# Trailer sway question



## ksbowman (Oct 30, 2018)

The cause of trailer sway on a bumper pull is lack of tongue weight. Most trailers are built with 20% or so tongue weight and this makes them pull without "the tail wagging the dog". If you load a trailer with too much weight behind the trailer axles it will cause lack of weight on the tongue an make it sway. If carrying one horse always load to the front. If carrying two put the heavier horse up front. To answer your dually question yes it will help but, not necessary if you load your trailer correctly. I have pulled tens of thousands of miles and only had one trailer sway and it was loaded improperly.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

@ksbowman thanks, that makes a LOT of sense. Anyone else?


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

I pull a two horse straight-load bumper pull and have never had it sway. But I've only ever hauled one horse in it (he goes on the side closest to the middle of the road) and I wouldn't haul in bad conditions. You can probably get more stable set-ups, but it's always a compromise. I haul my daughter's horse to lessons and shows all winter. He's a small Arab. I just learned to pull (and back up!) a trailer a couple of years ago, in my late 40s. I feel this is as much as I can handle. Having a small trailer has its advantages and for me, it's perfect (although a tack room up front would sure be nice). It is fairly heavy, being a combination of steel and aluminum, but I have lots of towing capacity using my husband's truck. It will not stop on a dime, nor would I want it too. Horses can be injured if you slam on the brakes. Best to always leave lots of space in front of you, be very aware of potential hazards (where I live, deer commonly jump out of the bushes onto the road so I am constantly sweeping the shoulders of the road and have stopped for deer a couple of times with the trailer), and prepare all your stops and turns by giving yourself plenty of time and room. 

If I had unlimited funds, I'd get myself a nice Merhow two-horse bumper pull with a front tack room. As it is, I'm quite happy with my much more affordable McBride that is about 10 years old, but in excellent condition.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

ksbowman said it all. :smile:


It is in how you load your trailer.
Even goosenecks, they sway if loaded incorrectly...truth!!

:runninghorse2:...


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

A few other tips, mainly drive slow enough that you are able to do a controlled stop. Hitting the brakes fast can start the sway then you have two issues to deal with. 

Cars will cut you off. All the time. Often for no reason. Beware of cars! 

Winds can really amplify driving through mountains and over bridges. Be cautious. 

Have recently heard of folks installing anti-sway bars, never used them so don't know if they help or not. 

Also, this is hard to describe, but when a semi is passing, try to pull to the edge away from them. Semi trailers can increase the air current to your vehicles significantly if they pass close and fast. Try to be only slightly slower than the semi speed. 

Personally I haul Brenderup trailers, and they are designed to reduce sway. My truck actually sways less in heavy winds with the trailer!


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Good tips AnitaAnne.


When tractor-trailers pass they have a huge field of wind they are pushing in front of them, hence you get moved so yes hugging the outside line helps break that force field, a type of vortex think it is called...
And as they pass they can suck you right into their side as a vacuum is created..
Good TT drivers have great respect for those of us towing horse trailers, but all trailers in general.
If you watch them coming they often will try to get as far away from you as possible so not upset your trailer creating a sway situation.
They are far bigger than any of us and that alone creates the wind dangers even in a car of turbulences.
And they don't stop quickly when empty forget loaded...just watch and be mindful of all who share the road with you.
:runninghorse2:...


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## ksbowman (Oct 30, 2018)

Just a tip, if your trailer starts to sway hit the lever on your brake controller box and apply the brakes on the trailer only. This will stop the "wagging" immediately and slow you down too. Some of the newer trucks have a built in controller so I don't know if they have a way of separately using trailer brakes only but, surely they do.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

This is how fast a sway can turn into catastrophe. Would not want this to happen with a horse trailer :frown_color:


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

My trailer is a three horse stock trailer, which I have pulled horses in twice, so I'm not really sure what I'm talking about. When we hauled the Ahab (Percheron) and Djinn (Arabian), we put Ahab in front in two stalls, and Djinn in the3 back in one stall. The trailer has sway bars, but DH did not use them. We used a lighter truck than the truck we have now and the trip was about 45 minutes and all was well, but I remember him complaining about the way the trailer pulled. 

