2006 17.5 BF gaucho -- tongue weight issue?

[EllPea in CA]

Helpful friends on the Facebook "We Love our Bigfoot Travel Trailer" group answered a question I had about sway.

One member shared that BF had tongue weight issues in about 2005 (and several years forward) and the company had subsequently added several hundred pounds to the frame in front to eliminate sway.

Ours is a 2006 17.5 gaucho. We experienced (just a bit of a) sway at around 60 mph with really no load in the trailer. (Definitely nothing heavy behind the axle).

We have a pretty beefy Equalizer hitch and are receiving a tongue weight scale this week, and wish to suss out what might have caused this.

Does anyone here have more information about tongue weight problems/imbalances in those years?

[Cowboy]

Anti-sway hitch helps but never solves the problem completly especially if you have a full tank of water. Traveling with a 1/2 tank and aforementioned hitch worked.

[EllPea in CA]

Originally Posted by Cowboy

Anti-sway hitch helps but never solves the problem completly especially if you have a full tank of water. Traveling with a 1/2 tank and aforementioned hitch worked.

Roy, are you referring to this specific BF tongue weight issue, or other trailer sway problems in general?
Thanks…

[Cowboy]

I had a 2008 same trailer. No modifications. After 60 mph sway came even with my anti sway hitch but NOT if I had 1/2 tank of water or less.

[EllPea in CA]

We had no water in the tank at all, but did have some in the grey water tank. Sway started at 60 mph.

We do not think the Equalizer hitch was properly adjusted, so that did not help.

There was not a lot of weight in the trailer. Tongue weight scale currently says tongue is 230 lbs. Clearly more weight needed on tongue.

Kind of surprised at Bigfoot Industries on this one, but will deal. I wonder if issues like this were what encouraged the owners to close the business?

Any additional discussion from other BF owners in this category certainly welcome!

[Cowboy]

I now have a 2022 17' BF Beast
Apsolutly no sway at any speed fully loaded and WITHOUT an anti-sway hitch.
Think they addresed the issue.

[CharlesinGA]

The modifications you mention (adding 500 lbs of steel weights) ONLY apply to 2004-2007 21 ft FRONT BED models. Nothing else. On those, the problems arose when the trailer was completely empty. Most people report that filling the water tank, propane tanks, loading stuff up front in overhead storage, etc, tended to fix the problems.

Always pay attention to your tongue weight however, and the smaller the trailer the more difficult it is to get the balance right.

My 21RB with the extended frame and front cargo is difficult to get stable due to the water tank at the very rear, I have moved things around and worked with it, and now have a rather heavy tongue and a stable trailer.

What hitch are you using? You say Equalizer, are you referring to a real Equal-i-zer™ brand hitch, or something else? Genuine Equal-i-zer™ hitches are difficult to adjust due to the several adjustments that all affect other adjustments, and if you have the wrong weight class of bars, you must buy a new hitch as their bars are not interchangeable from one weight class to another. I had an Equal-i-zer™ with another trailer, gave it away to get rid of it, will never own another one. I highly suggest having the tongue weight at 13% to 15% of Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of the trailer unless you routinely run at a lower weight, then you want to maintain the same percentage of that weight, on the tongue

What is the GVWR of your trailer? Where is your water tank located? It is the single variable that can bite you as it will be full until you empty it and then possibly you don't have any means to fill it again. I travel with mine full all the time which makes trailer balance more difficult. Single axles do more tail wagging than tandems.

BF Industries went bankrupt for the same reason many businesses did, the economic recession of 2008-2009.

Charles

[CharlesinGA]

I'm assuming the Gaucho is the 17.5G model, I was looking at specs and floorplans here... https://recreationalvehicles.info/20...s-brochure.pdf

It looks like you have a GVWR of 4300 lbs, which means your tongue weight should be between 375 (empty) and 560 lbs (gross wt) using 13% as a tongue weight.

At 10% tongue wt you are looking at 290 to 430 lbs and at 15% you would expect to see as much as 650 when fully grossed out.

The other question is what tires and pressures are you running. You should have ST225/75R15 probably originally spec at load range D which is rated at 2540 lb each at 65 psi inflation. You would do well to have a quality tire like the Goodyear Endurance ST and the only one they make is the load range E. In any case you should be running about 50 psi in them per the charts and then they will support 2150 lbs each and give the trailer a smoother ride. DO NOT inflate to sidewall max pressure, use the tire charts. Excessive tire inflation will make the trailer skitterish on the road.

https://www.goodyearrvtires.com/pdfs/rv_inflation.pdf

What are the weight bars you have on your hitch rated at?

What are you towing with?

Charles

[EllPea in CA]

We are towing with a Tundra with the tow package. It is up to the challenge and more.

We are towing with the actual Equal-iz-er hitch. We have had the hitch adjusted to the truck by our trusted local trailer service people. They know what they are doing. The hitch is rated for the trailer.

I can't comment in detail on the questions above (my son has been very ill in the hospital) but will try to quickly answer questions above.

This is the 17.5 gaucho. Loaded it should weight about 4300 pounds. Unloaded I think it is about 3200 lbs (I don't have time to look this up). The official tongue weight with NOTHING in the tanks and several heavy things under the front dinette (case of beer, water, and two concrete blocks) as a test was 260 pounds.

