Community Forums

Superslif · 01-30-2005, 04:58 PM

Going to buy a 24'light weight hybride trailer (Aero-Lite Cub) (about 400 hitch weight and about 4300 lbs. loaded) shortly. Was at a dealer who said no matter what I tow it with I should get a anti-sway bar. I'll be towing it with a 05 Toyota 4-Runner V-8. Are all anti-sway bars the same? He said on my draw-bar they would just weld a tab for the anti-sway bar. Is that customary that they would weld this tab on rather than have a draw bar and ball set-up that would have this already there. hummm

Superslif · 01-30-2005, 04:58 PM

Going to buy a 24'light weight hybride trailer (Aero-Lite Cub) (about 400 hitch weight and about 4300 lbs. loaded) shortly. Was at a dealer who said no matter what I tow it with I should get a anti-sway bar. I'll be towing it with a 05 Toyota 4-Runner V-8. Are all anti-sway bars the same? He said on my draw-bar they would just weld a tab for the anti-sway bar. Is that customary that they would weld this tab on rather than have a draw bar and ball set-up that would have this already there. hummm

CyberVet65 · 01-30-2005, 05:14 PM

I think the sale guy was talking about the sway control that is mounted on the weight distributing hitch assembly.
And I think you were talking about a sway bar that is installed on the suspension of your tow vehicle.
The suspension components on your truck can be installed by your dealer or a suspension shop. Hellwig is one of the more common units installed on many tow vehicles.
The sway control on the draw bar is a common enough item and it depends upon your preference of manufacturer. Reese and a number of hitch makers make fine sway control units.
Chet

TXiceman · 01-30-2005, 06:39 PM

Actually what you need ia a weight distributing system with a sway control. Sales people often call parts by the wrong name. It sounds like he is talking about a friction type sway control. He does not need to weld a tab to a proper hitch head. It already has the hole for the small ball to atttach a friction type sway. The other end is attached to the trailer frame with bolts.

On the vehicle, the proper name of the "sway bar" is anti-roll bar. Your Toyota should already have on on the rear suspension.

If you can, get the dealer to supply an Equalizer brand name WD system which has the sway control built into it. I do not believe your trailer will have a high enough tongue weight to use a Reese Dual Cam system.

Ken

RV Wizard · 01-31-2005, 01:45 AM

You may not need a weight distributing hitch for a 4300# trailer for your truck but a sway control would be a good idea. In this case you will need a hitch head that the sway control will mount to. A tab can be welded on or you can use an equalizing hitch head that has the tab as part of the unit. There is no weight on this small ball and tab; it is going to have a fair amount of lateral pressure as most sweay controls are of the sliding friction type. There are others that are buit into the weight ditributing hitches, such as Equalizer, and Hensley.

TXiceman · 01-31-2005, 09:04 AM

RV Wizard, I disagree with your statement about maybe not needing a weight distribution system. The Toyota is not that large of a truck and with a 4300# trailer, he will be adding at least 430# to the back bumper. In order to keep the truck level and not causing the front end to go light, he will need a WD hitch. I also feel he will get a better and more controlled ride than trying to skimp on the weight distribution bars.

Ken

Superslif · 01-31-2005, 02:16 PM

Thanx for all the input everyone. The dealer was showing me a floor display of a hitch setup with a weight distributing hitch assembly with sway bar control. According to him you could install just the sway-control (sliding friction type) if you wanted. And add the weight distributing hitch later if you needed it. The 05' Toyota 4-Runner has a tag on the factory hitch that says over 700 lbs. tongue weight you need a WD hitch which raises the tongue weight to 1095lbs. (hard to believe) Towing cap. is 7000 lbs. Just picked up the 05' Toyota a few days ago. Our old RV setup was a 99' Toyota 4-Runner V-6 towing a 99' Coleman Pop-up 350 tongue weight / 2500lbs.) We had 6 happy years of camping in this set-up, with no towing problems even with a good deal of towing in the hills of OH. PA. NY. VT. ect. We were planning on buying a new Toyota (V-8)in fall of 04' anyway. We were also planning on buying a new Coleman (Fleetwood) pop-up also. While at a dealer in the fall looking at new 05' pop-ups I popped my head into a Aerolite Cub Hybrid trailer and was surprised at how light in weight it was. We figured for a few extra $$$ and another 1500 lbs. of dry weight the new Toyota 4-Runner V-8 would handle. By chance at that time I heard that in Jan of 05' Toyota was putting a higher HP & torque engine into it's 4-Runner line. Hp went from 235 to 270 and torque went up to 330 lb-ft.