WDH With Sway Control Towing a <5,000lb TT
#11
I tow a 28' TT that is around 4,800#'s dry. Just got back from a 2,000 mile trip from Wisconsin to all areas of Tennessee. It was pretty windy on our way down there. Using an Equal-I-Zer brand hitch, my trailer did a lot of swaying but not out of control. One time a wind gust hit me and the trucks sway control kicked in and slowed me down. My point, if even with an Equal-I-Zer hitch my camper sways, cannot imagine not using one at all.
Hmmm . . . that doesn't sound right. I tow a 25' 5,500 pound RV trailer with a Reese Straight Line system and it never sways. I've towed 10's of thousands of miles; mountains, 2 lane highways, heavy wind. I'm not trying to start a Reese vs Equalizer debate (there are plenty of those) but is your setup correct? Maybe light on the tongue weight?
#12
Grumpy Old Man
Me too. Except my TT has GVWR of 5,600 pounds and is usually loaded to a bit less than 5,000 pounds gross trailer weight.
Full disclosure: I replaced the Strait-Line on my TT with a ProPride last year, but not because of any problems with the Strait-Line. I still use the Strait-Line on my 7x14 cargo trailer, which is sometimes loaded to the GVWR of 7,000 pounds.
Last edited by smokeywren; 06-23-2015 at 11:05 AM.
#13
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Wisconsin
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As far as i can tell, everything is set up right. I moved the hitch height a couple years ago when i traded in the '08 F250 for the Ecoboost, but once i measured and leveled the rig, ended up going back to same hitch height and set up. I am wondering if it is due to the fact that my Equal-I-Zer hitch is a max weight of 6k pounds. I do not believe i come close to that, but could be the difference i guess.
#14
Senior Member
If sway is still an issue with the Equal-I-Zer, you can always tighten up the head bolts more, the ones holding the arms to the head. I keep a separate socket just for that and torque them down hard after the arms are in place. But then I have to un-torque them to get the arms off when un-hitching.
#15
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That maybe a good idea. I just took hitch all apart this spring to clean and repaint, never did torque those particular bolts to specs. Will look into that idea. Just seems that whenever I tow, it is windy out.....lol.
#16
I use 2 of the friction bars style on my #4900 dry weight camper and it has no sway but! you can and will get pushed some,not by tractor trailers so much but the wind coming across at a 90 degree angle can move you over no matter what style of hitch you have.I run a Huskey with 1200lbs bars . I drive a van every day for work and it gets pushed due to the high profile when the wind is bad. The bars have worked for a lot of years and have been proven. Spend what you can afford and like any thing else you can Upgrade
#17
I have owned and towed trailers (TTs, boats and utility)for 30+years and completely agree with one of the earlier statements that a friction anti-sway device may work for mild sway but if you get into a situation with heavy cross winds or a drastic emergency avoidance maneuver the sway will very likely overcome the friction device. If at all possible go with the strait-line, Equal-I-Zer or if you want ultimate control the Pro-Pride, Hensley is the way to go. The Pro-Pride and Hensley are expensive but can also be considered an anti-theft device because no one can figure out how to hook them up...lol
I currently have a 33ft 6500lbs TT with a Hensley that when passing or being passed by big rigs, I can do it with two fingers on the wheel and get 0 sway.
My previous rig was a 4Runner towing a 4500lbs popup with a strait-Line. On a trip through Chicago we were following an identical trailer behind a F150 w/o sway control and a car blew a tire in front of us, the F150 took up three lanes and over 1/4 mile trying to get the rig back under control after swerving to avoid the carnage. My rig had no issues rapidly moving one lane over to avoid the same debris.
YMMV
I currently have a 33ft 6500lbs TT with a Hensley that when passing or being passed by big rigs, I can do it with two fingers on the wheel and get 0 sway.
My previous rig was a 4Runner towing a 4500lbs popup with a strait-Line. On a trip through Chicago we were following an identical trailer behind a F150 w/o sway control and a car blew a tire in front of us, the F150 took up three lanes and over 1/4 mile trying to get the rig back under control after swerving to avoid the carnage. My rig had no issues rapidly moving one lane over to avoid the same debris.
YMMV