Advice on trailer sway control? - I feel like this is what you look like driving your trailer fully loaded. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9XZwDYwGdY And this is what could've happened, had you not ...

I feel like this is what you look like driving your trailer fully loaded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9XZwDYwGdY

And this is what could've happened, had you not gotten control of your trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... v4_W8Z11qs

I deffainetly would say loading the trailer properly is the most important thing. Sway control and weight distribution hitches in my thought are just a way to help an improperly loaded trailer. And the GVW I kinda see as guidelines more than anything. I know GM has to make the ratings safe but personally my 04s GVW (without trailer) is 9200 lbs and with scrap metal on the scales at the scrap yard I was about 10,500 lbs. I used to pull a skid steer on a tandem axle tagalong a lot and the machine was in the neighbor hood of 7,000 lbs and I don't what the trailer weighed empty but with that machine loaded right the truck was maybe down an inch or two in the back, no sway, steering was fine, and rig braked fine even though the trailer had surge brakes. (this was also with a pintle hitch which I think is better than a ball personally)

We had these arguments on the Diesel forums all the time...take an older Dodge 2500/3500...GCVW is 20k/23k, in that ball park. There were guys (mainly the hot shotter) doing well over 30k GCVW (some were in the 40k range). The following was their argument: the GVW/GCVW offered in the manual is only a recommendation, and based on axle weight ratings, tire/wheel ratings, hitch ratings, trailer rating, etc...it didn't apply to them. I don't know how they ever got them registered (PA for instance goes by the title, not what you're willing to pay for registered weight), but they did.

Loading is 99% of the deal in my opinion...if the load is on the trailer properly, the load isn't overloading the trailer ratings, the load isn't overloading the truck ratings, the load isn't overloading the hitch ratings, etc., etc....you can see what I mean. Most times I see someone having issues, they have something overloaded...too much weight on the trailer, too much tongue weight, etc.

And that's something to keep in mind...the hitch "tongue weight" can easily exceed the rear suspension of 1500/2500 trucks with a trailer of the larger size. The load rating of the rear suspension is based on a load up near the cab, over all four tires...move that to the hitch, and your capacity really drops. This is where the weight distributing hitches come into play...they lever the weight onto all four tires.

starspangled6.0 wrote:What is the correct technique to stop trailer sway during an emergency like that? If I had the trailer brakes on more strongly, would they have corrected it?

From the driver's crner:
First of all, I'm glad you're ok. Understanding the physics of what's going on, it's best NOT to appliy brakes at all. The proper technique would be to ease off the accelerator and let the rig coast down until the behavior stops or becomes manageable. Then you can apply the brakes.

Since the trailer was improperly loaded, you had a dangerous imballance on your truck. What was happening was that the trailer was lifting at the hitch. This caused (1) your back wheels to become unloaded and (2) your front wheels to become excessively loaded to compensate. This caused any steering input to become exagerated and braking would only worsen the condition.

So what was happening when the trailer swayed to one side (lets use the right) was that all its weight at the trailer rear was pushing right but the trailer tongue was pushing your truck's rear left at the same time. This is because the trailer has to pivot about it's axles. With your rear wheels being unloaded your rear was litterally being pushed over to the left. When the situation is dynamic (violent) enough applying brakes at that moment will cause the rear to lock up and that's when you go into an unrecoverable jack-knife. This is because locked wheels coefficient of friction is much less than a set of front wheels which still have traction. NEVER APPLY BRAKES to control trailer sway; just ease off the gas.

You're lucky you got out in one piece!

Damn, good to hear you got it stopped. Bet you have a couple extra prayers at church this weekend. Great advice in this thread, I've never towed that much weight but when I do I'll be thinking of this post. About a year ago I was getting on the highway and watched this happen right in front of me. Guy went into panic mode and it turned out real bad. Threw his truck around like a rag doll and flipped. Throwing big mowers and lawn gear all over the highway. He walked away but was out of business in a matter of 15 seconds. Glad your ok and great info here

LGSONE

WingNut wrote: NEVER APPLY BRAKES to control trailer sway; just ease off the gas.
You're lucky you got out in one piece!

I completely disagree...applying the trailer brakes will cause the whole rig to pull straight again...been there, done that. Applying the trailer brakes prevents the trailer from pushing the truck around.

At least you're safe, just dirty under pants. Could've been like a guy in my neck I the woods last night, lost his 30'er on the freeway at rush hour!!!!!!

Part of me wonders if the WD setup didn't actually make it worse here. If you were already light on the hitch, the WD is going to take even more weight off the rear axle, making the problem even worse. In the

I'm in the process of setting up a tow rig so I can tow the Corvette to autocrosses and track days, so I've been paying close attention anything hitch-related lately. Sometimes we learn more from what goes wrong than from what goes right.

509silverado- your're obviously from spokane too... Kind of off topic but i thought of this thread yesterday sitting in traffic for an hour! This guy's a BOAT DEALER and his trailer sway got so bad the whole BRAND NEW 45 foot Searay rolled out onto I-90 last night. thats a $150k mistake

Yes sir, thanks for the update on that too, sorry you were in traffic!! I couldn't believe it!!!