Flat tow handling response

[CrowCross]

I just had my 2019 Ford Edge set up for flat towing...I picked it up and seemed to notice on the way home the RV ...E450 Jayco 31DS ...seemed a bit more squirrely...that is it felt a little lighter in the front end and seemed to drift a bit.

I got 20K miles on it from 3 cross country driving..and it feels different. Is it me or have others noticed a difference when flat towing a TOAD?

[CAG]

I have not noticed a difference in mine.

There is no weight on the hitch to speak of. It is a straight pull with may 40 lbs of tow bar on the hitch.

[Tockert]

The one and only time we flat towed our Jeep, I did not know it was there until we needed to back up.
Make sure your front tires on the car are straight and not locked.
With our Jeep, I have to leave the key in the ignition and turn it one click to unlock the steering wheel.
We now use the trailer with the Jeep, as the flat tow was an experiment. It is a pain, as I have to drop both drive shafts because we do not have the stock transfer case anymore.

Todd

[Harvard]

Your caster may be in the 4.5 degree zone, as in:

Some E350/E450 have handling issues, some do not, the following may explain the difference:

Ford ships all E350/E450 cut aways with identical fixed, non adjustable
caster/camber sleeves, "one size fits all". You can recognize these sleeves because they are keyed and cannot be rotated. They are marked "F8UA-AA 0+.25" on the passenger side and "E97A-CA +0-0" on the drivers side.

The RV builder almost never changes the Ford sleeves, as a result:

If the final RV build is nose down one degree then the runtime caster will be about +3.5 degrees. These units can have a real wandering problem.

If the final RV build is nose level then the runtime caster will be about +4.5 degrees. These units are probably indifferent. They may be OK without a Toad but unstable with a Toad etc etc.

If the final RV build is nose up one degree then the runtime caster will be about +5.5 degrees. These units are probably just fine.

So, some RVs have a problem with wandering at highway speeds and some do not have a problem. JMO.

POPULAR MECHANICS MAY 1973:
START QUOTE:
If too little caster exists, the car will wander and weave,
thus necessitating constant corrections in steering.
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