Tail is wagging the dog

[AHarris]

Is it normal for an RV dealer to just throw the camper on the back of your truck and send you down the road without even checking to see if the hitch is set up right? That's what the one did as he shook my hand, thanked me for my business and told me "Happy Trails" as I hit the road with my new coach last Summer. I guess he assumed because I had a HD truck it was no issue.

For me, I've tried several approaches to reducing the sway on my 30 footer. Now that all the bugs are worked out of the coach, the problem now is towing the beast. Get over 55 and it really sways. I'm constantly fighting with the steering wheel and making constant corrections to keep it going in a straight line. Add a little wind into the equation and the it really gets "fun. "

I've got an equalizer hitch with two round bars which I tighten up to about the 4th or 5th link and a friction anti-sway bar on one side. The RV dealer told me to tighten about 1 1/2 turns past tight. I put 70lbs in the rear tires (consistent with the placard inside the door). Hitch is an old Draw Tite set up that I bought in 2003, Class IV with 1,000 bars.

I don't want to spend $3000 for a Hensley Arrow hitch which I see a lot of people swear by on line. 5er is some years down the road.

Any economical (under $500) ideas to address this sway problem with this 30 foot, 8500lb (loaded)/7250lb (empty) beast of a camper?

 

[ETavernier]

AHarris,

I could tell you a horror story about loading my 55 Dodge Powerwagon backwards onto a flatbed trailer and the sway tore 3 of the 6 5,000 pound straps loose with the front of the powerwagon shaking loose off of the trailer. This during midday traffic on 75 just north of Detroit.

Any way the secret is balance.

The tongue needs to weigh more than the tail of the trailer.

Too much tongue weight will lift the front of the towing vehicle goes towards the sky. Load equalizing hitches help. Better yet is keeping 10-25% of the weight on the tongue.

Also make sure the front end is properly aligned. Tires properly inflated and having proper weight carrying capacity. Trailer too.

You cannot be too careful!

Eddie

 

[PBJ2500CTD]

AHarris,

ETavernier has hit it right on with the balance. Try placing most of the heavier stuff in your front bedroom area, as close to the front of the coach as possible. Do you travel with the water and holding tanks full, partially full, or empty? Where in the coach are they located? I couldn't find the specs on a 2010 30 BHDS, but I did find specs for a 2011, which looks like the identical floor plan. The "shipping" weight shows 7570 pounds with a hitch weight of only 745 pounds. This is just shy of 10% tongue weight. When you add all of your equipment and supplies (including fresh , gray and black water) it looks like most of the added weight will be on or aft of the trailer's axles. This means your tongue weight will not increase proportionally to the load and reduce it well below the 10% minimum recommendation. You can check this theory by loading your trailer as you would normally travel and hit the scales. You can do a search on the forum to find ways on how to weigh your truck and trailer then compute the approximate tongue weight.

 

[NIsaacs]

I agree, not enough weight on the hitch. Loosen the bars some and put 80# air in the rear tires. An 8500 lb trailer is not oversized for that truck.



Nick

 

[JSzewczyk]

I have found that moving up or down links on the equalization bars will also help with sway. You need to find the right hook up.

 

[MChrist]

You need more weight on the hitch. I had the exact same problem. Also, according to most brochures, you want your trailer to sit level. I would recommend setting up the trailer nose down by a few inches. That should help a little.
Not a warm, fuzzy feeling, is it??

 

[GCroyle]

Only one year of TT towing and this is one of the concerns on my RADAR screen also. I do not have any severe horror stories other than a certain tire specific model that I had on the Dodge that I feel caused/contributed heavily to tail wagging.



Check all tire pressures, per manuals, but I sincerely recommend setting up your Equal-I-zer per their manual, it takes some time, do the measurements that they prescribe, check all hardware on the hitch, its detailed. I'm running Equal-I-zer square bar setup, trailer can gross 10K works OK.



I am linterested in input from Husky Centerline hitch owners, it uses a belleville washer system in the trunions for the bars rather than steel on steel friction to resist sway.



Good luck.

