Sway in wind

[Akegb3]

Hi all,
I purchased a new tow vehicle (2019 RAM 1500) for our Keystone Passport (195RBWE) and seem to have more sway issues than the old truck (2003 Ford F-150)
The new truck has a lot more power so hills are no longer an issue. Just getting sway issues when we get into some wind. We have a BlueOx WDH with the solid spring bars, which I originally thought were sway bars.
Would it resolve the sway issue if I added friction sway bars?
Thanks for any help you can provide. Lemme know if additional info is needed.

[chuckster57]

If the Blue Ox was sold as W/D and sway, you probably just need to adjust the hitch/saddles. If it was sold as just W/D then adding a friction sway control would probably be a good idea.

[Akegb3]

I purchased the WDH (Blue Ox BXW1200) at the RV dealership. It’s possible the salesman gave me the impression the setup had sway control. Blue Ox shows the friction sway bars as optional accessories for this WDH model.

[chuckster57]

Funny how salespeople “say” things. I would get 1 friction sway bar. Your trailer isn’t big/heavy enough for 2.

[Akegb3]

Funny how salespeople “say” things. I would get 1 friction sway bar. Your trailer isn’t big/heavy enough for 2.
Thanks for your help, I’ll give it a try!

[Ken / Claudia]

Just yesterday I did a test with my truck/trailer in wind. I have what I call old school WDH with friction anti sway bar. The WDH is Pro Series chain and round bars. I normally use both WDH and anti sway bar.
Towed trailer 30 miles on I-84 near Boise ID. knowing it was windy. I did not use the bar to learn if they really work or not. Wind was crosswind with gusts. I had the trailer swaying when hit by gusts, not just pushed. Keeping at around 60 mph it was not bad, but not one hand relaxed steering.
I put bar on and drove back on same section of interstate about an hour later.
Wind seemed as before if not a little worse. Did a few miles at 60 mph again and they do work. I could feel the wind pushing the trailer, but the swaying was gone.

[Northofu1]

The Sway pro flat bar is a double duty hitch and is a superior product. I didn't even know they made the round bar style. It must be made for flat towing where sway is not as big an issue.

[ctbruce]

What tires do you have on your tow rig?

[Akegb3]

What tires do you have on your tow rig?
My tires are Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT 275/65R18.

[sourdough]

The BXW 1200 is a wdh only. It requires the little friction add on bars for any kind of sway control. I've used that type of sway control and it is inadequate at best. The good part is that you have a smaller trailer. At that time mine was around 25' bumper to ball and with 2 of the little "sway control bars" it was not up to the task. There are better wdh/sway control units out there but they cost more and I don't know that they are needed for a trailer your size. Get the addons and tighten it up, you will probably be OK.

[busterbrown]

Unfortunately, that Blue Ox WDH with add on friction sway control bars will perform just as good as the run of the mill $200 WDHs you can buy at harbor freight or Eas Lift hitches you can buy on Amazon. As Danny stated above, sway control is NOT what they are known for.

If installing a friction bar doesn't solve the sway problems, I'd only recommended a 4 pt Equilizer hitch that has proven results among the majority of its users.

Considering the length of the coach in question is only 24 feet, you may have better result with the Blue Ox than those users with much longer trailers.

If your pockets are deep and you want the best of the best, a Hensley or Propride are the "game changers". But I digress.

[ctbruce]

My tires are Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT 275/65R18.If those are passenger tires, I couldnt tell googling them, they may not be heavy/stiff enough as a LT tire. Some of the sway could be from that.

[sourdough]

Here is a link to the Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT 275/65R18. The only load index for it is SL which by the top chart is a designation for standard load on a P metric passenger car tire.

https://www.discounttire.com/buy-tires/goodyear-wrangler-fortitude-ht

If that is indeed the case the P rated tires are definitely "squishy" for trying to control sway plus they need to be aired up to max pressure anytime that trailer is on the truck. LT tires would be be very helpful. In this situation I do believe upgrading that wdh/sway bar attachment would go a long way in trying to resolve the sway problem.

[flybouy]

I would agree on upgrading to a quality 4 point sway control weight distributing hitch. It will cost double what yours cost but the performance will be way more that double IMHO. I've used those friction sway bars many years ago and here's the negatives in my opinion:

I've had to tighten the friction during windy conditions to the point the trailer wouldn't track well in curves.
You must remove, not just loosen the bar to back up.
Going straight you can bend the bar during a tight turn. My daughter had one on a small Coleman pop up and she turned tight to get out of a difficult site and bent the frame on the pop up.
Everyone has an opinion and mine is that adding a friction control like that to a very minimal hitch is just a waste of money.

