Troubleshooting Sway on a 2008 Ford F350 Towing a Trailer with Weight Distribution System

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Question:

We have a 2008 F350 Superduty. Bought it last fall so for our first outing this year we hooked up the camper and have terrible sway. Scary, terrible sway. We had sway it last year with our other truckbefore we bought the Dual cals, but we believed it was the truck tires P not LT. So we got a bigger, stronger truck just for the added pull confidence. I believe we have all appropriately sized WD stuff hitch, ball, shank and bars When we hooked up..the rear pedbegan at 43 1/2 about 1 inch with 8 links, 3/4 inch with 7 links and the front end never ped. It stayed at 41 1/2. Does this mean something is not set right? We have our head tipped towards the back of camper almost all of the way. The appropriate space between the trunnion bar tipinch and the ground. Trailer is completely level. We are at a loss of what it could be. We tried alot of fine tuning and different hitch angles, diff links and the fornt end had never moved from pre hook up height, just the back end. Camper specs are 850 hitch weight I assume they mean tongue Camper dry weght is 6254, GVWR is 7850. We have 1400 lb TW shank reese 3210, trunnion hitch head reese # 58167 good for 600-1700 lb TW and trunnion bars 1200lb. Any ideas would be tremendous. At this point we have an appt. to take it to get the set up done by the dealer.

asked by: Scott S

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Expert Reply:

A couple things stood out to me when I read your email. The first thing is, you did not mention how you had the weight distributed in your trailer. The best way to fight sway is by proper trailer loading. The more weight you can put on the front of your trailer the better chance you have of eliminating sway.

The next thing is that you never listed your fully loaded tongue. In order to pick out the best weight distribution system you need to know the tongue weight of the setup when it is fully loaded and ready to go. You also have to consider the weight of any cargo behind your rear axle. You listed the dry weight of your trailer as 850 lbs and that you have 1,200 lb spring bars. You may find that you are overloading your spring bars, which would explain why it seems like the adjustments you have tried are not making any difference.

If I were you I would first determine the tongue weight of your setup and then get back to me with that information and we will go from there.

I attached an FAQ article on determining tongue weight for you to check out.

expert reply by: Jameson C

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Scott S.

4/21/2013

ok so we got our loaded tongue weight by doing the bathroom scale method. I come up with approximately 960 lbs. That is strictly trailer loaded weight. Do I need to account for anything in the back of tow vehicle as well? We have a dirt bike that we take to the track with us plus a generator...300lbs max for those 2 items that are put in rear of pickup truck. The truck says it has 11,200 GVWR and the GCWR is 23,000. .

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Patrick B.

4/25/2013

Anything behind the rear axle in the tow vehicle counts against the tongue weight capacity. 960 pounds is the loaded tongue weight. Loaded properly, tongue weight should equal 10-15 percent of the trailer total weight. GVWR on the trailer is 7850, meaning that the trailer when fully loaded cannot weigh more than 7850lbs. If so the trailer is overloaded and the suspension on the trailer is not performing correctly. I am wondering if 7 or 8 links on the chain is too much slack or the system is not set right. From the components you mentioned it sounds pretty similar to the setup of the RP66006 system. I have added a link to that kit so you can view the instructions, link on the product page, to make sure you are set up properly. It would also be worth measuring the truck wheel well heights when completely empty, then hook up the trailer and WD.

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Troubleshooting Sway on a 2008 Ford F350 Towing a Trailer with Weight Distribution System

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