Towing from South Jersey to TN and back

[JF19Longhorn]

The trailer is technically it's a 20x8.5 10k rated enclosed (3,350lb empty), but the front V is 5.5' long with a second ramp door.. we had 7 people's worth of luggage inside the trailer along with 4 motorcycles and gear. She was probably just shy of 7k loaded and I had nothing in the truck but 3 people. (1374 payload) Truck was slightly overloaded but one driver/car bailed last minute and I had to take the extra people with me.

*Truck: Crewcab, 3.92s, long bed, Hemi/Etrq, Bilsteins all around, hellwig sway bar, wdh with sway control. Had the OEM tires within 5psi of max.

It was not a fun tow. There was a decent amount of wind, which caused a small amount of push(?) when it gusted or when semi's went by. No amount of adjusting the wdh or load would get rid of..combine that with the sustained high rpm the Hemi needed to maintain a safe hwy speed and it kept me from ever really relaxing on the whole 11hr tow.



I couldn't imagine trying to tow heavier with this truck. Think before we do a trip like this again, I'm either going to have to take less bikes and try a different tire, or just get a better truck.

 

[IvoryHemi]

hit a cat scale with the loaded trailer. Then adjust the WDH accordingly

Doesn’t matter if you were within 5psi of max on the tires, you have the factory 20’s with the (SL) standard load index sidewalls. They are too soft to handle sway from tall, long trailers. You’ll want a minimum of XL load index

 

[cj7]

That’s a nice rig!
How good is your WDH at anti-sway? What was the tongue weight?
What was the truck front tire loading when the trailer was fully loaded?
How much of the trailer weight was behind the trailer axles?
These will make more of a difference...

i don’t buy the “sidewall flex” argument, especially given they.re low profile. I tow a 29’ travel trailer @ 6900#, 11’ tall with the same truck, same OEM tires and feel pretty comfortable going MD thru the NYC bridges up north, having semi’s blow by, etc. I have spent a fair amount of time at the scales, getting the WDH right, and always up the rear tires to 45# cold when towing. I have also towed with E rated A/T 3PMSF winter tires, and there was little difference in sway. I also drag a 16’ Neo cargo, 7’ tall with a 2’ v, and while that is lighter, it’s actually wider. I use different spring bars for each rig, watch fore/aft loading, and adjust trailer tire pressure to match the load. That setup, even at >6k was great to pull.

I immediately replace the cheap importEd tires that the OEMs put on trailers these days. I’ve found Goodyear Endurance tires (one load rating up) to track well, handle load well (I have trailer tpms with temp monitoring) and to be very reliable.

i think with a little TLC, you’ll make it work.

 

[JF19Longhorn]

I did not get to scale it before we left. Just measured drop on the truck once loaded, before/after setting up the wdh.

I had 1/2" drop on the steer axle, 1 1/2" drop on the drive axle, and the trailer was around 1" nose down after setting up the wdh.

Truck tires were at 46f-48r psi, trailer tires were at 60psi.

I'll have to scale it before we attempt this again.

 

[JF19Longhorn]

Oh, WDH is a FastAway E2, with builtin Sway control.

 

[cj7]

Sounds pretty good. Weight distro seems effective. I’m not a big fan of hitches hat rely on fixed/non-adjustable friction for sway control - you can’t compensate for when water, grease, wear, etc reduce the anti-sway effect. But it still should be providing enough friction to reduce sway.

Just guessing, but I bet working on weight distro in the trailer might help. And double check security/alignment of trailer axles.

What else, guys?

 

[Gitter]

You described my first towing experience when I had stock tires and our new travel trailer. Outside of getting your WDH setup correct, upgrading the tires to E rated/10 ply tires is the next best thing you can do with the truck. It made a huge difference in stability for me (even when I wasn't towing too)!