Trailer Anti Sway.

05GMC4DR · August 18, 2008

Im not framilier with them. Ive seen them around and I was wondering how they work and if they are worth the money. If I understand correctly its supposed to keep the trailer from swaying but how??? Im getting ready to buy a trailer and tow my Jeep to Cali. The trailer is brand new and has trailer brakes on both axles. Thanks in advance.

Rob

leboyd · August 18, 2008

Im not framilier with them. Ive seen them around and I was wondering how they work and if they are worth the money. If I understand correctly its supposed to keep the trailer from swaying but how??? Im getting ready to buy a trailer and tow my Jeep to Cali. The trailer is brand new and has trailer brakes on both axles. Thanks in advance.

Rob

If your trailer brakes are working fine, you shouldn't have trouble with too much sway. Trailer sway is caused by the trailer going faster than the towing truck. The trailer doesn't have anywhere else to go, so it goes one direction, gets pulled back behind the towing truck and goes the other direction. The brakes should keep this from happening.

When you load the Jeep, make sure you get more weight to the front of the trailer than the rear. The more weight you have behind the axles, the more it will want to catch up and pass the towing truck. When the right amount of weight is in front of the axles, it will only want to push the towing truck. If the trailer is long enough, you shouldn't have the problem.

Hope this helps.

dietz4ibanez · August 18, 2008

We had sway bars on our trailer when I was growing up! We had a 1990 Full size Chevy with a 350, trailer brake contrailor and tranny cooler.. The trailer was a beast it was a 73 Coachmen 27' weighing almost 10,000 loaded with all our stuff..

The sway bars helped with not only swaying but also weight distribution and ease of our vans suspension..

With the sway bar system you will get a special hitch for the sway bars to attach to that are able to pivot as you turn. They are typically brackets the mount to the frame of the trailer and chains attaching the sway bar to the bracket... Its hard to explain the bracket but it works kindof like a non ratcheting binder you place the desired link of the sway bar chain into the bracket and pull it up using a cotter pin to lock the sway bar in place..

Hope this helps...

It was beneficial to us since all the storage was behind the double axels and when there is more weight in the back of the trailer than the front it is easy for the trailer to sway!

Outbacker · August 19, 2008

There are a couple different things that are being discussed here, and it is important that you know what is what when is referring to towing. A WDH (Weight distribution hitch) has 2 bars coming out from it and they attach to the trailer frame. This is part of the Weight Distribution system, and should not be confused with a sway control device. There are a few different sway control devices, being a friction bar, an equalizer system and a Dual Cam sway control device. Here is a link to the first and last device I mentioned:

http://www.hitches-forless.com/sway_control.htm

And for the equalizer:

http://www.equalizerhitch.com/productinfo/

I am looking at getting the Dual Cam system for my trailer as I use a Draw Tite WDH. Whenever the system detects sway, it will put pressure on the opposite side of the device, thereby correcting the sway of the trailer.

c4cruiser · August 19, 2008

Another thing to consider is the type of trailer that you get. Enclosed trailers have a lot of surface area that will cause swaying due to sidewinds or being passed by large trucks. The total weight being towed also plays a part in any trailer sway.

I tow my 87 Corvette on an open deck trailer. The trailer is steel and weighs 2000 lbs. The car weighs about 3400 lbs. I tow with my 99 Silverado 1500 Z71 Extended cab and I have never experienced any swaying issues on the freeway or in windy conditions.

It's important to place the load on the trailer so that the tongue weight is between 10-15% of the total towed weight. With my setup, I load my car so that the tongue weight is about 560lbs. It took a few tries to get the car in the right place on the trailer after I added a toolbox loaded with tools and a tire rack with 4 tires and wheels (had to weigh all thjat stuff). Once I had the tongue weight correct, I bolted some stop blocks on the deck so that the car would be in the same place each time I loaded it.

When you figure out the tongue weight, you also have to add that weight to the total cargo weight you will have in the tow vehicle. Everything going into the tow vehicle (you, the wife and/or GF, kids, tools, luggage, the dog, etc.) all has to be added up to make sure you do not overload the tow vehicle.

And at the same time, the trailer will tow best if it's level and the tow vehicle should be level too. You may need overload springs or air bags to keep everything level as possible.

05GMC4DR · August 19, 2008

Its only a 16 ft open dove tail trailer that Im going to be towing. The Jeep is around 12-14 feet long. So it kinda sounds like If its loaded right and the brakes work right that it wont sway like Ive seen so many do?

pagerboy · July 10, 2009

I know old post, but if the trailer is loaded incorrectly sway control may not help depending on size of the load.

jake1530 · July 10, 2009

Thank you for bringing this subject up. I have always wondered about sway bars. I have never needed them but I was always interested on how they worked, clicked on the link and got my answer. Thanks again, Jake.

Spurshot · July 10, 2009

The post from Outbacker hit the nail on the head. He's obviously experienced at towing. Those bars are not "sway bars" at all. They are load distribution bars. The sway control is a separable component. Most setups that have weight distribution are also equipped with an anti-sway device. Not all. You can add an anti-sway device without adding the load distribution bars.