DS31 sways at highway speed

justafordguy

justafordguy

Well-known member
I just purchased a Heartland Pioneer DS31 a few months ago and was very surprised by the amount of sway and unstable feeling it has over 60 mph. I have moved some weight forward to increase hitch weight and it is a little better but still not great.

Here are the current specs.

2013 DS31
Dry: 7400#
GVWR: 9000#
Actual: 8650#
Hitch: 1200#
WDH: 14000/1400
single friction type sway control bar.

2005 F250 CC, 4x4, 6.0 Diesel

Any ideas? If I stay under 60 mph it pulls fine.
 
danemayer

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi justafordguy,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. There's a lot of useful information here along with a great bunch of friendly and helpful people.

Did you ever hear the joke about the patient who said, "Doc, it hurts when I lift my arm up high. What can I do?" And the Doc said, "Don't lift your arm up that high."

Seriously though, you'll probably get some suggestions soon from owners who have solved the same problem.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
justafordguy

justafordguy

Well-known member
danemayer said:
Hi justafordguy,

Did you ever hear the joke about the patient who said, "Doc, it hurts when I lift my arm up high. What can I do?" And the Doc said, "Don't lift your arm up that high."
Click to expand...

Thanks Dan, That's exactly what I've been doing so far, 60 mph isn't so bad.;)
 
M

Mastiffking

Member
justafordguy said:
Thanks Dan, That's exactly what I've been doing so far, 60 mph isn't so bad.;)
Click to expand...

Justafordguy,

I am a newbie to RV'ing and towing in general. In one of my threads, someone asked if my fresh water tank was empty. Even with tank baffles you may still get the sloshing effect. I am pulling a 27' Prowler with an F-150. I didn't go over 60 but the only time I noticed any sway was when a Semi-truck passed going the opposite direction. Hope that helps. Good Luck!
 
justafordguy

justafordguy

Well-known member
Mastiffking said:
Justafordguy,

I am a newbie to RV'ing and towing in general. In one of my threads, someone asked if my fresh water tank was empty. Even with tank baffles you may still get the sloshing effect. I am pulling a 27' Prowler with an F-150. I didn't go over 60 but the only time I noticed any sway was when a Semi-truck passed going the opposite direction. Hope that helps. Good Luck!
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I am also a newby to RVing but not towing. It just seems like these TTs are a little tricky to get setup.:) I was thinking of emptying the tank and see if it made any difference. It really pulls nice under 60 even when a Semi-truck passes but over 60 - 65 it starts to get a little unstable.
 
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B

berky

Well-known member
You might try pulling up one or two fewer links on your WDH. When I moved from a 1500 to a 2500HD, on my first trip I lazily used the WDH just as I had set it up for the 1500. I got pushed around quite a bit by the big trucks and even some speeding cars. Letting the 2500HD carry more of the TT tongue weight got rid of the problem.
 
pegmikef

pegmikef

Well-known member
justafordguy said:
I just purchased a Heartland Pioneer DS31 a few months ago and was very surprised by the amount of sway and unstable feeling it has over 60 mph. I have moved some weight forward to increase hitch weight and it is a little better but still not great.

Any ideas? If I stay under 60 mph it pulls fine.
Click to expand...

You might want to check the height of the ball of your wd hitch in relation to the tongue ball cup height. Check the specs for your particular hitch to make sure it is adjusted correctly. My EaZLift hitch specs are that the ball height should be 1/8 inch per each hundred pounds of tongue weight higher than the ball cup (e.g., 800 pounds of tongue weight equals the ball being one inch higher than the ball cup when the truck and trailer are both level.

Oh yeah, I didn't even know Heartland had a Pioneer.
 
justafordguy

justafordguy

Well-known member
When unhooked the truck ball is 3/4" higher than the trailer cup. When hitched the truck drops 2" so it is 1 1/4" lower than level. When I first got it Camping World had the hitch almost 5" higher than level and it was SCARY. It' seems much better with it a little lower than level.
 
