Help! Camper sway

[Meghan]

Please help! I'm driving down the road in a new TV (a ford 1 ton or something like that) and the camper started swaying so bad. It was scary. I tried to search but it isn't working well what can I do?


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[David Tilston]

Do you have trailer brakes? If so, when sway happens, activate only the trailer brakes. There is usually a slider, or arm, on the brake controller that activates the trailer brakes manually. That will stop the sway temporarily.

But, what you have to address is the cause of the sway. This is typically too much weight in the back of the trailer or not enough tongue weight. Another cause is the tongue is too high. The trailer should be level. Tongue down is better then tongue up.

[Meghan]

We just put jacks on and were carrying an extra propane tank. We just emptied the pickup and put things in camper over and to the front over the wheels as best we could. Is that a good start?


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[David Tilston]

Yes, the weight should be forward of the axle. Light stuff in the back.

The rule of thumb is the tongue weight should be about 10% of the trailers total weight.

[Byron Kinnaman]

One thing you didn't say. How fast were you going? If over 60mph slow down.

Make sure you have ST tires on and pressure at maximum per side wall markings.

[RogerDat]

Trailer being nose up (hitch too high) is a sure recipe for sway. We normally tow with a Ford Escape, on one trip we had a the loan of a Ford Explorer which is bigger and heavier but sat higher and we could not find a stinger with enough drop to get the trailer level. At any speed over 55 mph we got a lot of sway we had to keep the speed down to 50 to be stable going down the road. Short trip but left no doubt in our mind that level towing makes a huge difference. As does speed.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by RogerDat

Trailer being nose up (hitch too high) is a sure recipe for sway. We normally tow with a Ford Escape, on one trip we had a the loan of a Ford Explorer which is bigger and heavier but sat higher and we could not find a stinger with enough drop to get the trailer level. At any speed over 55 mph we got a lot of sway we had to keep the speed down to 50 to be stable going down the road. Short trip but left no doubt in our mind that level towing makes a huge difference. As does speed.

Roget Dat or that....
Notice that Roger slowed down to get out of sway.

Sway will happen at some speed. The trick is to keep the trailer set up to push that speed as high as possible then drive well below sway speed.

[Meghan]

This hasn't happened on my town and country at all. I can drive 70 with no problem.
Trying to find a new hitch. Does anyone know the biggest drop we can buy? We just got a 7" and it is definitely nose up compared to on my town n country



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[Meghan]

I hope you can see the town n country in my profile pic. Definitely nose down. I can't go above 55 and even at 50-55 she sways a little


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[stevebaz]

Fits 2 Inch Hitch Ball Mounts | etrailer.com

[Meghan]

Awesome!!! So hopefully we can find someone who sells something more than a 7" someplace soon!!! Thanks for the link!! Browsing while trying to drive around (not the driver browsing!!!) is not easy!


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[Jon in AZ]

Meghan, the internal search function on the app is pretty rudimentary. Better to use your browser and go to the website and use the Google search feature (blue task bar, upper right under log-in info, "Search," down to the bottom of the drop-down menu). I got the best results by searching on "sway bar," since whether or not to use one usually enters the discussion at some point.

Here is one longer discussion I found.
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...bar-63363.html
I didn't re-read the whole thing, but it seems to identify similar possible causes as here.

[MC1]

Meghan... Decades of towing all over the country and never had a trailer sway.

Nose up is not good. It needs to be level or slightly nose down.

Also... The air goes over the cab of the pickup and slides down into the bed. Then pushes against the front of the trailer. That force from the air is taking weight off the trailer tongue. With the Town and Country's shape there is less of an effect.

[Scamper Jim]

W,


"Also... The air goes over the cab of the pickup and slides down into the bed. Then pushes against the front of the trailer. The force from the air is taking weight off the trailer tongue."

That description of airflow puts together some good information. When Meghan first described her problem, I though it was a weight distribution problem, plain and simple. Shift things around and problem solved.

