Trailer sway

[heyu]

I have a single axle trailer 6 x 10 ,,That pulls great with my little Toyota even better when the car is squatted down with tongue weight ,,,,

Well i bought a hitch for a bigger car 97 Lumina LS would be a much easier trailer pulling vehicle and the trailer fishtails going over 40 mph ,,,Any explaination why this is happening ?

 

[Pop_Rivit]

The weight distribution isn't correct. If the tongue weight (what generates friction to the tow vehicle rear tires) is properly distributed to the rear tires of the tow vehicle most lateral forces encountered will not be sufficient to start sway. If the lateral forces do overcome the tire friction, trailer sway will start.

A general rule of thumb is tounge weight should be 10-15% of the loaded trailer weight. If your current car is higher than the previous one, you've shifted some of the weight off the toungue of the trailer. Even an inch or two can make a difference.

 

[The_Eric]

To add to what Pop_Rivet said, also make sure your tires are properly inflated.

 

[heyu]

I didn't measure the height difference yet,but visually it does look level, I notice everywhere alot in my area have their trailers on taller trucks with NO tongue weight (you can see its just wrong) and they seem to have no problems ,and thats with single and double axles they have,,,,I have 2 brand new matched 13'in tires (in case someone comes up with mismatched tires) ,,,Thank you for the reply

 

[webfors]

check the suspension..especially if it's on the original 15 year old springs/shocks. check the sway bar and links. If it's never been rustproofed I suspect you'll have a lot of corrosion on the underside of the car. If it has, you're in luck

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: heyu
I didn't measure the height difference yet,but visually it does look level,



That means nothing. You need to get a scale and make sure the tongue weight is correct.

Originally Posted By: heyu
I notice everywhere alot in my area have their trailers on taller trucks with NO tongue weight (you can see its just wrong) and they seem to have no problems ,and thats with single and double axles they have,,,,I have 2 brand new matched 13'in tires (in case someone comes up with mismatched tires) ,,,Thank you for the reply


That's not a really valid comparison. There's a big difference in the way a 6,000 pound pickup handles a 4,000 pound trailer versus a 2,500 pound car handling a 2,000 pound trailer. The pickups likely have an entirely different class of hitch compared to the one on your car.

 

[heyu]

Ok,,Thanks

 

[Corvette Owner]

The airflow over and around the trailer can make the trailer sway. That is why you experience sway when passing or being passed by a tractor trailer. Your different vehicles have different airflow patterns.

You know you can get a simple anti-sway bar (friction brake device).

 

[mechtech2]

A quick test is to simply measure the hitch heights on both cars.
[loaded would be best]
Try to get the new one to where the old one was.
And like mentioned, aerodynamics can be the whole problem - can't tell from here!