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Old 11-21-2017, 09:12 AM   #1
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Towing with F150 Eco boost

I am towing a Jayco 24 rbs weight being around 5600 lbs dry with a 2016 f150 with the 2.7 Eco boost engine. I have plenty of power so that is not the issue. I tend to get a fair amount of truck sway when towing. My brother in law has followed behind me and took a video. There is quite a bit of movement. My nephews work truck is a 3.5 ecoboost and says when towing a trailer he gets quite a bit of movement as well. His personal vehicle is a Tundra and tows a 30' Puma with no sway. Anyone else have the same issue when towing. I had truck and trailer weighed at scales and I'm under my tow capacity.
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Old 11-21-2017, 09:38 AM   #2
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I don't own a F150 so I won't be much help. But The one question I will ask that will help others assist you is. What is the payload capacity of your truck and what is the tongue weight of your trailer?

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Old 11-21-2017, 09:50 AM   #3
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We do not own a Ford either my buddy did own a similar truck. They added air ride, there complaint was tranny overheating.After 40000 mile they went back to a 1 ton Ford diesel.They were at the max on towing capacity for a fiver!
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Old 11-21-2017, 10:09 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by Phil2008 View Post
I am towing a Jayco 24 rbs weight being around 5600 lbs dry with a 2016 f150 with the 2.7 Eco boost engine. I have plenty of power so that is not the issue. I tend to get a fair amount of truck sway when towing. My brother in law has followed behind me and took a video. There is quite a bit of movement. My nephews work truck is a 3.5 ecoboost and says when towing a trailer he gets quite a bit of movement as well. His personal vehicle is a Tundra and tows a 30' Puma with no sway. Anyone else have the same issue when towing. I had truck and trailer weighed at scales and I'm under my tow capacity.
If you use the search function for 'payload', you'll find a lot of info regarding 'payload' vs tow capacity and other helpful stuff.

Sway is dangerous and complex.
Things right off the top:
Do you have ~12% to 15% of the trailer loaded weight on your trailer tongue?
Are your trailer tanks empty?
What brand of weight distribution hitch to you have?
What kind of anti-sway device do you have with your hitch?
Are your trailer and tow vehicle tires inflated to the maximum shown on the tire sidewalls?
Do you carry anything on the rear of the trailer?
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Old 11-21-2017, 10:11 AM   #5
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Here is what I've learned from experience. I have a 2016 F-150 Lariat with the 5.0. My truck has the tow package which includes sway control.

I found if you use a WD hitch with a sway bar AND the truck's sway control, you will get a lot of sway. Explanation from both a Camping World tech I trust and the service manager at my Ford dealer (who has had the same problem) is this:

The sway bar and the truck will be working against each other. When the trailer starts to sway and the bar works against, the truck is applying a rear brake to try to stop the sway. This basically forces the trailer to go the other way and so on. It may sound counter intuitive but the truck is trying to correct the sway by applying one rear brake (or the other) at a time, and the bar is trying to resist the sway and the whole thing overcorrects.

The fix for this is easy. Go into the towing setup on the dash and turn off the truck's sway control. Got that from both the CW tech and my dealer's service manager. It does really help. I've explained to other F-150 owners with the same issue and every one of them said it helps settle things down.

I haven't tried to tow with no sway bar and using the truck sway control mainly to save wear on the rear brakes, and I'm old school (sway bar). I'm sure the truck's sway control would work great for boats, lighter trailers, etc.

Now if I can just figure out how to get the Blind Spot Warning System to work with the trailer hooked up. It would be great to have some blind spot coverage while towing.
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Old 11-21-2017, 10:29 AM   #6
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Here is what I've learned from experience. I have a 2016 F-150 Lariat with the 5.0. My truck has the tow package which includes sway control.

I found if you use a WD hitch with a sway bar AND the truck's sway control, you will get a lot of sway. Explanation from both a Camping World tech I trust and the service manager at my Ford dealer (who has had the same problem) is this:

The sway bar and the truck will be working against each other. When the trailer starts to sway and the bar works against, the truck is applying a rear brake to try to stop the sway. This basically forces the trailer to go the other way and so on. It may sound counter intuitive but the truck is trying to correct the sway by applying one rear brake (or the other) at a time, and the bar is trying to resist the sway and the whole thing overcorrects.

