Will Upgraded Weight Distribution System Improve Sway Control

Question:

I currently have the Curt TruTrack C17500. It worked great when I had my diesel, but due to an increased family size I had to change vehicles to an Expedition EL. All the ratings are within tolerance, but I believe the shorter wheelbase of the tow vehicle is causing increased sway. I upgraded to E-rated tires and added SumoSprings, which helped drastically. However, theres still more sway than Id like. Im thinking about adding on a friction style C17200 sway control as well. Have you heard of anyone doing this? Do you see any issues? Or, would it be better to get something like a Trunnion style WDH and just add friction sway controls on both sides?

asked by: Nick P

Expert Reply:

Your Curt TruTrack Weight Distribution System # C17500 already has sway control with its spring bars so adding the Curt Friction Sway Control # 17200 would not provide you with additional sway, it would essentially be redundant.

Sway won't really be completely eliminated with these units but it should greatly minimize it; if you are experiencing more sway than usual it is possible your Curt system may not be rated high enough and an upgraded system would help improve sway. To know if your # C17500, with its 1,000 lb tongue weight capacity is correctly rated, you will first need to know your total tongue weight (TTW), which is the tongue weight of your fully loaded and ready to go trailer plus the weight of any cargo behind the rear axle of your Expedition.

The tongue weight is typically between 10% and 15% of your trailer's GVWR but you'll want to verify it by using a scale such as the etrailer # e99044 or by using one of the methods outlined in the help article on determining tongue weight I've linked for you. From there, simply add on the weight of the cargo behind the rear axle of your tow vehicle and you'll have your TTW. The ideal system would be one in which your TTW would fall somewhere in the middle of the weight distribution system's tongue weight capacity.

Since you mentioned a new tow vehicle with a larger family it is possible you have more cargo weight behind your axle than with your truck, or maybe increased cargo weight in the trailer, which would mean your old Curt system may not be rated high enough.

If that is the case you can upgrade to the Curt TruTrack Weight Distribution System w/ Sway Control # C17501 which is for total tongue weights between 1,000 lbs and 1,500 lbs. I contacted Curt to see if you could simply upgrade to higher-rated spring bars but replacing those would not increase the capacity of your # C17500 system because the head unit would still limit your capacity overall.