Trailer Sway

[dalamarjj78]

I'm currently towing a 2021 Bullet 273BHS with a 2014 F150 and, despite my weights being good (confirmed via a trip to the CAT scales), I'm having issues with trailer sway. Everything's typically fine when staying on back roads at lower speeds (unless it's a really windy day) but as soon as we hit the interstate it's a whole other story.

Our WDH is a Recurve R3 which is apparently a 2 point sway control system (that has to be manually adjusted) so I am seriously considering upgrading to a new hitch with a 4 point system that doesn't need to be adjusted manually prior to each trip.

From what I've read online the equalizer e4 seems like a really good hitch but I'm curious about a few things:

• Will upgrading from a 2 point to 4 point sway control make a noticeable difference?
• Are there other 4 point hitches that I should consider?
• The e4's installation instructions say things need to be torqued to 320 ft lbs but my torque wrench only goes up to 300. Would it be a safety issue to only torque to 300 ft lbs (I'd hate to buy yet another massive torque wrench that I'll only use for this job)

Eventually I'd like to upgrade to a 3/4 ton truck but seeing as we purchased our RV and a new home in the last 9 months it's unfortunately not something we can do in the very near future so I'm really hoping a better hitch can potentially fix our sway issue.

[Northofu1]

Hi James,
I would throw the recurve in the garbage and get an equalizer 4 pt wdh.
I personally liked the Blue Ox sway pro. either one is going to better than what you have.
Once you set it up, examine how your loading TV and TT. Sway should not be an issue.

Take it to a garage and have them torque it for you.
Good luck

[slow]

I would recommend that you confirm that you have 13 to 15% of your trailer weight on the tongue and that your WD hitch is set up properly, before spending more money.

[NH_Bulldog]

Make sure that what you are experiencing is actually sway. F-150’s (even mine) have a very “squishy” suspension. The force of wind against the long and tall side of the camper can and will push the rear of the truck around, sort of the tail wagging the dog effect. The best solution short of a 3/4 ton truck is to upgrade the suspension front and rear to stiffen the ride. This would involve upgrading the tires, the shocks and the front factory sway bar as well as adding a rear sway bar to the truck (Ford doesn’t include one on the rear even with a Max Tow package).

You could spend the money on a new hitch set up but I don’t think it will do you any good. I initially had similar issues using both a Blue Ox and an Eaz Lift Trekker. The only thing that fixed the issue for me was a Hellwig rear sway (anti-roll) bar. I already had the upgraded front sway bar, shocks and tires so it wasn’t a big investment

[sourdough]

That is a 31' trailer on the back of a 1/2 ton. You are experiencing what would be normal. Recurve hitch? Dump it. Equalizer 4 point? Night and day difference.

With that big of a sail you need 1) LT tires, 2) better shocks and 3) the Equalizer hitch - maybe air bags to firm up the truck. What you need to do prior to all that is verify your weight limitations of the truck. You may be able to do it but it won't be the pleasant, safe experience it should be with the right equipment/truck.

[CedarCreekWoody]

I towed a similar sized trailer with an Equalizer 4 pt and it did great. I put thousands of highway miles on it.

[dalamarjj78]

Thanks for everyone's input. These are the numbers I got at the CAT scale:

Truck Stats:

GVWR: 7,100 lbs
Front GAWR: 3,450 lbs
Rear GAWR: 3,850 lbs
GCVWR: 13,500 lbs
Payload: 1,745 lbs

CAT scale #'s:

Truck & Trailer (WDH engaged):
Steer Axle: 2,860 lbs
Drive Axle: 3,740 lbs
Trailer Axle: 5,160 lbs
GCVWR: 11,760 lbs
*Truck Weight: 6,600 lbs

Truck & Trailer (WDH disengaged):
Steer Axle: 2,820 lbs
Drive Axle: 3,760 lbs
Trailer Axle: 5,160 lbs
GCVWR: 11,740 lbs
*Truck Weight: 6,580 lbs

Truck only:
Steer Axle: 3,140 lbs
Drive Axle: 2,640 lbs
*Truck Weight: 5,780 lbs

According to my calculations:

Tongue Weight:

Truck Weight (6,600) - Truck Only Weight (5,780) = 820 lbs

Total Trailer Weight:

Trailer Axle (5,160) + Tongue Weight (820) = Total Trailer Weight (5,980)

Tongue Weight Percentage:

Tongue Weight (820) / Total Trailer Weight (5,980) = 13.7%

As discussed in a separate thread when I asked for help deciphering these numbers, I ended up making some adjustments to my hitch since the rear of the truck was sagging more than it should have and seemed to have worked that out so the hitch should be setup properly now (though I haven't had the chance to get back out to the scales to reweigh).

