How to Address Sway When Towing a Trailer with a Trailer

Question:

I am wanting to pull a trailer behind my tongue pull toy hauler would a king pin type setup eliminate the second trailer swing? essentially making it like a semi-trailer set-up or is there any other suggestion to eliminate the second trailer from sway

asked by: Richard

Expert Reply:

Towing a trailer with a trailer can be tricky at best and some states prohibit this practice. Sway from the second trailer will be unavoidable in this kind of set-up. The rear of the toy hauler will tend to introduce motion at the second trailer's tongue and this in turn will lead to its rear end moving. It is possible to install a friction sway control system like # 83660 on the second trailer but this is not likely to help and may even cause handling issues from the toy hauler.

You may be able to slightly reduce the tendency for sway by careful loading of the trailers' contents. You want your loaded trailer's tongue weights (TW) to be about 15-percent of their gross weights. If your TW is less than 15-percent you can try shifting your cargo load to increase the TW in both trailers. Increasing TW can sometime help to reduce trailer sway.

expert reply by: Adam R