 

[BIGNASTY]

My TT is about the same as yours. We went to camping and I got up in the mourning to have coffee and watch the sun come up. The people next spot over walked over and asked the same question as you. I dont have any problems with sway most of the time I dont even add the sway bar. We looked at his rig and something that I noticed is that the trailer axles on his sat quite a bit further forward than mine. I think that some RV companies dont really care to much about how it pulls its just that they want the door in a spot and the axle's might have to move. On mine the the ball to bumper is 31 ft the ball weight is 1150lbs and I have the load bars on the 3rd link. Long and short of it is the guy at the campground and I started to make adjustments on his ball wight and the load bars then drive it and he said it stoped it form swaying. I think if you just played with the adjustments yours will do the same. Its allot of the way you load it. (might take a look at alinement also)BTJMO

 

[HBarlow]

The "round bars" of your hitch are there to distribute trailer tongue weight to the truck and back to the trailer's axles and provide little to no sway control.

A friction sleeve sway control provides some benefit but perhaps not enough.

Try towing with less stress on the spring bars to allow more trailer tongue weight to rest on the truck. If that helps, the above suggestions may be correct.

I never cared much for friction sleeve sway controls. The best and most practical hitches for towing conventional travel trailers are the Reese dual cam sway control products. You can view them on the Reese website. I would not use anything else if I were to return to towing a conventional travel trailer instead of a fifth wheel.

Some travel trailers are poorly designed, poorly balanced, and will tow poorly. I don't know if your Keystone is one of them but I do not hold Keystone products in high regard.

 

[AMink]

Remember that when you move weight from the rear to the front, if you move 100 pounds, it's like a 200 pound difference. My trailer does not tow as well with empty tanks. I also carry all my tools, straps, blocks, an EU2000 generator, and a few other things up front in the front hatches. On a related note, remember to try and balance your weight side to side too. It's really easy to get a lot more weight on one side, thus stressing those tires more than the other side. As to your original question, "Is it normal for an RV dealer to just throw the camper on the back of your truck and send you down the road without even checking to see if the hitch is set up right?", unfortunately yes. The sale is done and they really don't care about much else.

 

[AH64ID]

I would verify proper loading, and alignment of the trailer axles.



Then I would consider a different hitch setup. I run the Equal-i-zer which doesn't use chains and has sway control built into the head and where the bars meet the trailer. It works quite well.

 

[BDW]

When you get all loaded up, step back and look at you whole rig parked on a level spot. You should have enough weight on the hitch to set your truck down, but still just higher then level. Your trialer should be as level as possible. And as stated above, assuming you have all the proper tires, air pressure plays a vital role in stability.

 

[RSamples]

I use reese dual cam sway bars and they really make a huge diff. The other posts are right about your tongue weight though, try letting out at least one link at a time for more weight.

 

[PBJ2500CTD]

I would verify proper loading, and alignment of the trailer axles.

Then I would consider a different hitch setup. I run the Equal-i-zer which doesn't use chains and has sway control built into the head and where the bars meet the trailer. It works quite well.

The trailer's axle alignment is very important. If your truck is flying a straight line and the trailer is attempting to fly the great circle, some serious wagging will be noticeable as speed increases.

Another fun factor may be the manufacture's placement of the fresh water and holding tanks. Many years ago we had a Nomad travel trailer that had the fresh water tank mounted under the bed, at the very rear of the trailer, above the frame; 30 something gallons. In our travels there were times it would tow well and, what seemed to be totally out of the blue, sometimes very white knuckle driving experiences were had by all. The wife had permanent finger impressions in the grab handle. I tried all the weight and balance tricks, and hitch combinations to no avail. Then one day I was putting some stuff under the bed when my son and future daughter-in-law, in a playful moment, came running back to the bedroom area to tell me about an exciting event on the beach. They stopped quickly - but the trailer was wobbling away (stabs were up as we were preparing to depart). I thought "tires"??? I hear this sloshing from the fresh water tank under the bed that matched the swaying of the trailer. The tank was about half full. Then the light bulb came on... could that be the cause of the white knuckles? Some experimenting with fresh water and holding tank volumes during a few subsequent camping trips determined that the trailer towed well when the fresh water tank was full, and less than 1/4 tank. Test results: Anything below full and greater than 1/4 tank brought excitement to our lives.

