Need advice on reducing travel trailer sway

[Nathan]

OK, everyone is telling me that my trailer shouldn't sway. Its a 30qok. Its has the wide track suspension. I adjusted the l bracket to where my sway bars connect to the trailer. I raised it from the first two holes to the third and fourth holes. I am towing with a Chevy Tahoe. Is there anything else I can do to reduce sway, and should the rear axle to the trailer appear to dip down or sag in the middle. Thanks, where are halfway to Maine.

 

[rick_debbie_gallant]

Re: Still swaying!

It has been a while sense I towed with an equlizer hitch. But as I recall it is possible to take too much weight off the bumper of the tow vehicle (rear axle) which can cause rocking and rolling and swaying. Another thing is improperly inflated tires on both the TV and trailer. Question, do the trailer tires have the same air pressure and also the same "squish factor"?

 

[Nathan]

Tires

Tires are all at the Max at 50psi.

 

[kakampers]

Re: Tires

ALL tow behinds will sway...it's the nature of the beast. The only thing we found that would eliminate sway, when we had a TT was a Pullrite radiused travel trailer hitch....

 

[ILH]

Re: Still swaying!

OK, everyone is telling me that my trailer shouldn't sway. Its a 30qok. Its has the wide track suspension. I adjusted the l bracket to where my sway bars connect to the trailer. I raised it from the first two holes to the third and fourth holes. I am towing with a Chevy Tahoe. Is there anything else I can do to reduce sway, and should the rear axle to the trailer appear to dip down or sag in the middle. Thanks, where are halfway to Maine.

when I towed a 32 foot TT with my suburban, nothing I did would stop the extreme swaying - except moving up to a Hensley hitch. Immediately the sway stopped and you could almost forget there was a trailer behind you. Yes its expensive - but the solution was well worth the investment. I was able to purchase my Hensley from the factory as a rebuilt unit.

A couple of notes: 1. it totally eliminated my sway and aggravation. 2. it was totally worth the safety. 3. when it came time to sell the hitch, I sold it for more than I paid!

 

[kakampers]

Re: Still swaying!

when I towed a 32 foot TT with my suburban, nothing I did would stop the extreme swaying - except moving up to a Hensley hitch. Immediately the sway stopped and you could almost forget there was a trailer behind you. Yes its expensive - but the solution was well worth the investment. I was able to purchase my Hensley from the factory as a rebuilt unit.

A couple of notes: 1. it totally eliminated my sway and aggravation. 2. it was totally worth the safety. 3. when it came time to sell the hitch, I sold it for more than I paid!

Yep...this is the only other "total elimination" for trailer sway....Pullrite also was worth every penny...

 

[GOTTOYS]

Re: Still swaying!

You are pulling a relatively long trailer with a shorter tow vehicle. Your Tahoe has a shorter than optimum wheelbase for towing. Check the loading of your trailer. Don't hang any additional weight on the back such as coolers, bikes, generators, try to get more of your weight toward the front. Check the manufacturers website to properly setup your hitch. You trailer should be level and your tow vehicles should be very close to level. Many dealers do a poor job of setting up a hitch and you need to go over it to get it right. These are some of things that may help but in the end a longer tow vehicle or Hensley or Pro-Pride hitch might be the ultimate solution...Don

 

[Urban350]

Re: Still swaying!

If you do not have anything hanging of the back and you still think that you have atleast 10% of the trailer weight on the tongue. I would seriously consider a Hensley or Pro-Pride hitch.

 

[jpajax]

Re: Still swaying!

Unless I misted something nobody answered the the last sentence of the original post. The rear axle should not be arched downward unless they are over loaded,they should be arched upward.

 

[rick_debbie_gallant]

Re: Still swaying!

Unless I misted something nobody answered the the last sentence of the original post. The rear axle should not be arched downward unless they are over loaded,they should be arched upward.

which could mean that there is not enough tongue weight.I will be willing to bet that there is not as much weight on the front axle of the trailer..just a thought.

 

[Nathan]

Would love to hear from heartland customer service to see if this axle is normal. This is the rear axle on the trailer. As you can see there is some definate sag in the middle. What do you guys think?

 

[TravelTiger]

I think the tag should be at the top of the axle. I would contact Heartland if you are under warranty.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Re: Tires

Nathan, the others are correct about the axle sag. It should be arched up in the center. I don't know if the axle situation will cause the sway though. I know a little about round bar equalizers and very little about the Reese type equalizers.
With the round bars if your ball height and angle isn't correct it could cause you to remove too much tongue weight from the hitch. Also the bars need to be parallel to the trailer frame. It's important to have the hitch set up correctly. Do you have an additional anti sway device? Some folks use two friction type, one on each side of the hitch.
I pulled a 27 ft Dutchmen with a Yukon. With the round bar hitch and a single anti-sway bar I had very little sway. I was tongue heavy though with near 1000# on the tongue. Sad to say I was also over capacity on the Yukon.

 

[Jimmy]

Re: Still swaying!

Not sure where your Fresh water tank is, if it is in the rear, try pulling with it empty or very little water and if it is the front, try filling it. It does make a big difference sometime. Good luck.

 

[TeJay]

Re: Still swaying!

I don't believe anybody has suggested getting the trailer weighed correctly. I don't know the exact procedure or where it can be done but to me determining the weights on each axle and the tongue weight would be the only sensible place to start. Making changes to anything without knowing exactly what your weights are is kind of like chasing your tail. You've got to determine your trailer weight, tongue weight and TV weight. It might be necessary to get individual weights for each wheel as well so you will know if any one wheel is being overloaded. I know that at some of the rally's they will weigh each wheel. The truck stop weigh stations may or may not do that. It would be worth the asking.
TeJay

 

[rusty.emerson]

Re: Still swaying!

Make sure weight on trailer(loaded) is in guidelines with your insurance. Or your coverage will be void.
Happened with cousin was towing more weight than approved by insurance, had an accident insurance said they are not gonna cove it.

 

[rumaco]

Re: Still swaying!

Absolutely NOT TRUE!!! Insurance does not mandate weight restrictions of and are prohibited by law from doing this!

 

[pegmikef]

Re: Still swaying!

First I would get the specs for your wd hitch and make sure that the ball height is adjusted correctly in relation to the trailer cup on your trailer. I found this to be critical on mine. I first pulled mine with an F150 and then moved up to an F250 diesel for the better fuel economey and greater power/torque. When I made the change I had to make a major adjustment to my hitch. Everything I have seen says the tongue weight should be 12 to 15 percent of the trailer's gross weight loaded. I try to faithfully adhere to this. I haven't really weighed the trailer loaded. I just took the dry tongue weight provided by Heartland and then added the weight of everything forward of the wheels offsetting it by what we load to the rear of the wheels. Anyway I have little to no sway and all I use is a correctly adjusted eaz lift wd hitch.

 

[jpajax]

Re: Still swaying!

With the camper unhooked from truck and setting level and on level ground camper unloaded , is the axle still arched downward. If so there is something wrong with the axle and needs to be fixed. This will cause it to sway. If you are over loaded and have an accident and the insurance co. finds out they not will pay, but they do not set the weight restriction that your camper or tow vehicle can carry.

 

[berky]

Re: Still swaying!

Just checked the specs on the 30QOK. The dry tongue weight is only 459# against a dry TT weight of 5995#. That's very light, less than 8%. So that light tongue weight, a short wheelbase TV, and less than optimal fore-aft load balance wil give you guaranteed sway.