flying Cloud with a Ford F-150. Somehow, we lost one of the hitch pins or clips that secures the bar to the trailer. It was free at that end. We noticed it was loose while getting gas. In retrospect, what we through was wind-related sway might have been related to only one functioning bar. We called Airstream as to what to do until we got the replacement pin. They (a Airstream dealer parts guy, not AS Corp) didn't really know what to do, drive with 1 vs none but he said he would drive with none. DO NOT DO THIS. Sway was insane. The Equalizer guys said the hitch was designed to work with the bars, not without (dah). We reinstalled one bar and it was almost the same as two. The $1,000 or so for the Sway Control was the best money spent of all add ons.

[drbrick]

We have not experienced sway and I believe this is because of several factors.

1. our TV weights more than our AS
2. our hitch is a Reese dual cam system (wd+ sc)
3. we never overload the AS
4. we have added sumosprings to the TV which eliminated porpoising
5. our TV has built-in anti-sway, off road, 156" wheelbase and max tow,
6. we drive at 65mph

We have not experienced sway in crosswinds or a semi passing us.

[BayouBiker]

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

A thing that is not mentioned.
1. Sway will occur if the trailer any trailer is loaded with more weight behind the axles. ALWAYS load all trailers with more load in front of its axles. The load must be in front to avoid most sway.
2. Also, the location of the receiver to the rear axle of the TV is important.
The closer the ball is to the rear axle of the TV the better performance the trailer will have following the TV.
.

Item one impacts trailer center of gravity / tongue weight. Definitely higher tongue weight due to forward loading improves sway damping.

Item two and similar geometry considerations impact trailer inertial effects / rear axle cornering stiffness. The amount of WD tension also impact rear axle cornering stiffness. A combination susceptible to sway and oversteer should not have a lot of WD tension and front axle load return because the reduced downward force on the rear axle increases tire slip and oversteer. It's a double edge sword because for many hitches, WD tension also increases sway damping. This is why overloaded vehicles generally do better with hitches who's design is such that Sway control is independent of WD tension.

[Mollysdad]

I have never experienced sway. But I've seen it while following a truck towing a boat and trailer. It started, amplified, until the rear of the truck was being dragged sideways on the road. When the sway reached 90 degrees, the truck and trailer ended up in the median.
The entire event took all of ten seconds.

[daytripper]

There hasn't been much mention about prevention here. A picture (or video) is worth a thousand words...[URL="https://www.facebook.com/oklahomatowing/videos/707316739471432"]

[daytripper]

https://www.facebook.com/oklahomatow...07316739471432

[Jerrylax]

Originally Posted by B. Cole

#1-Keep weight in front of trailer axles, not behind axles.Especially a single axle.That means dumping tanks/ moving weight forward/ etc prior to towing.etc.
# 2-Tow with a heavy / long wheel base tow vehicle, that is suitable for the job. ( not overpowered/ driven by trailer).
An example of #2 would be, a F-350 or F-250 instead of a F-150.
Another example of #2, of what not to do, is inexperienced towing people, who put expensive / heavy hitch set ups ( with sometimes lots of expert advice), on little / sporty/ short wheelbase SUVs, like a Jeep/ LandRover/ Porsche etc etc etc type rigs II ( the list is endless) and attempt to pull trailers too large/ way too large/ for said baby SUV Tow Vehicle.
Heres even more help, for those new to towing Airstreams ( in this forums case).
A SUV, is, by definition, a SPORT UTILITY VEHICLE.
If used for towing, they should ideally and for safety, be matched with and towing only small ( like the SUV is) UTILITY trailers, like a little lawn trailer, or rowboat trailer/ etc etc.
Trucks are for real towing.
The bigger, the better.
Heres a real world towing example of how that works, if needed. Lets say A SUV towing a too large trailer, sways and flips/wrecks.Or can't stop safely and also wrecks.Etc etc
A tow truck arriving on the accident scene,( Wrecker) doesn't need a WDH/Anti Sway Hitch.
A 2 +5/16 " (Bumper pull) Ball is sometimes stuck on the back, and trailer needing towed is dropped on the ball.
Away it goes.
Glad to help....

Agree. Years ago a machinist told me “there is no replacement for a big block engine for towing” (before diesels were so predominate)...I hated to hear it but he was correct. I’ve tried to get the best of all worlds...daily driver and tow vehicle etc...nope...from my 40+ years of experience when you compromise, you compromise...just don’t tell yourself you didn’t.

[Hermes]

Originally Posted by Dennis C

I received advice from my Airstream dealer when I bought my trailer on how to deal with sway. His suggestion was to let off the accelerator, then to quickly pulse the trailer brakes using the brake controller. He told me that hitting the brakes in the tow vehicle isn’t the best response, even though it’s many people’s first instinct. Fortunately, I’ve never had any sway issues while towing my Airstream or any other trailer. I’ve never been able to test this method. My truck has automatic electronic anti-sway control, but I don’t think that has ever been activated.

Ditto, never experienced sway but applying the trailer brakes manually with my built-in GMC trailer brake controller seems to be the most logical and quickest means to stabilize the rig; thankfully I never have had to put that recommendation into practice even though I have visualized the procedure in my mind while driving quite a few times.

