One of the worst things that can happen when you’re trailering is the potential for your trailer to sway precariously back and forth, then eventually fall on one side, bringing your vehicle down with it. Trailer sway is a serious and common issue for many trailer owners, and it can make driving and transporting your trailer a sticky, anxiety-inducing affair where you can potentially lose control of your vehicles. When you’re on the road for long periods, especially, you should be able to drive with your trailer at relative ease. Trailer sway can be caused by gusts of wind, or the passing of big rigs, but can also be caused by a multitude of things that you can fix yourself.
1. Not enough tongue weight–10 to 12 percent of the trailer’s weight must be on the tongue (where it hitches to your vehicle). This is the most common cause for trailer sway. You can weigh your trailer by taking it to a commercial scale (at truck stops). For example, if the gross weight of your trailer is 2000 pounds, the tongue weight on the hitch should be about 200 pounds. Remove some items or redistribute the weight as necessary. Place heavier cargo at the front of the trailer, center the cargo left-to-right, and use reinforcements to tie down the cargo and prevent them from moving around.
Related: How to Hitch a Trailer
2. Tires–make sure both your vehicle and your trailer have correct air pressure. Also, check to see that they are exactly the same size when inflated.
Related: How to Read The Date Code on Tires to Determine Their Age
3. Load capacity–do not overload your trailer. Keep in mind that your load capacity includes the weight of the trailer, tongue, vehicle, and your passengers.
4. Install a friction sway control device–they reduce the effects of sudden gusts of wind and sharp turning by applying resistance to the trailer and vehicle with respect to each other. When driving, stop and turn the adjustment handle a quarter of a turn in the clockwise direction, which adds more friction. Continue to do this until your trailer feels stable. They are available in three different styles and should be used in trailers that have a low tongue weight percentage. For trailers that are over 5000 pounds, sway control devices should be attached to each side of the trailer hitch.
5. Avoid windy conditions–if you can. But if you can’t, here are some tips for safe driving in these conditions.
- Gradually reduce speed when experiencing trailer sway–do not slam on the brakes.
- Steady the steering wheel–do not make sudden turns, and do not try to steer out of a sway situation.
- Do not increase speed, since higher speeds make trailer sway more severe.
- Apply only the trailer brakes to help reduce sway.
- Stop to evaluate the cause of the sway. It’s not a good idea to take a trailer on the road if you know that it’s suffering from a swaying problem.
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When you’re towing thousands of pounds of weight, safety on the road should be a priority. Depending on the state and composition of your trailer, combined with the right conditions, things can get sour fast. If you have issues with trailer sway, keep these tips in mind, and be safe out there.
Thank you for mentioning how redistributing the weight of your trailer can help you make sure that an adequate amount of weight is being applied to the tongue. My cousin is thinking about going on a camping trip and needs to find a way to take his hunting gear with him, but he doesn’t have a way to attach his trailer to his truck safely. Maybe he should consider finding a service that offers the supplies he needs to hitch his trailer.
I’ve been a mechanic for 30 years and pulled hundreds of trailers with sway bars and with out tounge weight always important but I bought 2020 F150 and a 18.8 Travel trailer changed my bars to 400 lbs bars for less weight my trailer is a single axle and at any speed above 55 mph my truck wiggled played with tounge weight didn’t change anything finally figured it out there is a setting in the dash under towing it’s call sway control I turned it off and now tows with no problem wiggle is gone I run down the freeway 70mph no problem 😊
It helps a lot when you mention the importance of considering the weight of your passengers so that your trailer doesn’t exceed its load capacity. My wife and I enjoy going on camping trips during the summer, and we need to find a spacious trailer that will allow us to safely bring our fishing gear with us next year. Hopefully, we can find something that will suit our needs.
Check your air pressure in the tires and check your wheel bearings. You’ll probably find something wrong there.
I have a 24 ft Travel trailer that sways at 50 MPH its pulling with a 2020 Dodge Ram 1500 any suggestions
Adjust your bracket
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It makes sense that you need to ensure that your trailer’s tires have sufficient air pressure and are the same size as your vehicle’s when they are inflated. My brother is interested in becoming an electrician and needs to find a way to transport his equipment across uneven terrains while keeping his load secure. I’ll let him know that he should learn how to take care of the trailer that he decides to get.
Have some sway have a north wind f150 towing 7 k travel lite trailer – had tested it last night no wind no sway
Anything else we shoukd adjust
We have a 26ft boat that weights around 5500. Our trailer about 1500. Pulling it with a 2006 Chevy Silverado hd2500 with tow kit. Its the crew cab. The trailer has about a 6ft tongue. When coming home it started to dangerously sway so we purchased a sway control bar from Harbor Freight. My husband says there’s no way to install it because of the 6ft tongue. Ideas???
From my experience, this is not a real common issue because of the placement of the axle(s) on boat trailers. They are usually pretty far back and distribute the load pretty well to prevent sway. To solve your problem, a lot depends on whether or not you have surge breaks on your boat trailer. Even installing a tab for your HF sway control bar may diminish the affects of the surge breaks. Check with Etrailer.com to see what they recommend.
I just got a 7000 pounds travel trailer and I` m pulling with a new f-250 diesel power stroke, they hook me at at the travel trailer RV place, the trailer saw when I try to get to 60 mph with very little wind, by checking the travel traile is showing to be a little high on the front, what should I do. I` m new on this business. thank you
What kind of hitch setup do you have? 7K pound trailer should be easy for an F250 so no worries there. My guess is that your F250 sits pretty high since your trailer is high in the front and that you could benefit from having a good ball mount setup with a drop in it to make sure your trailer sits level. It may be throwing the weight of the trailer back and making it tail heavy. Lowering the front and making sure the cargo is distributed properly to make sure you have more weight at the tongue should help a lot. I am towing about 6,500 pounds (loaded) with an F150 using a weight distribution hitch and dual friction bars. I pulled 650 miles to Florida with a hurricane going up the west coast of Florida and a constant wind on my right side and no issues. Once you get it dialed in, it will tow like a dream.
Hi. We too are new to pulling trailers. Someone told us to increase our 2020 Ford F-150 tire pressure to max to pull our Rockwood ultra lite and it would help with sway and overall travel as well. Is this true?
It makes sense that you can prevent trailer sway by making sure that each tire on the vehicle is correctly inflated. My wife and I are interested in getting a travel trailer so that we can take our children on a camping trip this summer, but we want to make sure that they will be safe in a trailer when we drive on dirt roads. Maybe we should learn how to maintain a trailer before we decide to buy one.