Our band just bought a 33ft trailer for traveling with band equipment. This issue we have is the multiple people will tow this trailer and no one has the same truck. Is there a sway control system that be utilized by different style trucks without having to work on adjustments. I have been looking at the Hayes Sway Control plug and go system does anyone have any experience with this system? Or is there a hitch style system that can work on a Ford F250 4wd my truck, Ram 2500 4wd or a Chevy?

 

Just a thought..

That length trailer should not need sway control.

What you are more likely to need is a weight distribution hitch.

Weight distribution and sway control are two totally different aspects of towing. Weight distribution uses leverage, in various forms, to torque the drawbar in your receiver hitch forward, thus transferring, or distributing, some of the tongue weight to the front axle, as opposed to having it all hang off the ball and on the rear axle. Sway control, on the other hand, puts extra resistance in the yaw articulation of the trailer (the rotation around the ball horizontally, sorta like shock absorbers to a suspension system do vertically).

If you have that long of a trailer and need sway control you do not have the load in the trailer set up correctly = too light on the hitch. What I would do is create a "system" of organizing where your equipment goes in the trailer and weigh it at a scale. Adjust where things go as needed to create your baseline. As long as you aren't overloading the trailer with your "full" load, if you travel with less than what you use with a "full" load and move things up forward further, rather than back, you will never have a weight distribution issue in the trailer that would affect stability. So start with a full load and set it up right, then keep tabs on it so the order is the same. If you reverse the order and put the heavy stuff too far rearward then you have a stability problem waiting to happen.

I've pulled trailers for years and the only time I could have used sway control was on a 6x12 uhaul back around 2005 or so that I loaded too heavy in the rear. Every other time I have pulled a trailer for any distance, in a 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton, or my current 1 ton, I've never had a need for sway control with a bumper pull trailer.

 

You can buy weight distribution hitches with sway control as part of them.

 

Thanks for the replies, i am just trying to make it easier for other people who will be towing this unit. Our high school band has multiple parents with 250 or greater trucks. A sway/weight distribution system is too costly and people will not adjust them per vehicle before they tow this large of a trailer.

I agree if it was me alone towing I would get the proper system added.

 

You can buy a friction style sway control and use it on any hitch. As long as it has the little ball on it. Just have the ball mount installed on each receiver for each truck(or do you use the same receiver?).
If it's nose heavy, then a WD hitch is needed. The sway control can still be used.

 

We all use different hitch styles due to different truck setups. I have looked at the friction setups but my hitch doesn't allow for this style of attachment. It is the Andersen EZ heavy duty adjustable.

 

I looked at your hitch online. There are a few variations. I think yours uses pins for height adjustment?

If you use bolts, you could have a plate made to match your hole pattern, then have the ball mount welded to it and use the friction control. Just a thought.

 

My son's Boy Scout Troop has a 6x12 enclosed trailer that weighs at most 6K on the road.. We've never used a WDH (with or without sway control) on it. Utility trailers don't seem to have the problems that RV travel trailers do.

Where you'll need the WDH is if the trailer tongue weight is too great for the vehicle pulling the trailer. A 1/2 ton truck would fall in that category.

As stated above by Steve in post #2, the way you load the trailer will help with sway. The heavy items need to go toward the front. Heavy items in the rear will contribute to sway. I designed the interior storage of the Scout trailer such that the heavy items (propane tanks, dutch ovens, etc.) have to be placed in the front of the trailer. That way, even when the Scouts load the trailer (as opposed to the adult Quartermaster), it still pulls good.

As long as all the tow vehicles have the same receiver hitch size (2" or 2.5"), all you have to do is put the shank in the receiver and tighten up the spring bars. It won't be perfect for every vehicle as the height of each receiver will be different. But it may be close enough. Configure it for a stock height truck. The guys with 6" lifts are out of luck and won't be allowed to pull the trailer, unless they simply don't need a WDH and have their own drop hitch that will allow the trailer to sit level.