The fix for this is easy. Go into the towing setup on the dash and turn off the truck's sway control. Got that from both the CW tech and my dealer's service manager. It does really help. I've explained to other F-150 owners with the same issue and every one of them said it helps settle things down.

I haven't tried to tow with no sway bar and using the truck sway control mainly to save wear on the rear brakes, and I'm old school (sway bar). I'm sure the truck's sway control would work great for boats, lighter trailers, etc.

Now if I can just figure out how to get the Blind Spot Warning System to work with the trailer hooked up. It would be great to have some blind spot coverage while towing.

I don't want to take this thread off topic for the OP, but you brought up an interesting point for an issue that I am having. As I have commented on in another thread, I have a 2015 Mercedes Benz Sprinter 2500 passenger van that is extremely nervous in the wind while towing. It isn't my primary tow vehicle but I have used it to pull my travel trailer several times. Any gust of wind makes that thing dance around (I wouldn't call it sway as much as a shudder) much more than I would like.

Thinking about it now that you mentioned it, that van has both electronic sway control and crosswind assist. I wounder if some of what I am feeling is what you have described above.....the electronic nanny systems working against the mechanical sway control in the hitch.

I'm going to have to look in to this more. Thanks for the thought.
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Old 11-21-2017, 07:09 PM   #7
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I have a 2014 F150 XLT SCAB w/ Max Tow and HDPP and sway control. It has 4x4 and 8' box. I have never had any sway action. My previous trailer was 24' long, and my current 23RB is 27' long.

Maybe it's due to the heavier steel body? Or long wheel base, 163"?


Quote:
Originally Posted by ifallsguy View Post
Here is what I've learned from experience. I have a 2016 F-150 Lariat with the 5.0. My truck has the tow package which includes sway control.

I found if you use a WD hitch with a sway bar AND the truck's sway control, you will get a lot of sway. Explanation from both a Camping World tech I trust and the service manager at my Ford dealer (who has had the same problem) is this:

The sway bar and the truck will be working against each other. When the trailer starts to sway and the bar works against, the truck is applying a rear brake to try to stop the sway. This basically forces the trailer to go the other way and so on. It may sound counter intuitive but the truck is trying to correct the sway by applying one rear brake (or the other) at a time, and the bar is trying to resist the sway and the whole thing overcorrects.

The fix for this is easy. Go into the towing setup on the dash and turn off the truck's sway control. Got that from both the CW tech and my dealer's service manager. It does really help. I've explained to other F-150 owners with the same issue and every one of them said it helps settle things down.

I haven't tried to tow with no sway bar and using the truck sway control mainly to save wear on the rear brakes, and I'm old school (sway bar). I'm sure the truck's sway control would work great for boats, lighter trailers, etc.

Now if I can just figure out how to get the Blind Spot Warning System to work with the trailer hooked up. It would be great to have some blind spot coverage while towing.
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Old 11-21-2017, 09:18 PM   #8
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Go to the F150forum.com

This is being extensively discussed there in the towing section.

It basically comes down to a combination of the proper weight, proper WDH and having just the right amount of weight distributed. The new trucks are very sensitive to sway if they aren't dialled in just right.
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Old 11-21-2017, 10:13 PM   #9
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Go to the F150forum.com

This is being extensively discussed there in the towing section.

It basically comes down to a combination of the proper weight, proper WDH and having just the right amount of weight distributed. The new trucks are very sensitive to sway if they aren't dialled in just right.

What you say is true, but having 2 different sway controls is never a good idea. Especially when one is electronic and it's trying to counter the mechanical sway control. My experience is with an add on sway bar. A WDH with built in sway may be different but I don't think it would be.

