Sway Control

[azflycaster]

I have a WD hitch, but no sway control. The hitch has the mount for the sway ball, so installing will be fairly simple. What brands are good and which are so not good? I have seen Brady, Reese, Trail Pac and Husky. I am leaning towards the Reese. Any suggestions?

[85MH325]

Are you just talking about a friction bar? If so, they're pretty much all the same.

Roger

[uwe]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

I have a WD hitch, but no sway control. The hitch has the mount for the sway ball, so installing will be fairly simple. What brands are good and which are so not good? I have seen Brady, Reese, Trail Pac and Husky. I am leaning towards the Reese. Any suggestions?

I think they are a waste of money. I bought a Reese for about $100.00 or so, and hated it. It does nothing more than slow down the movement of the tongue from left to right. Problem is, it slows down the return as well, if you need to go straight.
Mine always felt much worse with it than without it. Also, it is supposed to be re-adjusted for road and wind conditions. No way.
Roger is right, they are about all the same.

[wahoonc]

azflycaster,
Take a look at the new TC 1000 from Blue Ox. All of the others listed depend on a friction pad of some sort which can become contaminated from road grit, water, etc. The TC 1000 appears to eliminate these issues.

Aaron

[Steve Heywood]

Originally Posted by 85MH325

Are you just talking about a friction bar? If so, they're pretty much all the same.

My trailer came with an Eaz Lift hitch and a Reese friction sway control. I replaced the Reese sway control with an Eaz Lift friction sway control. The Eaz Lift in a bit stouter (heavier metal) than the Reese. Function seems the same. A new Eaz Lift in more expensive than a new Reese, I bought mine on eBay for about $45.00 and it was almost new.

[overlander63]

I have two of them, one a Reese, and one a Husky, which is a generic Reese. Both work about the same, which is to say not the greatest. Eventually I want to convert to a dual-cam setup, but right now my cash is better spent on other things, especially since what I have is functional.

[Tarheel]

I have one on my 34' and it comes in handy. Most of the time you don't need it but when you do its there. One small note, don't over tighten it, I did and pulled it (fasteners) out of the frame on a tight turn getting out of a park.

[uwe]

I have gotten much better results by precision-adjusting my hitch setup. Hitch ball angle made the most difference!
I used the procedure from Andy Thompson, the Canadian Airstream dealer. Many don't agree with is tow vehicle philosophy, but his hitch setup procedure worked A1 for me!
If you angle the ball mount backwards enough, then the WD bars act as automatic sway control, without the binding of the friction slider.

[SilverToy]

Uwe -

What does 'backwards enough' in your last post on this thread mean??? Inquiring minds want to know!

BTW - LOVE the name! It is my fathers name. Does ANYONE pronounce it right?? I have heard them all - U.e., Ewe, E. we, etc... Of course, mine isn't much better - Axel.

Of course, living in Austria was very cool. No one mispronounced my name, no one said "Huh?", no one stared blankly, no one asked "how do you spell that?", no one gave it a second thought. Sigh.

Anyway, thanks for all of your help this past year and, 'Einen guten rutsch ins Neue Jahr!'

Axel

[dwightdi]

Sway control is meant to dampen out the energy caused by lateral movement. Frictional dampeners act like linear shock absorbers. All work the same. Word of caution: Many restrict extreme movement and can be fairly easily bent during necessary parking movements and must be disconnected before backing up. Twin cams (without lubricant on the cams) act as steel on steel brakes (uneven gawl friction and noise) but do generate a self centering force to reduce sway. They can also be effected by the amount of weight shifting you are trying to accomplish and weight distribution in the trailer. Laterial stability of the tow rig is a major factor. Sidewall side to side stiffness and any accessory shocks on the steering, overhang length from rear wheels to hitch ball all have major effects as well as wheel base and TV weight.

[uwe]

Originally Posted by SilverToy

Uwe -

What does 'backwards enough' in your last post on this thread mean??? Inquiring minds want to know!

