Month: December 2019

You’re out on the open highway when all of a sudden a heavy gust of wind comes along. Your trailer starts to sway back and forth a bit. This is a dangerous situation because trailer sway can cause your vehicle to tip over or cause a deadly accident. How can you prevent this from happening? Here are three tips on fixing trailer sway.

Check Your Vehicle’s Tow Weight Rating

The first thing you need to do is make sure your vehicle is capable of towing the weight you are pulling by checking its tow rating. You also need to double-check the gross vehicle weight rating as well. The gross weight rating totals the amount that your vehicle’s suspension and the engine can handle with curb, tongue, and passenger weights. Also, check the gross combined weight rating of your vehicle. This rating calculates the maximum amount of weight that both your truck and trailer can handle at one time.

You can weigh your vehicle and trailer on commercial scales located at truck stops. Going over your tow ratings can be disastrous. Keeping your weight about 20% to 25% below your towing ratings will reduce the chances of trailer sway. Approximately 12% to 15% of the total weight of the trailer should be resting on the hitch. Also, load any heavy items towards the front of the trailer and tie them down if necessary to keep them from moving around.

Use Safe Driving Practices

One of the most important ways of fixing trailer sway is to practice safer driving. Pulling a trailer can be stressful and you just want to get to your destination as quickly as possible. However, driving at slower speeds can do wonders for trailer sway prevention. Avoid making sudden movements such as slamming on your brakes or turning the steering wheel too fast. These things can cause your trailer sway control to become highly unstable.

Give yourself plenty of space behind any cars that may be in front of you and be extra careful when changing lanes. Try to avoid driving in high wind conditions whenever possible. If you notice any signs of trailer sway, pull over to the side of the road safely as soon as you can. It’s better to be safe than risk causing a potential accident.

Install a Friction Sway Control Device

A friction trailer hitch sway control device can help reduce trailer sway by applying resistance to the way the vehicle and trailer work together. This can help cut down any effects from sharp turns and high winds. When you drive, you can turn the adjustment handle clockwise by a quarter of a turn until the trailer feels stable enough to you. These devices can be attached to both sides of a trailer hitch on trailers weighing in excess of 5,000 pounds.

Safety is your number one priority when on the road. It’s up to you to do everything you can to eliminate any potential problems you may face along the way. By following these three tips for fixing trailer sway, you can make sure you will arrive safe and sound to your desired destination.

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Trailer sway is a huge problem among truck and recreational vehicle owners that can cause significant accidents on the roads. It is important to know that trailer sway has led to deaths on the highway. If you have a truck pulling a huge trailer, you need to have an electronic trailer sway control so that you can prevent road accidents.

There are many truck and trailer owners out there in the industry who do not use an electronic trailer sway control. The following causes of trailer sway should force you to get an electronic trailer sway control.

Poor weight distribution

Poor weight distribution is one of the leading causes of trailer sway. Most of the people don’t know how to distribute the weight of the trailer, which leads to a situation where weight distribution leads to trailer sway. According to the Transportation Board of the United States, weight distribution systems such as electronic trailer sway control are highly recommended if your trailer is more than 50% of your vehicle’s weight.

Bad hitch adjustments

Hitch adjustment is an important aspect of any trailer owner who wants to prevent any form of swaying. You need to make sure that both the weight and height of the trailer should be commensurate with that of the truck. It is useful to know that the truck pulls the trailer and as such, it should be able to pull the load. However, bad hitch adjustments can lead to trailer sway. You can easily eliminate trailer sway through trailer hitch sway control.

Excessive wind sheer

Within a span of twenty-five seconds, wind sheer can lead to fatal road accidents. Most of the trucks that experience wind sheer are always able to overcome the problem. However, when a truck is pulling a trailer, it is very difficult to overcome the forces of the wind that push the trailer to sway. Advanced trailer sway control systems are essential in ensuring that strong wind sheers are prevented from swaying the trailer.

Excessive speed

Speed limits are always there, but it is always a hard ask to force trailer drivers to follow the required highway speed. When a trailer is moving with excessive speed, pressure above the trailer becomes heavier than the trailer below the trailer. The high pressure below the trailer is likely to sway the trailer on one side, which is a very dangerous situation. An electronic trailer sway control is very useful in preventing swaying even when the trailer is moving at a higher speed.

Poor trailer design

Some trailer designs have significant impacts on swaying. If the anchor is very long, there is a high chance that trailer sway will be very common when the truck is moving at a higher speed. Trailer design is also likely to be a major issue if one side of the trailer is much heavier than the other one. Controlling trailer sway by adjusting the design of the trailer is essential in preventing trailer sway. It is common knowledge that one of the methods of correcting trailer sway is by adjusting the design of the trailer.

No sway control system

The sway control system is an important mechanical system that every trailer should have. Although most of the trailers are kin to observe some important aspects such as speed and trailer design, some critical and uncontrollable factors could cause trailer sway. Wind speed is a major external factor that drivers can do nothing about it. Most of the trailers without a sway control system, it will be very difficult to prevent sway. Having a sway control system is essential in preventing trailer sway.

Hayes Towing Electronics is a leading company in providing safety mechanisms for trailers that are likely to experience sway. One of the systems provided by this company is the electronic trailer sway control system, which provides instant breaks to prevent any form of trailer sway. If you are looking for a sway control system for your trailer, contact us today for more information.