28' Toy Hauler Swayin!

Back it in, move heavy items forward, whatever you can do to put weight on the tongue.  Jacks, tools, spare tires, pantry full of canned food, coolers, anything behind the axles needs to go as far up as possible. 

Does it squat your truck pretty bad all loaded up?  What are the ride heights unloaded and before/after tensioning the load leveling bars?  Almost all toy haulers will need a sway control device in the wind, but if your trailer is swaying on a calm day once speed goes above a certain speed (63, apparently), something isn't right in the loading or setup.

 
Mine towed pretty well with the VW buggie in it (and my big block Chevelle), but when I put the PSD in it, it got a little unstable (1000 more Lbs than the VW & most of it in the back).  I used weight distribution & it appeared to sit "about the same" but clearly it was not.  I moved the buggy forward a couple of inches & put the anti-Sway on it, that @Dockmaster showed, & it made it much less prone to moving around. 

This past weekend I knew we were having a Santa Ana so going out I had it cranked down pretty good, but coming back it was close to still so I did not have it cranked down @ all.  it was on, but not tight, so If I felt it moving around I could simply pull over & crank it down a bit.

 
This setup towed perfectly straight with or without my 14k Equalizer. 
 

Bumper pulls tow fine if you know what your doing and the axles are not in the middle of the dam trailer like the models mentioned above. 

E4531F6C-1D82-4358-A3A6-5FD7DBD41C10.jpeg

 
Here's a pic empty.  I installed one friction sway bar before trip to G last weekend.  listened to all of you about moving as much weight forward as possible.  Only put approx 5 gallons of water in Black tank and zero in fresh tank and gray was empty.  also loaded the rail like usual drove it in vs back in in and set off.  I also lowered air bags from 60lbs to 30lbs.  Hit some wind on way out and had no sway that I really noticed and I paid close attention to mirrors and how truck handled.  Loaded up with water and more fuel at Red Earth and proceeded to G without a hitch.  

On return trip this past Sunday the wind was a howlin with easily 20mph gusts.  I drained the freshwater tank on wash road and I did not drain gray nor black till I was almost home (200miles)  Encountered serious cross winds at times and it swayed me a few times but nothing that alarmed me.  

I will say the sway bar did a fine job as well as you gents saying move what I could to front.  That wind got nasty at times for sure and had a few sweaty palms but was more concerned about getting blown into the other lane.

I would guess I still need to tinker with bags and WD bars to fine tune but I am close.  Thanks Gents!

Sorry NO IMAGE...trying to upload and chit keeps flipping over and showing upside down.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
JBL said:
Here's a pic empty.  I installed one friction sway bar before trip to G last weekend.  listened to all of you about moving as much weight forward as possible.  Only put approx 5 gallons of water in Black tank and zero in fresh tank and gray was empty.  also loaded the rail like usual drove it in vs back in in and set off.  I also lowered air bags from 60lbs to 30lbs.  Hit some wind on way out and had no sway that I really noticed and I paid close attention to mirrors and how truck handled.  Loaded up with water and more fuel at Red Earth and proceeded to G without a hitch.  

On return trip this past Sunday the wind was a howlin with easily 20mph gusts.  I drained the freshwater tank on wash road and I did not drain gray nor black till I was almost home (200miles)  Encountered serious cross winds at times and it swayed me a few times but nothing that alarmed me.  

I will say the sway bar did a fine job as well as you gents saying move what I could to front.  That wind got nasty at times for sure and had a few sweaty palms but was more concerned about getting blown into the other lane.

I would guess I still need to tinker with bags and WD bars to fine tune but I am close.  Thanks Gents!

Sorry NO IMAGE...trying to upload and chit keeps flipping over and showing upside down.
Click to expand...
There are a couple of hitches that are built to eliminate sway by design, like the Hensley Arrow for one, Andersen for another and a couple of others I can't recall. Or you could add a 2nd friction bar.

https://www.etrailer.com/faq-which-sway-control-hitch.aspx

 
JBL said:
Here's a pic empty.  I installed one friction sway bar before trip to G last weekend.  listened to all of you about moving as much weight forward as possible.  Only put approx 5 gallons of water in Black tank and zero in fresh tank and gray was empty.  also loaded the rail like usual drove it in vs back in in and set off.  I also lowered air bags from 60lbs to 30lbs.  Hit some wind on way out and had no sway that I really noticed and I paid close attention to mirrors and how truck handled.  Loaded up with water and more fuel at Red Earth and proceeded to G without a hitch.  

On return trip this past Sunday the wind was a howlin with easily 20mph gusts.  I drained the freshwater tank on wash road and I did not drain gray nor black till I was almost home (200miles)  Encountered serious cross winds at times and it swayed me a few times but nothing that alarmed me.  

I will say the sway bar did a fine job as well as you gents saying move what I could to front.  That wind got nasty at times for sure and had a few sweaty palms but was more concerned about getting blown into the other lane.

I would guess I still need to tinker with bags and WD bars to fine tune but I am close.  Thanks Gents!

Sorry NO IMAGE...trying to upload and chit keeps flipping over and showing upside down.

Glad you have seen good improvement but your update leaves me with a few questions. You need weight forward but said you left all your tanks empty. Are you saying all your tanks (fresh, grey and black) are all aft of the axles? Do you have something up front that’s heavy and offsets like your kitchen or something? Just seems odd to have all the tanks aft, especially in a toy hauler when you will be adding vehicle/toy weight back aft. 
 

‘You said you only put 5 gals in your black tank? Why do you put water in your black tank to start a trip? I’ve heard of a gallon maybe but why 5 or more? I’ve put a gallon or so to start using the GEO method but that’s about it. I’m asking as maybe I’m missing something I should be doing? 
Click to expand...

 
Dockmaster said:
Glad you have seen good improvement but your update leaves me with a few questions. You need weight forward but said you left all your tanks empty. Are you saying all your tanks (fresh, grey and black) are all aft of the axles? Do you have something up front that’s heavy and offsets like your kitchen or something? Just seems odd to have all the tanks aft, especially in a toy hauler when you will be adding vehicle/toy weight back aft. 
 

‘You said you only put 5 gals in your black tank? Why do you put water in your black tank to start a trip? I’ve heard of a gallon maybe but why 5 or more? I’ve put a gallon or so to start using the GEO method but that’s about it. I’m asking as maybe I’m missing something I should be doing? 
Click to expand...

 
My tanks are forward of the double axles and is a front bed model.  I filled the black water tank at home before trip for 2 reasons, 1. Add weight and 2. let the chems and water swish around to clean tanks.  But again moving the tools, tables just about everything forward even on my front bed helped alot.  The sway bar helped tame it down.  I have only one trip 450 miles total doing this and it was night and day compared to my previous trip to G without making the load corrections suggested here.  Bottom line move all weight forward and get a friction sway bar or two.  

 
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