Travel trailer hitch

[njburn]

One thing I love about my Hensley is that I don't have to put the trailer down on the ball, latch it, crank it back up, attach the WD bars and put it back down. That got really old with the manual crank. Now I back into the Hensley, attach it and use a drill to pull the WD bars up that are always attached. Easy peasy.

[Bayoutalker]

Originally Posted by njburn

One thing I love about my Hensley is that I don't have to put the trailer down on the ball, latch it, crank it back up, attach the WD bars and put it back down. That got really old with the manual crank. Now I back into the Hensley, attach it and use a drill to pull the WD bars up that are always attached. Easy peasy.

Get rid of the manual jack. A decent electric is fairly cheap these days.

[jamer]

All TT are wiggle waggers, no matter what WDH hitch you have employed. Also check the way you have your TT loaded. Too much weight on the back end will certainly cause sway.

[marshall]

I use a blue ox and them high velocity crosswinds it does just fine and I use an F-150 3.5 EcoBoost. I think all crosswinds cause problems coming back from Alabama back to Ohio I passed up a few fifth wheels that were real slow and wagging quite a bit.. it was a very windy trip until I got just above Cincinnati then it calmed down

[Chet & Marie]

Originally Posted by Tesla

We currently have a 1017 Jayco 23RLSW. Our TV is a F150 ecoboost. On a recent trip we experienced severe sway issues due to cross winds. We currently have a Curt WDH. I have now added a second sway bar. I have read that a ProPride (very expensive) hitch is the best for resolving this issue. Anyone have experience with this hitch?

We have the same TT and use a Curt hitch with no problems for 3 years now with a 2014 Chev Silverado 1500 2wd. We set the Michelin LTX tires at 40 lbs. and the camper Good Years at60We set the sway bars tighter if in a cross d. Our friend has a Ram 1500 the same hitch and trailer but he gets some sway in a cross wind that is worse than ours but he has original equipment tires on the PU. It made a big improvement in ours when we changed to the Michelin tires. New tires are expensive so I would try increasing air pressure to max on sidewall first.

[Phil Saran]

If you are going to keep driving in strong cross winds about all you can do is slow down.

[homer1959]

Wind gust can flip semi, or even toss a airbus 380 so ... common sense prevail no matter what kind of hitch you use

[Lpeden]

Look into the Hensley Hitch you can't go wrong with it. You won't even know your trailer is behind you

[nightfire92]

I run the ProPride with a 2016 SLX 287BHSW and 2018 6.2L Sierra 1500 with Max Tow Package and I am extremely happy with the performance. I am new to towing so I wanted the best for my family's safety and to protect the rest of our investment as mentioned above.

That being said I would follow the recommendations above to make sure that you are maximizing the performance of your current setup before pulling the trigger.

[jonashton]

Originally Posted by LuckyDuck

X2. The Anderson has been rock solid on our SLX even in heavy cross winds.

I have an Anderson hitch on my 2018 Whitehawk 24MBH, Towing with my Ford F-150, and love it. Lightweight and easy to put on and take off. No sway issues when properly installed.

[Pauls72]

We have a Equalizer 4-Point and are very happy with it. I tow a 23RB with a 2016 Dodge Durango or a 2017 RAM 1500 Crew Cab pickup. As has already been said, if you are towing in very strong crosswinds, the solution is to slow down.


You don't mention which model of Curt you have. If you have a Curt TruTrack Weight Distribution Hitches with Sway Control, it's the same basic setup as the Equalizer 4-Point. If you have one of the Curt WDH with the chains, your can add the sway control bar, which it sounds like you are doing.
https://www.curtmfg.com/part/17200


Does your F150 have a rear sway control bar? If not you should add one. If it already has one, maybe a larger diameter one may help.


Another option is to add electronic sway control, like one of these:
https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories.../LC380605.html
https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories...5TSC-1000.html
https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories...s/HA81775.html

[marshall]

Also if your F-150 has anti sway control you have to shut it off !! Be sure to do that. Mine if left on will feel squirrely and I mean really bad. The hitch and truck fight back and forth.

[GL243]

Originally Posted by marshall

Also if your F-150 has anti sway control you have to shut it off !! Be sure to do that. Mine if left on will feel squirrely and I mean really bad. The hitch and truck fight back and forth.

I was of the understanding that the sway control on the F150 does not activate until you're in an actual sway event and then uses selective brake applications and reducing power to stop or reduce the sway event. Therefore, since the sway control on a WDH is mechanical in nature, e.g., uses friction to help keep the pivot point from turning back and forth so much when sway starts, I figured the truck's computer-operated sway control feature would not conflict or compete in any way with the hitch's sway control, but would only come into play to the extent that the hitch's sway control was not controlling the sway enough. Also, the truck's supposed to alert you on the dash, and with some sound I think, when it detects sway and operates the sway control feature, so am wondering if the OP here has had that happen at all during sway events? Am I way off base with this understanding? I'd think if there was a conflict that makes things worse, then Ford would have had to discontinue the truck sway control feature! Thanks for any further insights.

