Sway Control

[CBlack]

The new Furd offers what they call sway or trailer control that they are touting.



I was wondering from the long time haulers in here, does that really matter?



Or is it just fluff to sell people?



A Furd owner on another forum was touting it as the thing everyone needs.



I am of the opinion that there have been how many millions of miles traveled without it, so what's the big deal?

 

[Bug Out]

added sway bar to mine

I added a after market sway bar to my 05 dually just cause. My 97 had one. I really can't honestly say there was any difference at all.

It will make stealing my MAG-HYTEC r/e cover hell to take!

 

[HBarlow]

The new Furd offers what they call sway or trailer control that they are touting.

I was wondering from the long time haulers in here, does that really matter?

Or is it just fluff to sell people?

A Furd owner on another forum was touting it as the thing everyone needs.

I am of the opinion that there have been how many millions of miles traveled without it, so what's the big deal?

I agree. It is nothing more than fluff, bs to brag about in television ads that show Furds pulling buildings down and all that crap.

I've been towing travel trailers since 1972 without one and didn't know I needed one. Actually, most RVers that tow long conventional travel trailers use a Reese dual cam or friction sway control to control sway. Either work verywell.

When I was transporting I pulled perhaps 100 conventional trailers using nothing but a solid steel drawbar or shank on a dually. No sway control wanted or needed. To use a sway control device would have required lots of wasted installation and set up time because every trailer was different and then would have had to touch up the scratches on the A frame before delivery.

 

[GAmes]

Sway control is a band-aid used to cover up a problem. If the trailer is loaded correctly (10 to 12% trailer weight on the hitch) and the tow vehicle is adequate (suspension and tires) the most anyone should need is a weight distribution hitch. Fluff!

 

[Bill Stockard]

I added a after market sway bar to my 05 dually just cause. My 97 had one. I really can't honestly say there was any difference at all.

I added a Hellwig anti-sway bar to my truck's rear suspension. It made a difference in handling when hauling a heavy high center of gravity load in the truck bed (slide in truck camper). I doubt it would make much difference in handling when towing a trailer.



Bill

 

[Bug Out]

Your right

I think mine is more of a "MAG-HYTEC" pan theft preventive tool. .

 

[DaveHess]

I think there is some confusion here between "Sway Bars" and "Sway Control". Anyhow, I use a Reese and have found the benefit to be minimal with my 29' Jayco TT. I agree with GAmes in the magic is in the setup. Next time you're at a campground, ask people around you how many have ever weighed their pick-up empty and then their fully loaded pick-up and trailer. I have yet to find one and most roll their eyes at me. I put mine on a CAT scale the first camping trip of each season. It gives me axle weights as well as the GCW. I just went across the scale at 17,080 pounds with 11% on the tongue. Knowledge is power. Also, this should get me flamed but ST trailer tires are only rated at 65MPH (Goodyear Website). That's where I tow at. Faster speeds can produce all kinds of bad things to happen. Just my . 02

 

[AH64ID]

The ford sway control is electronic. . which means all it can do is brake wheels when it feels sway, thats got to be great for economy!

I have a sway setup incorporated into my equal-i-zer hitch. I really like it. . Is it really needed? No, but I can tell a difference when there are 2 trailers behind my truck.

 

[DaveHess]

I have been trying to remember where I read this if memory serves me, anything over 26 feet needs to sway controls to be truly effective. I may have gotten that off the Reese website. Not sure though. I have screwed around with my Reese so much now I have no idea if it set up right anymore or not... .

 

[Bill Stockard]

The ford sway control is electronic. . which means all it can do is brake wheels when it feels sway, that's got to be great for economy!

That reminds me of my late father's Holiday Rambler 30' travel trailer that he towed back in the early '70s. It had Automatic Sway Control (ASC) on it. There was a black box at the rear of the trailer that detected trailer sway. When sway was detected, it applied the trailer brakes.



HR advertised it as a great feature; however, they never mentioned that some of their models were heavy on the rear which made sway worse. I don't think the ASC ever activated on my father's trailer since they carried my mother's heavy electronic organ in the front living room which made for a heavy hitch weight.



Bill

 

[AfterBurner]

From the furd video the sway control system only applies the truck brakes, not the trailer brakes. It also reduces engine power... the opposite of what most experienced people would want to do. I'd apply trailer brakes only and skinny pedal on the truck to pull everything straight. Looks like the furd system applies brakes on one side of the truck at a time... guessing this is how they keep the truck straight... not sure why they cut engine power though. Chevy uses the same thing on their 2011 srw.

 

[DFranks]

Towed my 34. 5 TT, with just a WD hitch. O tell you this I will never do that again. With the TT, it has more than 9' of trailer behind the axles a x wind or a semi passing me on the hey was absolute white knuckling it. After the install of the Reese dc it has helped an incredible amount. Not eliminated it, that I help by loading the TV correctly and keeping my speed under the ST speed rating. In the future I will change the TT's tires to a "d" lt tire.
BTW the TT is 9000lbs loaded with 860lb tongue weight.

