Another safety question?!

[always dreamin']

My heart just goes out to the family and friends to those who were in that horrible accident. Hearing stories like this just brings back my fears of towing a trailer. I'm already white knuckled whenever we go on a trip (BTW...I'm the passenger, never the driver!) After hearing this story, I asked my DH if he really knew what to do in case we got into a sway. The truth of the matter is...I'm not sure we really do. When we had our pop-up camper...I read on some message boards that you are to speed up and do not apply the brakes. We no longer have our pop-up. We now have an Outback 25RS-S that we tow with a Silverado 2500HD. We have a WD hitch and a sway bar.

Tim, I briefly glanced on your website (When I have more time, I need to look around your website...how thorough it appears! BTW...What a pretty dog you have!) and printed out the sway information for DH to read. I also read that you are not to speed up! I thought this is what you are suppose to do! Obviously, I thought wrong! Does this sway information on your site also apply to travel trailers?

Any input on what we should do in a sway situation for a travel trailer would be greatly appreciated. I want us to be prepared in this kind of situation so we don't panic!

Thanks in advance!
(Sorry this was so long!)

 

[tim5055]

My first question is do you have electric or surge brakes?

Think about sway this way, the trailer is trying to pass you. There a couple of ways you can stop the trailer from passing;

• Slow down the trailer
• Speed up the tow vehicle

The preferred method is to slow down the trailer. If you have electric brakes, the controller inside the tow vehicle has a manual brake activation lever. You want to start applying the trailer brakes, but try not to lock them up. Just like a car, if the wheels stop turning you are losing control. Then as the trailer begins to slow you can slowly come out of the gas to begin slowing the entire combination.

Now if the trailer has surge brakes you can not manually activate them. In this case you may need to speed up a little to try to get the trailer to fall back in line.

But, I admit I have never towed a trailer larger then a pop up so I will gladly defer to anyone with more experience with larger trailers.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Now this may not be the right answer, and I don't tow a huge trailer (21 foot), but when I've felt that I'm getting a little too much sway, I have found that easy, steady brake pressure to slow everything down worked. I usually don't have much of a problem with a sway bar, but occassionally I do. A slight adjustment at the next rest stop will usually take care of things.

 

[Disney Campers]

The best way to control sway is to eliminate it all together, there are two types of hitches that will eliminate sway,

Hensley Arrow
And
Pullrite Hitch

everything else just attempts to "Control Sway", I have had the Reese dual cam set up and currently have the Hensley, it is night and day, you definitely do not have the white knuckle experience. The only negative is the price. but in my book it is worth the money

 

[house_of_princesses]

How do I know what kind of sway prevention we have, if any? Is there something visible to my eye that I could see? My DH takes care of all this stuff, but I'd like to learn for myself and I also pass along tips I hear here. Thanks!

 

[always dreamin']

Thank you very much for all the suggestions. Tim, thinking of it in a way that the trailer is trying to pass helps out a lot! We do have electric brakes. We weren't sure if applying the brake (slowly) is all we had to do. When we first bought the trailer the RV dealer didn't say anything about a sway bar. They felt because the trailer is a lite-way it didn't meet the weight recommended for a sway bar. We insisted we wanted one after a few trips without. WOW...what a difference that made! Thank you for everyones input. Hopefully with this added knowledge my knuckles can take a rest!

 

[Disney Campers]

How do I know what kind of sway prevention we have, if any? Is there something visible to my eye that I could see

I have some information and pics on this page on common hitches and sway devices:
Hitch & Sway