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Mattafact

Mattafact

Yellow Skull
Joined
May 20, 2020
Member Number
417
Messages
726
Loc
The Real Valley
Long read but I need to explain the background:

I have an 06 F250 and a 30 foot weekend warrior bumper pull. Both are brand new purchases so I don't have much experience with this combo.

I bought the trailer from a good buddy for a steal and when I was bringing it home empty I couldn't go over 45mph without it being uncontrollable. The weight distribution chains were loose so I chalked it up to that. I was adjusting the brakes and I noticed the equalizers were shot. Like a quarter inch or more of movement. The holes were hogged out and the bushings were half gone. I was running out of time before my Thanksgiving trip to Glamis and all the local trailer shop had was the dexter e-z flex system. Super nicely built, by the way. Installed that and was feeling pretty confident.

On the truck side about 2 weeks ago I replaced all the tie rods, drag link, and track bar with OEM Ford but it was still a bit looser than I like.

I loaded my YJ into the trailer as far forward as I could get it, only put a couple coolers and chairs behind it, and properly adjusted the weight distribution hitch and hoped for the best. It was exactly the same as before. I can't drive this thing faster than 45 without the sway starting. Ruined our trip. Had to turn around and settle for a day trip the next day.

My buddy towed this trailer everywhere with his 2015 F250 gasser and never had an issue so I'm guessing it's something to do with my truck. I'd really like to stay out of debt so where do I start on my truck? It has 167k miles, brand new duratracs on the OEM 20s. Has a nice airbag system with in-cab control. No rear sway bar though. Shocks are the original Ranchos from the FX4 package.

Steering box? New shocks? Rear sway bar? Put lead bars on the tongue to increase tongue weight?
 
white-rhino said:
How flat is the trailer? Is your hitch too high/ too low? What are the weights? How much tongue weight? My guess is you are tongue high which makes the trailer want to ride more on the rear axle. (even with equalizers)

Pics of everything attached?
Click to expand...
I don't have a pic of it all attached but it seemed pretty level to me. I'll get it hooked back up and get a pic. The sticker is wore off so I have no clue on tongue weight or gvwr.
 
Serious note. Trailer away usually comes from too much weigh behind the rear axle on the trailer. Should have taken the coolers out and tossed them in the back of your truck.

More weight in truck and on the hitch the less the sway will be. Maybe should have loosened up on weight distribution hitch.
 
Mattafact said:
I don't have a pic of it all attached but it seemed pretty level to me. I'll get it hooked back up and get a pic. The sticker is wore off so I have no clue on tongue weight or gvwr.
Click to expand...
There is a video of you going down the road in general chitchat lol:flipoff2:
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
Serious note. Trailer away usually comes from too much weigh behind the rear axle on the trailer. Should have taken the coolers out and tossed them in the back of your truck.

More weight in truck and on the hitch the less the sway will be. Maybe should have loosened up on weight distribution hitch.
Click to expand...

Ok. I always thought you wanted those bars as tight as you could possibly get them. This is good stuff. My last toy hauler was a 5th wheel so I didn't have any of these issues. :flipoff2:
 
Mattafact said:
Ok. I always thought you wanted those bars as tight as you could possibly get them. This is good stuff. My last toy hauler was a 5th wheel so I didn't have any of these issues. :flipoff2:
Click to expand...
The way I think of those things are they take weight off the center of the vehicle. They move weight to the front axle but I also think they try and push weight to the rear trailer axle as well.

What did everything look like going down the road?
 
I was under the impression weight distribution hitches help with bounce, not sway so much.

Regardless, that sounds like not enough tongue weight, and/or tongue too high. Have you tried measuring how much the back of the truck drops when you hitch the trailer up? ...as in, just measure before and after to see if there is a change, indicating some decent weight on the tongue, just as a quick sniff test
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
The way I think of those things are they take weight off the center of the vehicle. They move weight to the front axle but I also think they try and push weight to the rear trailer axle as well.

What did everything look like going down the road?
Click to expand...
It looked relatively level to me. My 1st toy hauler way back in the day put my truck on the bump stops without bags so this already looked better.

I'll get it hitched back up and get some pics and measurements for everyone.

I appreciate all the replies.
 
+1 on tech specs
What's different between the 2 trucks?
What's different between the 2 loads?
What's the tire psi's?
Have ya looked at the shackle/spreader /springs on the trailer?
Sway sux...
 
Mattafact said:
I don't have a pic of it all attached but it seemed pretty level to me. I'll get it hooked back up and get a pic. The sticker is wore off so I have no clue on tongue weight or gvwr.
Click to expand...
For a properly weighted trailer and adequate truck combo (and F250 should be fine) I have found that weight distribution hitches reduce tongue weight too much.

