Trailer Sway Control questions

[tominwi]

As an RV dealership service manager, I recommend that anyone using a W/D hitch inspect what you expect. In other words, assume that it has "not" been set up correctly and go through the drill of checking all settings yourself. Tominwi you may experience excessive porpoising with the Blue Ox hitch while towing with the Expedition, if so, the Equalizer brand and some others can offer a better towing experience with that tow vehicle.

I am inexperienced w/TT towing and have never heard the term "porpoising" used before, but presumably it means the sensation of the trailer "pulling" and "releasing" which indeed I did feel a few times on my (so far) one experience with this setup, that was driving it home for over an hour first on side streets but then mostly four lanes divided speed limit 70. It was only "noticeable" to me a few times but never "concerning" in re: control or anything, but again I am a rookie with this whole setup. Heck I haven't even driven the Expy long enough to know where all the controls are and what they do...

I guess I can surf on this but if you could explain briefly the reason(s) the Track Pro design is inferior to "the Equalizer" or any others I would very much appreciate that. And if you (or anyone) know any technique for making the Blue Ox "better" that would be great too.

FWIW I was present for the tech's explanation of the measuring of the bracket locations, and installation of the bars (which I took off again of course when returning home) and it all looked (and felt) good to me i.e. at the end of my maiden ride I felt the experience to be "a piece of cake" and a lot of fun actually, despite that it was a windy day.

 

[ms136]

Porpoising is characterized by a front to rear bounce of the tow vehicle after hitting a bump. Porpoising and a general bounce at the rear of the tow vehicle with high tongue weights seems more pronounced on short WB Expeditions when hitches with tapered spring bars are used. We have found that hitches which use spring bars that have a consistent shape from end to end do a better job of mitigating these issues, but there are many other factors that have been well presented in this thread to consider as well. I'm glad to hear your maiden tow was enjoyable, at end of the day that's the goal.

 

[tominwi]

Thank you @ms136 for that...it is appreciated. I did surf on "porpoising" after yr post and "bounce" is not how I'd have described what I was experiencing; it felt like I was pulling with bungees/rubber bands it seems. Probably the same thing I suppose. I don't recall the effect came specifically with bumps-in-the-road though. I guess I will surf some more and pay closer attention in the future before spending more $$ on WDH. Or maybe there are aftermarket spring bars I might try instead.

I must admit I probably didn't learn much on this maiden effort--virtually all highway relatively flat and corner/tight-curve free...

Can't deny that in the final stages of purchasing the TT, the salesman wanted to sell me the most expensive WDH they had I think--two (Blue Ox only models iirc) were on display and the Track Pro looked smaller and was cheaper and I said "let's do this one" w/o further discussion about it. Not one of my best decisions perhaps, but after all the time spent looking/discussing/negotiating etc. I just wanted outta there TBH.

 

[tominwi]

Interesting item in my WDH instruction guide. Dunno how to do this on my Expy or what it's about--another thing to investigate. Must be that Blue Ox thinks they could fight each other or ?

For all truck models with factory sway control, it is suggested that the sway control be disabled for the best performance of the Blue Ox® TrackPro™.

 

[Calidad]

Electronic sway control is just stability control systems with some logic tied to bad trailer behavior. The very basic concept simply cuts power and prevents the driver from speeding up.

Sway is a instability that occurs as speed increases. The faster you go the more inherent stability you need in the vehicle to not sway.

Add in environmental conditions like winds, poor road conditions that also affect stability and you have the filling bucket effect. You have different sources of water filling up the bucket when it gets full you get sway.

The very very very first controllable factor is just speed. Slow down reduce sway or instability factors.

 

[ms136]

Interesting item in my WDH instruction guide. Dunno how to do this on my Expy or what it's about--another thing to investigate. Must be that Blue Ox thinks they could fight each other or ?

For all truck models with factory sway control, it is suggested that the sway control be disabled for the best performance of the Blue Ox® TrackPro™.

I'm not sure why Blue Ox makes that recommendation, I personally use an Equalizer, that recommendation doesn't appear in their literature. Unlike the W/D hitch which we expect to prevent sway, integrated sway control is reactive, it's a last-ditch effort to maintain control and keep everything right side up. Using yaw sensors on the tow vehicle, the system is always monitoring for sway. If sufficient sway is detected, it will activate trailer brakes and specific brakes on tow vehicle to mitigate the sway. I have never turned mine off and thankfully it has never been called on to activate. Actually, if you're tongue weight is 10-15% of the trailer weight you should never experience critical sway. The push-pull that you feel while towing is best remedied with a heavier tow vehicle, you'll get used to it.

 

[tominwi]

...the sway. I have never turned mine off and thankfully it has never been called on to activate...

But how can you tell whether-or-when it activates?

 

[chuck s]

Sway warning/messages depend on the model. According to my owners manual mine will display a "Trailer Sway Reduce Speed" message in the "Information display panel." Never seen it nor have I physically experienced trailer sway with this Expedition and any trailer including brakeless small boat and utility trailers and surge brake UHauls.

With my 23' travel trailer I'm using the Equalizer WDH and Ford factory integrated brake controller. With this same trailer and my earlier Explorer and Expedition which lacked the integrated brake controllers and sway control I used the Tekonsha Prodigy brake controller.

-- Chuck

 

[tominwi]

Sway warning/messages depend on the model. According to my owners manual mine will display a "Trailer Sway Reduce Speed" message in the "Information display panel."

Well, duh I should have RTFM. Just as soon as I finish War & Peace I will get into my 644-page owner manual.

Good grief there it is in my very first post of this thread.

I think I might be suffering from information overload these daze.

 

[chuck s]

Download the digital (PDF) version of the manual and use the search function. The word "sway" occurs 15 times. This qualifies for RTFM but takes very little time. My manual is only 496 pages. The service manual for the little car in the photo on the left is 1970 pages so I use the digital version to find what I need and then use the chain hoist to get the printed manual out of the tool chest.

-- Chuck