Mike Up

I don't agree. When I go to the campground, I see very few older laminated travel trailers and many stick and tin, aluminum sided trailer.

The few older laminated travel trailers I do see usually have some type of delamination going on.

10 years really isn't that old. I know many, foolishly IMO, who have loan payments going 10 years as that's what many dealers push to make the payments look low. Trailer will never be worth what is owed, going that long.

I often see may Jayco Jay Flights from early 2002 and up that still look new, as well as many Fleetwood Aluminum sided trailers and others. Not many laminated trailers last that long unfortunately.

guitarplayer5219

This looks like the hitch we just got for our new Heartland Trailblazer, it's 25' rated at about 7000lb, just pulled it home last saturday and there was an incredible amount of sway. I have a sway bar at home but i'm not sure if i can us it with this hitch, do you know? I'm the proud new owner of the 2018 F150STX 5.0 V8, 2WD. My brakes also smelled when I got the trailer home, had my controller set for a gain of 6, could this be the problem or is it just that it's the first time I've towed with the truck? it was the rear truck brakes that smelled hot.

Thanks,
Tammie

guitarplayer5219

This looks like the hitch we just got for our new Heartland Trailblazer, it's 25' rated at about 7000lb, just pulled it home last saturday and there was an incredible amount of sway. I have a sway bar at home but i'm not sure if i can us it with this hitch, do you know? I'm the proud new owner of the 2018 F150STX 5.0 V8, 2WD. My brakes also smelled when I got the trailer home, had my controller set for a gain of 6, could this be the problem or is it just that it's the first time I've towed with the truck? it was the rear truck brakes that smelled hot.

Thanks,
Tammie

acdii

That hitch has built in sway control, so if you got sway, then it is improperly setup. Your hot rear brakes may be an indicator that the trucks sway control was kicking in, which could also fight (so I have heard) the hitch,, and was kicking in which uses the rear brakes. Next time out, turn the trucks sway control off and see if there is an improvement.

duck9191

If the RV dealer set your hitch up, its likely wrong which will contribute to your sway issue. Grab a copy of the hitch manual from the manufacturer's web site and double check the settings.

guitarplayer5219

Thanks, that makes sense! I'll give it a try.

guitarplayer5219

yep, RV place set it up, I'll check on getting the manual via the web. Thanks so much!

duck9191

Their goal is to get you out the door asap, so they don't normally bother to measure anything and just eyeball it at best. If you still have issues after measuring/adjusting hit a cat scale (not a bad idea even if its good) and get the numbers. you want to make 3 passes, one with the camper and hitch done up, one without the wdh bars, and one with just the truck . That will tell you how much tongue weight you really have and how well the hitch is doing its job distributing the weight. Sometimes setting the up to the book wont get it done, so the actual number can help give you some hints to what you cant see or measure.

I have a heartland sundance xlt 283rb. Keep an eye out of build quality issues, they are over all good units but have some issues from the factory sometimes(they all do) that you want to take care of under warranty.

guitarplayer5219

Thanks! We actually had to have the doorstop re-attached before we left the dealership lol, but from what I read before we purchased Heartland is a pretty good brand. I've owned a jayco popup, a terry taurus, a wilderness, all older models, and a starcraft travelstar hybrid, i just wanted something i could pretty much plug in and be done, all that set up is too much. I also wanted something light enough I wouldn't even notice it behind the truck, that was not the case due to the sway. Kinda confused because the sticker on the door of my truck says tow rated around 7K, but the specs I looked up online said 11,900. Had all kinds of trouble and 3 trips to the dealer to get the factory brake controller installed. They finally found that it was a mistake and somehow Ford equipped the STX with a tow package, but no fuse for the controller, so they replaced the fuse board and it's all good now.

duck9191

We started with a old jayco popup, then got a starcraft travelstar 21sso and now this thing. I do enjoy only having to put the jacks down and two slides out, the hybrid wasn't bad at all compared to the pop up but its still much simple, and much warmer/cooler in the off season.

The tow ratings are confusing to say the least, and the number of "tow packages" between the different models makes it even worse. glad you got the brakes figured out, Sway issue shouldn't be hard to fix either.