Bad sway with 23K and Nissan Frontier

[BlueBrick]

So I am getting bad sway on windy days and when being passed by big trucks with my 23K and Nissan Frontier. A little history as to what I've done so far to try and eliminate the sway issue. I put a friction sway bar on last year after the maiden run determined some sort of sway control was needed. Worked well until this year when I towed for the first time on tires I installed late last year(Kumho SAT KL61 in 265 70/16). Thought the tires were to blame as they were not LT tires(neither were the ones prior to these), but could be inflated up to 51 PSI if needed to stiffen the sidewall up. I tried them at 45 PSI and no difference. Towing was a white knuckle experience and not enjoyable. Michelin LT tires were on sale at the local Costco with a 30 day money back guarantee if not 100% satisfied and a 100K km treadlife guarantee, so I figured what the heck, it's only money and if that didn't solve the sway issues, I'd be able to return them and remount the "old" tires. The E load rated Michelin AT2s made no difference in reducing the sway as it was windy last weekend when we went camping about an hour and a half drive from home. The tires were inflated up to 55 PSI and could have been inflated up to their maximum which is 80 PSI, but I figured that should have been a good enough number to start with. The tires I had on last year when I got the 23K were the stock BF Goodrich Long Trail TAs and could only be inflated to 35PSI max, and I had less sway issues with those tires than I did with the Kumhos and Michelins.
Next step may be to upgrade to the Reese dual cam hitch, but any input before I spend more money, would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for the long post, but better to have all the info on what's been tried so far to eliminate the guess work.

[Shaner]

Reese dual cam sway control is the way to go. I thought we towed comfortably before having ours, but there was always the occasional big rig or speed racer that would cause my palms to sweat and grip to tighten on the steering wheel ... and then there was the Reese Dual Cam sway control ... what an amazing difference! I'm sure there are other products out there that are relatively the same but, I'm sticking with Reese. Smooth sailing, no worries, stress free towing. When camping, the last thing I want to do is stress about the ride there and ride back. Otherwise I arrive stressed, de-stress, then stress out again before leaving. Kind of takes the common sense of leaving the stress behind out of the equation.

[Crabman]

Hard to say without pics of your setup. Having your trailer tongue high (as opposed to level or slightly tongue down) and/or tongue light can contribute to sway issues.

[mach8274]

I too have the Reese dual cam set up. I had friction bars before and didn't like them-I had a double friction bar set up before the dual cam and I still got some sway from passing trucks.

Also, check how your TT is loaded. You want more weight towards the front of your TT. Any weight added to the rear of the TT takes weight off of the tongue which will contribute to a lot of sway. I would try messing around with weight first, load the front compartment and see what happens. If that doesn't help then I would recommend the dual cam hitch.

[Type-A]

Originally Posted by Crabman

Hard to say without pics of your setup. Having your trailer tongue high (as opposed to level or slightly tongue down) and/or tongue light can contribute to sway issues.

I agree with Crabman. My 25BHS was all over all the time (could barely go between 50-55mph without white-knuckling - no matter how I had my bars on my WD hitch) and the dealer claimed it was setup properly and wanted me to buy a sway control for my hitch. Being an ex-boater I am familiar with setting up my trailer so I purchased the longer ball-mount for my WD hitch and that allowed me to drop tongue about 1" lower than the trailer being level and that extra tongue weight made all the difference in the world. I was able to run at 60mph without a problem. I even was able to get up to 72mph without any issue (although I never tow that fast).

[Old Blue]

I also agree with Crabman and Type-A I put new Tires on my pickup that were 1 size bigger than stock which made my trailer about 1 inch higher in front when on truck and couldnt beleive how much sway I had got new hitch that let me drop the tongue back down no more problem.

[gilldawg79]

Sounds like your heavy in the rear. I had a similar experience with our old 19BH and towing with a 2005 pathfinder. I reshuffled our gear to the front and it was fixed.

[BlueBrick]

Trailer is set up level on the weight distribution hitch and tows level. My trailer is loaded so the weight bias is toward the front and we don't carry much more than we need. Probably about 3-400 lbs of clothing, bedding, food, pots and pans, and all the other small items everyone seems to bring along. It's distributed mainly towards the center and front, so it is not tail heavy. Never had this issue until this year and we even carried 4 bikes in the rear bike storage area and had no problems last year. This year I have not brought any bikes camping, only the 5 lawn chairs and two collapsable mini tables are stowed back there and that shouldn't weigh more than 100lbs.
I appreciated everyones input, so I think after reading all the suggestions and realizing that everthing is loaded properly and the hitch is set up right, the only alternative is a better sway control system like the Reese Dual Cam.

