Just Sharing

[gepaine]

I have been towing our 24-foot Keystone Cougar TT with a 2007 Escalade for about 18 months and a total of over 11,000 miles. I have a basic Reese WDH with a single friction-based anti-sway bar. I had gotten used to “truck suck” and wind gusts moving us around. When these events occurred, I would sometimes check my rear view mirror and notice that the rear of the trailer would sway no more than an inch or two. This gave me confidence that my anti-sway bar was doing a good job and keeping us safe. I also checked weather forecasts regularly, and if high winds were predicted, we would wait until they were over before moving on.

Last Sunday, my wife and I were about 150 miles from home at the tail-end of a 4000 mile, 6 week trip thru Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana. We were heading west on I-90 between Spokane, WA and Moses Lake, WA. Being the Sunday afternoon following the 4th of July, traffic was heavy. Winds were 10-15 mph with gusts to 20-25 mph. (Nothing we weren’t used to by now.) My wife was driving as we decided it would be a good idea for her to learn in case I was to become ill or unable to drive for some reason. (She had driven 7 or 8 hours over the trip so far.) I had briefed her on what to do in various emergencies including serious trailer sway. (I knew to use the trailer’s manual brake control to arrest sway, but had never had to do so.)

We were in the right-hand lane doing between 55 and 60 mph. Then we saw a lot of debris in the air a few hundred feet ahead of us. Dust, dirt, and what looked like pieces of tumbleweed swirling in the air. A second or two later when we got to the area of debris in the air, we were hit by a freak gust that immediately knocked us halfway onto the shoulder. (Luckily, the shoulder was paved and at least 8 feet wide at this location.) The trailer swayed like it had never done before. It was jerking the back of the Escalade very hard to the left and then back to the right. (I have no idea how far the trailer was swaying as I didn’t take the time to look back.)

I think the trailer may have made one left-right cycle before I was able to apply the trailer brakes manually while my wife struggled to keep our rig under control as much as possible which really didn’t feel like being in control at all. (One good thing is that she knew NOT to apply the Escalade’s brakes. I think it would have been “all over” if she had.) After one or two more extremely scary sway cycles, I was able to arrest the trailer sway, and my wife was able to get us back off the shoulder and in our lane again. (Now that we were under control, she slowed us down and pulled off on the shoulder. She decided she had had enough “driver training” for one day!)

In my opinion, the trailer was setup correctly for safe towing and yet we almost wiped out.

What have I learned from the experience and from doing more research on anti-sway systems? I learned that friction-based anti-sway systems can be overcome by strong wind gusts as well as other unusual forces that can act upon the trailer, such as being passed by one or more trucks. I believe I had the anti-sway bar set correctly, and the wind gust just exceeded the capabilities of the device.

Since I definitely did not want to experience that event again, I looked at adding a second anti-sway bar or going to a different (although friction-based) anti-sway system. However, I could not be sure that a second bar or a different friction-based system would prevent a similar occurrence. I’m sure a different friction-based system would reduce the likelihood of a similar occurrence, but having lived thru one event made me want a system that would guarantee a repeat occurrence would not happen. Based on my research, that meant to me a Hensley Arrow or ProPride 3P. I think they both function equivalently although there are some minor design differences. The ProPride seems to be about $400 less than the Hensley. In the end, I opted for the Hensley which will arrive next week.

I’m not recommending that anyone change their setup. I’m just sharing my experience, and you can take what you want from it.

[SAABDOCTOR]

WOW Glad to hear you are ok! now matter how we prepare sometimes the man upstairs has a surprise for us. just give your guardian angle time to secure the feathers that were lost!! since i have a 5er i do not know anything about the sway control systems. good luck with the second unit and lets hope you never find out if you needed it.

[randy69]

I had a 21' fleetwood prowler. toybox with 2 friction swaybars and weight distrubution. Pulling with Suburban. Trailer fully loaded. High winds the trailer never swayed. But if a tractor trailer or a hay hauler went buy in the other direction it seemed to pull us in towards it untill it passed. I changed 4 tires to 80psi type and liminated that problem. Hope this helps. By the way traded the suburban trans going out. And sold the trailer. Now 5th wheel toybox and a F350.

[azlee56]

Your wife is a brave, brave woman. Give her a standing ovation for me!! I would have done it, but my knees would have been shaking for hours afterwards. Glad you are both ok and no harm was done to anyone. I really do hate when trucks pass you, but I hate cross winds worse.

[f6bits]

Way to go on the Hensley purchase! You’ve got the Cadillac of SUVs. Now you’ll have the Cadillac of hitches.

[OhhWell]

As you said, thank goodness she didn't take the natural reaction of hitting the brakes. My wife won't drive one mile in our rig. If I can't drive for some reason, we just aren't moving.

That freak wind thing is scary. Thank goodness you were informed and knew what to do!

[x96mnn]

Very sorry to hear this has happened to you but glad to hear you are OK.

My wife and I had a bad experience, not close to what you experienced but it made her and myself to a degree very uncomfortable hauling our trailer again. My system was equipped with the Reese dual Cam anti sway system that bolts to the trailer hitch and works with the weight distribution bars. Its a great system but it did not stop the strong gust from pushing us to the side of the road and in one case into the other lane but stopped the trailer from fish tailing.

When we got pushed into another lane it was oncoming traffic, I stopped hauling, my wife was scared and it was not fair to the other people on the road. I became a seasonal camper and upgraded my TV a year ago to a Dodge Ram 1500 and are hauling again.

All that said the Rig I was hauling a 25ft TT with was a new Jeep Liberty, no where near as capable as your Escalade. It was really foolish and irresponsible of me at the time!

I looked at a Hensley as well and do not think you can go wrong with it, the other brand I am not sure of.

[The Sod Father]

Two things -
a) glad everybody is OK and there was no damage
b) smart move upgrading to the Hensley. I had "truck suck" a number of times with my Equalizer and could not get the issue resolved. I swapped it out for a Hensley a little over a year ago and have never had a problem with sway.

RE: the cost of the Hensley - yes, it is expensive. But relatively speaking, it is really very minor. Think about it - your tow vehicle is going to cost you over $30k. Your trailer over $20k. So with $50k already invested, are you really going to skimp on a piece of equipment that keeps it all together? And at a price between $2 - 3k, it is less than the cost of sales tax on the whole investment.

For me, the investment was easy. I cannot put a price tag on the safety of my family.