I was recently told that having a dually will almost elimate the sway. Something about being more stable in the rear-end to begin with.<br><br>I'm not sure if I buy this I'm thinking the sway comes in after you get past the rear wheels. It's mostly caused by the wind resistance off the trailer itself. How could a dually really change that. I understand my Dually can haul &quot;A&quot; trailer better than say an S-10. So yeah I could see that. If we were just talking about the trailer being too big for the truck and not the trailer JUST being too big to begin with.<br><br>Patti<br>

 

Thumper,<br>I just moved from a 2500 SRW to a 3500 DRW. Pulling the same trailer (which I admit was slightly overloading the 2500 for rated GVWR), there is quite a bit of difference in stability. Tire pressures were kept at max on the 2500, good shocks, but the trucks could move me around. Not on the DRW - - she just runs straight. I do believe the front end on the 2003 is better for tracking also, but that should not affect sway from buffeting.

 

the extra tires prevent the trailer from whipping your rear end aroun and offer a heck of a lot more stability under a load.

 

Sway is also SIGNIFICANTLY affected by tongue weight. Insufficient tongue weight = lots of sway.

 

Sway and stability are two different things. Like Nevada said, too little tongue weight will cause sway. Doesn't matter if you're pulling with a mini truck are a DRW. I have had it happen to me when i was pulling a dump trailer with too much dirt in the very back. I had to drive 40mph for 10 miles, and that was in a DRW. A DRW is more stable. This comes in on corners, on off-level roads and such. To me, I guess a DRW feels &quot;safer&quot; with a load on it than a SRW. Not to say that a SRW can't pull loads, or isn't safe, but a DRW is just a little better.

 

When you talk about &quot;sway,&quot; you are talking about trailer sway. That is, the trailer is moving from side to side behind the truck. Stability refers to the rear end of the truck being moved around by the trailer ( or not). The duallies will not prevent sway, only a properly loaded trailer will do that. The dual rear wheels help keep the truck stable. The dual rear wheels offer twice the resistance to sidways movement of the rear end of the truck, due to give in the sidewalls of the tires.

FWIW

DeWain

 

When I pull my 4 horse gn ( w/2 horses) with the 3500, gross weight is 16000#. Steer axle 4200#, drive axle 5300# and trailer axle 6500#. You can feel the difference between the 3500 and 2500. If the horses move a little, you feel it even more on the 2500. The 2500 does a great job towing it, but you can feel the 3500 is more stable.<br>my 0.02<br>wk

 

I just bought a 30' foot thumper travel trailer made by R-Vision. Its a light weight 4500 pounds dry. I tow it with my 2500. I had the dealer install a hitch in the rear of tt for our bikes (4). Well the weight of the 4 bikes plus the bike rack (160 pounds altogether) has cause a lot of sway. At first, I adjusted the brackets on my so called Equalizer 4 point sway control. It was ok but still swayed by some trucks and cars. Took it back to the dealer adjusted the pitch of the ball and lowered the brackets back to where they were. Once again the sway was very unconfortable and I could not drive more than 55mph. Once I got home I raised the brackets back up again. It improved but sometimes I feel the trailer is pushing the truck around and some light sway from some cars, trucks and wind. My dealer said that I have to add some weight to the front of the trailer to get it not to sway. Well, we dont carry much so I feel I need to go to a garage sale and buy some barbell weights and place them in a basket in the front storage bin of the trailer. The wife is uncomfortable with the sway in fact she almost lost control on first trip . Theres got to be a better system out there where you dont have to always be worried about the weight up front? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated ???. The price tag was hefty on a system that really does not work. Oh its tough to put on and take off too.<br><br>Thanks for the suggestions in advance.

 

Thumper,<br><br>Towing a tag-along when sway may or may not have a problem. The closer to the axle the pivot point of the hitch is located, the less sway is possible. The length of distance the bed behind the axle is a big factor in sway. Loading the trailer properly can reduce sway. At least 10 percent of the trailer weight must be directly on the hitch, hitch weight. If two much of the trailer's weight is behind the trailer axle, any sideways motion can become uncontrollable at the hitch pushing the rear of the truck to one side, then the other.<br><br>Years ago I was following a Travel-All towing a 35ft Holiday Rambler TT. I noticed the driver was having some sway problems. Since I was also towing I stayed behind not wishing to chance passing the unsafe combo. After a couple of hours watching this driver fight his unruly rig, it happened. The driver hit an uneven seam in the pavement caused unrecoverable trailer swaying in less than 5 seconds the TT ws in the lead position with the back end of the TT headed off the road towing the Travel-All behind. Vehicles had switched ends and roles before my eyes. the vehicles started to roll and came uncoupled. The TT came to rest on it's side. the Travel-All resting on it's. <br><br>Fortunately the driver and his wife survived without life threatening injuries. She walked away, he had a broken ankle. The cause of the swaying, Overloading the rear of the TT. This guy was headed to Skeet Shoot Competition in AZ. The rear storage on the TT was loaded to the hilt with shot gun shells, resembling an Iraqi school building under Sadam.<br><br>Heaver tow vehicles increase side to side stability. Stiffer sidewalls offer greater side to side stability. Wider tires or duals have greater road friction all of which is important in resisting or preventing trailer sway.<br><br>