How essential is the sway bar?

[67caravel]

As always, good advice found here on this forum!

[be4143]

We bought our Land Yacht thru E-bay and had to rent a truck to pick it up because at the time we only had Volvos. After researching vehicles and towing capacities, we settled on the great looking and awesome performance of a Porsche Cayenne. It came with the towing package. We were told to "just buy a hitch, 2" ball and you're set." Last week we hooked up the Airstream to the Cayenne and drove it very slowly to Joe's Hitch, who we hope checked things out, hooked up our lights, fixed the safety chains, and repacked our wheels. When we drove it home, we took the highway. We felt a little sway on the corners, ramps, and once we hit 45 mph. What do we do? The trailer isn't really loaded yet, just a few things we've begin buying, We plan to redo the interior but want to use it on the weekends safely. We think the Cayenne came with a w/d hitch, is this right? We want to be extra safe, so what kind of sway bars/controller do we need? Does our trailer have brakes? How do you know? Somebody help us please.
Two chicks in Dallas

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by be4143

We bought our Land Yacht thru E-bay and had to rent a truck to pick it up because at the time we only had Volvos. After researching vehicles and towing capacities, we settled on the great looking and awesome performance of a Porsche Cayenne. It came with the towing package. We were told to "just buy a hitch, 2" ball and you're set." Last week we hooked up the Airstream to the Cayenne and drove it very slowly to Joe's Hitch, who we hope checked things out, hooked up our lights, fixed the safety chains, and repacked our wheels. When we drove it home, we took the highway. We felt a little sway on the corners, ramps, and once we hit 45 mph. What do we do? The trailer isn't really loaded yet, just a few things we've begin buying, We plan to redo the interior but want to use it on the weekends safely. We think the Cayenne came with a w/d hitch, is this right? We want to be extra safe, so what kind of sway bars/controller do we need? Does our trailer have brakes? How do you know? Somebody help us please.
Two chicks in Dallas

Xray has a similar setup with his Toureg, but a new Airstream, and he has had no problems that he has told us about. You may want to check to make sure the trailer is sitting more or less level when hooked up to the Cayenne. If it is nose-low, or high, it will make a big difference when towing. You may have to get a different "head", the part where the ball of the hitch sits, to get the trailer to sit level. Then try it again, and see what happens. For whatever reason, the T-reg doesn't have any WD or sway control on it, the Cayenne is the same basic platform, so most likely won't use it either.
I personally have found that tandem-axle trailers tend to sway less than singles, if yours has a single axle, this may be a contributing factor.
Terry

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by be4143

We think the Cayenne came with a w/d hitch, is this right? We want to be extra safe, so what kind of sway bars/controller do we need? Does our trailer have brakes? How do you know? Somebody help us please.
Two chicks in Dallas

The Porsche towing package would not have included a hitch; it would, however, include the receiver which is the 2" square orifice under the rear bumper that the hitch plugs into.

What does the part that the ball is mounted on look like? If it is merely an L-shaped bar that plugs into the receiver, then it is not a W/D hitch. A W/D hitch will be a sizeable iron casting that mounts the ball and has provision for insertion of two spring bars. The spring bars will be about 30" long. You probably need about 550# bars for that size and age of Airstream.

I recommend a Reese Dual-Cam hitch, but Equalizer and some other brands are OK. If the hitch you buy doesn't have built-in sway control (Dual0-Cam and Equalizer), then I would recommend you install a friction sway bar at the very least. The friction bar will go from a small ball on the hitch to a small ball mounted on the A-frame of the trailer.

I'm sure that your trailer should have brakes. You can see the brake drums through the slots in the wheels. In the Porsche, you need a controller such as a Tekonsha Prodigy or equivalent. The controller must be wired to the trailer connetor and to several points in the under-dash wiring.

[markdoane]

One thing to investigate carefully (along with sway control and weight distribution hitch) is the type of tires on the Cayenne. If it has 'performance' tires, you may need to replace them with a stiff wall light truck tire.

When the trailer starts to sway, the tongue is trying to push the back of the tow vehicle sideways. Even with sway control, the only force resisting the sway is the ability of the tow vehicle rear tires to stay firmly attached to the pavement without a lot of sidewall flex.

[67caravel]

BE4143,

Welcome aboard!

I, for one, have a V8 Touareg and tow a 22' CCD. Towhead tows a 28' CCD with his V8. Almost all of us Airstreamers use weight distribution hitch setups of various brands including Reese, EAZ-Lift, Equalizer, Hensley, etc. because of safety and performance concerns. Configured properly, the Cayenne/Touareg platforms are rock solid towing vehicles and you should not experience any sway (see discussion on weight distribution hitches, below). Bear in mind that you should not exceed any of the safety parameters concerning trailer length, weight, tongue weight, wheelbase, etc. (see your owner's manual for specific towing parameters of the Cayenne - for instance, the Touareg's maximum trailer rating is 7,700 pounds). These issues are discussed throughout this forum. Do the "search" and learn much more about these topics. There is a wealth of information here.

Make sure your "Pepper" has a brake controller installed. Contrary to what some have said, the factory does not preinstall a controller. The factory hitch setup includes wiring from the hitch to the area under the dash on the driver's side. The install is very easy. Look for the small connector under the lower dash panel toward the left side of driver seating area that is wrapped in foam (see pics). Some folks report problems between the Tekonsha Prodigy and the truck's onboard electronics. I am now using a Tekonsha Envoy with my 22' CCD and it works fine.

Wiring at the connector is as follows:

Red w/Yellow stripe is 12 volt POS.
Blue is trailer brake feed.
Black w/purple stripe is STOP LIGHT.
Brown is NEG.

Porsche connector under the driver's side dash (wiring for a Tekonsha Prodigy are already inserted into the Porsche's connector in this photo)


In this case, pigtails were wired from the Cayenne's connector to the Tekonsha Prodigy's brake controller jack and were routed out through the parking brake opening


Finally, here's some information on weight distribution hitches that might clarify the concept for you:



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