Hello. New guy here. I have an 09 Expedition EL Eddie Bauer with the HD towing package. Recently purchased a new 32' camper and on way home with it I seemed to be all over the road. Dealer installed a new Blue Ox Swaypro 1000 but didn't have it installed correctly. Made the necessary adjustments and hauled to the first campground-all local roads-seemed ok. Returned camper to dealer for repairs and on way home again was all over road (highway speeds-seem to veer side to side but kept in my lane)-felt like fishtailing but it would only go one way, then come back under control. Pretty windy day so that could be some of it. I knew I was close to the max limits so I had it weighed at a CAT scale and everything was in tolerance (barely). Here's the actual weights (in lbs) with max #'s in ( ). Gross Veh Wt.=7300 (7720 GVWR). Gross Combined Wt=14,120 (15,000 max) Tongue Wt=880 (920 max with WD hitch). Rear Axle Wt=4120 (4250 max). Front axle wt=3180 (3700 max). So everything is within the limits but it still "wanders" within my lane on the highway-certainly not a comfortable tow for sure. I'm used to pulling 15' utility trailers and previously towed a pop up and I'm wondering if this is normal "sway" or if something is not quite right. Maybe LT tires would help? Camper is 32' (actually 36' from ball to bumper) so it's pretty big-too big? I was pretty shocked when I learned that "max trailer rating" of 8700 lbs assumes you only have a 150 lb driver in the truck-so much for my plans to pull the camper with my 4 kids and wife. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Is what I'm experiencing normal or is this too much trailer for the Expedition EL? Thanks for any input.

 

you have a huge trailer. and several things going on wrong at the moment.

1. get those POS passenger rated tires off the vehicle. Get Load range E tires. that will solve alot of the squirmy sensation you feel. the passenger tires like to float

2. get that hitch setup properly by an expert. your front axle is still too light. how bad is the Expy squatting?

3. be careful out there. You might have too much trailer for the Expy. but get your setup fixed first. a properly setup hitch and good tires will turn it into a bearable experience, vice what I'm guessing was a white knuckle drive

 

Thanks for the information. I have the air suspension so that takes the squat out (I turn it off until I hook up the hitch). I got it back to within 1.5" of the pre-hook up weight (ball height) so I thought I was doing ok there. The dealer didn't know anything about the hitch but I doubt I could get much more weight on the front axle as those tension bars are bent pretty far (I doubt I could get even one more link). I forgot to mention in my original post that I also weighed it with 2 more links out (so bars were not bent as much) and it lightened the front axle load by 280 lbs. maybe I need the next larger size hitch even though the one I have is rated for 1000 lbs hitch weight.

 

The tires are not the issue unless he is not aired up to the proper levels. He's got his weigh dist system set up wrong somewhere along the lines. I've grossed almost 19K before with my old EL XLT and didn't have any sway issues even with the crappy stock 18" p metric tires.

What is the trailer unhitched. Is the 880 actually a measured weight? What is the weight of the trailer on the scale as your hauling it. Need axle and hitch to see where the screw up is.

 

I couldn't unhitch the trailer on the scale but all the weights shown above were from the scale (weighed vehicle only before hooking up camper then weighed combination after getting trailer hooked up). Since the scales showed weights on each axle I calculated the tongue weight of 880-added vehicle axles (not trailer axle) after hooking up and then subtracting the weight of the vehicle axles from before I hooked up. But the total weight of the trailer is 7700 lbs including that 880 lb tongue weight. When u hauled 19k how big was the load? I'm wondering if its the wind blowing me around. I have felt a trailer sway with other trailers and its more a back and forth motion whereas this one feels more one way-it doesn't "sway" back. Thanks again for any input. I need to figure this out.

 

try towing with P tires, then tow the exact same load/vehicle with E rated

then tell me they don't make a difference. I could tell the difference on my 2008 Expy EL when I swapped to LT C rated from the POS Pirelli Scorpions. No way I'd tow anything besides maybe a pop-up trailer with P rated tires. Especially with the Expy that is already 7,000+ lbs by itself

 

I agree Tylus, the tires do make a lot of difference. But the WD hitch has to be st-up properly also and then a good sway control bar.

 

I think we're on the same page here. I just prefer to solve the problem at the root first, then work outwards.