2022 RAM 1500 sways when towing

[motogrrl]

Originally Posted by CamperLifer

That is ridiculous.

Ok, maybe it is dude. But I have just read 20 or so posts from reputable sources regarding this. As an mech engineer, I read the specs and how traction control works and how the computer corrects and IMHO it is not ridiculous, it’s a possibility. But you probably know better than me cuz you’re a “CamperLifer”. Thanks for the useless, ridiculous comment. That statement says more about you than it does about my comment.

[LETMGROW]

Originally Posted by motogrrl

Does the truck have traction control feature? It should be a toggle underneath the large screen maybe?

This seems to be a common feeling of kind of fighting the trailer on many other forums I believe. I have had a similar issue with my Laramie and when I turn off the traction control it seems to go away.

Just a thought.

My son, Marc, had read about this on another forum and he knew about it before we did our test session. I believe I failed to mention it before but we did cycle the switch on and off a few times while towing the trailer during the testing. It didn't seem to make any difference at all in either on or off position.
Someone asked about tire pressures on the truck. We did raise the pressures above the recommended pressure before he towed the camper to a camp ground at the end of last week close to where he works. He said it didn't seem to make any difference at all in handling. With no wind at all going to the campground he said the trailer and truck didn't handle too badly. The trip back home however was a little rough as there were some windy conditions.
We are in hopes we can get the Timbrens installed tonight and try the testing again. We are trying to prepare for a 165 mile trip in the middle of the month and are in hopes we can get this matter behind us before we leave.
Thanks for the thought.

[boogiejack75]

Originally Posted by LETMGROW

What did you do to your Ram 1500 to try making it better?

Hellwig sway bar; Timbren bump stops (similar to Sumo); E rated LT truck tires.

No help.

[LETMGROW]

Originally Posted by boogiejack75

Hellwig sway bar; Timbren bump stops (similar to Sumo); E rated LT truck tires.

No help.

Out of curiosity did you ever change over to heavier duty front or rear shocks?

[runamuck]

the Ram 1500's with the 5.7 and 8 speed tow great. I have one and I have towed our 28' 6000# travel trailer all over the place. the OP just needs to set it up better to eliminate the sway. I put air bags on the rear and changed out the sway bar to the Helwig and I run a few more pounds of air in the tires when towing. I have the Husky centerline WDH and had my rv dealer adjust it to the trailer. I dont get any sway at speeds up to and over 70 except for cross wind gusts. yes, the coil spring suspension means a little less payload but a far better ride than most other 1500 trucks when not towing which I do more often.

[Harley 2012]

Had a 2014 ram 1500 crew cab, i had to put air bags inside the coil springs and run 30 lb of air in them when towing. Helped! I then put a new set of class D rated tires, max air at weight rating 65 lb. I ran 60 in back and 55 in front. Took all the road wiggle out of it. Still would get blown around to much by semis. Found a used 12000 lb Equilizer brand hitch and set the truck up for it . Trailer perfectly level when hooked up and loaded. Truck when hooked up and loaded sat about the same attidude wise as if it was unloaded, just a little lower, with nose down! Pulled 9100 lb trailer fully loaded, gross weight was 15000. Pulled beautiful.
By the way never pull with stabilizer switch in on position on the truck!

[cb727200]

Originally Posted by LETMGROW

Before I start I'm asking everyone responding here to stay on the RAM 1500 subject and we don't need a 2500 either.
The truck in question here is a 2022 "Bighorn", "Off Road Edition" with load range 'C' tires, Hemi powered 4 WD. owned by my son. There is no switch we can see for "Sway Control".
My son recently bought a 2017 Coachmen Catalina 28RKS Legacy Edition TT GVW 6200#.
Aside from bringing it home he has only had it out twice due to work schedules etc. Bringing it home and the first trip he took were both on State highways and secondary roads with 55 mph speed limits. While he did notice some sway on the State highway it was nothing like what he experienced at 65 mph on the interstate when he traveled last weekend.
His tire pressures are all set at the recommended pressure both on the truck and the trailer.
His weight distributing hitch came with the trailer which he bought from an individual we know and trust. The WDH is a "Fastway E2" Trunnion sway control/weight distributing hitch. This hitch was installed on the trailer when my son bought it. The previous owner hauled this trailer with a Chevrolet 1500 4WD pickup around a 2017 or 2018 model year.
We have gone all through the set up instructions and procedures and made a couple small changes to the adjustments to make the hitch work properly with my son's truck.
Last evening we went through the entire set up procedure again to be absolutely sure everything is set and adjusted correctly and we are sure it is.
We took his truck and trailer for a 10 mile test drive after checking the adjustments. Up to 55 mph you could feel a little sway and the truck seemed to bounce a bit from front to rear but when he pushed the speed up to 65 this combination became a real handful. I mean if you weren't up on top of the wheel you'd be covering the whole lane in the road and probably more.
We returned home and we rechecked all the adjustments one more time. Then I came up with an idea. I suggested we hook the trailer up to my truck. My truck is a 2002 Chevrolet 1500 Silverado Z-71 4 WD. I have owned it since 2004, don't drive it in the winter time and it has just over 100,000 miles on it with all original springs and shocks. The tires are standard load Cooper M&S set at 35 psi. Not the ideal tires for hauling a large trailer. I measured the receiver hitch height on both my son's truck and my truck. My hitch is 1/4" higher than his which should make no difference. We put his hitch into my receiver, hooked up the trailer and the WDH and took it for a test drive. My son was driving to keep things the same for our test drive. We live on a secondary road (my son lives next door to me) and even at the lower speed my son said he could feel a difference in the handling. When we got to the State highway to take the same route as we did with his truck we got up to speed and my son said, "What a difference". Then we pushed the speed up to 60 then 65 mph. This combination went down the highway as straight as a tightly drawn string. No sway what so ever and no front to rear bouncing (I call it porposing). The ride was smooth and comfortable and he could drive with one hand on the wheel relaxed.
We have eliminated the trailer and the hitch being the culprit here. If my truck can haul this trailer fine his truck should be able to. There is no question the issue is in the Ram's suspension somewhere. The rear suspension is coil springs and it seems to have a pretty beefy track bar and sway bar in the rear. Ram offers an air bag rear suspension option but I'm not convinced it would help in this case. My son isn't anxious to start spending money on a lot of aftermarket parts etc. and find out they don't help. The factory air bag option is around $1000 which seems ridiculous to me. That is a hefty price to pay only to find out it didn't help in this situation.
What I would like to find is someone who has either had this same experience and has or hasn't corrected it or can honestly say they have hauled a 6200# trailer with their Ram 1500 and it worked fine.

