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Old 02-13-2019, 02:38 PM   #1
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Drop 19 swaying guestion.

I recently bought a new 2018 MD190RD. I left the lot towing it dry with a 2018 f150. I drove down the interstate about 20 miles with no swaying at all. Spent the night in a campground and started the 2.5 hr drive home with a light wind. I had a good bit of trailer sway. I dumped the fresh water tank (I had filled it checking everything out before we left the vicinity of the dealer) thinking that might be the problem. Didn’t help. That was just hooked to the factory hitch on my truck. A few days later I put an old weight distribution hitch on with a single sway bar (which I may not have adjusted correctly since I hadn’t used one before). I did about a 30 mile trip running about 65 in another light wind and still had a good bit of “tail wagging the dog”. Any advice appreciated since my truck has since been wrecked and I’m looking for another vehicle. Could the light aluminum body on the new Fords have contributed to the problem or is it something else? Thanks
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Old 02-13-2019, 05:27 PM   #2
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Very possible you were actually nose high depending on what drop you were at for the ball mount.
Doubt that the fact that the truck was aluminum body had any effect on it. If anything, it should have helped with the load capacity of the truck.
We've got a 2018 1790 trailer and pulled it with a 4Runner just fine - but the hitch (a weight distributing one) had to be adjusted for the 4Runner. We've upgraded the 4Runner to a Tundra now since the tongue weight was reaching the maximum that the 4Runner could support (that's where the load capacity starts coming in).
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Old 02-14-2019, 11:10 AM   #3
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It could be insufficient tongue weight. You want about 13% - 15% of the loaded trailer weight on the tongue for good handling. I don't know where the tanks are located in the 190RB but any tank behind the axle should probably be empty before moving up to highway speeds to ensure the tongue isn't light.

If you are tongue high you can also have sway. In general you want the tongue level or slightly down.

I don't think it is the truck but hitch setup. I tow a Micro Minnie 2106FBS that weighs in at 5100 lbs with a 2015 2.7L F150 without any sway problems. Even with heavy crosswinds any side movement is with the trailer and truck as a unit. I do run up the pressure in my P rated tires to 45 lbs from the normal 40 lbs to stiffen the ride. I know of others that run them up to the maximum sidewall rating. It doesn't affect sway but helps dampen the bounce some. When these tires wear out I plan to switch to LT's for this.

So the first thing I would do is get the hitch set up properly, put everything into the trailer and truck I would normally carry and go get weighed. I would do the truck and trailer (with WDH bars if using), truck and trailer without bars but still attached to the truck and the truck by itself with WDH still on truck if using. From this you will be able to determine all of the vehicle weights, tongue weight and verify the WDH setup if using.

With your trailer you will be close to the 500 lb maximum tongue weight without a WDH. Weighing will tell you if you exceed this. You can also take some height measurements without and with trailer hitched. Even if you are under on tongue weight but the front end lift is 1 inch or more I would use a WDH to move weight back to the front tires. The WDH instructions will cover this adjustment. If you are not going to use a WDH you should still install some type of sway control bar/s.
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Old 02-14-2019, 04:57 PM   #4
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I did the measurements when I set up the WD hitch and tried to have the trailer and truck level. I dumped the fresh water tank because it was behind the axle. It towed fine on that first pull with no wind just hooked to the receiver on the truck but with a light cross wind I was getting the sway with or without the WD hitch. May possibly be too little tongue weight. Wondering, too, if it is because of the single axle and high profile of the drop 19. I’m trying to make sure it wasn’t an issue with that light weight aluminum body truck and sounds as if it isn’t. Thanks for your input!
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Old 02-14-2019, 05:01 PM   #5
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Sounds as if the truck isn’t the issue. I may just buy a truck I like and experiment with the hitch. I went and test drove a Tundra today. How do you like yours? Thanks very much for your input.
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Old 02-14-2019, 10:47 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by Dlow240 View Post
Sounds as if the truck isn’t the issue. I may just buy a truck I like and experiment with the hitch. I went and test drove a Tundra today. How do you like yours? Thanks very much for your input.
In your initial post you mentioned having a "single sway bar". Is that an anti-sway bar that connects between the trailer tongue and the WDH and tightened down to reduce sway? I had one of those for an old Holiday trailer I had many years ago. The first time I towed it I tightened the sway bar to what I thought was pretty tight, but the trailer swayed a lot. Then I cranked it down so tight I thought it would cause problems with turning, but it actually performed perfectly and completely dampened the sway. You might give this a try.
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Old 02-15-2019, 06:55 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by akeagle View Post
In your initial post you mentioned having a "single sway bar". Is that an anti-sway bar that connects between the trailer tongue and the WDH and tightened down to reduce sway? I had one of those for an old Holiday trailer I had many years ago. The first time I towed it I tightened the sway bar to what I thought was pretty tight, but the trailer swayed a lot. Then I cranked it down so tight I thought it would cause problems with turning, but it actually performed perfectly and completely dampened the sway. You might give this a try.
That could be part of the problem. I have never used a sway bar and may not have had it tightened enough. Unfortunately I wrecked that truck and didn’t have a chance to continue experimenting with it. I had a 30 ft travel trailer that I towed with an f250 but didn’t do much traveling with it. Just a couple of short pulls and didn’t need a sway bar. I didn’t think I would like the big rig for long cross country trips and mountain pulling. I like the mobility of the smaller rig and want to get it set up correctly. Thanks a lot!
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