When do you need an anti sway device?
 

I will be towing a 2008 15 T with a 2010 Dodge Ram 1/2 ton pickup. I have a OEM brake controller installed. I used to tow a 19 foot travel trailer and used a friction bar and it's still available. I would have to have the attachment ball put on the 15 T tongue. I was told that I wouldn't need a friction bar. When ever I had sway with my 19 foot trailer I would just tap the trailer brakes and it straightened out but it had tandum axles.

Thank You

Hi Johnnie,

You ask a good question. One that has actually been discussed to some depth in this forum.

Recommend you type "anti sway bars" into the HTF Search window. It will bring up several threads that should provide the answer to your question. Specifically, check out the thread titled: "Tow Systems."

Jim

I brought my Hi Lo home via the express way. I discovered that it has a 2 inch ball. I had to take out my 2 5/16 ball hitch and put the 2 inch in. With no anti sway device the trailer track perfect with no sway. Question answered.

Tandem or single axle doesnt make any difference. What makes the difference is the weight of the trailer and the weight of the truck. If the truck weighs less than the trailer, you are in trouble. After pulling a 21' hilo with a one ton toyota truck I thought load equalizing hitch was enough. But the truck weighed 4000 lbs and the trailer 5500. No problem for years and thousands of miles. Then one day on a dry road with no traffic and no cross wind, it started, and got worse, then we were sideways at 55 mph. Totaled both truck and trailer. I use a pullrite hitch now and forget about it. No sway to control.

The point is you may not need a WDH with sway control till it suddenly happens then it is to late. I have talked to people that have had the same experience as Paul Van Velzer, having towed thousands of miles and then it happened, tow vehicle and trailer totaled. These people were lucky that the lived to tell me the story.

My answer to your question would be; You don't know when you are going to need it. If you have it you won't have to worry as to when.

Sway Control
 

I have pulled trailers for close to 20 years, the biggest was my 30 Foot award. Sway control and WD is all about keeping you in control of your rig. Things can go badly very quickly with high winds, cross winds trailers passing, blow outs swerving and the lists goes on. The wd keeps the front wheels on the ground allowing you to steer you vehicle. The sway keeps you from jack knifing and fish tailing especially in winding , wet conditions. In my trailering career I have dealt with blow outs, swerving to miss animals and other vehicles and panic stops for various reasons including large rocks on the road way in the mountains., I one time came around a curve in the mountains only to find some people who decided to stop their vehicle on a narrow 2 lane to take pictures.
When properly set up you should only feel the trailers when you are going through dips in the road as the bars will give you a little kick when they take over. I would love to try the new sway control that are part of the round or torsion bars, they say they prevent the sway before it starts as the friction sway apparatus controls the sway after it begins.