You mentioned tires are load range C, those are 6 plt , (car) tires never meant to haul what you have. Upgrade to D or E *ply, 10 ply than resubmit.

[Danj2001]

I know, I know but 2500 is the answer.

[Sammicic]

The timbrens take about 15 minutes to install. They helped with my 2020 1500 V6 Bighorn even though I use a WDH.
I had issues with ride comfort(porpoising) until I swapped out the 400# bars for 600# on my Recurve R3 WDH. Now the ride is greatly improved towing 4000# TT.
Good luck.

[LETMGROW]

Originally Posted by cb727200

You mentioned tires are load range C, those are 6 plt , (car) tires never meant to haul what you have. Upgrade to D or E *ply, 10 ply than resubmit.

I will reiterate. The trailer behaves nicely behind my 1500 Chevrolet equipped with standard load (pasenger vehicle) mud and snow tires which have significantly less rubber to road contact and softer sidewalls than the tires on the ram.

[randomledder]

I have been following along this topic simply due to morbid curiosity on what some of the replies will be. I have my own opinion on trailer lengths/weights that a half ton truck are capable of towing but they are irrelevant to this topic. That being said I keep wondering over and over how the timbrens or air bags will help the sway. I have used both airbags and Timbrens in the past and they do have there place I am just not understanding how firming up the back end will help sway. Maybe there is something in the front suspension geometry that changes when the suspension cycles and the soft rear suspension is compounding the problem while pulling a trailer?

[JimMirkle]

I had a similar problem with a 2019 Ram 1500 Limited towing a Minnie Plus 26RBSS, dry weight ~ 6300, gross 10,000. I had an E2 Round bar hitch that didn't provide much sway control at all. My 3500 dually had no problem at all, but the 1500 swayed so much it scared me. I replaced the E2 with a Camco Eaz-Lift Recurve R3 and it made the ride safe. There is still a little shifting back and forth that I think is from the flimsy sidewalls on the original tires (I have a 2020 Limited now, but almost the same truck). I'll upgrade the truck tires to LT in a few months. 65mph is about the max I'm willing to tow if the wind isn't quartering, but mpg drops so rapidly at speed that I'm willing to take a little longer.



I chose the Recurve because it was the only hitch available on a Sunday 200 miles into a 7000 mile round trip. I haven't been disappointed.

[carybosse]

Originally Posted by randomledder

I have been following along this topic simply due to morbid curiosity on what some of the replies will be. I have my own opinion on trailer lengths/weights that a half ton truck are capable of towing but they are irrelevant to this topic. That being said I keep wondering over and over how the timbrens or air bags will help the sway. I have used both airbags and Timbrens in the past and they do have there place I am just not understanding how firming up the back end will help sway. Maybe there is something in the front suspension geometry that changes when the suspension cycles and the soft rear suspension is compounding the problem while pulling a trailer?

I am kind of with you on this. The differences in towing ability between the two trucks seems unusual - I just would expect 2 half ton trucks to behave pretty similarly.

I may have missed it, but I would love to compare the 2 door labels side by side.

[bneukam]

If the Ram 1500 coil springs are the problem, than that alone tells you the WDH should have more tension set, than the Chevy.

Been towing 6k lb TT, with a 2017 Ram 1500 for 6 years and 34k miles, all over the Western states. It’s rock solid even in high winds.

The rear coils are upgraded to TuffTruck 1211’s, and Heavy duty shocks. The springs are rated for 50% greater capacity than stock. Still has a great ride, and I would consider it better than the original factory air suspension that was giving us problems.

In addition to our trailer, we also have 2 heavy e-bikes, 2 kayaks, and lots of firewood in the truck bed.