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Old 11-16-2008, 01:33 PM   #11
mtnguy
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I weighed our 2720 lightly loaded for camping ( no food or clothes, but everything else) and the tongue weight was 480 lbs. I later added a 2nd battery to the tongue, and with the addition of fresh water in the tank, I betcha I was close to 600 lbs. on the tongue when heading to the boonies. I don't consider that excessive for a Trailmanor. The heavy tongue weight, and the wheels placed a little further back are supposed to add to it's stability on the road. But.......if you don't have a WDH setup with that kinda tongue weight on lighter pickups, then that may cause the swaying. I would actually "tweak" my WDH setup on the road (add or subtract a chain length) to see what felt the best with the load I was carrying.....and I could tell a difference.

If it were me, I would by a WDH that you could add sway control later.....just in case the WDH alone doesn't work.

Chap
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Old 11-16-2008, 05:07 PM   #12
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As Chap says, 300 pounds of tongue weight is much too little. Expect more like 450 or 500. The standard 10% rule that I suspect you are using isn't appropriate for TMs. In addition, it sounds like you are using 10% of the advertised dry weight, not 10% of the loaded weight, so it is doubly in error.

As for tire pressure, the door sticker in the tow vehicle lists a "comfort / cushy ride" inflation. If you use it while towing, you are underinflated. A good rule of thumb when towing is to inflate to the maximum pressure stated on the sidewall of the tire. I know my Explorer feels a bit squirrelly when inflated to the cushy pressure, but very stable at the max sidewall pressure.

Finally, if you are unsure about sway control, I suggest you buy a "dual cam" WDH. Draw-Tite and Reese are good manufacturers, but there are others. These have a little bend in the end of the spring bars that lets you add sway control later, for little money, if you decide you need it. Rocky Mountain Ray mentions dual cam in his article on sway control in the TM Reference Library (aka TM Info You Won't Find Anywhere Else).

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Old 11-16-2008, 06:34 PM   #13
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Bill and Mountain Guy....you've given me the best advice so far.

BTW, we checked and have LT tires. Two propane tanks and a battery on tongue and you've confirmed what we thought about the weight. So WDH is the way to go and sway bar if needed. Both of our TV's (one of which is going away) are considered "light" trucks. I swear that at 65 to 70 mph on I-75 and a transfer truck passes you, it is just as if his/her slipstream is sucking the trailer toward their vehicle!

Will let you folks know the outcome as we're picking up final TV tomorrow (from the mechanic) and ordered WDH today.

Again, thanks so much. We only brought up the axle thing because someone at a camp said they'd bought a trailer of which only 700 were made because they went out of business....bad design, poor axle placement. Never thought that TM would have that problem but, who knows?

Wonderful forum folks and thanks to all who responded!!!!!!!
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Old 11-16-2008, 07:18 PM   #14
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You have covered many of the obvious possible problems. The only time that I have had trailer sway was too little weight on the tongue of the trailer when I was hauling a boat or utility trailer. Since a Trailmanor has a lot of weight on the tongue by the nature of its design, the only thing left that I can suggest is that your placement of camping gear, water, extra battery(?), generator, rear hitch, or other heavy camping gear has upset the needed balance of weight. The single axle acts like a lever so that weight placed further from the axle has a greater effect than that same weight only a foot from the axle. There is a small possibilty that you could have only 200 to 300 pounds on the tongue which would be very difficult to lift, but not enough to give stability.
Suggestion 1. There is a way to measure tongue weight using a bathroom scale that requires a few other cheap pieces so the scale shares the weight. Maybe someone else knows where to find this method. I can't remember where I saw it.
Suggestion 2. Remove the generator and carrier from the rear of the trailer and see if that makes a difference.
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Old 11-17-2008, 08:58 AM   #15
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There are several ways to make a trailer prone to swaying:

- The trailer tongue is unweighted by a load that's too far aft (not usually a problem with TrailManors).
- A high center of gravity in the tow vehicle or the trailer (not usually a problem with TrailManors).
- Weight in the back of the tow vehicle is unloading the front wheels (tongue weight plus load in the back of the tow vehicle) (this is almost always a problem with TrailManors, and a weight distributing hitch is mandatory for almost all of us).
- Driving faster makes everything bad about towing get worse.

