Today I hooked up the toy hauler to the F-350 and took it for a test ride. My toy hauler currently weighs in around 9,500 lbs. Tongue weight was around 920 lbs.

I got up to 55 mph on a two lane road on my way to the interstate. Felt great, very steady. Got on the highway and spooled it up to 65 mph, not so great. Got a bit of sway. Not a huge amount, as near as I can tell but enough that I got worried. My mirrors don't extend far enough that I can see the side of my trailer, so it's hard to tell. But my butt-sway-o-meter says there was some wiggle going on.

This test run was without the weight distributing hitch. I used my new 3" shank Weigh-Safe A) to see how well it did, B) to get the tongue weight and C) because I can (it's rated to 21K lbs). I brought the weight distributing hitch home with me and just finished adjusting it, so I'll try using it next time. Hopefully that will take care of the wiggle/sway. However, the WDH is a 2" shank. The tongue might have been a bit light. I had no water in the tanks but I did have the ATV loaded in the trailer with the heavy part of the ATV to the back of the trailer.

The F-350 had tons of power. On a two lane 55 mph road there was a Tundra in front of me doing 45 mph with a string of cars behind us. A short passing lane opened up and I blew past him easily. Braking was good and having the exhaust brake made it even easier. I left the exhaust brake on the Automatic setting and I'm pretty happy with that.

The 8" drop on the hitch is overkill. 2" drop would have been good enough.

The trailer tow hooks fit perfectly in the hitch holes. That was a pleasant surprise.

On-screen configuration of the trailer was interesting. Ever played 20 questions? Kind of like that. I went through part of it but didn't do the complete configuration (no sticker on the tongue yet). I think BLIS isn't going to work with the trailer since my trailer is too wide. Once the trailer was disconnected the truck knew it and no longer showed an active trailer.

However, the truck sure does stink. Kind of like burnt cookies with a tinge of burning electrical components. It was bad enough that I drove to the closest Ford dealership. Their service was closed but the FastLane (oil changes?) guy said the new trucks take a while to burn off factory residue. This isn't the first time I've had that odor coming off the truck.

 

I'd guess that 10% tongue weight is where your wiggle came from. Get the weight up and you should be on rails with that truck and trailer. Looks good though, nice stuff.

 

Looks good Jim. Glad to hear all went well. You probably got a regen going while towing. That can stink for the first few times. I agree on the light tongue thing being the cause of your bit o' wiggle...

 

Funny you say that. I've had mine since Oct, and plow snow with it. Had a couple of storms with a heavy wet snow. When pushing heavy, I can smell what smells like rotten gear oil. I crawled around underneath and there are no leaks. I have an appt this week with the dealer.

 

Agree also your tongue weight is a bit light under 10% it should be closer to 12% or some where between 10% to 15% of TT weight.

 

To me it looks like the back of the truck is sagging some allready.
I haven't hooked anything up to mine yet but I nervous to see how much sag 2000 lbs of tongue weight will create...

 

I pull anywhere from 6k empty to 25k loaded everyday with mine, it sits level

in the red is with the mulching head, and the other is normal load out

 

Those hitches are gorgeous! I wish they made a WD version.

 

Blue wave audio, you and I tow similar trailers and equipment, and we both have 350 duallys. I've noticed very little sag with mine which is nice compared to the butt-dragging of the previous generation. But, these dually shave considerably stiffer springs than the SRW trucks.

 

25k on a weigh safe hitch?

 

My tongue weight is sitting at about 800 lbs on a 6000 lb trailer, My truck sits level.

 

Did you look on the inside your wheels? I've blown an axle seal on my previous 2011 while towing my camper. Smelled gear oil on driver's side for days, with no leaks underneath. Finally ran my finger inside the wheel and pulled out a glob of 90wt and dirt.

 

I was thrown off by the thread title, I thought the OP was pulling a heavy trailer, that's far from a heavy trailer. Nice setup though.
But if you have a sway condition than you most likely don't have enough hitch weight. Fix that and you'll be fine.

 

For me, that's heavy. Heaviest pull prior to this was around 5K.

 

I'm happy with people treating their loads as being heavy no matter what the weight is, the problems are folks that throw around 17k trailers like it's nothing and don't adjust their driving style. Anyone that is pegging their alertness meter towing 6k pounds is alright by me.......