Lynn1130

Lynn1130

Well-known member
You don't mention whether you have a weight distribution and sway bar setup. If not, I would recommend it. Mr previous pull trailer was a 26 foot and the dealer would not let me pull it from the lot without one (liability). When set up properly they level the load and prevent sway. I never had a problem in wind or when semis jerked me around as they passed by.
 
justafordguy

justafordguy

Well-known member
Lynn1130 said:
You don't mention whether you have a weight distribution and sway bar setup. If not, I would recommend it. Mr previous pull trailer was a 26 foot and the dealer would not let me pull it from the lot without one (liability). When set up properly they level the load and prevent sway. I never had a problem in wind or when semis jerked me around as they passed by.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Camping world installed the WD hitch setup when I got the TT. here are my specs from my original post.

2013 DS31
Dry: 7400#
GVWR: 9000#
Actual: 8650#
Hitch: 1200#
WDH: 14000/1400
single friction type sway control bar.

2005 F250 CC, 4x4, 6.0 Diesel
 
pegmikef

pegmikef

Well-known member
justafordguy said:
When unhooked the truck ball is 3/4" higher than the trailer cup. When hitched the truck drops 2" so it is 1 1/4" lower than level. When I first got it Camping World had the hitch almost 5" higher than level and it was SCARY. It' seems much better with it a little lower than level.
Click to expand...

If you are still not level after you connect the torsion bars, you might want to try raising the ball a little more. What do the specs for the hitch say about the height? My tongue weight is around 800 pounds so mine is a full inch. On mine after I hook up the trailer, I have to raise the truck and trailer together up an inch or two to hook up the torsion bars. I had to play with mine until they were both level when hooked up with the torsion bars connected.
 
justafordguy

justafordguy

Well-known member
pegmikef said:
If you are still not level after you connect the torsion bars, you might want to try raising the ball a little more. What do the specs for the hitch say about the height? My tongue weight is around 800 pounds so mine is a full inch. On mine after I hook up the trailer, I have to raise the truck and trailer together up an inch or two to hook up the torsion bars. I had to play with mine until they were both level when hooked up with the torsion bars connected.
Click to expand...

I'm 1 1/4" below level with the bars hooked up. I did not get the documentation for the hitch from the dealer so I'm not sure what they recommend. I guess that spec would not be the same for all hitches? I would also think it would depend on the TV because the rear is going to drop a different amount depending the truck.
 
pegmikef

pegmikef

Well-known member
justafordguy said:
I'm 1 1/4" below level with the bars hooked up. I did not get the documentation for the hitch from the dealer so I'm not sure what they recommend. I guess that spec would not be the same for all hitches? I would also think it would depend on the TV because the rear is going to drop a different amount depending the truck.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I didn't get the documentation either so I just went on line and down loaded the instructions for the hitch. I just googled the hitch maker (Eaz-Lift in my case) and then dug around on their site until I found the hitch and its installation instructions (whole thing is about five pages, illustrated). It is probably different for each hitch. That is how I got into it, first I went to a different trailer and had to adjust it, then to a stouter truck and had to adjust it again. I followed the instructions to the letter and have never had a sway problem.
 
justafordguy

justafordguy

Well-known member
pegmikef said:
Yeah, I didn't get the documentation either so I just went on line and down loaded the instructions for the hitch. I just googled the hitch maker (Eaz-Lift in my case) and then dug around on their site until I found the hitch and its installation instructions (whole thing is about five pages, illustrated). It is probably different for each hitch. That is how I got into it, first I went to a different trailer and had to adjust it, then to a stouter truck and had to adjust it again. I followed the instructions to the letter and have never had a sway problem.
Click to expand...

Mine is a Eaz-Lift also. I'll try to find the instructions and see if I need to change my adjustments.
 
jmgratz

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
Heartland RV aquired the Prowler name over a year ago when Prowler went bankrupt. They have been making them since. Previously Prowler was not manufactured by Heartland RV.
 
justafordguy

justafordguy

Well-known member
I just read through the documantation for my WDH and it looks like I'm just right on ball height but when hitched and bars connected the front of my truck doesn't go down any and the rear goes down 2". The instructions says both ends should go down the same or up to 1" more drop in the rear. Looks like I may need to tighten up the spring bars a little more?
 
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