Trailer sway with air ride

[IvoryHemi]

I am about to get my first travel trailer after thinking about it for almost a decade. from what I have read, the ram 1500 auto-leveling air suspension can work great with weight distribution, if and only if you set it up correctly. from what I can tell here are the must do's, at least for the equalizer hitch:
1. start with trailer frame level and truck level at normal ride height and tire jack mode turned ON (which disables any load leveling of the air suspension)
2. trailer ball and coupler need to be at same height
3. based on front wheel well height change, you need to adjust the amount of weight distribution to get back to at least 66% of height change (per ram manual) or up to 100% per equalizer recommendations based on their testing
4. use tow/haul mode which should disable aero ride height mode, (if not do it manually in the settings) which if engaged it would lower the truck at hwy speed and alter (increase) the amount of weight distribution

I find towing better in Aero mode instead of Normal.

 

[suvowner]

I find towing better in Aero mode instead of Normal.

towing what and with or without weight distribution ?

in what way better ?

 

[IvoryHemi]

towing what and with or without weight distribution ?

in what way better ?

33’8” and 8200 lbs loaded. Yes with a WDH (12k with 1,200 lb bars Equalizer)

It think it feels more stable in Aero.

 

[suvowner]

ok thanks good info. from how I understand it, by going from normal to aero that slight drop in ride height would slightly increase the amount of weight distribution, therefore distributing a little more weight onto the front axle, thus improving steering/sway control. I would guess it might be a way to slightly increase the amount of distribution compared to normal ride height, without having to adjust the hitch bar up or down a hole. that would be an interesting thing to test out on a cat scale.

doesn't the tow/haul mode disable aero mode though ?

thanks

 

[IvoryHemi]

ok thanks good info. from how I understand it, by going from normal to aero that slight drop in ride height would slightly increase the amount of weight distribution, therefore distributing a little more weight onto the front axle, thus improving steering/sway control. I would guess it might be a way to slightly increase the amount of distribution compared to normal ride height, without having to adjust the hitch bar up or down a hole. that would be an interesting thing to test out on a cat scale.

doesn't the tow/haul mode disable aero mode though ?

thanks

If you have automatic Aero mode on, then Tow/Haul will disable it.

If you have automatic Aero mode off, then Tow/Haul makes no difference to suspension settings

 

[Trooper4]

View attachment 105282

33’8” and 8200 lbs loaded. Yes with a WDH (12k with 1,200 lb bars Equalizer)

It think it feels more stable in Aero.

Tow my fiver in aereo and it "FEELS GOOD" . But then, I have the Hellwig also.

 

[Bt10]

There are a couple aftermarket panhard rods out there that come with either polyurethane bushings or actual Heim joints. Has anyone tried one yet?

 

[MaximumEffort]

The only thing that bugs me is the wiggle in the truck cab as a result of constant wind pushing on open highways and Interstates doing 60-70mph. The constant minor steering corrections and minor ab workout is sometimes fatiguing. I have done the WDH adjustments per Equalizer's instructions for air suspension systems and tow in Aero mode. We have a 28' rear kitchen TT which I have heard can be finicky. I thought about putting a Hellwig sway bar on the Ram but not sure if that is just sinking money and effort into little to no change.

 

[IvoryHemi]

The only thing that bugs me is the wiggle in the truck cab as a result of constant wind pushing on open highways and Interstates doing 60-70mph. The constant minor steering corrections and minor ab workout is sometimes fatiguing. I have done the WDH adjustments per Equalizer's instructions for air suspension systems and tow in Aero mode. We have a 28' rear kitchen TT which I have heard can be finicky. I thought about putting a Hellwig sway bar on the Ram but not sure if that is just sinking money and effort into little to no change.

how many washers are you using?

do you have a picture of your setup?

Any weight slips?

 

[Nick57]

I find this thread interesting... I've towed with a multitude of different vehicles and trailers for 22 years now. Minus the Semi's a used to run my current Ram does a great job with every trailer I've put on it so far. Better then some old 3/4 and 1 ton's at that! All with OUT a weight distribution hitch. I find just having the hitch at the right height and the load properly placed on the trailer makes all the difference. I'm not experiencing any of this sway when things are properly set up. The only time I had a nasty sway was with my buddies food trailer I moved for him. That was only an issue until I reset the height on my hitch and the sway was completely gone just by dropping my hitch an inch. (there's a scale on it so I know I'm not exceeding any tongue weight.) The thing you have to watch with these air suspensions is that they auto level themselves so it can be tricky to see how the weight is loaded on the tongue and if it's with in the percentage it should with out a scale. Remember the angle on your trailer is VERY important to how it will behave going down the road and how much tongue weight you'll have. If anything I would recommend an adjustable hitch with a scale on it MORE than a weight distribution hitch especially with the air ride suspensions.