I already put Michelin Defenders on the truck so I should be good in the tire dept.

I may try upgrading the hitch and see how that does. I'm a little hesitant to invest a ton of money in truck upgrades when what I really need is a bigger truck. Upgrade money = down payment.

[slow]

Originally Posted by dalamarjj78

Thanks for everyone's input. These are the numbers I got at the CAT scale:


Truck & Trailer (WDH engaged):
Steer Axle: 2,860 lbs

Truck & Trailer (WDH disengaged):
Steer Axle: 2,820 lbs

Truck only:
Steer Axle: 3,140 lbs

James, Your WD hitch is not adjusted properly and the front end of your truck is "floating". You need to get the steer axle closer to 3,140 lbs with the WDH engaged. The adjustment needs to be made with the TT "camping ready loading", not empty.

I suspect your CAT scale TT weight is when near empty and it will probably be at least another 800 lbs heavier when camping ready. Therefore your camp ready TT weight will be closer to 7,000 lbs with a desired tonque weight of 900 to 1,000 lbs.

What is the rating of your R3 hitch? Is it rated to 1,000 lbs?

[CedarCreekWoody]

"Slow" is correct. You've only shifted 40 lbs to you front axle. You need to shift more.

[dalamarjj78]

Originally Posted by slow

James, Your WD hitch is not adjusted properly and the front end of your truck is "floating". You need to get the steer axle closer to 3,140 lbs with the WDH engaged. The adjustment needs to be made with the TT "camping ready loading", not empty.

I suspect your CAT scale TT weight is when near empty and it will probably be at least another 800 lbs heavier when camping ready. Therefore your camp ready TT weight will be closer to 7,000 lbs with a desired tonque weight of 900 to 1,000 lbs.

What is the rating of your R3 hitch? Is it rated to 1,000 lbs?

Those were the initial weights of the trailer when connected to our WDH which was still configured based on our previous trailer. After I got those results I readjusted the hitch to shift more weight towards the front of the truck and off the rear axle. I just haven't had the chance to reweigh since making the adjustments.

But initially the rear wheelwell measurement decreased by 2.5" when the trailer and WDH were connected. After making adjustments it now only sags by 1.25" (which is the same change on the front axle now).

Those weights were also with our gear in the trailer (a few days before a camping trip). All our trips to this point have been at a local state park so we don't put any water in the tanks when we travel in order to keep our weight down.

[slow]

Originally Posted by dalamarjj78

But initially the rear wheelwell measurement decreased by 2.5" when the trailer and WDH were connected. After making adjustments it now only sags by 1.25" (which is the same change on the front axle now).

Those weights were also with our gear in the trailer (a few days before a camping trip). All our trips to this point have been at a local state park so we don't put any water in the tanks when we travel in order to keep our weight down.

A few more thoughts James:

The purpose of a WDH is not to reduce rear end sag of the TV, although it helps. A properly adjusted WDH's purpose is to reload the front axle. The measurements you want to take are of the front wheel well height off the ground without trailer hitched. Then you adjust the WDH until you re-establish the same front wheel well height with the WDH engaged. Since the front suspension is a constant rate spring, the same distance equals the same loading. Whatever the rear end sag ends up being has little or no effect on towing stability.

BTW: What is the tow rating of the R3?

Assuming you have a FW tank forward of the TT axle, adding about a third of a tank of water will make a noticable difference in towing stability. Although we always camp at full service sites, I always have 1/3 of a FW tank for this reason, and mid trip bathroom breaks.

Properly distributed weight and axle loadings are your friend when it comes to trailering stability.

[dalamarjj78]

Originally Posted by slow

A few more thoughts James:

The purpose of a WDH is not to reduce rear end sag of the TV, although it helps. A properly adjusted WDH's purpose is to reload the front axle. The measurements you want to take are of the front wheel well height off the ground without trailer hitched. Then you adjust the WDH until you re-establish the same front wheel well height with the WDH engaged. Since the front suspension is a constant rate spring, the same distance equals the same loading. Whatever the rear end sag ends up being has little or no effect on towing stability.