 

[gtoli]

Is it normal for an RV dealer to just throw the camper on the back of your truck and send you down the road without even checking to see if the hitch is set up right? That's what the one did as he shook my hand, thanked me for my business and told me "Happy Trails" as I hit the road with my new coach last Summer. I guess he assumed because I had a HD truck it was no issue.

I was fortunate to find a dealer in Flagstaff, AZ that not only set up the weight distributing hitch but took the time to show me how to set it up properly and make necessary adjustments.



As far as the "wagging" problem, I agree with the advice given by others regarding adjusting the wieght on the hitch.

 

[GAmes]

Just as Harvey, I have tens of thousands of miles pulling TTs of all brands and sizes. I have never encountered a sway problem, and of course, new trailers do not come with any sway control. It is my belief that there is no need for a sway device. It may be quite a bit of work, but I recommend you drain all you tanks and remove all your stuff, then start from there. If the trailer sways when it is empty you may have an alignment or other problem with the trailer. I doubt that a transporter would have put up with a swaying trailer to deliver it to the dealer. Here are links to how a WD works and how to set one up. RV. Net Open Roads Forum: Towing: Weight Distribution (WD) Hitch --- How it Works RV. Net Open Roads Forum: Towing: Travel Trailer Hitch Set-up Procedure

 

[mpaulson]

Look at my signature below, I have a 30' trailer also and when I had put Goodyear Silent armour tires on the truck and aired them up to 80 psi, it was scary driving down the road compared to when I had the stock oem tires on the truck. I now have Good year dura tracs on the truck and all the handling is back to normal. My point is that the tires on the truck can make a world of difference reguardless of how it is loaded and connected sometimes. Proper loading as the others have mentioned is very critical also thoug. I hit 140 km/hr sometimes passing and it doesn't scare me with the trailer in tow. My truck is a dually and the tires still made a very noticable difference.

 

[AHarris]

Thanks gents for all the helpful suggestions. I will look at weight distribution. I noticed the trailer tows a lot better when the equalizer bars aren't even installed (towing for short distances <5miles) and the back of the truck doesn't even squat (perfectly level). I think I need more weight up front and was putting too much stuff in the back of the trailer for trips. Might also tow with a full fresh water tank and see if that helps. Going to start shopping for a Reese dual cam set up for my rig.

 

[HBarlow]

Thanks gents for all the helpful suggestions. I will look at weight distribution. I noticed the trailer tows a lot better when the equalizer bars aren't even installed (towing for short distances <5miles) and the back of the truck doesn't even squat (perfectly level). I think I need more weight up front and was putting too much stuff in the back of the trailer for trips. Might also tow with a full fresh water tank and see if that helps. Going to start shopping for a Reese dual cam set up for my rig.

You probably don't really need much spring tension. Dodge Rams are nose heavy with the Cummins engines, added weight on the tail won't hurt as long as you consider total axle weight.

When I was transporting I pulled many conventional travel trailers, some of them very long ones, and never used any weight distribution equipment period. I was towing with Ram duallys and actually preferred having the entire tongue weight on the ball because a lot of the trailer deliveries were in winter out in the Pacific Northwest which meant crossing I-80, I-90, or I-94 in winter weather. Duallies don't sway when towing like that because of the additional mass and weight on the rear and the additional tire contact patch on the highway.

 

[AH64ID]

Thanks gents for all the helpful suggestions. I will look at weight distribution. I noticed the trailer tows a lot better when the equalizer bars aren't even installed (towing for short distances <5miles) and the back of the truck doesn't even squat (perfectly level). I think I need more weight up front and was putting too much stuff in the back of the trailer for trips. Might also tow with a full fresh water tank and see if that helps. Going to start shopping for a Reese dual cam set up for my rig.

It could be you have too much tension on the weight bars. You really don't need much on these thrucks. I use just enough to put a little back on the front and mainly to dampen the bouce going down an uneven road.



I think you'll like the dual cam, it looks like it works on the same principal of the Equal-i-zer I run and it works great. I normally get zero sway out of my TT, unless I have a 2nd trailer beind it. With 2 trailers without the sway bars the 2nd trailer wags the dog from the ripple effect, with the sway bars its rock solid.