What is sway?

[Brian B-P]

As Pete has suggested, that bit of legislation is a piece of absolute garbage.

• the correct term is weight-distributing; there is no hitch magic which can equally distribute load
• obviously every fifth wheel would be non-compliant, unless another section overrides that, or they are officially "semitrailers" (even when they're not)
• it completely ignores the tow vehicle
• there is no requirement for the hardware to be used correctly - does it count if I just carry it in the trunk?

I wonder which towing equipment dealer or manufacturer paid for that one?

Trailers or semitrailers with a truck or truck tractor need only comply with the brake requirements.

Huh? So all trailers towed by trucks are exempt? I suppose there's a "truck" definition somewhere, but does it mean old Ford/Mazda Courier or Chevy LUV can tow over the limit with no such equipment, while a Suburban can't? What's a truck?

But good find, Roger! Legislative stupidity truly knows no bounds. I would read it more closely, but the link currently returns "service unavailable"; maybe it's the Sunday night maintenance outage.

[Brian B-P]

It's a case of legislators obviously not understanding that neither sway control nor weight distribution can be used with surge brakes.

Progress Mfg. Inc. disagrees. Their Equal-i-zer design puts the friction primarily at the spring bar pivots in the head, rather than at the bar-to-trailer brackets, so they say it does not interfere with proper surge brake control action. The most common design of WD systems connects the spring bars to the trailer with chains, which pull back and forward on the trailer (depending on pitch and yaw angle), so they are not for use with surge brakes, but the Equal-I-Zer's sliding mount which does not have this issue.

Originally posted by Equal-i-zer installation instructions
[b]SURGE BRAKES: Equal-i-zer allows the forward and back movement required by most surge brake mechanisms. In applications with heavy tongue weights, lubricating the L-Brackets where the spring arm slides will allow less restricted forward and back movement.

You could also use a Euro-style sway control device, which uses friction at the ball and is normally used with surge brakes (known there as an overrun braking system), but the WD function would still be an issue.

[Roger H]

As Pete has suggested, that bit of legislation is a piece of absolute garbage.

• the correct term is weight-distributing; there is no hitch magic which can equally distribute load
• obviously every fifth wheel would be non-compliant, unless another section overrides that, or they are officially "semitrailers" (even when they're not)
• it completely ignores the tow vehicle
• there is no requirement for the hardware to be used correctly - does it count if I just carry it in the trunk?

I wonder which towing equipment dealer or manufacturer paid for that one?
Huh? So all trailers towed by trucks are exempt? I suppose there's a "truck" definition somewhere, but does it mean old Ford/Mazda Courier or Chevy LUV can tow over the limit with no such equipment, while a Suburban can't? What's a truck?

But good find, Roger! Legislative stupidity truly knows no bounds. I would read it more closely, but the link currently returns "service unavailable"; maybe it's the Sunday night maintenance outage.

Welcome to Iowa law, Brian. I have been here for ten years now, and it has been the most frustrating ten years of my over thirty year career. Most of the Iowa code is written like that, and it's poorly organized and largely not indexed. It's almost impossible to find a specific item by subject. The internet-based search engine has helped, but it's largely just a jumbled mish-mash.

Roger

[Pete Dumbleton]

I think I'll buy a boat too now

Umm, don't forget to put WDH and sway control on it if it weighs enough and you aren't towing it with a 'truck'

Brian, clearly EqualIZer benefits greatly from this law, considering how many boat trailers out there are e/w surge brakes (check out the empty trailers at a boat ramp).