BTW: What is the tow rating of the R3?

Assuming you have a FW tank forward of the TT axle, adding about a third of a tank of water will make a noticable difference in towing stability. Although we always camp at full service sites, I always have 1/3 of a FW tank for this reason, and mid trip bathroom breaks.

Properly distributed weight and axle loadings are your friend when it comes to trailering stability.

The bars for our WDH are labelled for 1,000 lbs.

Here are the measurements I took of our truck when making the hitch adjustments:

Truck Measurements (unhitched)

Front Wheelwell: 35.5"
Rear Wheelwell: 37.5"

Truck Measurements (hitched, prior to hitch adjustments):

Front: 36"
Rear: 35"

So here you see the front of truck was being raised by half an inch while the rear was sagging by 2.5"

Truck Measurements (hitched, after hitch adjustments):

Front: 35"
Rear: 36.25"

So here we shifted more weight towards the front axle and off the rear axle since our CAT scale numbers showed us not enough weight was being distributed to the steer axle.

According to the instruction manual for the WDH the measurements of the front and rear of the vehicle should decrease by equal amounts up to around an inch. But we didn't want to adjust it any further because, as is, it's difficult to attach and detach the bars even when using the electric tongue jack to raise the tongue.

The FW tank is toward the front of the trailer so next time we head out I'll try filling it up to about 1/3 capacity and see if that helps.

[flybouy]

get a good 4 point witch with sway control. It won't be wasted after you upgrade to a proper sized truck as it will still be needed and used. That will help but I think you know the only "real" solution which is a quality hitch attached to a heavier truck.

[Northofu1]

Depending how far into the future you're planning on upgrading your truck, a set of Bilstein 4600 or 5100 Mono tube shocks will help smooth your ride towing or not. They are easy to change and relatively cheap whether you do it or have the mechanic do it while he's torquing your bolts for wdh.

[dutchmensport]

Two things. First, switching to the Equal-i-zer 4 point hitch system will be the better choice than what you have now.

Second, true sway is always, about 99% of the time due to too much weight on the tail of the trailer. If you are traveling with full tanks, consider where they are located. If they are behind the axles, that is probably most of your sway problem.

If at all possible, get the tongue of the trailer weighed and then shift more weight forward, or take more weight off the back end, or both.

[dalamarjj78]

Thanks again everyone. I'm always impressed by how helpful everyone is in the forum. I think we're going to start by upgrading our WDH to the e4 and see how that goes. If it doesn't help much then we'll have to make a decision between upgrading the shocks of our F150 or just looking for a deal on a 3/4 ton truck.

I do have a possibly stupid question. When looking at the e4 hitches I see they come in a 1,000/10,000 option or 1,200/12,000 option.

The max weight of our trailer is 7,600 lbs which would fall into the 1k/10k option. But figuring 15% of that for tongue weight would put us close to 1,200 lbs. But 13% would be closer to 1,000 lbs.

I believe I read somewhere that buying too large a hitch for what you need isn't necessarily a good thing. So which would work best in our case? The 1,000/10,000 or 1,200/12,000?

[08quadram]

I have the 1,200-12,000k bars on mine. My trailer has a GVW of 7,600 lbs. It was a carry over from my passport which was 7,500lbs gross.

[sourdough]

The 1k bars would be OK for that size rig. I ran with 1200 on my last one with about 1080 or so on the tongue.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by dalamarjj78

Thanks again everyone. I'm always impressed by how helpful everyone is in the forum. I think we're going to start by upgrading our WDH to the e4 and see how that goes. If it doesn't help much then we'll have to make a decision between upgrading the shocks of our F150 or just looking for a deal on a 3/4 ton truck.

While contemplating the truck trade consider that due to minimal payload increase from a 1/2 to a 3/4 ton + the minimal difference in price, ride & mpg skip the 3/4 ton & go with a 1 ton SRW, you'll have a considerable payload increase so you're prepared for the next rv upgrade, I think in the long run you'd be glad you did.

[linux3]

Originally Posted by slow

I would recommend that you confirm that you have 13 to 15% of your trailer weight on the tongue and that your WD hitch is set up properly, before spending more money.

My fresh water tank is in the front.
I have found that 20 gallons or so in the tank, even though we never use it, really helps with sway.
Grey and black water tanks and most of our storage is behind the wheels so I need more weight on the tongue.

I would suggest you adjust your tongue weight before buying a new hitch.
Just try it.