My WDH is set up correctly, tire pressures are where they are supposed to be and hitch is approximately 12%. Sway cut way back when the trucks controller is turned off.
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Old 11-22-2017, 01:47 AM   #10
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Weight, Balance, Loading

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Originally Posted by Atlee View Post
I have a 2014 F150 XLT SCAB w/ Max Tow and HDPP and sway control. It has 4x4 and 8' box. I have never had any sway action. My previous trailer was 24' long, and my current 23RB is 27' long.

Maybe it's due to the heavier steel body? Or long wheel base, 163"?
Atlee you bring up a very valid point, the wheelbase of the tow vehicle is a major factor in sway & trailer control. A long wheelbase will ALWAYS tow better than a shorter one. It's the laws of physics & levers and such.

Just because your weight ticket shows you're below trailer carry capacity, it doesn't mean it's balanced properly. USUALLY, you want about 55-60/40 loading bias, nose heavy. Once you check your tongue weight, you can better figure out how to distribute your belongings inside the trailer. I've added fresh water to our water tank and have noticed that it settled the sway down considerably.

You can see what truck I pull our 264BHW with, and it has a gross weight of 6500#. Most of the time our weight tickets show about 62-6300 pounds on the truck, and about 53-5400 on the trailer axle. I'm figuring we are at about 5500 pounds of loaded trailer weight.

Looking at what ifallsguy says, I would agree with the fact that a mechanical & electronic system would counteract each other. I've never used our WDH, a Reese Pro Series, without the electronic system on the truck. In just a couple short trips around town, knowing I'd have to do some backing up, I left the friction sway bar off the trailer. With ALL the tanks full, it handled better than I expected. Only twice has the electronic control on the truck engaged, and it was with an empty trailer coming home from the repair shop.

I have yet to pull our trailer without the truck sway control activated. With that said, it might be a moot point. Our trailer has some roof damage, and just depending what happens, we may not get our trailer back. If that's the case, I guess we'll have to go through this whole process again with a new trailer.
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Old 11-22-2017, 04:42 AM   #11
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I had a similar experience with more movement in the rear of my '15 F150 than I liked when towing with my Husky hitch. I made the choice to invest in a ProPride, towing is a breeze now. Very little motion, if any, and no more moments that make you pucker up. It has absolutely changed the towing experience for the better and I have full confidence in the setup while on the road. I have never tried turning off the electronic sway control and do not see a need to at this point.
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Old 11-22-2017, 06:00 AM   #12
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Phil,

A lot of good info so far for you to chew on!!!

You mentioned you have hit the scales, but did you do three passes as described in the CAT Scale how to in my signature link? This will verify what your loaded tw is, if you have the wdh adjusted properly, etc...

If you didn’t do three passes across the scale, I would highly suggest doing so. Only way to know for sure about your set up.

Looking forward to reading some of your answers on: any cargo in the rear of the tt, tire pressure, anything in the holding tanks (if behind the tt axles), etc....

The PP and HA wdh that K2 mentioned are awesome systems, but the tt still needs to be loaded properly. Otherwise it is possible that the PP or HA could “mask” the issue of to light of a tw, and that’s not something you want to find out the hard way.
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Old 11-29-2017, 08:11 AM   #13
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Been away from forum for a few days. Here is the info on my tv.
Tow capacity is 7600 lbs
GVWR 6500 lbs
Payload 1517 lbs
Tongue weight 500 lbs. 1100 lbs with WDH
WDH is a pro series rated for 12000 lbs
When WDH is hooked up I have about an inch difference between tire and top of wheel well front to back
When towing my tanks grey black and fresh water tanks are empty except for few gallons in grey and black.
I have nothing on trailer rear bumper except for spare tire.
Storage is in front of trailer so nothing heavy in rear of trailer.