 

[Trooper4]

I find this thread interesting... I've towed with a multitude of different vehicles and trailers for 22 years now. Minus the Semi's a used to run my current Ram does a great job with every trailer I've put on it so far. Better then some old 3/4 and 1 ton's at that! All with OUT a weight distribution hitch. I find just having the hitch at the right height and the load properly placed on the trailer makes all the difference. I'm not experiencing any of this sway when things are properly set up. The only time I had a nasty sway was with my buddies food trailer I moved for him. That was only an issue until I reset the height on my hitch and the sway was completely gone just by dropping my hitch an inch. (there's a scale on it so I know I'm not exceeding any tongue weight.) The thing you have to watch with these air suspensions is that they auto level themselves so it can be tricky to see how the weight is loaded on the tongue and if it's with in the percentage it should with out a scale. Remember the angle on your trailer is VERY important to how it will behave going down the road and how much tongue weight you'll have. If anything I would recommend an adjustable hitch with a scale on it MORE than a weight distribution hitch especially with the air ride suspensions.

Apples and oranges. Towing with the air suspension on these rams is totally different.

 

[Trooper4]

I find this thread interesting... I've towed with a multitude of different vehicles and trailers for 22 years now. Minus the Semi's a used to run my current Ram does a great job with every trailer I've put on it so far. Better then some old 3/4 and 1 ton's at that! All with OUT a weight distribution hitch. I find just having the hitch at the right height and the load properly placed on the trailer makes all the difference. I'm not experiencing any of this sway when things are properly set up. The only time I had a nasty sway was with my buddies food trailer I moved for him. That was only an issue until I reset the height on my hitch and the sway was completely gone just by dropping my hitch an inch. (there's a scale on it so I know I'm not exceeding any tongue weight.) The thing you have to watch with these air suspensions is that they auto level themselves so it can be tricky to see how the weight is loaded on the tongue and if it's with in the percentage it should with out a scale. Remember the angle on your trailer is VERY important to how it will behave going down the road and how much tongue weight you'll have. If anything I would recommend an adjustable hitch with a scale on it MORE than a weight distribution hitch especially with the air ride suspensions.

I changed three things to get the sway under control with my setup. Hellwig to get rid of the body roll, LT E-rated tires on the truck, and E-rated USA made tires on the trailer. Helps tremendously for me pulling a fiver, but with tow behinds the softer suspension still needs a properly set up WDH with sway control.

 

[MaximumEffort]

how many washers are you using?

do you have a picture of your setup?

Any weight slips?

Six washers. I don't have a recent picture as I had dropped the ball one slot and added a washer in search of an improvement since this picture. The CAT scale is on the to-do list.

 

[Bavet]

You have a front garage toy hauler. That means what you load will heavily add tongue weight.

Dry hitch is listed at 555 lbs, add propane/ battery puts you around 650 lbs. Then loading the trailer will put you well over your 750 lbs rated bars.

Right now your sway problem is clearly an undersized/improperly setup WDH.

I want to offer my experience for consideration. My camper weighs 6900 lbs fully loaded. My hitch weight is 880 lbs. My RV dealer installed an Equalizer WDH with 600 lb bars. I have yet to run into any sway issues, but the truck seems bouncy. When I discovered the 600 lb bars I naturally attributed the bounciness to the seemingly undersized bars. I approached the dealer about it and they said this is a preferred setup. If I went with stiffer bars I would be jarred by every bump in the road. They said if Equalizer made 800 lb bars they would have used them but they jump to 1000 lb bars and that is too stiff. I have actually read about some Airstream owners who have had rivets shook loose by WDH's that were too stiff, so what the dealer is telling me made sense. Bottom line is I haven't had any sway issues and my truck/trailer is level so I have accepted their recommendation.

 

[IvoryHemi]

Six washers. I don't have a recent picture as I had dropped the ball one slot and added a washer in search of an improvement since this picture. The CAT scale is on the to-do list.
View attachment 106082

Yours looks one notch lower than mine , I have 7 washers. On the cat scale it’s transferring 360 lbs to the front axle and 160 lbs back to the trailer axles

48 psi in the TV tires and 80 psi in the TT tires

 

[Gazza]

Six washers. I don't have a recent picture as I had dropped the ball one slot and added a washer in search of an improvement since this picture. The CAT scale is on the to-do list.
View attachment 106082

thanks for the info - what tire pressure do you put in the truck tires when towing? The tag says 36

 

[MaximumEffort]

thanks for the info - what tire pressure do you put in the truck tires when towing? The tag says 36

I had 45 psi in the truck tires for the camping trip this past weekend. I followed IvoryHemi's setup and added one more washer (total 7) and raised the hitch ball up two holes. I had to raise the tongue jack a little higher to get the spring bars on. That change seems to have eliminated the wiggle effect in the cab. I passed two CAT scales on the trip (hand slap). I am more concerned with the feel of the truck and TT at this point versus having to know the weights.