Originally Posted by 67SATisfaction
Originally Posted by I_bleed_MOPAR
Trailer sway without a doubt. I towed an '01 Dakota ClubCab 4x4 home from NC behind my '06 2500 on a UHaul trailer. I wound up using backroads to get back as when I hit 55 it would start to sway.
Tim


So, just curious - what are the loading strategies to avoid sway? Is the goal to have the load balanced on the trailer so the hitch isn't loaded much, or is *some* load on the hitch better to plant the rear tires? ..maybe there are different solutions to different situations?
I've towed a few things in my lifetime, and I know what sway can feel like. But my loads and the trailers I used were fairly "ordinary" - construction site office trailers, boats, building materials, etc.
- Art


You need tongue weight. It helps to counteract swaying.

If you have a car on this type of trailer and can lift the trailer tongue up when loaded, you don't likely have enough tongue weight. Generally, in this case, you want anywhere from 10-15% of the loaded trailer weight on the tongue. He should have had 350-500# of tongue weight. With the car having batteries in trunk, should have loaded it backwards and maybe even kept it jacked up for clearance.

Then there are the ones that it starts swaying and they just keep legging it out at 65-70+... nothing wrong there. I see the opposite end all the time when the desert guys drag rigs out to sand dunes. Explorers/Tahoes/suburbans/PU's looking like they are popping the front tires off the ground being overloaded and TOO much tongue weight. They go ditch hunting quite often. Still hammering along at 60+ most of the time.