BTW - LOVE the name! It is my fathers name. Does ANYONE pronounce it right?? I have heard them all - U.e., Ewe, E. we, etc... Of course, mine isn't much better - Axel.

Of course, living in Austria was very cool. No one mispronounced my name, no one said "Huh?", no one stared blankly, no one asked "how do you spell that?", no one gave it a second thought. Sigh.

Anyway, thanks for all of your help this past year and, 'Einen guten rutsch ins Neue Jahr!'

Axel

Axel,

I guess "backwards enough" is very poor english. Thanks for pointing that out to me. What I meant was adjusting the angle of the hitch ball, so it does not go straight up and down, but rather give it a few degrees of back angle. this angle should be enough so that the WD bars are parallel to the tongue when viewed horizontally, and when tightened properly for travel.
If the WD bars are pointing up, and the ends are getting close to the tongue, then you needmore hitch ball angle. If they are too far from the tongue, then you have too much hitch ball angle. In any case, a well adjusted system with properly dimensioned weight bars should have a hitch ball angle that shows a slight backwards angle.
One the trailer is hitched, with the hitch adjusted properly, there is a self centering tendency by means of the backwards angle of the hitch ball, and the associated forces on the WD bars and chains. This is minimized if the hitch ball is straight up and down.

My name has it's challenges at times, as you can imagine. I, too, have heard all variations of it. I have even be called Günter before.

Happy New Year, "Einen Guten Rutsch", to you, too!

[azflycaster]

Uwe,
Thank you for explaining enough your response. When you say back angle, do you mean tilt the ball a few degrees away from the TV?

[uwe]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

Uwe,
Thank you for explaining enough your response. When you say back angle, do you mean tilt the ball a few degrees away from the TV?

Yes, exactly.

[bryanl]

Caveat: "generate a self centering force to reduce sway" isn't quite right.

Sway control methods are either damping or configuration. None are generating a self centering force of any significance. (that is what causes oscillation and in sway scenarios usually comes only from the driver)

The friction bar, Dual Cam, and Equal-i-zer are examples of damping. The Pullrite and Hensley Arrow are examples of configuration by moving the hitch pivot closer to the rear axle.

Talking about lateral force can be a bit misleading as well. The issue is really the trailer rotating about its axle and putting latteral forces on the hitch point to swing the rear end of the tow vehicle back and forth. If there is a lot of slop in the stability of the tow vehicle or if the trailer has a lot of leverage by a long axle to pivot point distance compared to wheelbase or if the loading adds to intertial torque you can get a lot of tail wagging of the tow vehicle by the trailer.

There are at several major regimes that are often confused but require different considerations in finding solutions. One is handling down the road under normal circumstances. Another is handling during evasive maneauver or hard braking. A third is response to unusual perturbation such as wind gusts or significant bow waves.

Sway control also seems to often be confused with load leveling, especially by the novice. Where load leveling can be important, though, is in its impact on steering. You have to have good weight on the steering axle else the tow vehicle gets squirrely.

I'd like to see decent statistics on the use of sway control methods. From casual observation, I see maybe a third with none, a third with friction bar and of the rest, half with DC, a quarter (and growing) with the Eq, and that followed by the HA with a smattering of pullrite and other.

[dwightdi]

The old dual cam systems from Reese generate a self centering force when properly adjusted and transfering signifigant amount of weight. Frictional dampening is a secondary effect with these systems. The new ones also look like they would also have quite a bit of self centering but I have not done the calculations to quantify it. If the new ones would have a roller follower and a separate frictional dampener resisting rotation that would be ideal as the old ones lose their configuration when they wear and lose their ability to generate the self centering force. Proper adjustment of the backward tilt of the ball has nothing to do with self centering. It allows the customer to fine tune the amount of tension existant in the bars for the in between link settings. The tilt of the ball should allow you to easily insert the bars without contacting the ground when the unit is in nuetral position with the trailer on the ball. I have also seen bolts put into links to slightly shorten them to accomplish the same thing.

