Why more sway???

[russm1208]

I pull an 18 ft, three horse bumper pull that empty is 3800 lbs, has about 800 lbs of tack plus usually 2 1100lb horses.

I used to pull this with a 99 F-250 extended cab shortbed 2 wheel drive gasser--hand even tough is was alot of work for the truck, unless i was passing a semi or pulling into a wind, I had very little trailer sway.

I have absolutely no sway when pulling with my 03 Chevy 2500 extended cab longbed 2 wheel drive, gasser--and the trailer rides high on this, because the mount for this truck is a 1 inch rise.

But my new truck is in my sig, and I can pass a semi with no sway now, but I seem to get more sway under normal conditions than with the old f-250. I drove into a 30 mph wind the other day, and it was torture

What do I have set up wrong that this bigger truck, has more perceived sway? Not enough tongue weight? Too much? I dont' want to have to go to a WD hitch, unless I have too...my wife hooks up and pulls quite a bit, and it needs to be easy.

Horses usually loaded in the front stalls.

Any ideas would be great.....

 

[Johnswiftm]

Longbeds pull better and also the wheelbase is longer on them that is the reason. Also get your trailer level and replace the factory hitch on your chevy. I could show you a bunch of them at my shop that we have changed out because they flex and wear at the pin hole.

 

[jkmcgrath]

I use a equalizer hitch and just love it! Works great.

 

[powerboatr]

ditto on leveling
level trailers pull correctly, weight even on both sets of tires with 10-15% of total wt. on hitch
if the front is to high sway can develope, because the rear wheels carry more wt. than the front set and the hitch gets light, which equals rear end swaying a bit
if your low in the front then more wt is transfered to teh hitch and front set of tires , leaving the rear ones wondering what to do , then sway can occur.
and its usually worse to have sway from to much hitch wt, than to little,
especially in panic situations, it tends to drive the rear of the trailer around to say HI at your door.

and again to little hitch wt, can lead to this dangerous situation but not quite as fast, instead it tries to lift up teh rear of the tow vehicle and reduce braking to teh drive wheels which leads to a dangerous situation
either way your horses are going to be -mad at you.