Trailer sway

[Native143]

Originally Posted by NorrisRM

Thanks for this comment. We are looking at either a FC 25 FB or 27FB but my wife is a serious cyclist so I really was looking at the bike rack designed for an AS but was worried about the extra weight.

I probably would stick around the campground with the dog unless she (dog) tones down in the next year. A little more lively PWD than last one!

If you get the Arvika bike rack designed for the airstream, it goes on the A-frame in the front. Check out their site and how the Airstream configuration works.Arvika.ca. I loved my bike rack on the front of my Airstream. And I can keep an eye on it that way too while driving.

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by FMSports

Speaking of bike rack, the Helium XT2 came in and fiddling with it the moment.

This Classic came with frame welded hitch. My guess is 25lbs of steel. However the false floor in the rear compartment is ridiculous (20lbs) so I removed that. Ok then at net zero.

The Fiamma rack I have is light, a mess of pipes it's butt ugly. And it does get in the way of even the rear bumper tray let alone a rear compartment. I didn't want to drill into body!

The only cool thing out there is the Thule XT2 but it's 45 lbs. With bikes in place (my wife is electric at 30lbs) my hitch weight drops to 700lbs. Going to add water and see where it sits today. Might have to go back to AGM's

With the Monroe shocks I have the trailer is way more stable, so I believe it can handle adverse conditions, wind or weight transfer a lot better.

I've been in a rig with zero hitch weight and we were good to about 55mph, before the trailer went nuts! Two Skidoos, custom trailer the tongue was welded on the wrong end.

Looks nice; however, I would "bet" you have sway movement with that hitch, you are not aware of. I followed a buddy with similar hitch and have seen others on the road. Bikes are not secured from the upper cross bars to the frame, like the Fiamma racks are. There is sway from side to side as you travel with this type rack, only secured at the receiver. You may not feel/know it, but that's the issue with the single slide in hitch type receiver. Thats why AS does not endorse other rear racks than Fiamma. The Fiamma racks are attached to the frame of the AS both at the bottom and the upper bars.

[LongLakeMN]

Originally Posted by Seacraft18

There has been a lot of talk lately on the forums regarding Weight Distribution Hitches and trailer sway. KYD mentioned the first thing you should do when experiencing trailer sway is do manually use you brake controller to apply braking to the trailer. Here is a good video that demonstrates this in action.

This is nice in theory but not realistic. Last fall, late October in southern Minnesota, my wife and I got caught in a snow storm. We pull our 2020 FC 25RBT with a 2019 Ford Expedition (with automatic sway control) and a Blue Ox weight distribution hitch.

We stayed overnight in a hotel and the next morning the roads were "clear." Going over a small bridge (bridge freezes before road surface) the gust from a car in the other direction started a sway. My wife had both hands on the steering wheel as she tried to compensate for the increasing sway.

There was NO way she was taking a hand off the wheel to manually activate the trailer brakes. From the passenger seat I was about to reach over and do it myself (wondering if that was a good idea). Fortunately, we got the sway under control before a disaster.

I've always imagined I'd calmly reach down and manually activate the trailer brakes if driving. It will NOT happen in a real sway event.

[Boxite]

Originally Posted by NorrisRM

We also are on to our third! If your first was 1987 then your Porties have made it longer than ours. But Roxy and Brisa were easy compared to our one year old Callie. There is not a non-destructible toy around that she cannot handle in less than 2 days!

May I ask what your “Callie” breed is..?? and how you came to name her…??

We recently acquired a rescue pup and named her “Callie” also. (My grandmother’s name…short for “California”…but everyone called her “Aunt Callie”….)

In this pic…she’s impatiently waiting for her “Mommie’ to wake up and Play on Saturday morning…LOL

[aftermath]

I like my Fiamma rack. I bought one soon after they came out and one of the mounting brackets that attach the rack to the Airstream broke. No damage, no bikes on the road no big issues. They replaced it and said they had redesigned that part and I haven't had any issues since. We are not big bike people, we don't have real expensive bikes and I am not worried if they get wet or dusty in route. All I know is that my rack is pretty sturdy. I had another Airstreamer follow us into Montana and stopped when I did. He asked about the rack and told me that he had followed us for 50 miles or so and it rode rock solid. My 25FB has plenty of tongue weight. Adding a couple of bikes to the Fiamma has not caused any trouble for me.

[GettinAway]

Originally Posted by gypsydad

Looks nice; however, I would "bet" you have sway movement with that hitch, you are not aware of. I followed a buddy with similar hitch and have seen others on the road. Bikes are not secured from the upper cross bars to the frame, like the Fiamma racks are. There is sway from side to side as you travel with this type rack, only secured at the receiver. You may not feel/know it, but that's the issue with the single slide in hitch type receiver. Thats why AS does not endorse other rear racks than Fiamma. The Fiamma racks are attached to the frame of the AS both at the bottom and the upper bars.

My guess is you’ve never followed anyone with a 1UP RV certified bike carrier. It’s very difficult to get any lateral movement with it. It’s just too solid. There is some up and down movement possible. Especially with big bounces going on to bridges, RR tracks, etc.. I’ve watched with the rear camera quite a bit. Comfortable that there isn’t any side to side movement. Wasn’t that way when we started carrying bikes on the back. We used a standard bike carrier. A fair amount of side to side movement. With the 1UP it’s gone.

[2link2]

Originally Posted by PeteC17

May I ask where you had your 2" receiver installed and a ballpark cost?
Thanks,
Pete

The receiver wasn't cheap if I remember right it was around 400 bucks, son in law installed it, no direct cost there

[Stefrobrts]

Originally Posted by LongLakeMN

This is nice in theory but not realistic. Last fall, late October in southern Minnesota, my wife and I got caught in a snow storm. We pull our 2020 FC 25RBT with a 2019 Ford Expedition (with automatic sway control) and a Blue Ox weight distribution hitch.

