Towing question

[freebirdbeachbum]

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa...pump the brakes fellas. Are ya'll telling me that I need that setup for my 3,000 lb., 18 ft. Jay Flight 7. I pull it with 2008 Explorer BTW.

[Rootus]

Originally Posted by freebirdbeachbum

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa...pump the brakes fellas. Are ya'll telling me that I need that setup for my 3,000 lb., 18 ft. Jay Flight 7. I pull it with 2008 Explorer BTW.

I would. But I am paranoid about sway, and a basic e2 WDH with 2-point friction sway control is only a couple hundred bucks. Even a light travel trailer has a pretty big side profile for the wind to catch.

[dmward]

Originally Posted by Rootus

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the point of the sway bar to damp yaw so that it doesn't escalate to sway? By the time the truck's electronic sway control kicks in, you're in a full sway event and the only thing keeping you on the road is the truck working some magic -- great, but still means new underwear, and I wouldn't want to depend on it I guess .

I had my truck's antisway kick in during our current trip. I swerved to avoid something on the road but overdid it and was about to hit gravel shoulder, but yanked it back. On the second yank, the truck said "that's about enough of that" and killed the cruise and applied trailer brake to get back in line.

Worked beautifully but only comes on in that kind of situation. Sway control on the hitch takes care of passing semi's and wind.

[PhyerPhyter]

I haven't seen any one mention that (afaik) 1/2 ton truck hitches (like my F150) are rated for 500lb tongue wt and upto 5000lb trailer wt with out wdh and 1050lb tongue wt with upto 10,000 lb trailer wt. with wdh. So if the op's trailer is under 500/5000 he doesn't need a wdh. Now that being said Ford rates my truck configuration rated to tow 9200lbs. So it also depends on your OEM specs.

So the short answer is that it depends on the op's tow vehicle and trailer whether he should be using them or not.

[Knottybird]

We had a 2005 Jeep Liberty CRD (diesel) and the max hitch weight was 750# and max towing of 5000#. Our Aerolite TT hitch weight at max GVWR was 400# HW, we didn't use a WD hitch as the vehicle remained level and handled well. The Jeep was replaced with a 2013 Nissan Frontier with a hitch max weight of 650# and max tow of 5900# (it's a 4Door & 4WD with the Value Package option which add 196# to the truck, options reduce the towing capacity of any vehicle). The Aerolite TT when hitched to the Frontier the rear sank by 3 1/2" and the front went up 3/4", to level the truck it was time for a WD hitch.
The Reese SC hitch we have uses the 600# spring bars, I had the stem on the hitch shortened by 3 1/2" to move the pivot point closed to the truck, this improves the handling of the rig. I'm not going to work out the math here but to say the least, fully loaded we are within the limits of the GCVWR of the truck and still have a level, well handling rig. Our new Hummingbird 17RK, weights 187# more than the Aerolite, most of which is a roof mounted air conditioner, max. hitch weights are a bit higher than the Aerolite, but the GVWR of the Hummingbird is 1200# less.
JoeTampa is right, depends on your truck and trailer combination. If we had a trailer over 24' I would only tow with a 3/4 ton or larger truck.

[JoeTampa]

Originally Posted by freebirdbeachbum

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa...pump the brakes fellas. Are ya'll telling me that I need that setup for my 3,000 lb., 18 ft. Jay Flight 7. I pull it with 2008 Explorer BTW.

I would have some form of sway control on any trailer I towed. Why even risk it? Same reasoning behind having an EMS, water pressure regulator, and chains - you don't need any of them.... Until you do. Much better to have and never need then to need and not have.

[Knottybird]

With our Jeep Liberty we use a friction sway control. I worked OK, but we had to loosen it every time we wanted to back up it was a pain.

[xtruckerbob]

I have been towing a TT as well as car trailer and stock trailer since 1972 and have never had to remove or loosen my sway control. In 44 years I have back in many tight spots on site side as well as blind side. If your hitch is set up right, why remove it.

[Kim Gass]

With our combo we need neither. The TV back drops 1.5 inches
The TT sway command kicked in way before twitch became sway.
We just put in another 2000 miles in Ontario with no incident. But only passing transports. No high crosswinds . No sway at all noticeable.
Sway on a logging road one lane bridge would mean death. But I am confident it won't happen

[Atlee]

No.

[cekkk]

Originally Posted by tee-bone

Anyone skip the anti-sway and weight distribution bars for short trips? Most of our camping trips are only 2 to 3 hours away. Drove it to the RV shop without them and truck pulls it fine. Just curious......

FWIW, I found this Progressive Insurance report that says that "52 percent of reported crashes occurred five miles or less from home and a whopping 77 percent occurred fifteen miles or less from home."

It also found that 23% occurred within one mile of home.

[Rootus]

Originally Posted by cekkk

FWIW, I found this Progressive Insurance report that says that "52 percent of reported crashes occurred five miles or less from home and a whopping 77 percent occurred fifteen miles or less from home."

It also found that 23% occurred within one mile of home.

I think those sorts of statistics are generally misleading by themselves. What percentage of your driving is done within fifteen miles of home? I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's pretty close to 77% .

