Had a good tow day today...pics

[07xln]

If you’re talking about the sway control feature built into the actual vehicle, I’m not sure the Expedition has it. I know the trucks do. But it works by detecting the rear of the vehicle swaying and when it reaches a point the ecm will apply the breaks on its own to help stop the sway. It’s more of a safety feature then a true sway control. Even if you do have this feature you still need a good external sway control if you’re going to be towing with a WDH

 

[chuck s]

From what I can tell there are no "sway control settings" on the Expedition. Nothing to set. All done automatically apparently with blue smoke and mirrors. Of course "sway" is a misnomer. The better term is fish tailing!

Equalizer is by no means the current state-of-the art, there are hitches by Hensley that claim to be (that's a link). Prices increase as you progress from chain/sway bar to Equalizer to Hensley. At some point you need to decide what's enough. Properly set they all seem to work so it depends on your level of comfort. When backing a sliding sway control bar on the side of the trailer tongue can compress to the rigid point and break off or damage your truck or trailer. Best practice is to remove it before backing. Jackknife the trailer and something will break. And don't forget to connect it before going forward.

We need WDHs on our trucks if tongue weight exceeds 600 pounds.

There are some very interesting sway control schemes in Europe and Australia which apply the trailer brakes on one side or the other depending on how far off center the trailer gets to a straight tow line. Mechanical cables and maybe some hydraulic versions.

-- Chuck

 

[B-McD]

From the 2016 Owners Manual: TRAILER SWAY CONTROL WARNING Turning off trailer sway control increases the risk of loss of vehicle control, serious injury or death. Ford does not recommend disabling this feature except in situations where speed reduction may be detrimental (such as hill climbing), the driver has significant trailer towing experience, and can control trailer sway and maintain safe operation. Note: This feature does not prevent trailer sway, but reduces it once it begins. Note: This feature cannot stop all trailers from swaying. Note: In some cases, if vehicle speed is too high, the system may activate multiple times, gradually reducing vehicle speed. This feature applies your vehicle brakes at individual wheels and, if necessary, reduces engine power. If the trailer begins to sway, the stability control light flashes and the message TRAILER SWAY REDUCE SPEED appears in the information display. The first thing to do is slow your vehicle down, then pull safely to the side of the road and check for proper tongue load and trailer load distribution. See Load Carrying (page 196).

 

[ExpeditionAndy]

From the 2016 Owners Manual: TRAILER SWAY CONTROL WARNING Turning off trailer sway control increases the risk of loss of vehicle control, serious injury or death. Ford does not recommend disabling this feature except in situations where speed reduction may be detrimental (such as hill climbing), the driver has significant trailer towing experience, and can control trailer sway and maintain safe operation. Note: This feature does not prevent trailer sway, but reduces it once it begins. Note: This feature cannot stop all trailers from swaying. Note: In some cases, if vehicle speed is too high, the system may activate multiple times, gradually reducing vehicle speed. This feature applies your vehicle brakes at individual wheels and, if necessary, reduces engine power. If the trailer begins to sway, the stability control light flashes and the message TRAILER SWAY REDUCE SPEED appears in the information display. The first thing to do is slow your vehicle down, then pull safely to the side of the road and check for proper tongue load and trailer load distribution. See Load Carrying (page 196).

You can't argue with the owner's manual.

 

[Muddy Bean]

Mine has it (2015 EL Limited).


Incidentally, towed my grandmothers car to the salvage yard today. Truck is getting a workout this week.


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[chuck s]

OK. There is a setting. Binary, though, not adjustable. 1/0 On/Off

This is either On by default or I activated it months ago and haven't given it another thought since.

-- Chuck

 

[07xln]

I'll have to check mine in a little bit when I leave

 

[bobmbx]

You can't argue with the owner's manual.

Hang around awhile.....

 

[Muddy Bean]

When he took the car off my trailer he had me worried for a second...



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[JExpedition07]

That poor car..... you can feel its sadness through the video... hate seeing them go to their end. I’m with you on the unloading i wouldn’t have liked that one bit so close to the truck hanging on one fork lol.

 

[Michael McC]

If you have trouble with trailer sway, first make sure that you have enough tongue weight. It should be around 10% of total weight (trailer and load), although I have towed 9,000 lbs. of boat with only 550 pounds of tongue weight (around town and short 20-mile highway jaunts) the past few years without sway issues. Did this with my 2003 Exp. FX4 and the new 2016 King Ranch 4x4.

If the trailer sways while you are driving, you should reach up on the dash and activate the trailer brake carefully (i.e. slow down using the trailer's brakes). Hitting the brakes on the tow vehicle might worsen the sway, especially if your trailer brake setting is too low.

Set your trailer brakes so that it surprises you a little how quickly you are decelerating. The trailer should feel a little like it is stopping the tow vehicle, not the other way around. First time I towed with the King Ranch the trailer brake was set on 10. I hit the brakes and the trailer brakes locked up and skidded until I came to a stop, even after I let off the brake! I find that 4 or 4.5 is about right with my horse trailer and with the boat.

 

[07xln]

I got mine set on 8 for my toy hauler. I need to adjust the brakes on my trailer. They haven’t been adjusted in a couple years and are due I’m sure

 

[Muddy Bean]

Set mine to 10 for the hauling I’ve shown in the pictures. Trailer does stop quickly but without any tire skidding.


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[07xln]

Yeah even at 10 I can’t get my trailer wheels to lock up and they should with that much gain set. I believe the procedure to set it right is to get the wheels to lock up then back off the gain just enough where they almost lock up then your good. I love that about the Expedition how you can setup multiple trailers with different settings. I have my toy hauler at 8 and my flat bed car hauler on 5.

 

[chuck s]

If you can't lock the trailer brakes at full gain they're not adjusted properly or perhaps worn out.

I have my travel trailer wheel bearings cleaned and repacked every other year. Every year proved unnecessary but the routine maintenance is vital. With the brakes adjusted gain in the Expedition is 4.5. Set procedure is in the manual. With the brakes warmed up run a steady 25mph speed and activate the brake override. Increase until they lock at that speed then back off a bit. Start at mid range or where you were last year. See pages 209+ in my 2017 owners manual. Lots of good information there including what's displayed on the dashboard. A very slick system.

Note you use the manual override when setting the brakes, not the brake pedal.

-- Chuck

 

[07xln]

Its like a broken record in here lol!

 

[nonsense]

While I’m in no way knocking the equalizer brand of wd hitches. I don’t see the issue with traditional bar & chain setups and a separate sway control. Both do their jobs and do them well. Plus my setup is about $300 less than the Equalizer.

I didn't either until I got an Equal-i-zer when my old system started to wear out. It's like night and day towing with it vs the old chain and friction sway setup. I got mine for under $500 shipped.

 

[07xln]

WHat exactly wore out?

 

[nonsense]

WHat exactly wore out?

It's a really old Reese WDH where the round bars go through slotted holes. The holes in the head were getting oval from wear (it was old when I got it and I put maybe 5000 miles on it). This would cause it to clunk when turning or braking.

 

[Muddy Bean]

It’s snowed 6 inches here in Michigan so I realized after cracking the whip a couple of times that I need to always remember to reduce my gain a lot on snowy roads!!


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