 

[GAmes]

BTW the TT is 9000lbs loaded with 860lb tongue weight.

Try shifting the load enough to attain about 1000 pounds of tongue weight and take a good look at your trailer's suspension. You will never eliminate the temporary sway from passing trucks. If a sway device was the only change you made then all you have done is put a band-aid over the real problem. I once pulled a 30ft TT from Kansas City to Houston using the owners duel cam hitch. A month later I pulled the same trailer from Houston to Yuma with my conventional WD hitch and could tell no difference in the way it towed. Yes, even with a duelly I experience the temporary sway of being passed by an 18 wheeler but it is just an annoyance. If you have an adequate tow vehicle and the trailer is loaded correctly with no suspension faults temp sway should be no more than an annoyance to you either, even without the sway control.

 

[Bob4x4]

The 2010 1/2 ton also has trailer towing stabilization. They use the abs system and control engine torque. Eventually it will be mandated just like TPMS.

The 25/3500's do not have it because they lack a 4 channel abs system

For all you discussing Hitches and anti-sway devices you missed the mark of the OP's question

 

[BIGNASTY]

The ford sway control is electronic. . which means all it can do is brake wheels when it feels sway, thats got to be great for economy!



You got to be kidding electronic sway control some computer is going to put the brakes on for me when it feels sway. Thats about as good as Calif. State made signs telling me how to drive a truck over Donner Pass. (Cranker up driver uphill next 6 miles or the let her roll let her cool) I always wondered what CAL TRANS moron thought he was in charge of my truck and my life. :-laf

 

[DFranks]

Try shifting the load enough to attain about 1000 pounds of tongue weight and take a good look at your trailer's suspension. You will never eliminate the temporary sway from passing trucks. If a sway device was the only change you made then all you have done is put a band-aid over the real problem. I once pulled a 30ft TT from Kansas City to Houston using the owners duel cam hitch. A month later I pulled the same trailer from Houston to Yuma with my conventional WD hitch and could tell no difference in the way it towed. Yes, even with a duelly I experience the temporary sway of being passed by an 18 wheeler but it is just an annoyance. If you have an adequate tow vehicle and the trailer is loaded correctly with no suspension faults temp sway should be no more than an annoyance to you either, even without the sway control.

Good advice thanks! I am have been thinking of adding another battery to my TT.

 

[Superglide]

DFranks, I pull a 27' Jayco Eagle occasionally and my tongue weight is about 1150 lbs. Dry weight of the trailer is 6,800 lbs and it is sitting 8,000 to 8,500 loaded. I don't know what you have for a WD hitch but on mine I recently tightened by one more link on the chains and it made a world of difference. The sway was greatly reduced and handled much better. Don't know what effect that would have on your monster. On the other hand, you could always fly Harvey up to Edmonton and he'll show you what to do... ... I would love a real experienced rv'er to set mine up, drive it and make recommendations but that's a perfect world.

 

[Superglide]

Ooops, I meant Calgary not Edmonton.

 

[HBarlow]

Superglide,

Nobody needs my assistance. You have discovered how to set up a WD hitch on your own. As you demonstrated to yourself, the WD hitch and related sway control don't function well if at all if the links are not set up correctly so that the spring bars are tensioned as they should be.

Back in the '50s and '60s when old timers were pulling trailers with big old Cadillacs, Buicks, Oldsmobiles or half ton Suburbans, all with soft coil rear springs using Reese dual-cam hitches the hitch set up was far more important than with our modern Ram 2500s or 3500 duallies.

The way the old time RV dealers and techs and Airstream owners set them up was to measure distance from bottom edge of front and rear bumpers of the tow vehicle while unloaded before dropping the coupler on the ball.

With tongue weight on the ball they measured the bumper to pavement distance again and adjusted the links until the front bumper dropped maybe 1/2" to 1" and the rear bumper dropped 1" to 2". Measurements varied with tongue weight and tow vehicle suspension. The point was to place slightly more tongue weight on the rear axle but distribute the weight nearly equally to the front axle also.

Our Rams will handle even a large conventional TT without any WD hitch at all so many have never learned how to set the hitch up properly or never learned what the hitch can do for them.

You have rediscovered a lost art. You can now be the official Canadian hitch master.

 

[Superglide]

LOL!! Thanks, Harvey! One thing I learned during my 32 years in the Navy was that there was only one way to do things - the correct way. The tension didn't feel right as compared to my friend's trailer so I just tightened by one more link.



BTW, I remember dad's '59 Oldsmobile 98 Holiday coupe vividly. Probably because be washed and waxed it every Saturday (after he did the floors, lino and hardwood). During the week, he would be in the garage using his California duster on it. That's where my anal tendencies come from. He learned his cleaning/maintenance routines in the Navy during WWII.