Trailer sway

MR. GADGET

MR. GADGET

New Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2005
Location
Raleigh NC
SO
on this trip to UNF I had a lot of trailer sway.
Does it only have to do with the tongue weight or what.
I towed it to Tennessee last fall with no problems and the trailer was the same
this time.
The only difference may have been the weight in the truck maybe being 1000 lbs less.
Would a LD hitch help sway or just the sag.
I'm looking at around 18,000 lbs total say 10,000 on the truck and 8,000 on the
trailer with 800 tw .
Jon
 
More tongue weight, IMHO.

1/10 is the rule of thumb, but it always seems more stable with more.
 
10k on the truck is over your GVW of 9000, as an FYI.. but anyway... WD hitches do help the sway, but my guess would be that you had the rig farther back on the trailer this time..

What's your method for knowing how far forward to go when you load the rig?
 
Rich said:
10k on the truck is over your GVW of 9000, as an FYI.. but anyway... WD hitches do help the sway, but my guess would be that you had the rig farther back on the trailer this time..

What's your method for knowing how far forward to go when you load the rig?
Click to expand...

I put stop blocks on the trailer and I Pull up to them every time. Easy to do just find where it tows good and screw the 2x4 or 4x4 down to the deck of the trailer. My thinking is, it was the fuel or gear in the Blazer that took it out of balance.
Yes it is over the GVW but then again if I follow that I would need to run with nothing in the bed. It is some where around 7400 with me and 1/4 fuel.
Fill it up and add wife,dog,coolers, repair junk and camping gear, not much left for the 800 lb tongue weight. If I put a slide in camper in it thats 1800-2000 easy and people do that all the time then tow a trailer and off road buggy. What you think. Should I change some of the weight off the truck and add to the trailer?
Jon
 
Hmm, I'm surprised that any small change you made in the towed vehicle could affect you so drastically.. especially if you load gear & gas, it's probably at/near the rear of the blazer, right?

It really does sound like the trailer had too little tongue weight... might be time to move your stop bars up a few inches... ;)
 
Rich said:
Hmm, I'm surprised that any small change you made in the towed vehicle could affect you so drastically.. especially if you load gear & gas, it's probably at/near the rear of the blazer, right?

It really does sound like the trailer had too little tongue weight... might be time to move your stop bars up a few inches... ;)
Click to expand...
Yep
I think that I may have been a little light and adding fuel and some gear to the Back ot the blazer did it.
I plan on the next time moving it up or changing the way I load it.
I'm thinking 20-22 gal fuel and some gear added 200+ lbs at the very back and would have taken it off the tongue. I'm thinking in the past I carried the Blazer with no fuel and not much gear.
Thinking about getting one of the ball scales but they are a little high just to use for setup. Wish someone around Raleigh had one.
Jon
 
Ridgerunner said:
Jon
Maybe you need a bigger truck :)

I think good balence does the trick

Carl
Click to expand...
:confused: :confused:

What one the the Dodge or the Blazer :D
I know I should have got that 5 ton I was looking at. :driver:
 
MR. GADGET said:
:confused: :confused:

What one the the Dodge or the Blazer :D
I know I should have got that 5 ton I was looking at. :driver:
Click to expand...

Yeah the 5 ton would work but you would have to leave a day early to setup camp:)
 
How I work tongue weight is to get the load set on the trailer to where there is no sway and it handles well. I then measure the difference in the tow vehicle's bumper height from loaded to unloaded. This will get you the same tongue weight everytime no matter how you load your trail rig up. For the Mog, a 2" change in bumper height is right on the money.
 
Simple thing to do if you are getting the sway is to pull over and move the rig up 6 inches. It's amazing what moving it six inches on the trailer will do. Takes about 5 min to move and restrap down then you are on your way.

Shannon
 
NC_Mog said:
How I work tongue weight is to get the load set on the trailer to where there is no sway and it handles well. I then measure the difference in the tow vehicle's bumper height from loaded to unloaded. This will get you the same tongue weight everytime no matter how you load your trail rig up. For the Mog, a 2" change in bumper height is right on the money.
Click to expand...


I still consider myself a towing novice, but I agree with all thats been said on this thread so far.

I wanted to add two things;

1. I "feel" safer with the anti-sway bar in place, having towed now with and without. Thats good enough for me.

2. I learned something today when I was over at the Diesel forum, when I first got the truck I was running 80 lb in the class E tires. I bakced down to 40lb get more comfort as a DD. Last time I towed, I did not bump up the tires back to 80lb. I think that by running the higher tire pressure while towing will help too.

Eric
 
NC_Mog said:
How I work tongue weight is to get the load set on the trailer to where there is no sway and it handles well. I then measure the difference in the tow vehicle's bumper height from loaded to unloaded. This will get you the same tongue weight everytime no matter how you load your trail rig up. For the Mog, a 2" change in bumper height is right on the money.
Click to expand...
Kimball
How does yours tow with the 305's and what ones did you get.
I have not had good luck finding any E load rated any anything much.
You keep your chrome rims?
Jon
 
I haven't hauled anything on the 305s yet, so I can't comment on how they do. The BFGs are on load range D but have the capacity. It will be interesting to see how they do and if they squish around under the load. Toyo doesn't have this size yet for a 17" rim (last I checked) but I think their tires in this size range are all E.
 
NC_Mog said:
I haven't hauled anything on the 305s yet, so I can't comment on how they do. The BFGs are on load range D but have the capacity. It will be interesting to see how they do and if they squish around under the load. Toyo doesn't have this size yet for a 17" rim (last I checked) but I think their tires in this size range are all E.
Click to expand...

My normal tire pressuer is in the 45-50psi range actually. Good point, my E-rated tires are from the factory. I think D range is the highest for BFG's.
Eric
 
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