[NH_Bulldog]

The Wrangler Fortitude HT tires by Goodyear come in two “flavors”: a standard tire which is typically OEM for the Ford F150 or the LT version like which came on my F150 with the heavy duty package. Max tire pressure on the regular version is 51 psi which makes it marginal as a good towing tire (too much flex in the sidewall) and the LT version is a Load Range E with max inflation of 80 psi.

As far as one of those little friction sway bars, I never liked that even on my Coleman Bayside Elite popup. A good integrated weight distribution/sway control system is an investment in safety, security and peace of mind.

[Akegb3]

Unfortunately, that Blue Ox WDH with add on friction sway control bars will perform just as good as the run of the mill $200 WDHs you can buy at harbor freight or Eas Lift hitches you can buy on Amazon. As Danny stated above, sway control is NOT what they are known for.

If installing a friction bar doesn't solve the sway problems, I'd only recommended a 4 pt Equilizer hitch that has proven results among the majority of its users.

Considering the length of the coach in question is only 24 feet, you may have better result with the Blue Ox than those users with much longer trailers.

If your pockets are deep and you want the best of the best, a Hensley or Propride are the "game changers". But I digress.
Yea, the Hensley and Propride are really pricey and probably overkill for my trailer. If the friction sway bar doesn’t help I’ll probably look at the Blue Ox Swaypro. And, perhaps some LT tires are another option.

[bbells]

Look at the wear on your tires. If the trailer was ever jacked up by the axle one sid emay be slightly bent and needing alignment.

[blubuckaroo]

Akegb3...
Are you using the same WD hitch you were previously using on the Ford?
If so, the hitch will need to be set-up for the new tow vehicle.
I just ran into this myself when my new Chevy had a 2"lower hitch height than my old Toyota.
It pulled really crazy, and no chain link adjustment would fix it.
Since I didn't have the big wrenches and torque wrench to handle the 300 ft pounds torque recommended, I took the rig to a pro. $60 well spent.

[Phil Saran]

Is the Ram 1500 the same as the newer Ram 2500 in that it has coil springs
Vs the F150 that has normal spring rear suspension?

[sourdough]

Is the Ram 1500 the same as the newer Ram 2500 in that it has coil springs
Vs the F150 that has normal spring rear suspension?

Ram 1500 and 2500 both have coil springs.

[tonysr]

Hi all,
I purchased a new tow vehicle (2019 RAM 1500) for our Keystone Passport (195RBWE) and seem to have more sway issues than the old truck (2003 Ford F-150)
The new truck has a lot more power so hills are no longer an issue. Just getting sway issues when we get into some wind. We have a BlueOx WDH with the solid spring bars, which I originally thought were sway bars.
Would it resolve the sway issue if I added friction sway bars?
Thanks for any help you can provide. Lemme know if additional info is needed.

You probably have "P" rated tires and best is to put them at the max pressure that's on the sidewall. I have "P" rated on mine and if I put them at what the sticker on the door says, I get a little sway from them because the pressure makes them softer and at sidewall pressure its a whole lot better. Then I would also invest in a Equalizer 4pt hitch, its easy to set up and is a WDH and sway control all in one.

[rodgebone]

Akegb3...
Are you using the same WD hitch you were previously using on the Ford?
If so, the hitch will need to be set-up for the new tow vehicle.
I just ran into this myself when my new Chevy had a 2"lower hitch height than my old Toyota.
It pulled really crazy, and no chain link adjustment would fix it.
Since I didn't have the big wrenches and torque wrench to handle the 300 ft pounds torque recommended, I took the rig to a pro. $60 well spent.

I completely agree....if the sway wasnt there before and the only thing that has changed is the TV, then logically the hitch needs to be readjusted due to a change in ride height when loaded. do that first and see how it goes. if you still get sway invest in the 4 point Equalizer. beyond that go LT tires which you should do eventually anyways. I have the same truck/tires and will be swapping to LTs at replacement time. I never did like Goodyear tires - they are soft compound and wear fast and really have no business on a pickup (especially P rated).

[Akegb3]

Look at the wear on your tires. If the trailer was ever jacked up by the axle one sid emay be slightly bent and needing alignment.
I bought the trailer new and have never jacked it up.

[Akegb3]

I completely agree....if the sway wasnt there before and the only thing that has changed is the TV, then logically the hitch needs to be readjusted due to a change in ride height when loaded. do that first and see how it goes. if you still get sway invest in the 4 point Equalizer. beyond that go LT tires which you should do eventually anyways. I have the same truck/tires and will be swapping to LTs at replacement time. I never did like Goodyear tires - they are soft compound and wear fast and really have no business on a pickup (especially P rated).
I readjusted the hitch per the instruction manual for the new TV. Yea, planning on increasing the tire pressure to 50 psi since it came at 41 psi in all four from the dealer. I’m hoping that along with one sway bar will help.

