The Ultimate Trailer Sway Control Hitch

chaseriggs9774 — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:27:29 +0000

Trailer Sway – Why?

chaseriggs9774 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:47:49 +0000

Trailer sway is a situation that’s inherent in many towed trailers. When a trailer is hitched to a tow vehicle with a hitch ball it may sway when the trailer is acted upon by some outside force. This push or pull may be administered by winds, speeding trucks, changing loads or tow vehicle driver reactions into the towed trailer.

Winds from inclement weather may induce trailer sway. A wind gust that hits the side of thetowed trailer will attempt to vacillate the trailer on the hitch ball. This results in the rear of the tow vehicle being blown to the side when the sway force is applied on the hitch ball. When the rear of the tow vehicle is forced to the side the driver can have a natural reaction to steer in another direction. This can be unfavorable.

Another type of wind that can administer a sway force to the trailer is from a speeding truck. Semi trucks push a bow wave that passes by the side of the trailer. The unstable pressures of this air will draw the trailer to the passing truck. This might induce a driver reflex that can begin the trailer to vacillate.

A changing load in the trailer might also induce trailer sway. When a load suddenly changes or falls during travel that force could allow the trailer to begin to sway.

Whenever these situations occur it is imperative that you do not answer in a fashion that will start the trailer to oscillate behind you. It is also imperative that you do not apply the brakes on the tow vehicle because that could induce a jackknife.

Whenever trailer sway begins there are very specific actions to take to decrease it. The first thing to do is accelerate lightly. This can be counter intuitive to what you would do but it will make the trailer begin to straighten out. The next step is to manually apply the electric trailer brakes. This will also straighten the trailer back behind the tow vehicle.

Trailer sway can also be controlled through excellent equipment. The first type of hitch that many people are sold might only be marginally acceptable to control trailer sway. These are usually friction based hitches that will only operate only during light trailer movement. The premier type of sway control comes through a pivot point projection style hitch. This advanced design will eliminate trailer sway through manipulating the location of the pivot point of the trailer. A pivot point projection hitch can control your trailer sway.