[drfife]

If you want total elimination of sway, consider a ProPride or Hensley.

You can find used ones for much less than new.

My Hensley is 11 years old and has towed 50K+ miles and is going strong.

[Jagiven]

BlueBrick, being you said the truck trailer combo pulled good last year and terrible this year. Being you have tried all the tricks on the trailer. I suspect you may have an issue with your TV. My two initial thoughts are; 1) the bushings for the front sway bars are bad. An indicator can be a rattle in the front suspension when going down an old paved road that is not so smooth anymore. 2) The tie rods (sp?) joint(s) is bad, and the truck is able drift a bit. My parents Suburban is notorious for this, and makes for white knuckle driving with a trailer. I like it when they get it rebuilt every few years.

[BlueBrick]

drfife- Never heard of those other hitches and have been around trailers quite a while. May be more common in the US, but can't recall seeing one around here. Will have to look into those other options. Thanks.

Jagiven- I know the front end of my truck is tight, including sway bar bushings. I will look into the rear springs and hardware more closely. I think a front end alignment will be done, too, just to make sure everything is lined up properly, although there is no pulling and tire wear is even. Will check the undercarriage carefully to rule this out. Thanks.

Thanks again for the input, people. That's what makes belonging to a forum as good as this one. Lots of experience to tap into.

[smoothy]

Although I did not have a sway issue I recently had some front end part on my TV replaced and it does seem to be more stable when towing. I thought it was my imagination (wanting to justify dumping money in the old truck) reading Jagiven's post makes me feel better about my decision to replace the parts.

[Rustic Eagle]

If it were my TV/TT combination, I would invest $12 at a CAT scale thus confirming your weight distribution, weight limits, WDH rating, and WDH adjustment....., might save you some bigger $$$ in the long run.

http://www.jaycoowners.com/showthread.php?t=3871

Bob

[McMonk]

When driving from Ont to BC found the Sway difficult to deal with in heavy winds throughout the prairies. Other than that, we haven't experienced issues with our set-up. I must admit that on the highway when being passed by the rigs, the trailer really tended to get sucked into the vortex, but I simply assumed it was due to the excessive speed the trucks were doing, how close they crowded the centre-line and the high-sustained winds we had. Learned to keep the speed down, keep as far to the right as I could when being passed and tighten-up the sway control. Our TV is in top condition, our 23k was heavy but brand-new...I think it's just the way it is ....

[MrKong]

I'm curious of the OP has done anything else that may have added weight to the truck or camper. The dry weight listed on the 23K is a shade over 4500. Fully loaded, he is getting close to capacity of about 6300 from what I have seen on the Frontier tow capacity.

You did not happen to have water in your holding tanks, and a lot more stuff stocked in the TT? More people or heavier people in the TV? I think the Reese system would help out.

[McMonk]

Good point - but in our experience through the prairies we drained the tanks .. but then again, the trailer was loaded full (moving across the continent). Hard to say what causes the sway, but I have to agree - sway sucks!

[BlueBrick]

I always travel with the tanks empty. Why drag all that extra weight when you don't have to. The dry weight from the factory is 4511lbs for my trailer. We carry approximately 3-400 lbs of cargo when travelling, so that would put me around 4900lbs loaded. The towing capacity or my Frontier is 6100lbs(it's an auto, the standard can tow 6500lbs), so I'm well within my towing capacities.

I purchased the Reese Dual Cam hitch, now just need to set it up and try it out. I will double check the weight distribution of our cargo and my trucks front end alignment to eliminate this sway issue once and for all. Will report back with the findings.

[McMonk]

Too-true, Blue...generally speaking we drive dry as well. Keep a 4ltr milk-jug of water near the toilet for those "road-side-stops". Other than the beer & wine under the bed, that's it! We've a couple of sites where we have to bring water in with us, but they're not far from home & don't include highway driving.

[BlueBrick]

Installed the Reese Dual Cam and set it up today. Took it for a drive around the local area including some highway. Took it up to 110 kph and it tracked straight and true. Very little input required at the wheel and you can almost take your hands off the wheel and it will remain straight. No wind today, so can't report on what it'll be like in crosswinds, but feels a lot better already. Will report back once I have experienced it in some more extreme conditions.

[kjohn73]

Might sound a bit far fetched, but sometimes when oversize tires are installed, a vehicle will wander around for no apparent reason, and when pulling a trailer, of course sway will happen.

I had a beautiful 1984 Buick Lesabre (full size sedan) that I put oversize tires on and it wandered. My mechanic friend kept telling me it was those big tires. I had everything checked, still wandered. Finally wore the tires out, went back to 235x75 tires - no more wandering!!