Trailer towing

[dockside]

I am interested in what type of vehicle everyone uses to pull a travel trailer, 30' lg, 8500lbs,1000lbs tounge wgt I
am interested in stopping a swaying
issue. I am useing a 4 point hitch. Thanks to all.

[steve52]

Since you have a sway issue, the question is what kind of vehicle are YOU currently towing with? And what specifically is the problem and when does it occur?
A trailer that size generally wants a 3/4 ton truck.

[aether_one]

1000 lbs is a little light for that tongue weight but should be doable with a cam-lok anti-sway WD system and a 3/4 ton truck.

[jimcumminsw]

Also tires on the tow vehicle make an important difference. Some 1/2 ton pick-up trucks (if you tow with one) may have passenger tires on the vehicle. The passenger tire on a pick-up truck is like wooden shoes on a duck! They just do not work for hauling and towing anything. Now if you purchased a 1/2 ton truck as a commuter vehicle/grocery getter and want a smooth ride than passenger tires are ok! For hauling heavy loads and towing you need LT tires on any pick-up truck!

All of my vehicles from my 70's Jeeps, 86' Chevy 3/4ton van, and my pick-up trucks have always had LT tires on them. I have pulled from pop-ups, two different sizes and three different 5er's with never any swaying at all.

[450Donn]

Length not weight is the biggest issue. Proper sway control is a start. As are tires. But no matter what if you have a short wheelbase vehicle your likely to have sway.

[keymastr]

I see from your other post that you are using the EEZ lift Trekker, which is a budget knock off of an Equalizer hitch. It MAY be a good hitch but since fewer people have any experience with it it will be harder to diagnose any particular setup issues verses the Equalizer which hundreds, if not thousands on just this forum have used.

I also see you are towing with an Expedition which has a rather squishy independent rear suspension tailored for carrying passengers more than towing heavy loads. It also has trailer towing limits that you are very near to, or depending on YOUR particular Expedition you may have slightly exceeded.

That much trailer will tax an Expedition and will make it feel as if the trailer may push you out of control on highway corners or when trucks pass you.

I towed a 7500 pound trailer with an Expedition for less than 2 months and replaced it with an F250 I had not planned on buying. I have never felt any sway or movement since.

You can try spending the day at the C.A.T. scales and for less than $20 you can weigh several times, ($2 to reweigh within 24 hours as many times as needed), which will help you adjust the hitch to work it's best. You need to do at least 3 weight passes to see how well your hitch is working.

Pass 1: truck alone, full of fuel and whatever passengers and gear you will be towing with.
Pass 2: truck and trailer as you would be towing it except do not hook up the weight bars.
Pass 3: truck and trailer with bars hooked up.

The goal is to restore approximately 75% of the front axle weight difference between pass one and pass two. So lets say the front axle in pass one is 4000 pounds and in pass 2 it is 3500 pounds, you need to see the front axle weigh around 3850 pounds but not more than 4000. Since it removed 500 pounds by adding the trailer the weight bars in pass 3 restored 350 pounds, or 75%

I don't know how your hitch is adjusted. My Equalizer uses washers to tilt the hitch head putting more weight on the bars. Mine on a lighter trailer are so hard to get on the perches that I must lift the back of the truck with the tongue jack AND use a bar to install them. If yours are easy to install they are not doing much, the C.A.T. scale will tell you if they are doing their job.

You are at the maximum for that vehicle and even with the hitch adjusted perfectly it will probably never feel great but it should help a bunch and may make it acceptable.

[Teamfoxy]

I'd look at the trailer loading and make sure you keep heavy weights out of the rear of the trailer. Having enough tongue weight is important, but you want to keep the weight centered and not just load up the front to counter a lot of weight in the rear.
Height of the trailer also makes a big difference. We used to have a JayFeather 25Z with torsion bar suspension. That puts the whole trailer about 10" lower than trailers with leaf springs. The trailer was very stable and we didn't need the anti-sway bars unless it was very windy.
Also consider air bags on the pickup. Once I added those, we did not need to use as much tension on the leveling bars to keep the truck and trailer level.

[Monacoach]

Sway control is not the answer.
Sway prevention is what you want and that's the difference between those cheap friction sway controls and a proper sway prevention hitch assembly such as Hensley.

[shane_the_ee]

Your tongue weight is too light at <12% and the Expedition’s receiver is only rated to 930lbs. And if you don’t have a Max/EL, your wheelbase is also too short.

[steve52]

Almost 34" and 8500 lb is too much trailer for your Expy. You need a bigger truck or a smaller TT.

[Monacoach]

More important factors then weight are distance from hitch to rear axle of tow vehicle, height profile of trailer, wheel size and type of tires on tow vehicle and of course the proper setup of the appropriate hitch assembly. If you simply go by weight you will end up short changing yourself on your tow vehicle and trailer.

[Monacoach]

Most rv dealers no very little about the proper setup of tow vehicle to travel trailer. A good source of info from very knowledgeable people on the subject is can am rv in London Ontario. Check out their towing videos.