Maintenance & Restoration

computerspook · 07-28-2024, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZachO

Unsteady, but also sway.

Still, I'm realizing there are a lot of little things that may all be adding up to less stability. I'll start looking into them all. Thanks!

That probably is a big part of what you're going to have to do to fix this. A lot of time handling problems on any vehicle are several things all adding up.

One thing I think about is are you still loading the trailer the same way. I'll try to find one. But there's several YouTube videos that use models to discuss how weight distribution on trailers I have a lot to do with sway.

You mentioned the rear of the truck going down when you hook the trailer on. That leads to an interesting question related to weight distribution. What is the spec on trailer weight for your trailer AND what is the spec for your trailer on tongue weight. Then your truck will also have a spec for both towing weight and tongue weight. And the tongue weight is usually specified as true values. One of which is the absolute value ie: 200 lb or 400 lb. The other one is the ratio of weight to tongue weight. You need to be within spec both for your trailer and off for the truck on all of this. Being off on any one will cause "issues".

Years ago I had to deal with this some with a different situation with a different type of trailer. That I needed to get the actual values. I paid a grain elevator, during non busy time, (or to be honest most likely the employee. ;-). ) to assist me in getting the values. And it turned out that the trailer I was having trouble with had an issue that caused the tongue weight to be about three times what it should be and what I thought it was. I got that fixed and yeah it worked so much better. ;-).

PS in this case it was a twin axle trailer, which is not what you're going to be dealing with here, and one set of springs it turned out actually were broken in a way that wasn't obvious.

ZachO · 07-29-2024, 08:09 AM

I suppose you're right. We'll see what I find when I finally get around to crawling underneath the trailer. Maybe there's an obvious problem under there. Otherwise, unless it's just an issue with my truck tires and a few other little things, I guess I must have been really lucky with the Tacoma that everything happened to work so well, with almost no thought aside from the hitch height. Like I said in my first post, with the Tacoma, it always towed rock solid. Empty or full propane tanks, empty or full water tank, empty or full waste tanks, regardless of how I packed the trailer. Always solid.

computerspook · 07-29-2024, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZachO

I suppose you're right. We'll see what I find when I finally get around to crawling underneath the trailer. Maybe there's an obvious problem under there. Otherwise, unless it's just an issue with my truck tires and a few other little things, I guess I must have been really lucky with the Tacoma that everything happened to work so well, with almost no thought aside from the hitch height. Like I said in my first post, with the Tacoma, it always towed rock solid. Empty or full propane tanks, empty or full water tank, empty or full waste tanks, regardless of how I packed the trailer. Always solid.

Well make sure you got it propped up in a manner that is secure enough that it can't fall on you, and then get somebody to going to the trailer and jump up and down a little for you. You'd be surprised what you can find if the parts are moving. Probably ought to do something like that to your truck too

CharlesinGA · 07-29-2024, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZachO

Thanks again! Braking doesn't seem to be a problem. But it's past time to check out the condition of the wheel bearings, suspension, brakes, everything under the trailer.

Tundra leaf springs are old but not too worn. Still have some arch to them. I have Sumo Springs also. New shocks. The tires are an intriguing idea though...The Tacoma had 15" wheels, and no matter the tire brand I wanted, I had no trouble finding LT, C range tires. But the Tundra has 16" wheels, and it was surprisingly hard to find anything but P-rated or E range LT tires. E is way overkill. I even had to drop to a slightly smaller size to avoid E range. I ended up, reluctantly, with P rated XL tires.

There are tire brands that make 265 70 16 in C range, but all the tires I wanted only had them in P or LT E. I'm particular...and I'm starting to regret it for a few reasons with these tires. I think they'll be ok, but I need to be a lot more careful now on dirt roads.

I'll try maxing truck tire pressure next time. And of course check everything associated with the trailer suspension and wheels really closely.

The P rated tires may very well be your problem. P tires are quite soft, for a good ride. There is no reason to avoid the higher rated LT tires, as, like trailer tires, you just don't inflate them as much for lighter weighs. There should be published charts and since the tires are made to Tire and Rim Assn standards, the charts are valid for all brands of tires, for that size.

I think you overthought this one.

Rather than buying a dozen different ball mounts, an adjustable one such as the BulletProof hitches are excellent for this. My travel buddy has one for his 2017 RAM 2500 and even has the weight distribution hitch adapter with his Blue Ox hitch head mounted on it.

Charles

ZachO · 07-30-2024, 07:57 AM

I actually ran the slightly larger LT E for a couple hundred miles, and didn't like the handling. I went through all this. Once you start running 10 ply tires at low enough pressure to soften the ride, you run into all the other problems that come with running low tire pressure. LT C is what I want, and suits my needs perfectly. Should have gone with whatever tire was available in my size in C, but was stubborn and wanted the tire brand/model I wanted. They had worked so well for me over the last 50,000 miles I had my mind set on them, not realizing they weren't available in my new size or the load range I wanted.

I didn't buy anything. When I first started towing I bought a pack of two hitches from etrailer, which of course could be flipped either way so that gave me 4 height options to experiment with when I got my trailer. I just took out the lower drop one and tested it. Didn't work. But yeah the adjustable height hitches make a lot of sense.

computerspook · 07-30-2024, 09:14 AM

I kind of get a level out. And I go check in some cases the trailers back to see what should be level. Some of them actually are designed with a specific tilt to them. But that's more for other types of trailers than campers. But then I take the trailer if I'm going to be towing in a lot or it's mine and get the height exactly right. I can take a unattached ball and put them in the hitch and then measure just exactly how high my receiver should be. Then I get a different receiver for each trailer really. And then when I'm towing a trailer that I'm not normally towing I use the receiver that like matches it best.

Those adjustable hitches always impress me as being multiple single points of failure. But that's kind of just an opinion

1977dually · 09-10-2024, 09:44 AM

"traction control" on new vehicles can also affect the stability control which may have an effect on sway.

Originally traction control was really just brake modulation but now it is so much more and affects the handling dynamics.

ZachO · 09-30-2024, 07:44 AM

Update. I changed two factors. Probably they both contributed. I aired my rear tires to max inflation, and used the Reese friction sway control bar. Towed over 400 miles, and no scary sway. I drove a lot of really bumpy interstate roads, had lots of high wind, and never felt like the trailer was about to get away from me.

Before it would feel sort of floaty back there even when I hit average size bumps. That didn't happen this time.

I recently bought this, and I think I'm officially done living out of the Bigfoot in the summer, which I've been doing for the last 8 years. Decent chance I'll be selling it in the near future. We'll see...

I'm hoping to test fit it in my truck in the next couple weeks. Just needs to be ready by hunting season. And because it came in its own trailer, I can always pull it like a trailer when I don't want to deal with the hassle of putting it in my truck.