Rig darting and dancing

Whippoorwill · 09-29-2014, 12:08 PM

My rig wants to dart and dance as I'm going down the road. Maybe a better way to put it is that I continually have to work to maintain my lane.

Speed does not seem to affect this when I'm over 55 mph. Pavement type seems to have a little effect. I don't think the trailer is swaying. I does seem like I'm being pushed around on the Interstate a little. Maybe this is normal for a bigger rig -- I realize there's a lot of surface area on a 32-foot camper for the air coming off other vehicles to push on. But I still get the darting even when there's no one beside me.

This condition is something new for me. My former camper was a 27-foot Jayco that weighed around 5,500 empty. Towing it was a pleasure.

I did go through the set up procedure as outlined in the Equal-i-zer instruction manual, i.e., measuring the wheel wells empty and loaded, etc., etc.

If any of you have an insight to why this may be going on or what I can do or adjust to stop it, I will be most appreciative!

Thanks, Greg

cw3jason · 09-29-2014, 12:13 PM

Make sure your trailer is level front to back. Nose high would be bad and cause it to drift. Also make sur you have adequate tounge weight at least 10% of loaded trailer weight 10-15% is normal. shift load forward to compensate.
If thats all good have an axle shop check tire alignment of the trailer you could be out causing it not to track well.

Jerry Pinkard · 09-29-2014, 12:16 PM

Yes. Proper tongue weight is very important..

fhenn · 09-29-2014, 01:50 PM

Check your tire pressure in the rear. Under inflated will cause that also

Stan · 09-29-2014, 07:43 PM

all good advice above....I got vote for not enough tongue weight.

anaro · 09-29-2014, 08:38 PM

Best thing to do is go to a local Cat scale and weigh everything loaded as you would for camping. Obtain 3 weights. First weight is just the truck (front axle on scale pad 1, rear axle on scale pad 2). 2nd weigh is truck plus tt and no wdh. (Both tt axles on third scale pad, truck same as 1st weigh). Third weigh is truck plus tt with wdh.

The difference in total weights between weigh one and weigh two is the total loaded weight of your tt. The difference in the truck weight (rear plus front axle) in the first two weights will tell you your tongue weight. You want your tongue weight to be 13-15% of your loaded tt weight. Now look at the third ticket where are your hitched (with wdh) truck axle weights in comparison to the unchurched axle weights? Ideally you want the front axle weight as close to unchurched weight as possible without going heavier. I have tried to set up using measurements and never liked my handling with any of my 3 tv and my old tt. Dialing in by weight got me a much better handling rig every time. You should have plenty of truck for your tt, I'm not questioning that. I just think weights help you set up your rig better.

Another thing to look into is your tires. What are you running? I'm guessing LT load range E, if so that is good. What pressure are you running? Try airing up your tires. As long as your tires are rated for it, try airing up to 65 or 70 psi in front and 75 or 80 psi in the rear. You can go all the way to 80 in all tires if necessary. Higher psi equals stiffer sidewalls. Softer sidewalls have more wander in the handling when towing. Hope this helps.

Tim D · 09-29-2014, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anaro

Softer sidewalls have more wander in the handling when towing.

Great advise on weight. I switched to a 10 ply tire at my last tire change and what a difference! My truck always seemed to be affected by strong crosswinds even when not towing. Everyone says it will affect ride quality, ride rougher, but I really can't appreciate any difference.

drcook · 09-29-2014, 09:15 PM

you could have a "load" test done to your truck tires to see if there is a busted belt that is acting up under load.

there could be a belt issue on the trailer tires, making it want to walk around, you are experiencing the tale wagging the dog,

However, even with good sway control devices, load range E ST trailer tires, load range E truck tires, Bilstein shocks and Hellwig sway bars, if the wind condition is right, we get wagged a little bit. The crew cab short box length of the truck does help to tame it, but the lever arm advantage is on the side of the trailer.

ajlight · 09-30-2014, 08:17 AM

Do you have a sway bar on your hitch?

OhioMark · 09-30-2014, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim D

Great advise on weight. I switched to a 10 ply tire at my last tire change and what a difference! My truck always seemed to be affected by strong crosswinds even when not towing. Everyone says it will affect ride quality, ride rougher, but I really can't appreciate any difference.

x2,

Even with top of the line sway control, you can have quite a bit of play left to right in the TV with standard LT tires.

We switched to 10 ply after a cross country trip last year and it cinched up that play. The trailer never ever swayed, but the winds picked up in a storm and I was floating left to right. Very nerve racking.

OhioMark · 09-30-2014, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anaro

Best thing to do is go to a local Cat scale and weigh everything loaded as you would for camping. Obtain 3 weights. First weight is just the truck (front axle on scale pad 1, rear axle on scale pad 2). 2nd weigh is truck plus tt and no wdh. (Both tt axles on third scale pad, truck same as 1st weigh). Third weigh is truck plus tt with wdh.

The difference in total weights between weigh one and weigh two is the total loaded weight of your tt. The difference in the truck weight (rear plus front axle) in the first two weights will tell you your tongue weight. You want your tongue weight to be 13-15% of your loaded tt weight. Now look at the third ticket where are your hitched (with wdh) truck axle weights in comparison to the unchurched axle weights? Ideally you want the front axle weight as close to unchurched weight as possible without going heavier. I have tried to set up using measurements and never liked my handling with any of my 3 tv and my old tt. Dialing in by weight got me a much better handling rig every time. You should have plenty of truck for your tt, I'm not questioning that. I just think weights help you set up your rig better.

Another thing to look into is your tires. What are you running? I'm guessing LT load range E, if so that is good. What pressure are you running? Try airing up your tires. As long as your tires are rated for it, try airing up to 65 or 70 psi in front and 75 or 80 psi in the rear. You can go all the way to 80 in all tires if necessary. Higher psi equals stiffer sidewalls. Softer sidewalls have more wander in the handling when towing. Hope this helps.

Good advice, but make doubly sure the tires are "E" rated before trying to inflate them!

Whippoorwill · 10-01-2014, 08:33 PM

Thanks for all the good advice! This is a great forum.

johnboytoo · 10-06-2014, 10:19 AM

This last trip we were in a hurry since it was an emergency trip and just threw everything in between the slides in the rear living room...

made 3 hours of the trip after work and had a LOT of side to side push we had never experienced.

So I checked the air in my truck tires to make sure they were hard enough to handle the weight and all was well...

meanwhile all the 'stuff' was stored in the right place and the next leg of the trip out and the trip back was fine...

towed much faster than I normally do and pretty sure
the issue was that I had put too much in the long rear overhang of our big 5er and just unloaded the tongue weight...

More tongue weight is MUCH better than not enough because you will get rear end induced steering if the tow vehicle gets too light in the rear...

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