[bryanl]

Originally Posted by dwightdi

self centering force ... Frictional dampening is a secondary effect ... have not done the calculations to quantify it.
...
The tilt of the ball should allow you to easily insert the bars without contacting the ground

One thing I am curious about is the relative size of the lateral force on the trailer tongue and the torque provided by sway control mechanisms. I am also curious about the DC applied torque as a function of angle, especially over the very small angles usually involved in most sway issues. If there was significant self centering compared to damping, you would have a recipe for aggravated sway.

The best advice I have heard for ball angle is to get the spring bars parallel to the trailer frame at proper loading. Chains should only be used for minor spring bar tension adjustment and should never pull the bars too far from parallel with the trailer frame.

Spring bar insertion can be facilitated by lifting the coupled hitch about 5" because at that point, the spring bar should be at near zero loading which means insertion into the ball mount should be well clear of anything and coupling to the trailer frame should be tension free (enhancing safety).

[Tinsel Loaf]

Sway all begins at home. If your dancing with the wife a small amount of adjustment may be the correct thing to do. If you have one to many beers and are swaying toward the door, don't drive. As far as towing, have'nt a clue.

[dwightdi]

What I was saying is taken from the Reese handbook on the use of their dual cam system. If the cams are new and the bars properly adjusted, the load transferred is enough to cause a centering action from the cams. Properly adjusted cam followers have almost no slack in the middle. As soon as small angle of movement occurs, the followers starts up the two cams (in oposite directions) generating a centering force. I usually adjust the tilt back on the ball so that I operating with three links hanging, give the correct amount of weight transfer to level the system. I then loosen the cam follower links attachement to the A frame (with the rig straight) and adust their position to nuetral. The bars are usually trailing down a little at that point, if you have selected the right bars. This give full movement to the bars with proper side to side stability and not overstressing the bars. It usually results in the bars being able to be assembled without picking up the back of the tow vechile with the tongue jack. If you want to overstress the tonque jack by picking up the car (with the potential of breaking it) be my guest, it will make the levering up the chains easier, if you are too weak or lazy.

It is really a simple system and easy to understand but I can not figure out why they did not make the cams out of a brake friction material to control the amount of frictional dampening. I do not know of any modern engineer who would consider making a frictional brake by contacting ungreased steel on steel. Old train brakes at least used cast iron on steel wheels with different hardnesses. Reese cams usually wear out due to galling.

[dwightdi]

The new Reese/Drawtite twin cam design looks alot beefier than the old one. With the increased engineering capacity of the combined companies, I wonder whether they have done a better job of designing and testing the new hitches? The Hensely folks have published some impressive videos of the performance of their system. I wonder if Reese has some also. Seems like they should have some within engineering, if they have done a good engineering job. It would take a 8 strain gage set up (plus two temp. compensators) to record the forces in the bars during manuevers and be able to analyse the frictional and self centering characteristics. It would be a pretty interesting engineering study, like we used to do in the late 60's when I was a mechanical engineer at GM and other OEM's with extensive engineering test facilities.

Old Reese instructions say to keep the front to back weight distribution unchanged for the tow vechicle (as a goal) when setting up the hitch. I suspect that is in error for heavier weight trucks that do not handle that well when they do not have any load in the box. OEM's design the optimal handling in these vehicles assuming that they are carring about half of their load capacity. Of course the conventional trailer load comes from the hitch rather than the center of the box so some compromise is in order.

[uwe]

Originally Posted by dwightdi

Proper adjustment of the backward tilt of the ball has nothing to do with self centering.

I noticed a definite improvement in handling after adjusting the hitch ball angle. My TradeWind/Dodge, and then TradeWind/Suburban rig felt way better both times. I used 750lb bars, and by the feel of them they were maxed out, or close to it.
Of course it does not have the same effect as a dedicated sway control system, like what I have now ( reese dual cam hp). With the tension on the WD bars being the same, both rigs towed way better, with less sway, with the hitch ball angle adjusted properly. I do not know the physical reason for this, but my back-o-meter is quite reliable....