Fosters

Hey everyone, I have an issue that's kind of baffling me. A buddy of mine has a 2018 F150, crew cab short bed, 3.5 ecoboost, max tow package, 2wd. I have a 2017 F150, reg cab short bed 4x4, 2.7. He's towed his toy hauler (2008 coachmen adrenaline blast 210mph, 4700 lbs dry, about 5000-5500 with water/gear, only a dirtbike inside) with his truck, and the thing is all over the place. Before that he had a 2004 tahoe, which towed the trailer, handled the weight fine but had no ***** whatsoever. He towed it with my F150 and was sold on the ecoboost. My little regular cab had zero issues pulling the trailer and was very stable as expected. (he also smoked me, pulling that trailer with my own truck while I was pulling my 39ft toy hauler with my f350, but that's another story).

He's tried turning off the sway control and tried pulling the trailer with the dirt bike inside, without it, loaded more towards the front, more towards the rear, no difference. I used to own that trailer - I sold it to him - and I do know that thing is a bit tongue heavy for its size (20ft); but normally the kinds of problems he's experiencing are more along the lines of not enough weight on the tongue than anything... At times he'll have to fight to keep it in a lane.

He's not using a WD hitch, and neither was I when pulling that trailer (with either truck). Neither one of the F150s have a rear sway bar.

What gives about the instability? any ideas what to check? About the only thing I can suspect is the alignment on his truck may be a bit too far off, and if the trailer raises the nose any, it gains just enough positive camber that it's not all that stable anymore. Any other ideas on what may be causing this?

bikendan

get a WDH with integrated sway control!

Ricktwuhk

Go to a scale, and likely find the trailer is lifting the front end due to too much tongue weight. Needs a WDH.

chimmike

Well, I'm pretty sure the hitch on your truck says a max tongue weight of 500lbs without a WDH.
at 5000lbs loaded, your tongue weight without a WDH is probably well over 500.

Get a WDH. Don't be stupid (yes, I'm being blunt, but this shouldn't have to be said).

I wouldn't drive any travel trailer without a WDH and sway. You're towing a sail. Think about it.

smokeywren

Weights.

You need to know the gross trailer weight and the trailer tongue weight (TW). Or the TW and the weight on the trailer axles. Add TW and axle weight to get gross trailer weight.

Use a tongue weight scale to determine TW. Weigh the trailer on a truck scale to get trailer axle weight.

Here's my TW scale: https://www.etrailer.com/Tools/Sherline/5780.html

If TW is more than 500 pounds, then don't be a cheapskate, and invest in a good weight-distributing (WD) hitch with good sway control/prevention. Good WD hitches list for around $800 to $1,000 and are available online for $500 tp $700 complete. The good ones include:
Equal-I-Zer
Blue Ox SwayPro
Reese Strait-Line, complete with adjustable shank
Husky Centerline HD 31390 complete with spring bars

Reese and Husky also make cheaper WD hitches, so if you buy one of those brands be sure it is a Strait-Line or Centerline HD 31390

Divide TW by gross trailer weight to get percent of TW. The answer should be 12% to 15%. Less than 12% can result in squirrely handling. More than 15 percent is okay if the added TW does not exceed any of the other weight limits of the tow vehicle. For an F-150 tow vehicle, you have to be aware of rGAWR and receiver hitch weight limits as well as GVWR.

Fosters

The trailer is, like I said, around 5000 lbs; so that means around 500-750 lbs on the tongue. It's not like it's putting 2000 lbs on the tongue. Why would it affect one truck (the bigger longer one with better payload) and not the shorter wheelbase one? He will probably get a WDH - he wants to get one as he will put a rzr in the back of the thing eventually - but the question still remains what is different about the trucks that is affecting one and not the other? I'm not looking for a bandage, I'm looking for the root problem.

shutt40

Could be the difference between 2x4 and 4x4 most of the 250 lbs difference is in the front. You would think the longer wheelbase would make up for it but maybe not.

acdii

This ^^

The rear is a different height for starters, the 4x4 slightly higher, which raises the tongue of the trailer and distributes weight differently, and bam, instability. Not using a WDH is the second factor. I had a 14 RWD, towed my current trailer with a Husky RB WDH, and towed beautifully. got a 2016 4WD, same cab, same bed as the 14 and pretty much the same weight, and the setup used on the RWD truck had the 4WD all over the road with the same trailer. Even a complete re-setup of the hitch didn't correct it. The new gen trucks can be real squirrely if not properly setup.

Bluewoo

My new ford receiver was almost two inches higher than my Toyota was so I made adjustments before towing with new truck.

MattXLT