I went to the f150 forum and from what I read it seems the newer F150s are a little harder to dial in.
The scale I weighed in at was a commercial vehicle scale not a CAT scale. There is one about a half hour away so next spring when we are ready to head out I will go and get weighed.
I guess the question I'm asking are the f150s a little more temperamental than a GM or Tundra. As I mentioned earlier my nephew town a 30' Puma with his Tundra. He hooks up and goes.
I will probably be looking at changing vehicles within the next 12-16 months so have to decide whether to stay with an f150(3.5 Eco boost) or not.
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Old 11-29-2017, 08:49 AM   #14
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Been away from forum for a few days. Here is the info on my tv.
Tow capacity is 7600 lbs
GVWR 6500 lbs
Payload 1517 lbs
Tongue weight 500 lbs. 1100 lbs with WDH
WDH is a pro series rated for 12000 lbs
When WDH is hooked up I have about an inch difference between tire and top of wheel well front to back
When towing my tanks grey black and fresh water tanks are empty except for few gallons in grey and black.
I have nothing on trailer rear bumper except for spare tire.
Storage is in front of trailer so nothing heavy in rear of trailer.
That's all well and good, but you said your trailer is about 5500 lb. dry - what counts is the GVWR. Is the combined GVWR of both the truck and the trailer within the truck's GCVR? What is the GVWR of your trailer? You should expect to put 10-15% of that on the hitch, for example. I don't think you mentioned whether you're using a weight distribution hitch, and that is critical, along with some kind of sway control.

I pull a Jay Feather 23RLSW that's pretty close in size and weight to what you have, and I'm towing with a 2010 F150 just fine. Almost no noticeable sway, except for the expected "truck suck" at highway speeds. But I'm using a Husky WDH and friction sway bar, which is a pretty basic low-end setup. No matter what, weight distribution and sway control are absolutely critical for safe towing.

As a P.S., you'll find that it's VERY easy to overload a half-ton pickup. Your pickup's payload is 1517, but your trailer is going to put something like 900 pounds on the hitch. That leaves you with only about 600 pounds for passengers, hitch, fuel, accessories, and other cargo. Heck, DW and I combine for over 400 pounds. This becomes an "Ooops" in a big hurry!

Roger
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Old 11-29-2017, 09:44 AM   #15
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Gcwr is 12800lbs.
As I mentioned it seems the f150s from about 2014 and newer have some issues when towing. Ford claims they dropped 700 lbs from truck weight when they went with the aluminum body. Perhaps this is having an effect on towing not sure as truck is lighter. Was talking itch GM of truck dealer and he had another customer who had issues with sway when towing with an f150.
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Old 11-29-2017, 10:05 AM   #16
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Gcwr is 12800lbs.
As I mentioned it seems the f150s from about 2014 and newer have some issues when towing. Ford claims they dropped 700 lbs from truck weight when they went with the aluminum body. Perhaps this is having an effect on towing not sure as truck is lighter. Was talking itch GM of truck dealer and he had another customer who had issues with sway when towing with an f150.
Sorry, I missed where you mentioned your WDH. The Pro Series hitches are pretty much the same as the Husky that I have. So what are you doing for sway control? Do you have the friction sway bar in addition to the hitch.

I can't recall anyone having problems with the newer F150s due to the lighter weight.

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Old 11-29-2017, 10:16 AM   #17
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Never tow with the factory electronic sway system active while using a mechanical sway system. They don't mix well.
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Old 11-29-2017, 10:36 AM   #18
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Quote:
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Gcwr is 12800lbs.
As I mentioned it seems the f150s from about 2014 and newer have some issues when towing. Ford claims they dropped 700 lbs from truck weight when they went with the aluminum body. Perhaps this is having an effect on towing not sure as truck is lighter. Was talking itch GM of truck dealer and he had another customer who had issues with sway when towing with an f150.
What tires are you running? P rated? If so, change to LT.
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Old 11-29-2017, 11:11 AM   #19
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And another P.S. Proper weight distribution and WDH setup are critical for reducing sway. Love this video - you may have seen it already, but it's worth a watch.

https://youtu.be/4jk9H5AB4lM

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Old 12-04-2017, 12:41 AM   #20
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Never tow with the factory electronic sway system active while using a mechanical sway system. They don't mix well.
I'll have to look into this, but have not had any problems towing our 23BHM so far. In fact, on our last trip to the N. Ga mountains, I ended up passing a minivan while climbing over the mountain because they were going too slow through the curvy sections.

I do have a little more bounce than I'd like over rough sections, but I haven't been inflating my tires to max pressure.
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