This trip, with one horse (Haflinger, 1100#), we put him in the middle stall but still in front of the wheels and used the two sway bars. The trip was four hours down, four and a half back. At first, DH did not like the stiffness imparted by the sway bars, but after half an hour or so he totally changed his mind. We were in a beefier truck, although still a 1500, but you could hardly feel the trailer at all. It was very smooth.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

@Captain Evil thanks for that. I have seen sway bars on BP trailers but was never really sure if they did anything besides make people feel better. Sounds like they do. If I end up with the bumper pull (and I'm leaning that way now), I will see if I can find someone to put them in.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Accidents are one of the reasons why I don't carry propane or other flammable fuels with me. Having a gas tank with possible explosion is bad enough...


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## 4horses (Nov 26, 2012)

Anti Sway bars and weight distribution systems are excellent. Make sure you get both. For an F150 they require both if you haul over 5000lbs. Most trucks require both for a bumper pull over a certain weight in order to meet the requirements for the maximum tow capacity. I believe it is in the manual.

My rig is at 5000lbs with 2 horses, under that with one horse. Since i usually only haul one horse, or one horse and a pony, i don't bother with weight distribution.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

It doesn't help that people still want to drive 90 MPH when towing. And also doing other stupid things.

Sway bars do help and weight distribution bars are required to get maximum towing with most vehicles.


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

ACinATX said:


> I've decided that I'm seriously looking for a trailer, but still trying to work out some things in my head.
> 
> My question for today: One thing people seem to not like about bumper pull trailers is the potential for sway. Would that potential be lessened if I were to drive a dually?
> 
> And if, so, what are the drawbacks of a dually?



Personally, I will never own a bumper pull. I borrowed one from time to time (before I got my own) and I hated the sway. Anytime there was a bad wind (and the wind blows in ND), I couldn't even hardly go 60 on the interstate (trailer loaded properly, horses to the front) without sway. No, I don't need to go 90 down the interstate but I am uncomfortable going way slower than the rest of the traffic, because I don't feel that's safe either when someone comes up fast behind you.


Since I've owned my gooseneck, I have never once had it sway on me. Started off with a 1/2 ton until I could buy a 3/4 ton. Hauled great with both.


But that's JMO.


Duallys are only needed when you need the weight distribution of a HEAVY trailer, such as large living quarters. (usually)


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

I have a 3 horse slant, steel, bumper pull trailer. I've only had the "tail wag the dog" once and that was when a I lost a wheel off the trailer (my trailer has 2 axles), and even then it wasn't horrible because I was a) driving well under the speed limit when it happened and b) I have a separate trailer brake and could hit the controller as KSBowman stated. I still lost a few of my 9 lives, I'm pretty sure, the horses were unphased. My truck is a 3/4 ton, not a dually. We looked at dually's and decided since we're not hauling huge loads, it would only make it harder to park and make us by 6 tires at $300-400/each every time we needed to replace them, and make the bed so wide it would be really nerve wracking to get into some spots here where we live. Never seen a place with parking spots and drive throughs only designed to accommodate a Honda Accord or Smart Car but here it seems to be the norm. Also cuts the gas mileages fairly significantly. 

And as an aside, I was looking at a stock trailer not to long ago at a manufacturer's place and we got to talking about steel vs aluminum. Guy told me that the aluminum trailers only lack about 300 lbs of what the steel ones weigh because they are only covered in aluminum, the frames and all the heavy duty parts are still all steel because of its rigidity. I found that interesting because when I bought my 3 horse slant, it was when aluminum trailers were just coming out and everyone talked about how much less they weighed and all kinds of things that he told me just were not necessarily true. When I buy a new trailer, if I ever do, I may still go for aluminum because we get a lot of rain and have a lot of humidity down here, which we didn't have in CA/AZ when I bought my trailer. I did notice that every little scratch would start to rust if you didn't repair it right away. I'll definitely go for the goose neck, they're just easier to handle over all. Back when I bought my trailer in 1997, not many people bought goosenecks for less than 6 horses.


