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Thread: Trailer Questions

  1. #1
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    Trailer Questions

    I have a Suburban 1500 with towing package. I want to buy a tandem axle (brakes on both axles) trailer to carry my tractor and attachments (max about 7,000 lbs.).
    I have read many posts regarding sway bars and a host of other suggestions to improve the handling when pulling a trailer. To be honest, this is somewhat confusing. What do I really need beyond my Suburban and the trailer?
    PJ

  2. #2
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    Re: Trailer Questions

    I have a 16 foot dual axel flatbed trailer that I tow with a ram 3/4 ton. It's rated for 7500 lbs, is a bumper pull, no sway bars. I've had it very heavy and it tows just fine. If your suburban suspension is up to the tongue weight you should be ok without sway bars though I've heard they are beneficial. Important is to make sure the traileer is level (ie not so tongue heavy that the front of the trailer inclines, you get excessive sway in that condition.) Longer trailers will also tow better than shorter ones. Not really sure why though.........

  3. #3
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    Re: Trailer Questions

    You have a receiver hitch right? Not just a bumper mount ball.

    You may not need the swaybars, but might want to go to a load equalizing hitch. I have a 7500# GVW dual axle trailer and don't have either. But I only load it to about 4K and am careful about tongue weght. Converting to an equalizing hitch is about $300 and can be done at any time. I'm not certain, but think the anti sway can also be added later if needed.

    If the tongue weight is too high, add the equalizing rig. If it sways, try increasing the tongue weight. If it doesn't help, add a anti sway mount.

    And of course a brake controller. A Tekonshia Prodigy is supposed to be good. I have a Drawtite controller and it sucks!
    Gary
    ----------------------------------------------
    Hey! Aren't you supposed to be working?

  4. #4
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    Re: Trailer Questions

    Paul, if you have the trailer brakes and you have the trailer loaded properly; i.e., enough tongue weight to prevent "fishtailing" but not enough to keep the rig from being close to level, you might not need anything else. However, you can add a friction type sway control for about $100 that would definitely make it safer. And if the tongue weight is enough to lower the back end of the Suburban and front end of the trailer, then you might want the lift bars (load distributing hitch). The sway control and the lift bars are two different things.

  5. #5
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    Re: Trailer Questions

    Spend the $100 and get a sway control - it is WELL worth it. Yes, I've towed without a sway control, but just about refuse to do it now. Cheap insurance - VERY cheap! I commonly tell folks it was the best $100 I ever spent.

    It's very simple to hook up - two small hitch ball mounts - one on the trailer, one on the draw bar of your hitch. (See attachment.) Put the sway control between the two, hook it on with the two pins, and tighten it down. That’s it.

    Not every trailer tows well, and how it tows will change with the weight on it - and how it is balanced. I've had trailers that towed perfect get squirrely with different weights on them - even when the tongue weight was within spec and adjusted. I don't know anyone who ever regretted putting on a simple friction sway control. If you tow anything big like a travel trailer, they are just about considered mandatory - talk to some full time RV'ers - they'll tell you.

    Around Christmas time I saw a $40K Airstream trailer and it's Suburban tow vehicle laying on their side on IH-35 after going down a small (maybe 1%) hill. Trailer started oscillating, swaying from side to side and dumped them both over on their side. If the driver had used his electric brakes he might have been able to prevent the accident - but if he had a sway control on he would have never even been put in the situation to begin with. Nobody hurt, but a $100 for a simple friction type sway control would have saved a LOT of money and heartache - what's the old saying? "Penny wise and pound foolish"?

    Weight distributing hitches are used a lot of the time on travel trailers, but for your general use utility trailer, since you can shift the load fore/aft, they are rarely needed. Not a bad thing to have, just that you really probably won’t “need” one unless you plan on having some really heavy tongue weight. (Look to your manual - it will say what your towing specs are with a weight dist. hitch vs. without.)

    Make sure you have a good brake controller and I prefer brakes on both axles - not just one (I upgraded from one to two and haven’t regretted it - stopping is a good thing. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ) Some may say this is overkill, but hey, just look at it as more cheap insurance (and a stress reducer as well.)

    Hope this all helps.

  6. #6
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    Re: Trailer Questions

    Well said and good advice, Ranchman.

    </font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
    they are just about considered mandatory

    [/ QUOTE ]

    In my opinion, they should be mandatory on travel trailers, but I've talked with lots of RV owners who wrecked their first RV and said the dealer who sold it to them didn't tell them about sway controls.

    </font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
    If the driver had used his electric brakes he might have been able to prevent the accident

    [/ QUOTE ]

    That's a little procedure everyone who pulls a trailer with electric brakes should be familiar with. When a trailer starts to sway, oscillate, or fishtail, many novices first instinct is to step on the brake pedal, and that's probably the worst thing they could do. If instead, they'd reach down and apply the trailer brakes with their hand while holding steady on the accelerator pedal, or even increasing pressure very slightly on the accelerator, they'd pull the rig back straight.

  7. #7
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    Re: Trailer Questions

    Thanks to everyone for their great help on this issue.
    Sway bar and brake controller will be added for sure. Initially, my plan is to rent a larger enclosed trailer to move household items to Montana. Then purchase the trailer for hauling the tractor and attachments around town.
    PJ

  8. #8
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    Re: Trailer Questions

    Bird,
    Easing on the trailer brakes is something I learned long ago from my Father-In-Law, who was an OTR trucker. If things don't look just right, hit the trailer brakes a bit, straightens ya right out.

    Jerry

  9. #9
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    Re: Trailer Questions

    Thanks Bird. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

    <font color="blue">...I've talked with lots of RV owners who wrecked their first RV and said the dealer who sold it to them didn't tell them about sway controls. </font color>

    Ugh! [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] I bet (just pure conjecture here) the sales guys are worried about "closing the deal" and squeezing every last penny out of their customers - without having the perception of throwing in a "useless option" (kind of like the $200 undercoating they sell on cars, etc.) Shame on them! [img]/forums/images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

    <font color="blue">That's a little procedure... </font color>

    Thanks for helping me out on that one - forgot to explain what I meant. [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img]

    Yea - made me sick to see $70,000+ of vehicle &amp; trailer laying on their sides when $100 would have prevented it. Just glad I didn't see a bunch of hamburger meat along with it! [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]


  10. #10
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    Re: Trailer Questions

    Ranchman, I guess most of us have done some really dumb things as a result of ignorance. I know I have at least. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] I bought my first RV in '71 and my shopping came down to deciding whether to buy a little 17' travel trailer the dealer had or to buy the 10.5' cabover slide-in pickup camper. At the time I had a Plymouth Roadrunner and a 6-cylinder manual transmission Chevy pickup. I would actually have rather had the trailer, but thought the tongue weight was too much for my vehicles, so I traded the pickup for a new 3/4 ton V-8 truck with the slide-in. It was a new dealership, the guy never mentioned load distributing hitches and sway controls, and I had only pulled boats and small utility trailers with bumper hitches. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] That Roadrunner would have pulled that little trailer very easily, but I was too ignorant at the time to know it. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

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