[GL243]

Originally Posted by marshall

Also if your F-150 has anti sway control you have to shut it off !! Be sure to do that. Mine if left on will feel squirrely and I mean really bad. The hitch and truck fight back and forth.

Forgot to also ask, how do you shut it off? Is it just by taking it out of tow-haul mode?

BTW, I'm towing a gross weight of 7.5k lb 267BHSW with a 2017 F150 w 3.5 ecoboost, Max Tow, extra payload option, with an EazLift Recurve R6 hitch, have not had any sway that did not immediately correct, and have never gotten any dash notification of the truck's sway control engaging. Have towed about 6000 miles so far, with one stretch on Wyoming interstate with 30 mph gust crosswinds.

[Dmrey]

I have a 2019 24RBS, TV is a 2018 150 3.5EB with Max tow. connecting the two is a 4 point Equalizer. Very happy and confident with this set up with over 3k miles logged. No sway and no sucking and bushing when the big trailers pass.

[marshall]

I have an 18 F-150 3.5 eco 10 speed . Use the dash controls on left side of steering wheel and find it. You have to shut it off each time you hook up. Dealer and many videos online and I believe the manual states that when using any anti sway hitch to shut off the anti sway built into truck. Says they will right each other. I had a Chevy truck last year and when I switched to the Ford I set up my blue ox hitch and leveled the ride and was ready. Test drove it and it scared the hell out of me once up to 60. Trailer was all over back and forth. I pulled over and knew something wasn't right. I googled it and seen several vids of the issue then a vid on shutting off the trucks anti sway. Once off the hitch can do all the work and it was smooth and great. Dealer says the trucks anti sway is for any hitch without anti sway. . They said computer is to fast and responds the instant the trailer sways and send signal to brakes to correct even before the hitch can stop it then the hitch does it's correcting after computer started lol. Then end up with over correcting. Hope this makes sense. And hope that is the issue.

[GL243]

Originally Posted by marshall

I have an 18 F-150 3.5 eco 10 speed . Use the dash controls on left side of steering wheel and find it. You have to shut it off each time you hook up. Dealer and many videos online and I believe the manual states that when using any anti sway hitch to shut off the anti sway built into truck. Says they will right each other. I had a Chevy truck last year and when I switched to the Ford I set up my blue ox hitch and leveled the ride and was ready. Test drove it and it scared the hell out of me once up to 60. Trailer was all over back and forth. I pulled over and knew something wasn't right. I googled it and seen several vids of the issue then a vid on shutting off the trucks anti sway. Once off the hitch can do all the work and it was smooth and great. Dealer says the trucks anti sway is for any hitch without anti sway. . They said computer is to fast and responds the instant the trailer sways and send signal to brakes to correct even before the hitch can stop it then the hitch does it's correcting after computer started lol. Then end up with over correcting. Hope this makes sense. And hope that is the issue.

Thanks, Marshall, I'll check into it on mine. My dealer didn't fill me in like yours did, it appears.

[nynethead]

Reese Strait-Line weight distribution and sway built into a single unit no add ons.. can get it in 800lb or 1200lb bars depending the weight of your trailer. Never had any sway issues with my outback 29' on a 1/2 ton chevy. I have since gone on to 5th wheels, but my friends son still uses the setup on his 30+ foot jayco

[Rustic Eagle]

Originally Posted by nynethead

Reese Strait-Line weight distribution and sway built into a single unit no add ons.. can get it in 800lb or 1200lb bars depending the weight of your trailer.......snip

The Reese Strait-Line WDH with integrated sway control (Dual Cam) has been around for at least 20 years, and is a "pro-active" sway control WDH. Also, the vertical cam arm chains remain stationary during TV turns.

I've had my Dual Cam 14 years and presently using 1,500lb spring bars...., nice benefit the trunnion spring bars are interchangeable. I like the fact that if the cam surface becomes worn you can switch and rotate the two cam arms using the unused bottom cam surface, but I haven't worn the top surface yet. The adjustable ball mount 'tilt' aids in dialing-in the WDH.

Bob

[Castmin]

Originally Posted by Riich

Where did you find these "recommended" values?

Put all your tire pressures to the maximum listed on your tire sidewalls. When cold, as not sitting in the sun and not having been driven for a few hours. Do it first thing in the morning. That is the recommended values you need.

Good luck.

The recommended tire pressure for your tv is on the door sticker and the recommended tire pressure for your trailer is on the trailer sticker with the vin. The sidewall tire psi isn’t the “recommended” pressure, it’s the max pressure the tire can hold.