Sway Control

[HBarlow]

32 years! Next to you I only did a short cruise. I only did 28 1/2 years.

 

[Bill Stockard]

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.

Yep, that was the process I used when setting the spring bar tension when towing our 1969 25' Mobile Scout travel trailer behind our 1970 Buick Electra. I also towed Airstreams with a 1/2 ton IH Travelall, 1/2 ton Chevy pickup and a 1/2 ton Chevy Suburban using the same method. When a purchased a '84 Ford F250 tow vehicle with a much more robust suspension, it changed setting the proper spring bar tension entirely.



Bill

 

[DFranks]

Let me elaborate:

My Reese straight line /WD is setup correctly, I went to the local mall on level ground and levelled the trailer and then set the ball within an inch of height to the trailer.

I then measured the difference to the ground from the top of the wheel wells on all 4 corners to the ground. I recorded that number for reference. After hooking the trailer I checked the original height number and set the chain links so that the measurement was within 1/4" of the front and back while staying within a 1/2" of the original ride height . I did this while making the trunnion bars parrallel with the tongue.



Reese suggests that I run the links between 5-7 links, I am at 5 links now and am perfectly parrallel with the tongue on the TT. If I feel I need to tighten the system, due to adding weight to the TT. I would then tip the ball forward while maintaining the link count.



The minor sway I experience is only nuisance sway and far and few in between and this is due to being passed by semi's, having 9' of trailer behind the axles doens't help this.



I will change the tires on the TT after these ST's wear out, because the general consensus on the forums is that the St's tires are junk with an average lifespan that is significantly shorter than a LT tire withe the same load carrying capacity without the 65mph speed rating. Also it seems the failure rate at hwy speeds is more common with ST's than LT's. that is the only reason why I would change the tires not for better sway control.

 

[DFranks]

Superglide, I would suggest looking closer at your setup. The correct tongue weight to o/s sway is to be between 10-11% of the total weight of the trailer you are closing in on the 14-15%. Maybe with the shorter length of your trailer behind the axles this may not pose a problem.

 

[Superglide]

DFranks, agreed. I'm going by what the dealer informed me when I purchased the unit. This is my first TT so I'm trying to learn rather rapidly. Upon further digging I came across a forum in which a new member stated he had just purchased a 2002 Jayco 272 FKS, which is the exact model as mine except mine being a 2003. He states the tongue weight as 1,000 lbs.



Jayco Inc.