Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Trailer Sway Control

GCWR.....well below what we’re towing! However, the tires/rims were the primary limiting factors on load capacity! The axle has same rating as the dually. Tires/rims have been upgraded to 19.5”....which substantially increased the load capacity. Also, added air bags, which helped to level. The factory suspension was soft sprung for ride....really squatted under load! memtb

My 3500 srw (2015) is only supposed to tow about 17-18k. I’d think 20k is getting up there...

It’s a bit heavy.....but, tried to make safe/reliable with a few upgrades! memtb

And that number is???

Reason I ask is that it makes zero difference what you've "added" to make it 'safer' etc.... If that GCWR is "X" pounds listed on the door frame and your rig (when towing) is over that, good luck if you ever have any crash or accident... The opposing lawyers' ins. company will eat you for lunch.. I just checked the specs for (say) a 2018 Doge Ram 3500 SRW (CC, LB) and max GCWR is #25,300.. Ergo, your truck needs to weigh only 5,300# (with all occupants, tools etc) to stay legal.....and I'm pretty sure that truck weighs more than that..

Just warning against the legalities - 'cuz in this world it's all getting nuts.. Best wishes...

Now back to regularly scheduled programming..

Google says 2018 Dodge 3500 is 6909 curb weight.

I have weight distribution hitch on my 2019 Chevy Duramax. I bought it from Etrailer.com. They were super helpful in helping me with what I needed and how to set it up.The truck weighs about 7000,camper,1500 plus another 300-400 with gear water etc. Bumper pull horse trailer is about 3500, two mules,tack, feed , two water tanks,total about 8500.So I am going down the road with about 17,000. GCWR on this truck is 23,000. Important to keep tires inflated to max and have good tires with stiff sidewalls so they don't roll.Goodyear Duratrack are terrible about that.

Thing to remember is to add about1/2 the load in the pickup bed to the total trailer weight. My trailer weigh plus 1/2 of bed loading comes to about 9500 pounds, so I bought a 10,000 pound rated distribution hitch. I do not hav sway bars onit and haveno problems

We just used our new rig last week for the first time since purchase. Here's some real world numbers that may or may not be helpful.

We towed a 2020 Aspen Trail LE 19 foot camper (singe axle like 4k lbs as a guesstimate) with a 2020 f250 crew cab 6.2L 6 speed w/ 3.73 rear end last week for a 500 mile round trip. The truck's trailer sway was on. The truck was set in tow mode. The trailer break gain was set to 10. The hitch was a bullet proof hitch adjusted to the trailer level after squat. (rated to tow 22k lbs on 2 5/16 ball). The truck squatted 1 5/8 inches after hooking up. The back of the truck carried a honda 3000i generator, a yeti cooler full of ice, and a couple of 2x4's/4x4's for the trailer jack. The truck carried me and my wife and 4 dogs. All the rest of the stuff we carried was in the camper.

We drove during some Southern storms with wind and rain. I drove from 65-80 (basically the speed of the traffic), about 1/3 with cruise control on. Got 8/9 mpg. (Truck gets 11/13 city with no load, and 16/17 on back roads at 65 mph.) All mpg is as per the onboard computer...I don't care about dividing etc...The truck never slowed down once cruise was set, but would shift from 3-5 gears to get to 3-5k rpms when under load. And, would get to drive in 6th alot.

The trailer suffered minimal if any sway. There was never any scary moment.

Anyways, this was our first time with this set-up, so we may eventually make some adjustments. But for a weekend/4 day trip, this set-up seems good for us.

Yep enough truck. I am at the limit, a 14K gross 5th wheel and a 2500HD SRW long bed diesel. Depends at how bad I load the 5th wheel and truck. So far no issues, and I have gone coast to coast more than once. A poorly setup rig is scary. Been there done that..

Thanks for the responses. The Trailer is a Look Moab. It's basically an enclosed trailer with camping features. It's double axle. I'll load my Honda pioneer 1000-5 and go. I'm guessing there must be somewhat of a sweet spot where I load the sxs because I drove it 8 hours to CO for a hunt and never had an issue. On the way back home was when I first noticed it feeling funny.

I know another truck is in the future based on family size, but not having a payment is nice enough to get as much use out of this one.

Dual Cam are your best form of sway control.

Look Here.

Keep in mind your sidewalls on your tires can be a huge problem with sway. Passenger tires don't cut it for towing, get yourself Truck tires, e range or better for stiff side walls.

Yeah. Your first step should probably be to find out where you need to park the Pioneer to get proper weight distribution on your tongue. Mark the spot with tape or a marker. Like that video posted earlier showed (model car on the treadmill), poor weight distribution can really cause some sway.

If still having problems, consider distribution hitch (still a good idea), or the bigger truck.

I had an enclosed uhaul tandem axle behind a 3/4 ton Dodge, one time. I obviously had too much weight too far back, because, while passing a big rig and catching just a little turbulence, it got REALLY squirrelly on me. Back and forth 1-2 feet, steering wheel moving 4-5 inches side to side. I had to let off the gas and get down to about 45-50. Scared the hell outta Dad and I.

Adequate tongue weight is more important than most people realize. I'd also make sure I had a quality hitch system, and my second purchase would be trailer breaks,

AMEN!