I didn’t consider the issue of the tongue being too high as I just returned from Canandaigua, NY about a month ago with my 13’ Scamp and a Ford Ranger using its bumper hitch, after switching vehicles. I used the 60/40% weight distribution, 10% hitch weight, inflated tires, etc. The camper hitch was higher than a giraffes ass, and didn’t look pretty, but it was secure and I drove 70 mph for two and a half days in all kinds of traffic and weather with absolutely no hint of swaying at all.

However! I had a topper on the pickup box. It looks like toppers can make a huge difference in the air flow dynamics affecting the camper as you described when it flows over the cab and back off the bed onto the front of the camper, reducing hitch weight, even if it is loaded correctly. A topper keeps that pattern from happening. I have since put a Reese hitch on the Ranger and leveled the camper hitch as it should be.

[Bob Miller]

A few months ago another owner reported a similar problem, turned out to only be that one of his trailer's tires pressure was low, the other was very, very low. Check that as well.

I have pulled my similar (to the O.P.'s PlayPac) size and shape Hunter with both a 2003 Sonoma pick-up and a 2003 S-10 Blazer, both have exactly the same front profile, with no noticeable difference in towing due to "differences" in air pressure against the front of the trailer.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Meghan

This hasn't happened on my town and country at all. I can drive 70 with no problem.
Trying to find a new hitch. Does anyone know the biggest drop we can buy? We just got a 7" and it is definitely nose up compared to on my town n country
Attachment 76288


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Meghan as others have suggested getting the trailer a bit down on the tongue will help. I had a similar experience when I switch this spring to towing with my current truck - trailer would sway at any speed over 55 mph and there was a slight side wind even though the trailer was level. A problem I didn't have with my previous tow even in strong side winds & trailer stowed the same way but sitting level when connected to the tow vehicle. Reason for it is that the previous tow vehicle weight was just a little less than the truck but its weight was more evenly distributed across the vehicle than the truck which is light in the back end. Suspect its was the same with your Town and Country. It also helped that the last vehicle was full time all wheel drive so it stuck to the road a lot better than the much lighter in the back end truck which is only 4 wheel on demand.

Found I needed to add lots more weight to the tongue of the trailer by dropping it slightly below level and storing more heavy items in the front hatches and putting a bin of camping gear in the trailer ahead of the axle to get a stable tow. I also added a anti sway bar just in case it was to happen again in the future.

Do you have brakes on the trailer? I don't know if you already know this or not but if you do have brakes it is always best to use the manual knob on the brake controller to brake just the trailer and not touch the brakes on the truck to stop sway.

[Bob Miller]

In looking at the larger pic it would appear that the defined slope of the front of the trailer would negate all but the most "technical" aspects of wind pressure lift caused by changing from a T&C to a pick-up. Without an actual airflow test it could almost be argued that any additional air pressure could be adding tongue weight.

[MC1]

Meagan....

also realize the affect of air pressure on the front of the trailer has more leverage when towing a small, short trailer like yours. The closer the trailer axle is to the ball of the TV the more weight reduction you will have on the tongue when in motion, (basic physics). The effect is also more noticeable with a single axle trailer compared with longer, multi axle trailers. This is one reason why multi axle trailers tend to tow better than small single ones.

With your large single cab truck and the short trailer you have the "perfect storm" for having light tongue weight at highway speed.

Also realize the faster you go the lighter it gets.

[Bob Miller]

Please see Post #15. That "Perfect Storm"pretty much obviates the reality of this theory.

[Meghan]

Thank you all!!! Thanks to your guidance we made adjustments as best we could and minimilized the sway. We stopped 3 times to get the lowest hitch each store had. HUGE improvement and if we get a larger drop I think the sway will all but disappear. On the way home we were able to pack everything that wasn't attached into the front of the camper. The floor space was limited and we also filled the bathroom with whatever we could. That also made a small difference. So with those changes I noticed the wind effect much more. Especially near big trucks. So there were a few factors but the hitch drop seemed to be the biggest factor. Thank you all for your quick any through responses!!! You really saved the trip!


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