A proper hitch setup, proper trailer load balancing, proper driving (including lower speed and 360 degree awareness of what's happening around the rig) should keep things that way for a long time. Safe travels!

[DCPAS]

Originally Posted by BayouBiker

Point 6 addresses sway controllers. They are quite effective at arresting sway and can help with oversteer to a lesser degree, but they are no substitute for the inertial moment of heft and wheelbase. I am continuously surprised by those who want to bring knives, even fancy ones to a gunfight.... Alas, what is a poor boy to do?

Sway controllers operate the brakes on the trailer. The features I describe help control sway through brakes and power distribution on the tow vehicle. If we are discussing controlling sway, a modern tow vehicle is a factor.

[jimfa440]

Originally Posted by Vitaver

Sway, how to prevent it, what to do when it gets past comfort level and what to do immediately if results in disaster is a topic that certainly was addressed in many threads and will be a major endeavor to collect them all, so I hope we can start a discussion strictly limited to the 3 items at the top. Hard to imagine anyone towing, no matter for how long (12 years in my case), is not preoccupied with any of the three topics, so let’s give it a try to help each other and newbies.

Sway happens... It does result on catastrophe many times a year. It is an important topic no matter what TV, TT or hitch is used yet our collective experience and research may help us all. I‘ll post one for each following this, to initiate the conversation on this chat. Thanks to all who take an interest and chose to contribute.

Checking tyre pressures, safety brake connected at both ends and 7 way connector providing power to the TT are understood.

Don't control sway, prevent it. I have been towing for 50+ years. I would never have thought you could prevent sway, like others I just tried to control it when it happened. I recently purchased a ProPride hitch for my 30' AS, ZERO SWAY. I pulled from Tennessee to Florida, bad winds, fast trucks, NO PROBLEM. Try it, you'll like it.

[ROBERT CROSS]

^
X2

...as noted in many above posts, do all that, get all that, and then buy a PPP just to make sure.
We can try and explain the benefits, but can't understand it for you.
I too poo poo'd at first and then got the Arrow, I noticed the improvement immediately, even on my 'perfectly set-up rig'.

TETO

Bob
🇺🇸

[BayouBiker]

Originally Posted by DCPAS

Sway controllers operate the brakes on the trailer. The features I describe help control sway through brakes and power distribution on the tow vehicle. If we are discussing controlling sway, a modern tow vehicle is a factor.

Sway control programmers can be designed for either the trailer or the tow vehicle. The principle is the same, the details are different. I didn't differentiate, however I will now say the the ones designed to act on the trailer theoretically are in a better position to be more effective.

[DCPAS]

Originally Posted by BayouBiker

Sway control programmers can be designed for either the trailer or the tow vehicle. The principle is the same, the details are different. I didn't differentiate, however I will now say the the ones designed to act on the trailer theoretically are in a better position to be more effective.

Then why aren't they common?

[BayouBiker]

Originally Posted by jimfa440

Don't control sway, prevent it. I have been towing for 50+ years. I would never have thought you could prevent sway, like others I just tried to control it when it happened. I recently purchased a ProPride hitch for my 30' AS, ZERO SWAY. I pulled from Tennessee to Florida, bad winds, fast trucks, NO PROBLEM. Try it, you'll like it.

There are several effective ways to end up with a critically damped combination. Hensley hitches will do that when articulation angle is low only (going straight or nearly so). Read that as preventing sway part time. The Hensley is a clever design but it won't perform miracles. A large enough tow vehicle will produce a critically damped system all of the time. Putting a Hensley on it is over engineering it for something that physically can never happen.

[Vitaver]

I admit complete ignorance on the use of a CAT scale. Are those the stops for commercial trucks on the roads? Love, Flying J etc stops have them? Do you drive to them, unhitch and weight TT and TV separately? Any info will be highly appreciated.

[BayouBiker]

Originally Posted by DCPAS

Then why aren't they common?

I think it has to do with incremental cost. A trailer does not have a chassis control module or an acelerometer and a couple other instruments that you can easily just add a hundred lines of code so it's more pricey.

[AnnaBelle33]

Download the app and set up an account. You don’t get out of your truck. It’s very simple. With the app; you can pull up, weigh and leave. The report will get emailed to you before you exit the truck stop.

https://catscale.com/how-to-weigh/

[Vitaver]

Would you use both, the anti-sway built into the truck and the WDH with bars (or the PP)? Ford dealer (not a good source for advice on this matters, in general) advices against it.

[DCPAS]

Originally Posted by Vitaver

Would you use both, the anti-sway built into the truck and the WDH with bars (or the PP)? Ford dealer (not a good source for advice on this matters, in general) advices against it.

The Ford tow guide for my year mentions that the owner is responsible for getting other towing equipment and mentions anti-sway devices in this context. So I would guess that if Ford advises against use of sway control, it would have been mentioned here.

Conversely, my hitch manual has a notation to turn off the tow vehicle's sway control. That was added after I bought the hitch when I downloaded the electronic version. That topic has been discussed here and nobody could think of a scenario where the hitch and trailer systems would conflict. So I leave the tow vehicle sway control systems on.