Trailer Sway Control

[BIGNASTY]

Towing an enclosed trailer behind the MH in a pretty stiff crosswind front Crescent City Ca to Coos Bay Or was pretty exhilarating

The MH handled it pretty well for being as big as a roadside billboard. The trailer was a different story, couldn't really feel it swaying in the wind but looking in the side view mirrors gave the Michelin Ribs a real workout. I don't know if the regular spring axles under the trailer would be better, but this has the Torq Flex axles for height, the trailer ride is MUCH BETTER than any spring axle trailer I've pulled.

It has the friction type sway control that I have found pretty useless when we had our TT pulling it with the Dodge, most of the time I wouldn't even put it on.

Any other more efficient type sway control????

BIG

 

[RustyJC]

Big, prepare yourself for the barrage from the experts who will tell you that you don't need ANY sway control - your trailer just wasn't loaded correctly and had insufficient tongue weight.

Now, for the rest of us, the Reese dual cam sway control is generally accepted as more effective than friction-type sway control systems.

Rusty

 

[NIsaacs]

Big, prepare yourself for the barrage from the experts who will tell you that you don't need ANY sway control - your trailer just wasn't loaded correctly and had insufficient tongue weight.

Rusty[/QUOTE

Lol, yup! Gotta have weight on the hitch and with those axles (excellent) it needs to be level. I am sure the motor home is plumb stable (big and heavy) so if the trailer is swaying it's loaded wrong. A sway device is to help the movement of both vehicles, I doubt there is much movement at the hitch with the heavy tow rig.

Nick

 

[RustyJC]

Actually, short trailers with slab sides have a tendency to sway due to aerodynamic forces behind large motorhomes, specifically vortex shedding at the rear of the MH "box". This vortex shedding is the same phenomenon that causes a cable to vibrate in the wind. Vortex shedding off the back of the MH will result in areas of high and low pressure alternately cycling against the sides of the trailer, pushing it back and forth. Although proper loading can minimize the trailer's tendency to sway, under these conditions increased damping from a sway control system may be required to minimize, if not eliminate, the cyclic oscillations of the trailer.

Rusty

 

[RUSSELL5000]

I have read innumerable threads like this since I got the truck and TT.

Summary:

(1) Lots of folks align with point of view that the only required correction is properly maintained trailer and proper loading. All else is purely a placebo effect.

(2) Appears to be a general consensus that friction type sway control devices are ineffective.

(3) The Reese dual-cam, the Equal-I-Zer, as well as some clones of these that are now on the market, are perceived by some as dampening sway (myself included). Again, others say that it is all imaginary.

(4) There are very high-priced hitches such as the Hensley which claim to prevent sway; these are perceived by some as working as claimed. Again, others say that it is all imaginary.

(5) A new product is on the market which claims to activate the trailer brakes independently of the operator when sway is detected; this dampens the sway. I have a thread on the forum here. So far, I have never seen one or heard from anyone with first-hand experience, so effectiveness unknown.


A trip to the Cat scale proved that my Equal-I-Zer is an effective weight-distributing hitch. So, I'll keep using it - if it does anything at all to dampen sway then I ahead of the game.

 

[BIGNASTY]

A 30 to 40 MPH crosswind had nothing to do with it???? I THINK THAT IT MIGHT HAVE HAD AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT.:-laf

towing the trailer without the wind & nothing has changed in Taco placement within the trailer and nothing added weight wise to the trailer. It didn't sway what so ever. With the addition of the wind is were the sway started.

You can fight this one out amongst yourselves.

For normal TT pulling I previously stated that I rarely used sway control even when it was used it wasn't all that notable of a difference. I was just wondering if somebody had figured WIND sway into the equation.


BIG

 

[AH64ID]

Move the Tacoma a little more forward and try again. It might be very close to where it needs to be for higher crosswind towing.

With the big sides on the enclosed trailer you might be better shooting for the full 15% tongue weight.

Sway devices do work, with the Reese Dual Cam and Equal-I-Zer being the better designs; however, if you need sway control something is wrong.

 

[RustyJC]

A 30 to 40 MPH crosswind had nothing to do with it???? I THINK THAT IT MIGHT HAVE HAD AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT.:-laf

Certainly it does, especially if it's gusting - pushing the slab side of the trailer to the downwind side, then releasing it when the wind dies down to come back to the upwind side. The flexibility in the tire sidewalls add a spring to this driven oscillator system, so the trailer will tend to oscillate back and forth on the tire sidewalls. Effective sway control? Loading to maximize hitch weight? Increase in tire pressure to stiffen the sidewalls? Any one or more of these might improve the situation.

Rusty

 

[NIsaacs]

How about some trailer specs and maybe a picture so we can see where the axles are in relation to the overall length. All trailers are not created equal.

Trailer sway is not the same as the wind buffeting you around, as in pushing you sideways from time to time, that's normal in bad wind, but actual sway, I don't know about that. I have never towed with a big square motor home with a big square trailer so maybe something is going on that I have no clue about.

Nick

 

[SnoKing]

Certainly it does, especially if it's gusting - pushing the slab side of the trailer to the downwind side, then releasing it when the wind dies down to come back to the upwind side. The flexibility in the tire sidewalls add a spring to this driven oscillator system, so the trailer will tend to oscillate back and forth on the tire sidewalls. Effective sway control? Loading to maximize hitch weight? Increase in tire pressure to stiffen the sidewalls? Any one or more of these might improve the situation.

Rusty

His said he has Michelin XPS RIBs, hard to get a better sidewall, without converting to 17.5 rims and 225/75R17.5 LRH tires rated at 4805 pounds. SNOKING

 

[RustyJC]

His said he has Michelin XPS RIBs, hard to get a better sidewall, without converting to 17.5 rims and 225/75R17.5 LRH tires rated at 4805 pounds. SNOKING

Hey, I've used Michelin XPS Ribs on trucks and trailers. They're a great tire. But they're still a tire and therefore have SOME flexibility built into them, even if it's hypothetically less than any other tire on the market. In terms of physics or mechanics, that makes them a spring - the tires have a spring constant that affects the trailer system.

Rusty