sway control

[belanajeff]

I purchased a Reese sway control because once I mounted bike rack on back of trailer I experienced sway. Only problem, the instructions say to mount sway control 24" from tongue, which puts it directly on the pivot point of the swing-away tongue of trailer! Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

Jeff
2006 2720 SD
2003 Toyota 4Runner

[Keith Wire]

Jeff,

I'm sure others will chime in about how to set up your sway control, but I'd be concerned about having a sway problem after adding your bicycles to the rear of the trailer.

In my limited experience I only had a sway problem when there wasn't enough weight on the tongue of the trailer I was pulling. I nearly lost everything pulling a load of Christmas trees on a utility trailer that was "BADLY LOADED".

You might want to check the tongue weight with the bikes loaded and make sure you don't have a problem there before you add sway control.

Keith

[Wavery]

Jeff,

I'm sure others will chime in about how to set up your sway control, but I'd be concerned about having a sway problem after adding your bicycles to the rear of the trailer.

In my limited experience I only had a sway problem when there wasn't enough weight on the tongue of the trailer I was pulling. I nearly lost everything pulling a load of Christmas trees on a utility trailer that was "BADLY LOADED".

You might want to check the tongue weight with the bikes loaded and make sure you don't have a problem there before you add sway control.

Keith

This is exactly why adding the bikes to the rear is causing sway. The axle being the fulcrum point, adding weight to the rear is subtracting weight from the tongue.

One way to resolve the issue is to add more weight forward (fill the water tank etc) or at least try to redistribute some of the weight that you presently carry (don't store anything on the rear floor, inside. Make sure everything on the floor is forward). I can see where this could be challenging on the "SL" model because your battery is in the rear and you have little potential for increasing tongue weight.

The one obstacle that you must be aware of is that adding more weight to counter the bikes on the rear may exceed your tire and/or axle weight limits. This may be a good time to head to the scales to see exactly what you are dealing with.