(High side winds can be a towing problem, too)

In general, TrailManors don't sway much. If a trailer sways, I would address any weight and load distribution issues immediately.

And no matter what else, a swaying load is trying to tell you that your vehicle is unstable.
- If you are having difficulty controlling your vehicle in circumstances you consider ordinary, what's the plan for adventures that are worse than ordinary?
- If you're on the road and you're swaying, no matter what the cause, you need to slow down until you don't sway, whether that means slowing to 55 or to 25!
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Old 11-17-2008, 09:29 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SCBillandJane View Post
Suggestion 1. There is a way to measure tongue weight using a bathroom scale that requires a few other cheap pieces so the scale shares the weight. Maybe someone else knows where to find this method. I can't remember where I saw it.
Here is the method for weighing the tongue on a set of bathroom scales:
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Old 11-17-2008, 09:33 AM   #17
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Rookie -

I think the thread has diverged a bit from your original question. To summarize what I think you said
1. when a big truck passes you, the TM gets "sucked in" toward it
2. the "suck in" phenomenon does NOT induce sway

In my experience, the "suck in" phenomenon is real - my TM does it as well - but it has never resulted in sway. It does require the driver to be attentive to the steering, since you will end up closer to that truck than you expected

Again, what you describe is not sway, so a sway bar will not prevent it.

Finally, if you increase the tire pressure in your tow vehicle, and maintain pressure in the TM tires at the recommended level, and still feel that you need a sway bar - try to avoid one of the friction sway bars such as the Reese bar. Again, Rocky Mountain Ray discusses the merits and shortcomings of friction sway control in his tutorial in the Reference Library.

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Old 11-17-2008, 10:02 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rookie View Post
I swear that at 65 to 70 mph on I-75 and a transfer truck passes you, it is just as if his/her slipstream is sucking the trailer toward their vehicle!
Those big trucks are pushing a lot of air out of the way so they can occupy that same space going down the road. The displaced air does weird things as it goes down the side of the truck....and other vehicles close to it. It also ends up as unstable air behind the truck....something you can feel if you get too close to the rear of the truck.

When a truck passed my Trailmanor fast and close, I too could feel the pull towards the truck, but not a lot. I can also fell the pull on my vehicle without the Trailmanor, but not as much of course. We recently purchased a 28' conventional travel trailer, and I was dreading the thought of this pull and also cross winds that I have read so much about on different RV sites. The 1st 30 miles or so of the maiden voyage of pouring rain, wind, and city interstate back from the dealer in Richmond, VA. left grip marks on the steering wheel and a crease in the driver's seat....well maybe not quite that bad. But after that initial part of the trip, I settled down and got more comfortable with driving the combo. I could definately fell the "magnet" thing when a big truck passed, but kinda got used to it and allowed for that pull. I found out when I got home that the dealership had not even set up the WDH and sway control to where it was very functional. Out of a 640 tongue weight, they had only lightened the tongue by 40 lbs, resulting a 240 lose of weight on my front axle, and additional 840 lbs of weight to the rear axle. I have been adjusting the setup since then to get the weight better distributed.

To make a short story long , I think a little of that "pulling" effect of big trucks is probably normal. A big "pull" where it feels dangerous is not normal. The WDH should really help that, and if it doesn't then maybe a sway control is in order. And not knowing if your dealership will take the time to set up your WDH correctly, a trip to the local quarry or CAT scales wouldn't hurt to make sure you get your combo set up correctly.

Chap

Oops, Bill posted while I was composing my response, but it looks like we are on the same page.
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Old 11-30-2008, 02:28 PM   #19
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Two weeks ago I towed mine with my F150 in a pretty wicked north wind with no WDH and no sway control. A little bit of sway when the wind was directly cross, but nothing to worry about (as opposed to my old 27' TT).

Have you checked your tongue weight? If you're too light, your trailer could get squirrely.
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