[Akegb3]

Is the Ram 1500 the same as the newer Ram 2500 in that it has coil springs
Vs the F150 that has normal spring rear suspension?
Yes, coil springs all around.

[linux3]

A lot of worthwhile info here.
To add my $0.02
Because the pantry cabinet and the double door storage are both behind the axles getting enough weight on the hitch is a problem.
I've found putting 15 or so gallons of fresh water in the tank adds hitch weight and really helps control sway.
The new truck and tire and hitch issues not withstanding.

[lcarver02]

Likely this is pretty normal. Tires make a very big difference. You need to have a Load Range D or possibly E to stiffen the trailer sidewall. Pressure set at max. The tires on your truck also make a big, big difference. They need to be LT strong side wall tires also. Aired to max recommended. See a tire store and get their recommendation. I use Michelin LT2 load range E on mine. They are a bit rough riding, but you can bring the pressure down when not towing or loading (55 or 65). Likely you have P series tires, and these will not work well period.

[Akegb3]

Thanks for all the input. The add-on sway bar helps a lot, but is very noisy and just doesn’t appear that stable. I recently had a flat tire while on a trip and have now replaced my tires with Michelin LTS M/S tires. I wasn’t able to inflate them to 80 PSI on my first trip due to my compressor dying, but they did work well on some very wet highway driving.
I’m thinking I’d like to upgrade my hitch setup to a real 4 point sway control system, but don’t want to empty the bank with a Hensley or Propride. So, is there a happy medium? Is the BlueOx Swaypro an adequate option? Any recommendations are appreciated!! Thanks again!!

[bbells]

Well, the wind you are feeling may be the nature of the beast. I just kept under 65 and didn't tow when the wind was higher than a certain point. That is why i sold my trailer and got a truck camper. When the tires were changed were there any that had more or unusual wear? Do you feel any little jerks once in awhile and think, huh, what was that? If either is true you could have alignment problems. That cause more wind sway with my trailer. I am with the other guys. Weigh your tongue. Weigh your trailer. Do the math. Sorry you are going through this. I know how irritating it is. Before my wife died I almost got a 5th wheel so I could tow in more adverse conditions.

[sourdough]

Thanks for all the input. The add-on sway bar helps a lot, but is very noisy and just doesn’t appear that stable. I recently had a flat tire while on a trip and have now replaced my tires with Michelin LTS M/S tires. I wasn’t able to inflate them to 80 PSI on my first trip due to my compressor dying, but they did work well on some very wet highway driving.
I’m thinking I’d like to upgrade my hitch setup to a real 4 point sway control system, but don’t want to empty the bank with a Hensley or Propride. So, is there a happy medium? Is the BlueOx Swaypro an adequate option? Any recommendations are appreciated!! Thanks again!!


IMO the Equalizer 4 point is about as good as it gets before you get into the Hensley/Propride price range. It is a very popular and effective hitch. I used one for years and once set up correctly it operated flawlessly for us.

[08quadram]

I pull a Bullet 291rls with my 1500 Ram with factory Goodyear Wranglers. I use the equalizer E4. Does a great job. I have yet to have a ride I wasn't comfortable with one hand on the wheel. Since mine has the factory tires yet. They are getting to the end of their life and will be replaced with Nokian Rotivia AT Plus. They are an E rated tire as a 20" tire.

[BrooksFam]

I pull a Bullet 291rls with my 1500 Ram with factory Goodyear Wranglers. I use the equalizer E4. Does a great job. I have yet to have a ride I wasn't comfortable with one hand on the wheel. Since mine has the factory tires yet. They are getting to the end of their life and will be replaced with Nokian Rotivia AT Plus. They are an E rated tire as a 20" tire.

How many pounds hitch rating does your E4 have? I have a HD panhard bar (sway bar) and 10 ply tires, Toyo Open Country A/T's also.

[08quadram]

1,200/12,000 model

[sourdough]

How many pounds hitch rating does your E4 have? I have a HD panhard bar (sway bar) and 10 ply tires, Toyo Open Country A/T's also.



For my own edification, what is a "panhard bar" on an RV? I know what they are on a vehicle and they aren't a substitute for a wdh/sway control attached to the RV.

[BrooksFam]

For my own edification, what is a "panhard bar" on an RV? I know what they are on a vehicle and they aren't a substitute for a wdh/sway control attached to the RV.

Sorry, was referring to the TV ……...