Moved the 5th wheel from NM to TX yesterday and when entering the I10 after getting fuel while merging this shortbed Dodge pulling large toyhualer (3 axles) is in the passing lane. I'm thinking to myself he must be having fun with the wind conditions being it was a little windy. He passes me at 65 mph and gets in front of me and I notice that his 5th wheel starts to wag and he's fighting it because now his truck starts to swerve slightly, he slows down to 57 mph gets it under control speeds back up to 63 and starts all over again. I stayed behind him for about 4 cycles of this accident waiting to happen and had enough. The next time he recovered I passed him.
It just amazes me that at 57 mph it would handle it fine any thing above 60 mph the show would begin and the young guy would keep wanting to go faster just to fight the truck and trailer. He had way to much 5th wheel for his truck. I'll bet he had hand prints in that steering wheel.

 

I think when you tow large, there is some advantage to being in a larger model truck. I don't know where the line is, but have heard it said a time or two someone was being pushed around by their fifth wheel, which is something I don't think you experience in large models.

This is another one of those things where it would be so nice to have a test track and various model trucks and fifth wheels to run some valid tests and be able to say "when you tow with this combination this happened and when we did this, this happened". We make so many statements "by guess and by golly"!

Steve

 

He was a younger guy. Dsl truck, short bed, over sized tires and major pin weight squat. A lot of things working against him, but just kept trying to go faster. I'm about 36' but with dually truck really stable even in the wind. It's almost as if he didn't want to be passed.

 

Toy Haulers are more likely to encounter sway than a standard 5th when the garage is loaded heavy because it unloads the pin. My previous 40' hauler had a bit of sway over 60 with 2k in the garage. My new one has none even though it's longer. It has two things going for it. It's a triple axle as opposed to my previous unit being a double. It also has the Tuson trailer sway control which can pulse one side of the trailer brakes or the other to eliminate a sway situation. So, despite my rig having a very light pin weight in relation to total trailer weight, it tows like an arrow behind my SRW truck.

 

someone like that is sad...if you stayed behind him you would eventually had to respond to an accident scene and it possible you would have been involved.

 

I was worried of being involuntarily involved. To each their own just leave me out.

 

You may have answered your own question.

 

Had a 7.3L Excursion that I would pull a 30ft bumper pull trailer. The trailer had no slides and only weighed around 5500lbs. But, it was a 4 season model with fully insulated and enclosed under carriage, so it was sprung over and pretty tall because of it. The thing was a sail. Even passing truckers would require one hand on the brake controller typically. I tried everything to get the Excursion to handle it better. 4pt equalizer/anti-sway hitch, rear sway bar, air bags, X code/B Code springs, etc. I went as far as getting it weighed to check pin weight, and everything to get it dialed in. Nothing helped.

The last time I pulled that trailer with the Excursion was when I drove home from South Dakota in some brutal winds through Wyoming. Like 50-60mph crosswinds. It was everything I could do to keep it on the road, let alone in my lane. Worst 8hr drive of my life. Hand was on the brake controller the ENTIRE trip back. Got home, and immediately went out and bought a dually. Night and day difference when towing that camper. And, even though the camper was sold soon after, I had to drive it to Alcova Lake for the new owners up above Casper, WY in very similar winds to the SD trip. Never knew it was even back there. No sway, no issues. At that moment, I swore I would never tow anything of that size without a dually again.

 

The key I always found while driving semi's was you want to carry the load not pull the load. Hard to do with tandem trucks and tridem trailers but being that I drove mostly tridem trucks I could usually load up more onto my drives as compared to the trailer.

 

I bet he had steering wheel prints on his hands!

 

Might have also been something wrong or loose in the front of the truck.

 

No, he was just oversized for his truck.

 

I think your right. We was being pushed around with our 250. We was maxed for gcwr. We could feel it doing something. Told wife. Bigger truck. No mountains. Got our 350 now not being white knuckled while towing.

 

Let see....
Balloon tires (over sized) not stable
Check
SB towing 3 axle (18-21K gross)
Check
Most likely overloaded
Check
To much pin weight
Probably

Disaster waiting to happen
Check

Years ago it took my brother in-law 30 miles before he listened to me and rehitched his trailer, had to flip ball offset, to something workable as he would not unload and reload (28' box on a 3/4 ton) the trailer, but did move weight from the back of the truck to the trailer. Had to convince him you can carry max weight or tow, not both.

 

As heavy and as strong as my dually is, if my 18k toy hauler wanted to sway, that truck would have little to say about it..
When I got my trailer, I pulled all the suspension apart and rebuilt it. Most all of the nylon bushings were worn out, some of the shackle holes were wallowed out by the bolts. If any trailer was going to sway - mine would.. I got pretty lucky in the 450 mile trip home from when I picked it up..