Sway Control help needed

[Gypsyjoey]

Hey everyone. So I just had a quick question about sway control. I have a 1983 T-1550 and I am towing with a honda ridgeline. I only had it out driving once but I noticed quite a bit of swaying if I went over 80kms/hr. Do you think this sway control kit posted below would do the trick to stop some of the swaying?

Husky Adjustable Sway Control Kit

[awellis3]

I have no experience with sway controls since I never needed one towing a Sunline.
When you say "sway" are you referring to the trailer swerving side to side while the truck is going straight and you are alone on the road? Or is the sway you are writing about ocurring in, say, windy conditions or being passed by tractor-trailers?
If it is the first situation, I'd be sure my tongue weight was correct before I spent any money. Sunlines sit close to the ground and are not prone to sway if properly set up and loaded.
Make sure your hitch height and trailer level are correct, too. Ensure that your WD hitch is set up properly. IIRC, 80kms/hr is about 50mph, so speed should not be a factor, all other things being in proper adjustment.

Teach

[GWildey]

I have a 1990 T-1550 and installed a similar sway control made by Reese. I feel more comfortable towing my trailer with it, it make a big difference. Just remember to remove it when backing up.

[awellis3]

Originally Posted by GWildey

I feel more comfortable towing my trailer with it, it make a big difference.

Out of curiosity, it made a big difference because you, too, had sway problems, or did it make a difference because you felt more at ease?

Teach

[bunjin]

Originally Posted by awellis3

Out of curiosity, it made a big difference because you, too, had sway problems, or did it make a difference because you felt more at ease?

Teach

I'm also curious and have the same question.

I have a 1983 T-1550 which I haven't towed a lot, but have tow about 600 miles, both country roads and highways.

I tow with a 2005 Tundra Double Cab and at this time no sway control nor WD set-up. I even need to get the electric brakes working, thus all work is/was on the truck.

My experience was I had no sway until I got up to about 65 mph.

I was very surprised that tractor and trailers passing or approaching me at speeds of 65 mph plus didn't cause buffering/sway. This included tandems. The one truck type that did have a very little effect was the van type trucks. Nothing that would be a white knuckle experience, just a curiosity.

I'm curious also what effect wheel base of tow vehicle has on this small single axle TT.

I didn't weight anything I loaded in the truck bed or the trailer, I however did try to keep the trailer with even loading weights mentally speaking.

[JohnB]

Hi Gypsy,

I had you a nice in-depth post and a PC glitch blew it away.... We need to help you understand the issue in your setup as sway is no fun at all and serious.

Your post sounds like camper weight and balance not being right as step 1. 45 mph is sort of a critical speed where an unstable trailer will start acting up when you go higher than that.

A first step, a must, no exceptions, is to get the camper properly balanced. You want 12 to 15% of the gross loaded weight of the camper on the tongue. 10% is the bottom minimum which is why on a small camper a wrong camping gear move can shift from 10 to 8% by accident. So being 12% and higher helps normal weight changes. On a big heavy camper, moving 50 to 100# of stuff can be no big deal. On a little camper that is low in TW to start with, can be a big deal pending where it was moved from and to. Moving 50 # from the front to the rear wall can be an issue in low TW's on a small camper.

Do you have a truck scale, recycling center or other scale systems you can use? For your little camper, need the entire camper on the scale, both wheels and tongue on the jack stand un hooked from the truck. This is camper Gross weight. Then weigh just the truck front and rear axle with no camper, (Each axle has a weight on the truck) then hook camper to truck and weight the combo getting front and rear truck axle weight and the camper on the 3rd scale. Tell us those 3 weights and we can tell a lot about your setup. And if you have a bath scale, we can help at home as you load the camper once you have the Gross weight move things around to get the TW% up higher.

According to the brochure, an 83 1550 has a dry tongue weight of 10%. Dry meaning the day it left Sunline with nothing in it. You will need to load it more towards the front to get the TW up higher. And then can add more gear in the rest of the camper.

Tire pressure, the camper tires need to be at max cold side wall pressure. Are they? What is the truck front and rear?

As Teach stated, is the camper level when towed, nose down or up? Let us know that too.

I am a firm believer in sway controls, however only to add them once the rig is stable towing so the sway control is to be there when bad day towing comes along. Not for all the time. They should not be used to mask over a setup problem as they are not meant to fix a setup issue and really can't.

The friction sway control you linked to is good for your camper, however only after you get it to tow stable first.

We can work with you to get it stable and understand the problem area. Then go have fun with the camper.

Hope this helps

John

[mainah]

Could not agree with this more^ I had a popup that I actually had to add weight, it flopped around like a fish until I weighted down the hitch more then it was fine.

[GWildey]

I originally towed this trailer with a Volvo station wagon (XC70). Only at highway speeds, 60+mph I could feel the trailer movement. I now tow with a Volvo Sport Utility (XC90) and have added an electric brake controller and a friction sway control. I can travel between 65-70 mph with no problem.

[mainah]

Maybe I'm wrong but a trailer as light as a 1550 should not need a sway bar I don't guess it would hurt but it seems to me the sway bar is making up for other problems it really should tow fine.

[bunjin]

Originally Posted by mainah

Maybe I'm wrong but a trailer as light as a 1550 should not need a sway bar I don't guess it would hurt but it seems to me the sway bar is making up for other problems it really should tow fine.

That is my thinking also and in my case seems to be true, at least within reasonable speeds and maneuvering.

On the NY thruway I did start getting some hints that 65 mph was sweet, but much more than that and I might start getting a little tail wag. The trucks power is big time over kill to trailer drag ratio, which I keep close tabs on also.

The cross winds on that trip were there.

I was very pleased with the tow and trip.

That said, I don't have a lot of experience with TT's and I'm not in a real big hurry either when towing as my truck sucks on gas mileage.

[Gypsyjoey]

Wow thanks a lot for all the info everyone. As soon as some of this deep snow is gone I will take it out for a spin and try to address the sway problems. Have a great week

[jim44646]

More tongue weight will help. Do you have a loaded tongue weight?

[Gypsyjoey]

Hmm Im not sure, this is all really new to me haha

[jim44646]

­Eve­r­yone should know his or her tongue weight. Tongue weight (TW) is just one of the many towing terms you'll need to familiarize yourself with if you ever intend to tow a trailer behind your vehicle. It's the downward force that the tongue of the­ trailer applies to the hitch of the tow vehicle. Most experts agree that an acceptable tongue weight for any trailer is somewhere between 9 and 15 percent of the gross trailer weight (GTW). There's good reasoning behind these numbers, too. It all comes down to trailer towing safety.
If the tongue of the trailer does not exert enough downward force on the tow vehicle's hitch ball -- meaning that the trailer's tongue weight is too light -- a dangerous condition called trailer sway could result. If the tongue weight is too heavy, the steering of the tow vehicle will be affected. This makes it sound like tongue weight is a big deal, and it is. But fortunately, tongue weight is also easy to adjust. Just remember that the trailer acts like a lever, and the axle of the trailer is the fulcrum -- or pivot point -- for the lever. If the tongue is too light, you need to move some of the cargo forward of trailer's axle. If the tongue is too heavy, you need to adjust the load so that more of the weight is behind the trailer's axle. It's just like trying to balance the weight of two kids on a seesaw at the playground. That's easy enough to understand, but other than simply lifting the tongue of the trailer and guessing its weight, how could you ever know how much the trailer's tongue truly weighs? And an even better question may be this: How would you determine if the tongue weight falls within the 9- to 15-percent range of the gross trailer weight? Read the next page to find out how you can do just that.

Determining Trailer Tongue Weight | etrailer.com