...

I'm curious about these vehicles that have built in automatic sway control. Did you feel that kick in at all?

[jcl]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

I'm curious about these vehicles that have built in automatic sway control. Did you feel that kick in at all?

We had built in sway control in two BMW vehicles that we towed with. They called it TSC, for Trailer Stability Control, and it was part of the DSC, Dynamic Stability Control module for the vehicle. BMW introduced it is 2000 or so. IIRC correctly, the control module was supplied by Continental to BMW. It wasn't an option, it was factory equipment on all models of vehicles that had a tow hitch option. We had it on a 2003, and a 2007, model. When you connected a trailer using the factory wiring harness, it activated an additional algorithm that sensed sway. It used tow vehicle brakes, applied individually, to control trailer sway; it didn't activate trailer brakes, which some of the newer systems do.

The DSC turned on a light on the dash when traction control, or vehicle stability control, activated. We had those activate many times. We never once, in years of operation, got the TSC to activate. Perhaps if we had loaded a trailer abnormally, just to test it, we may have, but we never saw the light come on.

[NorrisRM]

Originally Posted by Boxite

May I ask what your “Callie” breed is..?? and how you came to name her…??

We recently acquired a rescue pup and named her “Callie” also. (My grandmother’s name…short for “California”…but everyone called her “Aunt Callie”….)

In this pic…she’s impatiently waiting for her “Mommie’ to wake up and Play on Saturday morning…LOL

Finally figured out how to load pictures. Hopefully the other PWD owner who posted Pirate on this thread will see them. We have a Portuguese Water Dog. This one is the smallest of the three that we have had. Same breed that Obama's family had. I think their first one is named Bo.

It was a friend who suggested the name Callie. I looked it up and there is a minor Greek goddess by the name of Callista who seems to have got into a bit of trouble with Zeus! So being mischievous like she is, the name fits although we had no idea she would be as much of a handful at the time we got her at 8 weeks!

I guess we should get back to the topic. Interesting discussion re use of a receiver for a bike rack or the Flamma one which is attached to the body of the AS. Pros and Cons.

I have to say as a Canadian that I am so impressed at the level of civility that I see in AS threads between owners who are clearly both Democrat and Republican. There is hope for America after all! Everyone just has to buy an AS.

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by GettinAway

My guess is you’ve never followed anyone with a 1UP RV certified bike carrier. It’s very difficult to get any lateral movement with it. It’s just too solid. There is some up and down movement possible. Especially with big bounces going on to bridges, RR tracks, etc.. I’ve watched with the rear camera quite a bit. Comfortable that there isn’t any side to side movement. Wasn’t that way when we started carrying bikes on the back. We used a standard bike carrier. A fair amount of side to side movement. With the 1UP it’s gone.

I understand your points, but the potential is there for "movement" side to side and up and down, as you acknowledge. May not be enough to worry about, and I get that also. Having a single point "fulcrum" type hitch/receiver with the bike rack or cargo rack weight beyond the frame/bumper of the AS without securing beyond that hitch single point receiver is understandable. My point is, the Fiamma does not have any of that movement because of the way it is secured to the AS frame in 4 places.

[Andrew T]

There is a video on this page called "Electronic Sway control" where we test the Tucson product that goes on the trailer. It's advantage is that it applies the brakes on alternate sides of the trailer and does not require involvement from the driver.

https://www.canamrv.ca/towing-expertise/videos/

[BRS]

I read this thread and decided to try towing without WD. (I have never not used WD, and have had five trailers, two Airstreams) I had to take my 2023 23" FC FBQ to the dealership for some warranty work. About a 20 mile drive almost all on the freeway. (TV 2019 Expedition with max tow package. I use an Equalizer) At first I noticed the trailer felt more bouncy before I got on the freeway. Once on the freeway, I brought the speed up gradually to 63 mph, which is what I towed at. Trailer did not feel right. Soon I had sway, dash board lit up with a warning, TRAILER SWAY, SLOW DOWN. I dropped the speed to 50 mph and it was ok, but I was not pleased and was glad I was only going on a short drive. Yes, the sway warning works and I will never tow again without WD.

[GettinAway]

Originally Posted by gypsydad

I understand your points, but the potential is there for "movement" side to side and up and down, as you acknowledge. May not be enough to worry about, and I get that also. :

I guess there is potential for lots of things to happen. Now I’m going to worry about that asteroid falling on me as we head west this summer. If we ever cross paths, I’ll let you tug on the bikes, sitting in the carrier, to your heart’s content. They are solid side to side, and very little up and down. As I said.

[NorrisRM]

Originally Posted by Andrew T

There is a video on this page called "Electronic Sway control" where we test the Tucson product that goes on the trailer. It's advantage is that it applies the brakes on alternate sides of the trailer and does not require involvement from the driver.

https://www.canamrv.ca/towing-expertise/videos/

Andy
You need to open a facility on the West Coast! A little hard using CanAm when we are on the "Left Coast".

I appreciated the assistance of Philip on a choice of Mercedes SUV TV.

NRM

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by GettinAway

I guess there is potential for lots of things to happen. Now I’m going to worry about that asteroid falling on me as we head west this summer. If we ever cross paths, I’ll let you tug on the bikes, sitting in the carrier, to your heart’s content. They are solid side to side, and very little up and down. As I said.

OK; thats a deal! Maybe see you at Sedalia rally?

I know there are a few folks here who have expensive racks like yours that are convinced they do not move and are very secure as I have read here. I am sure there are some that are very secure, like yours. I also know many folks do not like the Fiamma due to the access restriction to back storage also. Good to know there are some choices for folks.

(meantime...watch out for those asteroids!)