So the assertion that the tongue weight issue does not apply to this trailer is incorrect.

Of course we will take whatever steps are necessary to have things in balance before we travel. We may have to put that on hold for a while until my son is more stable. If anyone is curious about him, details are here: https://www.giveinkind.com/inkinds/D...ng-the-highets

Thank you all so much for your continued support.

[CharlesinGA]

Its very disheartening to hear of your son's condition, I hope his treatments are successful.

I've looked thru all of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration recalls on the Bigfoot 17 models. Anything you read of the 17 ft models needing more tongue weight (and yours may very well need more) is tribal knowledge and not a recall with a published fix.

Does this trailer still have lead acid batteries mounted in the tongue area of the trailer? If it has been converted to Lithium batteries (much lighter weight) and probably moved inside, this alone can be the problem on a trailer of this size.

Time permitting. I would load the trailer as for travel and take it to a CAT scale and weigh the truck and trailer. WITH THE WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION BARS DISCONNECTED!

You will get three weights. (actually four) the STEER axle, the DRIVE axle, and TRAILER axle, and a gross combined weight. You then need to weigh the truck separately, and get the two axle weights and the gross vehicle weight.

Take the rig weight, and subtract the truck weight from it. The remaining weight is the TOTAL of the trailer, from which you subtract the trailer axle weight number. The result is the tongue weight. You can use a Sherline scale or similar to weigh the tongue and compare with the tongue weight you arrived at doing the math. They won't be exactly the same but will be very close.

After that you will have some idea of what you need to do to get additional tongue weight, if that is the issue. Once you get the tongue weight to 13% of the total trailer weight or in that range, then you can look at other issues that might help correct the problem.

Equalizer brand hitches have decals on the two weight bars. Those decals should give you the weight rating of the bars.



The Equalizer hitches come in different weight categories, (Tongue wt/trailer gross weight) 400/4000, 600/6000, 1000/10,000

Your trailer should have the 400/4000 hitch and bars. If you have anything heavier, you will have to replace the entire hitch as the bars and hitch heads cannot be physically intermixed. Hopefully the decals are in good enough condition to be able to read one or the other of them. If you are totally unable to determine the weight class of this hitch, contact Equalizer and ask them for a description of physical characteristics that you can use to determine the hitch capacity. If it is anything other than a 400/4000 hitch, cease using it and replace it with a proper hitch.

Too high of a hitch rating means the bars are too stiff and when the hitch is adjusted, cannot exert enough force on the trailer L brackets. This is the friction point that dampens sway. (these hitches do not stop sway, they merely dampen what does occur).

Equalizer has very good manuals online and lots of helpful information.

The bars must be parallel to the tongue of the trailer and seat squarely in the L brackets. The bars and the brackets must be clean and free of any lubricants.

The L brackets on the trailer must be between 27 and 32 inches from the center of the ball coupler socket of the trailer. The more distance the better. Shorter distances make the weight bars less effective both at weight distribution and sway damping. Note: the install manual says 25 to 32 inches, but in other places in the website, it says 27-32 inches. The longer the distance the more effective the bars are at providing friction and sway control.

The two pivot bolts where the square sockets the bars plug into on the hitch head, must be torqued with a torque wrench to at least 60 lb/ft PRIOR TO EVERY TRIP (Per Equalizer) These bolts will work loose. Torque on the NUT on the bottom, not on the head of the bolt

Quite frankly, your trailer probably does not exert enough weight on your truck to be a problem. It may not even need a weight distribution hitch. One or two simple friction sway bars may be more helpful than this hitch.

Charles

[CharlesinGA]

One other thing to try as an experiment, is to remove your spare tire and throw it in the back of the truck, and then see how the trailer tows. I don't know how much room you have under the trailer, but there are several different underside tire mounts made by BAL and Lippert that can be fitted, which would move the weight forward of the axle.

Other things to look at are the spring bushings and shackles. If it has the original bushings, they are plastic and probably worn out if the trailer has seen any amount of use. In addition, the shackles would be the thin ones, and they will wear very quickly, all of this will allow the trailer to "shashay" side to side due to the slop in the components. While my shackles and bushings did not show any unusual wear, the installation of "wet" bolts, with grease fittings, bronze bushings, and ½ in thick shackles made my trailer noticeably "tighter" towing. I did not think I had a problem until I started disassembling the suspension only to realize how much slop was in the shackles.

https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Sus...71-358-00.html



Charles

[thrifty bill]

Stop at a truckstop and run it across their scales. Will take a few weight measurements, they can explain.

[PhilipRay]

Originally Posted by EllPea in CA

We have a pretty beefy Equalizer hitch and are receiving a tongue weight scale this week, and wish to suss out what might have caused this.

Does anyone here have more information about tongue weight problems/imbalances in those years?

What tongue weight scale did you go with? Any recommendations?

[EllPea in CA]

Originally Posted by PhilipRay

What tongue weight scale did you go with? Any recommendations?

Friend Bob of the Tundra ordered the scale, I will ask him to reply.

[EllPea in CA]

Originally Posted by EllPea in CA

Friend Bob of the Tundra ordered the scale, I will ask him to reply.

https://a.co/d/9lmaTKN

[PhilipRay]

Originally Posted by EllPea in CA

https://a.co/d/9lmaTKN

Great! Thanks.