Stickers mean nothing. You need to take it to a scale and have it weighed.

Invest in one of these.

Hook up your trailer to your truck. Put the scale on a floor jack. Unlatch your coupler. Lift the trailer till it just lifts off the ball of the truck. This is your tongue weight. Your tongue weight should be 10-15% of your trailer gross weight.
 
Derp said:
I was under the impression weight distribution hitches help with bounce, not sway so much.
Click to expand...
WD hitch, when properly set up, help with sway, even without the sway control arm.

They usually have a way to tilt up/down. You want it to tilt down a little to have bars angled towards ground, you don’t want it to be parallel to trailer’s a-frame. With the WD hitch in tension, bars want to swing outward (the ones with chain). Essentially just like how your front axle’s caster works, except just that the WD hitch’s “caster” holding the trailer in straight line. As if you’re turning right, the right side bar loosen, left side bar tighten, pulling the a-frame as if it try to straighten out the trailer.
 
for me trailer sway has only ever been from badly weighted load or alignment or tires.

this is a toyhauler trailer? how does it tow without the jeep in it? what did your buddy have in the trialer when he towed it all over?


my money is on not enough weight in the truck. i have a smaller 26' toyhauler i tow with an f350 cclb gasser, and i load my sxs on the bed of the truck rather than in the toyhauler, because it tows better. i know it works out well for some guys to get water bladders for their truck beds so the have extra water on hand for the camper and weight where its needed.

my next guess would be trailer alignment possibly bent axle problem. i've seen this on couple of my buddies toyhaulers when they didn't want to track correctly.


and then there is tires.... you said your are brand new? make sure they are at 80psi. lots of people have towing issues when tires are brand new and they take a few thousand miles to break in. one buddy with an f450 actually had to change tires before he could get the sway to go away on his massive 5th toyhauler. (we were at the point of getting ready to move the axles, until we figured out it was the tires)
 
TrailTamer said:
That’s bare minimum for a trailer like OP’s.

The more tongue weight the better. And no, WD hitch don’t reduce tongue weight.
Click to expand...
They don't reduce tongue weight, they shift some of the load to the front axle to help level the tow vehicle and make it steer better. I'd definitely check the trailer tires as well, my travel trailer pulls like shit if the tires are even 5lbs under the rated sidewall pressure. Also make sure it's pulling level, if it's nose up or down it'll load the trailer axles differently which causes issues.
 
Clb said:
+1 on tech specs
What's different between the 2 trucks?
What's different between the 2 loads?
What's the tire psi's?
Have ya looked at the shackle/spreader /springs on the trailer?
Sway sux...
Click to expand...

His is a gasser with a leveling kit. Mine is diesel and stock suspension. We both have airbags.

Mine swayed empty as well as loaded.

80psi in the trailer tires, 90 psi on my truck tires.

I replaced all the suspension hardware on the trailer and it was the same as before.
 
white-rhino said:
For a properly weighted trailer and adequate truck combo (and F250 should be fine) I have found that weight distribution hitches reduce tongue weight too much.

Stickers mean nothing. You need to take it to a scale and have it weighed.

Invest in one of these.

Hook up your trailer to your truck. Put the scale on a floor jack. Unlatch your coupler. Lift the trailer till it just lifts off the ball of the truck. This is your tongue weight. Your tongue weight should be 10-15% of your trailer gross weight.
Click to expand...

That looks like a handy toy to have.
 
tracyb said:
for me trailer sway has only ever been from badly weighted load or alignment or tires.

this is a toyhauler trailer? how does it tow without the jeep in it? what did your buddy have in the trialer when he towed it all over?


my money is on not enough weight in the truck. i have a smaller 26' toyhauler i tow with an f350 cclb gasser, and i load my sxs on the bed of the truck rather than in the toyhauler, because it tows better. i know it works out well for some guys to get water bladders for their truck beds so the have extra water on hand for the camper and weight where its needed.

my next guess would be trailer alignment possibly bent axle problem. i've seen this on couple of my buddies toyhaulers when they didn't want to track correctly.


and then there is tires.... you said your are brand new? make sure they are at 80psi. lots of people have towing issues when tires are brand new and they take a few thousand miles to break in. one buddy with an f450 actually had to change tires before he could get the sway to go away on his massive 5th toyhauler. (we were at the point of getting ready to move the axles, until we figured out it was the tires)
Click to expand...
This is a toy hauler. Tows the same empty or with the jeep. He ran it with his artic cat pulled all the way and backwards to keep the tongue weight up.

These tires are 2 years old and look perfect. I always change them every 3 years so I was hoping to get a season out of them. I run 80 psi in them.
 
Mattafact said:
This is a toy hauler. Tows the same empty or with the jeep. He ran it with his artic cat pulled all the way and backwards to keep the tongue weight up.

