bill in ca

I have a 22ft travel trailer that goes about 6500 loaded. would air bags or more support in the rear help with swaying?

jcb206

bikendan

start with a WDH with integrated sway control first.
if you have rear end sag still, air bags will help with that but will NOT increase payload capacity.

smokeywren

Probably not. Overload air springs (Air bags) or overload springs of any kind will not help with controlling trailer sway. They remove some or all of the sag in the rear suspension caused by too much hitch weight, so they bring the headlights back down to earth so they don't blind oncoming drivers.

But for sway control the first thing is to properly distribute the weight inside the trailer so you have tongue weight of 12% to 14% of gross trailer weight. Then you want a good weight-distributing (WD) sway-control hitch to handle cross winds, passing 18-wheelers, and evasive manuvers such as dodging potholes and aligators on wet curves. There are at least 4 price levels of WD hitches:

Cheap ,without sway control or with sway bars. Don't even think about buying one of those.

Decent, with built-in sway control but not the best reasonably-priced sway-control hitches available, even from that manufacturer, For example Reese sells a dual-cam system that works decent, and they have a new copy of the Equal-I-Zer hitch that works okay. But their "good" WD/sway-control hitch is the Strait-Line.

Good, with very good built-in sway control, but priced on the "high end" of affordable hitches at $550 to $750 discount price from internet discounters such as Amazon.com and eTrailer.com. Includes the Reese Strait-Line trunnion bar hitch, complete with adjustable shank,
https://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Dist...e/RP66084.html

Equal-I-Zer, https://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Dist...EQ37100ET.html

Blue Ox SwayPro, https://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Dist...x/BXW1000.html

and Husky CenterLine HD 31390 complete with spring bars.
Husky Centerline HD = Note that link for the Husky is for the head and shank only, without spring bars. You have to also order the correct weight spring bars for another $100 or so.

Excellent, but high priced at about $2,800. That's the Hensley ProPride or the older-design Hensley Arrow. https://www.propridehitch.com/propri...control-hitch/

I tow my TT with a ProPride and my cargo trailer with a Strait-Line. On the road, I can't tell the difference. The Strait-Line will handle about 99% of all sway-causing conditions, and the ProPride raises that to about 99.99%. But until you encounter one of those rare conditions that the Strait-Line won't handle but the ProPride would, you might think the proPride is not worth the extra moola.

chimmike

sag should usually be controlled by setting up the WDH properly too.

bill in ca

Thanks for the great advice.
Bill

acdii

Forget airbags, they are for those who don't like a level truck(snicker) or overload the truck. As mentioned, use a good WDH and set it up correctly, and weigh weigh weigh. Do that, and your sway issues will be over. When properly distributed the truck should sit level.

Note about airbags, or other "helper" type springs. They work for loads directly on top of the axle, such as a gooseneck or 5th wheel trailer, or for loads in the bed, but do nothing for loads on the bumper such as tag along trailers. A good WDH does much more than helpers will to get a truck properly setup for towing, however, adding them to stabilize the ride doesn't hurt, just remember to set the WDH up first, and then air the bags to the point just before the truck rises and you will get a more comfortable ride.