I have a 1999 F-250 4x4 Supercab XLT Superduty, with a Triton V-10 with 58,000 miles. I'm pulling a 1999 Coachmen 297 RKS, 29' Rear Kitchen with a slideout. It weights about 7,000 empty and 9,000 loaded with about 1000lbs on the hitch. I've had both since new. It has pulled successfully for 1000's of miles with any load condition you can think of. Last year the truck started to wonder all over the road, only, while pulling the trailer. Sometimes it goes left and sometimes it goes right. It's worse this spring. We have done the following.

TRAILER: Greased the wheel bearings.
Checked the springs and attachments.
Checked the hitch for anything abnormal. Nothing found.
Checked wheel alignment. It was okay.
Pulled the trailer with 4 other trucks. One had 88,000 miles on it,
it wondered just like mine.
Two had about 35,000 miles and pulled it straight as an arrow.
One was brand new, it also pulled straight as an arrow.

TRUCK: Checked wheel alignment front and rear.
Installed new steering stabilizer. It was missing. Which means I
pulled it 1000's of miles without it. Pulled okay.
Installed new ball joints, top and bottom.
Installed new tie rod.
Installed new tires
Installed new steering gear box.
Installed new hitch.
Rechecked wheel alignment empty and with weight on tail
equal to camper weight.

I have pulled the camper with and without the Anti sway bars, and the equalizer bars. With the equalizer bar chains in the 3rd link (pulled 1000's of miles this way), in the 4th link, and in the 5th link. Somethings have helped a little, but it still wonders all over the road.

Ford and the Camper place have given up. Anybody had this problem? If so, how did you correct it?
Thanks,
Don

 

Have you checked your tongue weight on a certified scale? Too much and it'll lift weight off of front end of truck and make it wander.
I tow a 10k lb. Montana Travel Trailer, 35.5ft long, with a '97 F-350 Crewcab 4x4. My brother tows a 13.5K lb. Montana fifth wheel, 29ft. long with an '01 F-350 Crewcab 4x4. We both had the wandering problem you are talking about. We both adjusted the steering gear box. You have to be careful when adjusting the box, too much and steering wheel won't return to center when you let go and you can ruin the box's worm gears. Ford garage would not touch it, so we did it ourselves. What the adjustment did was take the slop or loose feel out of the steering, which stopped the wandering. GOOD LUCK !

 

Did you say you also have a camper in the bed? A camper and trailer probalby put you over spec on rear axle weight which might cause your problem.

I assume the tires are properly inflated? When towing they are higher pressure than just driving around. Are the tires the same type as the old ones or are they a new tread pattern? Maybe the tires don't like your setup.

Check your tongue weight. Did anything change in the weight distribution of your trailer or truck?

Ask a GOOD alignment shop about better settings for towing. Maybe with weight your truck alignement is out of spec. Proper alignment has a braod range of tolerance and with towing you could be too far one way. I think some shops change the toe in or camber(I forget which so ask) so that the wheels are more self centering.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Sorry, I guess I intermixed Trailer and Camper. I do NOT have a camper in the bed of the truck. Just pulling a Trailer.

Since I posted, I have Tightened the front U bolts about 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn.
Looked the frame over for cracks.
Replaced all 4 shock absorbers.
Pulled the trailer without plugging in the electrical. Someone said I might have a trailer electrical problem the would cause the truck brakes to malfunction.
Nothing changed. Still wanders.

 

I had this happen to me once. It was caused by broken cords in just one off the trailer tyres. I had a brainwave and switched 'em with the spare one at a time, of course it was the forth one. For some reason it was not as noticable as it usually is when the cords snap.

 

Trailers that have a rear kitchen have less tongue weight to begin with than center or front kitchens. If you load a lot of heavy stuff in the rear you will be removing some of the tongue weight which would explain the handling. I imagine that your kitchen is "fully stocked" which adds a lot of weight to the rear end. Try to load all the heavy stuff in front of the trailer axles. When you say it pulled straight when new, do you mean when you picked it up empty?

 

During testing this spring, the kitchen was stocked with pots and pans and utensils, but no food or water.

The 40gal water fresh water tank is located at the extreme rear end of the trailer, however, I have pulled it 1000's of miles with the water tank full
and it did NOT wander.

Regarding, "when it pulled straight when new" I was referring to the new truck we tried with my trailer last week.

 

I had the same problem with my 97 F350 CC 4x4 pulling my 30 ft camping trailer. I replaced the ball joints, tires etc and still had the problem. I did not have this same problem towing my 30 ft camper with my 86 F250 4x4. I called reese about it since I have their dual cam sway system. They had me check my truck height before and after I hooked up my trailer. It ended up that when it was hooked up my truck was 1 inch higher in the front and 1 inch lower in the back. I had to drop five links on my equilzer bars to get the truck back to unloaded heigth which is what I was told by the reese to insure the loaded height was the same as the unloaded height . After I did that it tows like a dream now. My bars have a bow in them. I was towing with only 3 links dropped before. I hope that this helps.

 

Might want to check your front axle tracking arm bushings and front sway bar bushings as well as leaf spring eye bushings for wear/deterioration.

 

Seaplane.
You've replaced about everything I would think could be the problem and the others have taken up about any other ideas. To me it sounds like maybe a tire problem. Was it swaying with the old tires? Have the new tires been double checked for a bad one. Is the load range sufficient? Are you running max. tire pressure? Maybe the test truck that awayed didn't have heavy enough tires. I would think you should have Load Range E @ 80 psi. on the truck. When you do find the problem I hope you will let us know...Good luck

 

The original tires drove okay 0 to 48,000 miles. New tires in Dec. 02. The truck started to wander in 03. New tires about 3 weeks ago. Same brand (Firestone), Load range E (same as before). Different tread this time. Truck door post says 45 lbs Front 65 lbs Rear. Pulled successfully 1,000's of miles at this pressure. Tried 80 lbs. Still wanders.

Today I called another Ford Dealer. He was very interested in my problem. I'm waiting for a call back to set up an appointment. Don

 

Thanks Guys. I finally got it fixed. I got a call from the other Ford Dealership and he said the guy I needed to talk to was on vacation. So, I pulled my trailer down to the campground and used it. I went back to the campground to follow BarryFS advice and change tires. Guess what. I had a flat tire. (1/4 inch bolt) I changed the tire and pulled the trailer home. It pulled better, but not perfect. Since it pulled better with one new tire (5 years old but zero miles) I bought 4 new trailer tires. Didn't help.
Dieselman929 said I should tighten the steering gearbox. A guy I talked to at the campground said I should tighten the steering gearbox. I told him "Ford" just put in a new steering gearbox. He said, "I don't care, tighten the steering gearbox". I asked him how much, he said about an 1/8 of a turn. "Ford" said don't touch the steering gearbox. I was between a rock and a hard place. But I had nothing to lose, so I tightened the NEW steering gearbox about an 1/8 of a turn. Marked it paint first, so I knew how far I had turned it.
IT'S FIXED---WORKS GREAT 74 mph down the Interstate straight as an arrow.
Thanks guys. Wouldn't have gotten it fixed without you.
Don
PS. My ford dealership is having a hard time believing it.

 

Glad you got it fixed! Hopefully the steering gear mesh doesn't wear/loosen up quickly, as can happen after (over)tightening the box. Since you turned it only 1/8 turn, hopefully it will be ok.

 

As I read this post coming down, I was thinkin trailer tires, trailer tires, trailer tires.

Glad ya got the tire fixed.

John