These tires are 2 years old and look perfect. I always change them every 3 years so I was hoping to get a season out of them. I run 80 psi in them.
Click to expand...
I assume yours is a 4wd? I would take a good look at the front axle track bar. Them things get sloppy and do stupid shit when loaded.

Lol first post said you replaced it allready :homer:

Did you get the toe alignment done after replacing all the front end parts?
 
Last edited:
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
I assume yours is a 4wd? I would take a good look at the front axle track bar. Them things get sloppy and do stupid shit when loaded.

Lol first post said you replaced it allready :homer:

Did you get the toe alignment done after replacing all the front end parts?
Click to expand...
Yup. Fresh alignment. Fresh tires. Everything is good but there is still a bunch of play in the steering. Was thinking a new steering box would help. Thoughts?
 
Mattafact said:
Yup. Fresh alignment. Fresh tires. Everything is good but there is still a bunch of play in the steering. Was thinking a new steering box would help. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
maybe, but won't fix the trailer sway, guaranteed.

ask a friend with similar truck to tow it to rule out truck problem?
 
Mattafact said:
His is a gasser with a leveling kit. Mine is diesel and stock suspension. We both have airbags.

Mine swayed empty as well as loaded.

80psi in the trailer tires, 90 psi on my truck tires.

I replaced all the suspension hardware on the trailer and it was the same as before.
Click to expand...
did you put any pressure in airbags? I won't if I am running a WD hitch. Air bags carrying load and trying to use WD hitch properly is just asking for PITA headache problems to yourself.
 
Does it have water tanks in front of the front axle? If so fill them up, use a level on the tongue to make sure that the trailer is level when hitched to the truck and see if that tows any better.
You want to see the back of the truck drop a couple of inches when you hook the trailer up, less than that and you probably don't have enough tongue weight.

Aaron Z
 
Need pics of the complete setup. Need trailer axle weights & tongue weight.
 
I'm betting the trailer axles are too far forward as in a bad design. Whats the year, brand and model of the trailer? His was a new "STRYKER". Axles were too far forward and created a large polar moment of inertia. With the push to have "half-ton towable" the trailer makers are playing with fire and are going to get people killed.

Measure from the ball to the center line of the axles, then from the center line of the axles to the back along with axle weights on the truck and trailer. You will find your gremlin.
 
TrailTamer said:
maybe, but won't fix the trailer sway, guaranteed.

ask a friend with similar truck to tow it to rule out truck problem?
Click to expand...
That's the plan for this weekend. Hoping it's the truck and not the trailer because how do you fix a trailer?

TrailTamer said:
did you put any pressure in airbags? I won't if I am running a WD hitch. Air bags carrying load and trying to use WD hitch properly is just asking for PITA headache problems to yourself.
Click to expand...
I tried it from 5psi to 60psi and it didn't make much of a difference.
aczlan said:
Does it have water tanks in front of the front axle? If so fill them up, use a level on the tongue to make sure that the trailer is level when hitched to the truck and see if that tows any better.
You want to see the back of the truck drop a couple of inches when you hook the trailer up, less than that and you probably don't have enough tongue weight.

Aaron Z
Click to expand...
My buddy who I bought it from said they always filled the water tank but what do you do after a long weekend where everyone showers and uses the water?

FC4X4 said:
Need pics of the complete setup. Need trailer axle weights & tongue weight.
Click to expand...
I'll get those ASAP.

Tinstar said:
I'm betting the trailer axles are too far forward as in a bad design. Whats the year, brand and model of the trailer? His was a new "STRYKER". Axles were too far forward and created a large polar moment of inertia. With the push to have "half-ton towable" the trailer makers are playing with fire and are going to get people killed.

Measure from the ball to the center line of the axles, then from the center line of the axles to the back along with axle weights on the truck and trailer. You will find your gremlin.
Click to expand...
It's an 05 Weekend Warrior. This one is definitely not half ton towable. She's a big girl. When we made it to Glamis this weekend I met a dude there with a 36 foot bumper pull warrior. Custom ordered back in the day. He was towing it with an excursion. Said it was all over the place.
 
Mattafact said:
This is a toy hauler. Tows the same empty or with the jeep. He ran it with his artic cat pulled all the way and backwards to keep the tongue weight up.

These tires are 2 years old and look perfect. I always change them every 3 years so I was hoping to get a season out of them. I run 80 psi in them.
Click to expand...


something is definitely fucky. if it tows the same with or without the jeep in it, and you cant over 45mph. theres allot of things wrong or something big.

knowing the trailer weight/ tongue weight and its alignment (just use a tape measure) you can rule out the trailer. i'd do that and go from there.
 
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