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

What hitches do you like/use? The electronic mechanism using your trailer breaks any good?

My trailer is only 16', but it is 11' tall. My one concern, if you will, would be the mounting on the frame where the breaking system is on the one side.

I've towed it enough to know the piece of mind would be nice.

I just use a friction device but my trailer isn't that short. what do you tow it with and is it swaying now?

Weight compensation hitch and of course a big enough truck.. Other wise the tail will wag the Dog.

Get a good weight distribution/anti-sway hitch. I’ve got a Blue Ox. Plenty of good brands out there. Plan on spending $300 plus for a good one. The el-cheapo ones can work, but you often have to disable the anti-sway function to back up.

Also, some of them tell you to turn OFF the anti-sway on your truck when using them, otherwise your truck will be making constant adjustments and burning up your brakes.

Before buying, figure out the tongue weight of your LOADED trailer, so you can get a distribution hitch with the correct tongue weight rating. Too light, and you still get sag. Too heavy, and you’ll often feel a lot of harshness from the load you’re towing.

Pulling with a half ton gmc. That could change sometime soon as I need a 6 seater. Want a three quarter ton.

I've seen the sway once. Otherwise it's more of a feeling of not having total control. Doesn't happen all the time though.

Everybody thinks they can tow with a 1/2 ton until they tow with a half ton. What does the trailer weigh? The big thing is the weight disparity between the tow vehicle and the trailer. It's something neither the trailer manufacturers or truck dealers talk about.

That trailer could catch a lot of crosswind.

Also, be careful how you load the trailer. If you have too much weight too far back, they can get REALLY squirrelly.

Could also be because the trailer/tongue weight is too heavy. That takes weight/pressure OFF your truck’s front end, and can make for really poor handling. The weight distribution hitches help to “transfer” that pressure/weight BACK to the front end (and get the nose out of the air) so that you get your steering “control” back..

I did it with a bumper pull trailer, and a half ton. Didn't happen often but when it did, a LARGE pucker factor. Now have a 3/4 ton long bed diesel with a fifth wheel, the tail does not wag the dog. Even in high winds. Also the diesel handles the long down hills with exhaust brake and tranny control. No burnt smelling brakes. Bottom line, or for the Military folks BLUF. Get a big enough truck that is setup properly for the weight and size of the trailer.

Equalizer brand hitch.

^^^^^^^

The electronic sway control works very well. I was involved in the development of it. You still need to do all of basic mechanical fundamentals. I’m running one a 27’ travel trailer now.
Tuson Brake

You can never have enough truck when it comes to towing. Or just keep it less than 45 mph and it won't away....to bad.

Like a fwd rice rocket with a huge spoiler...
But a tail heavy trailer isn't great either...
Too far off in either direction could give you the squirrellies

Bingo!

Using the trailer brakes only will let the trailer stretch out the rig

Plenty of weight on the hitch and a good equalizing hitch! The best solution, though not your option......a 5th wheel or goose-neck!

We tow 20K pound 5th wheel pretty often with a SRW 3500 Ram. We just finished a 5050 mile marathon trip, over 13 days in only 9 tow days, much in some pretty good winds across Ok.,Ne., Ks., and Wy.....never felt a control issue!

In high winds trailer weight, pin or tongue weight, and proper load balance are your friends. With a tongue pull trailer you want approximately 10 to 15% of trailer weight on the ball. With a 5th wheel, approximately 20 to 23% is desirable! memtb

Lotta weight for a SRW.. What's your truck's GCWR?

Is your trailer a tandem axle?

If so, one thing not specifically mentioned by others but is related to tongue weight etc., is getting the trailer deck level when loaded.

So the height of your hitch is important. You want the pressure on both trailer axles to be similar. And yes tongue weight impacts this but hitch height is equally important.