[bansai]

My equalizer hitch shows up 1 day after I take delivery of my new TT later this week. That 8 mile trip from the dealer to my house is the only time I plan on towing without it and even that has me a bit nervous. Guess I'm just paranoid about having a problem on day 1.

[bwalton]

XTRUCKERBOB, most friction sway control manufacturers recommend you remove them before backing. I've never done it myself but I have seen others that have bent them because the backed too tightly towards the side it was on.

[bwalton]

When I picked up my 338RETS last week I asked about sway control. I had most of the parts of the WDH so I was wanting them to install a Reese Dual Cam HP set up. The Service Manager told me I didn't need sway control on that trailer.

Seriously! The trailer is 39' long and weighs 12,000 lbs loaded. I wasn't going to pull it off the lot without sway control. I finally convinced him to install it. Not to my surprise they installed in incorrectly and the end result is in the picture below. Both snap up brackets looked like that.

Needless to say I won't be going back to them for hitch work. I installed the new brackets myself.

Note to owners that use the Reese system pulling a Jayco with a coupler mounted to the bottom of the frame: Reese states that you have to put a 1/2" thread cutting screw through the front of the bracket and into the frame.

[tjpolsin]

Originally Posted by bwalton

When I picked up my 338RETS last week I asked about sway control. I had most of the parts of the WDH so I was wanting them to install a Reese Dual Cam HP set up. The Service Manager told me I didn't need sway control on that trailer.

Seriously! The trailer is 39' long and weighs 12,000 lbs loaded. I wasn't going to pull it off the lot without sway control. I finally convinced him to install it. Not to my surprise they installed in incorrectly and the end result is in the picture below. Both snap up brackets looked like that.

Needless to say I won't be going back to them for hitch work. I installed the new brackets myself.

Note to owners that use the Reese system pulling a Jayco with a coupler mounted to the bottom of the frame: Reese states that you have to put a 1/2" thread cutting screw through the front of the bracket and into the frame.

samething happened to one of my brackets during a rather heavily loaded trip. (dual-cam hitch wasn't dialed in either). Did you replace your brackets with the heavy duty snap up brackets? This is what I now use.

https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories...ese/58392.html

[16Eagle314BHDS]

Originally Posted by bwalton

When I picked up my 338RETS last week I asked about sway control. I had most of the parts of the WDH so I was wanting them to install a Reese Dual Cam HP set up. The Service Manager told me I didn't need sway control on that trailer.

Seriously! The trailer is 39' long and weighs 12,000 lbs loaded. I wasn't going to pull it off the lot without sway control. I finally convinced him to install it. Not to my surprise they installed in incorrectly and the end result is in the picture below. Both snap up brackets looked like that.

Needless to say I won't be going back to them for hitch work. I installed the new brackets myself.

Note to owners that use the Reese system pulling a Jayco with a coupler mounted to the bottom of the frame: Reese states that you have to put a 1/2" thread cutting screw through the front of the bracket and into the frame.

Funny that you mention that - dealer set up our brand new Eagle 314BHDS with a Reese dual cam system. First trip out one of our flip ups snapped. Brought it back for a replacement. Second trip out the flip up broke again - this time I called Reese and they said the same as above - to put the 1/2" screw through the front of the bracket and into the frame. I printed and gave the instructions to the dealer - they looked at me like I had two heads - in no uncertain terms I told them they had to do it. No issues after that was done! I'm still not convinced my DC is dialed in correctly but I have no faith in the dealer's ability to set it up correctly. I'll be bringing the whole setup to another Reese shop to re-do the whole thing.

[16Eagle314BHDS]

Originally Posted by tjpolsin

samething happened to one of my brackets during a rather heavily loaded trip. (dual-cam hitch wasn't dialed in either). Did you replace your brackets with the heavy duty snap up brackets? This is what I now use.

https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories...ese/58392.html

Did you ever get the dual-cam dialed in correctly? And if yes how did you do it? I'm at a loss here brought the whole setup back to the dealer twice telling them I didn't think it was set right and they blew me off.

[cekkk]

Originally Posted by Rootus

I think those sorts of statistics are generally misleading by themselves. What percentage of your driving is done within fifteen miles of home? I'm goinbg to go out on a limb and say it's pretty close to 77% .

I did not quote the entire article. But you are correct. They did discuss percentage of trips within 50 miles, if I recall right, of home. And what percentage of accidents occurred at a longer distance from home. But the point Remains the Same. Most accidents occur close to home, and the OP described a very short trip. I think that's the whole point. Maybe I'm missing your point.

[Gone campin]

Originally Posted by 16Eagle314BHDS

Did you ever get the dual-cam dialed in correctly? And if yes how did you do it? I'm at a loss here brought the whole setup back to the dealer twice telling them I didn't think it was set right and they blew me off.

I did my own when switching to a different truck. I used the directions I downloaded from the Reese website. It wasn't really too hard, just a little time consuming as it required a couple of adjustments to dial it in right. I'm convinced the only way to do most things right is to do it yourself... but then, I"m an engineer and a perfectionist...