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

beau159 said:


> Anytime there was a bad wind (and the wind blows in ND), I couldn't even hardly go 60 on the interstate (trailer loaded properly, horses to the front) without sway.



That's funny, because when I pulled a bumper pull from Minnesota to Washington State, the ONLY place I had any trailer sway was in ND between Fargo and Bismark. It was a great incentive to look for a gooseneck next time.


I think anyone who is getting a 3/4 ton pickup is better off with a gooseneck. I know of a guy who was crossing a pass in Montana last summer with a bumper pull toy hauler, and ran into a freak wind gust that caused him to roll the whole rig and put both he and his wife in the hospital. Emergency responders looked for a long time for the motorcycle rider until they learned that Harley was ejected from the back of the demolished trailer. Just because you feel comfortable most of the time doesn't mean you are safe.


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## Thundering Hooves (Dec 16, 2019)

If you have a trailer in mind see if it has the sway bar hook up. Like the video shows things can turn bad in a split second. My friends and I go camping all the time we have a goose neck and they have a bummer pull. they were pulling it in the mountains and that traner was a mess hey put sway bars on completely fine. Thats my 2cents


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## QueenofFrance08 (May 16, 2017)

I'm another gooseneck person but I agree with most of what else has been said above about gooseneck vs bumper pull.

As far as dually negatives:
-Extra tires (as said before)
-Hard to find a place to fix it (most mechanic shops lifts can't hold duallys, need to go to the dealer/diesel mechanic)
-Can't go into a normal car wash
-Higher GVWR so if you get a heavier trailer might need a special license.

Obviously some of those aren't really a big deal just something to think about!


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## CaliforniaDreaming (May 8, 2011)

AnitaAnne said:


> Personally I haul Brenderup trailers, and they are designed to reduce sway. My truck actually sways less in heavy winds with the trailer!


And inertia brakes! Love them Euro trailers. I agree, my Jeep feels a lot more steady when hauling the B’up sometimes than it does with me just driving around.


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

Joel Reiter said:


> That's funny, because when I pulled a bumper pull from Minnesota to Washington State, the ONLY place I had any trailer sway was in ND between Fargo and Bismark. It was a great incentive to look for a gooseneck next time.



Very flat in the Red River Valley area from Fargo to Bismarck -- nothing to stop the wind!!!


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

Hensley Arrow


The only anti-sway design that actually works. Patent has expired so there are a few copies on the market now. A friend had one for his RV trailer and they absolutely work fantastic. No jack knifing. Nothing. Semi's do no more than they do to a fifth wheel. Plus load distribution for proper tongue angle is built in. Not cheap but they actually work as opposed to the friction designs.


Unless you or your hubby is mechanically inclined, I would recommend having a dealer set it up initially. Friend had to do some trial and error but he was an electrical engineer and they are not know fro mechanical poweress. (apologies to any EE's that read this


The video Hensley shows is for real.


Hey, I found an old video of a trailer made of legos a guy made to show how it works. He refers to ProPride which is actually made by the original designer. When the patent expired, the company that was making the Hensley Arrow for him didn't want to give him money any more. So he began making the ProPride which I would personally buy because of the story associated with it's years in design.


So heres the link to the lego video and the Hensley site and the ProPride site.








https://hensleymfg.com/


https://www.propridehitch.com/


Here's a link to the Jim Hensley story. Quite a story. https://www.propridehitch.com/the-jim-hensley-hitch-story




Edit: Ps: I have that video somewhere in my computer from around six years ago. I was thinking about making a small one for a motorcycle. I made one out of wood and tested it as the guy did with the legos and it is really amazing.


An extension of the angle pieces on the hitch converge at the approximate location of the rear axle. That's what makes it behave like a fifth wheel.


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