I recently put a 4-in lift and 35" Toyo Open Country M/T's on my '05 diesel X. Since then I have had terrible sway with my 31', 8000 lbs travel trailer at anything 50mph or above. I've verified tire pressure on the X and the trailer, had my WD hitch lowered to compensate for the lift, and even resorted to trying one of those useless friction-based anti-sway bars. I had no swaying issues before the lift.

I'm looking for suggestions on where to go in Phoenix to get knowledgeable, face-to-face advice. I tried a Quality Bumper on the west side and they were useless.

I'm considering a Hellwig anti-sway bar and airbags on the rear of the X, but I would like to speak to someone smarter than I am about towing before throwing more $$$ at the problem.

Your suggestions are appreciated!!

 

I am in Px, what hitch are you using to tow with? I had a hekk of a time with swaying on my Ex!

 

It is an EAZ-LIFT WD hitch with 1000 lbs bars. This is the same hitch I used prior to the lift and had no issues...

 

MAXed,

I'm assuming that after the lift a larger "drop" shank was needed on your hitch to keep the TT level?...if so, you would have had to redo your whole WD setup from SCRATCH. With that, did you happen to verify weights via a CAT or certified scale to ensure that your are shifting all the weight that is unloaded BACK to the front axle? The only way to know for sure is to get a couple of measurements.

First Ex as it sits READY for camping on the scale. Get front and rear axle weight independently.

Second hitch up and apply what you "think" is the correct WD on the hitch. Go back on the scale and get front and rear Ex axles independently and BOTH TT axles together (i.e. THREE independent numbers). The FRONT Ex axle weight should MATCH the first FRONT Ex axle weight from above. If it does NOT and is LESS than before, apply MORE WD (i.e. pull up on another link). If it is MORE than the first reading, apply LESS WD (i.e. drop one more link into tension)

Once you feel you have the WD shifted/applied PROPERLY in this setup you can get the last weight. REMOVE the WD bars from tension and have the WHOLE tongue sitting on the ball. Get 3 independent weights Front and Rear Ex axles and BOTH TT axles. This last measurement will give you your TONGUE weight as all of it will be on the REAR Ex axle BUT you will see MORE weight on there as well...the UNLOADED front axle weight has to show up somewhere and your tongue weight will look heavier than it really is. Your tongue weight is only the additional weight on the rear axle after you subtract out the added load from the front axle (you know what your front axle weighed with NO TT attached so look how much lighter it is now and subtract that from the rear axle weight and you have your tongue).

What type of sway control systems are you using? You mentioned a friction BAR...a 31' TT needs an Equal-i-zer OR Reese Dual Cam at a minimum. If you don't have either one of them...well you need one.

I have reservations about your 1000# bars as well. For a ball pulled trailer to pull with "natural" anti-sway...you need 10-15% of the LOADED weight to be TONGUE weight. That means 800-1200#'s NEEDS to be tongue and better is 12-14% so you need 960-1120#'s. I think you really need 1200# bars and you will likely discover that at the scales.

I suspect the angles have negatively affected the WD loading. If you didn't add a drop shank and your TT is now nose high...it may be that simple of a change. If the longer drop shank is not optimized on the WD due to the higher Ex...you may just need to pull another link to compensate for that. A SCALE will be your best friend here as measurements of fender heights sometimes mask things.

If you do not have a rear sway bar...I further suspect that is a MAJOR contributor especially since you raised the CG (center of gravity) on your Ex with the lift...it is now more prone to sway.

Your new tires...are they D or E range?...D range have softer sidewalls which contribute to side wall flex induced sway.

Just a few items that came to mind initially...if you answer some of my questions I think we can try and diagnose this for you.

Joe.

 

Joe,

I'll do my best to answer all of your questions...

I did not get a larger drop shank, but I did turn it over. Stock the shank pointed up and now it points down. I have it on the lowest setting now. I will check the trailer to see if it is nose high. If I've read other threads correctly, the nose should be level or slightly lower than level - is that accurate?

I have not been to the scales... Where would I be able to do this? A truck stop? Are they open to the public?

No, I do not have an Equal-i-zer or dual cam hitch. Just the EAZ-LIFT WD hitch with the chains. And incidentally, I cannot pull another link... Even after raising the rear end I've grabbed the lowest link I can and it hasn't helped.

I do not have a rear sway bar on the X.

My Toyos are E range.

Thanks for your help!!!

Jim

 

Jim,

yes if you cannot achieve a level sitting TT...then slightly nose down would be much preferred over nose high. Sometimes holes in shanks etc simply do not allow a perfectly level attitude so opt for the nose low then.

I now understand what you have...as long as we can get where we need to with this shank that is.

Yes many truck stops will let anyone use the scale. My local truck stop charges $7.50 for the first weight and then $1 for each one after that...

Some farm coops have grain scales that you can also use (but they generally only have one scale not three like truck stops). You may have to do some checking in your area but look where the truck stops are or call your local Fed-Ex depot as they generally don't have their own scale and may be able to point you to where they go locally...just a thought.


Is there a way to send me any photos of your setup for me to see? If so PM me and I will send you my email address in private. Seeing what you are dealing with will help a lot here. there are cases where TOO MUCH WD is applied and that actually lifts the rear of the TV and causes a loose condition in the rear...a scale ticket here would reveal that too.


Good thing on the E range..that will help...The Ex's are VERY finicky to air pressure...we may just have to try 80 and work our way down to see if we can hit on a new "good" combo.

50MPH isn't very fast at all...When I had my WD messed up royally...45-50 felt like I was on ICE!...very un-nerving...I was messing around with setups and found a REALLY BAD ONE! LOL

Sway bar may be a HUGE improvement especially with the higher CG.

I was also thinking...did they install new shocks too?...were the damping rates similar to the OEM?

Let me know on the photos...we'll get you thru this...but if I can see your setup it will help a bunch.

joe.

 

Sent you a PM...

 

I have the Helwig bars on my X and it is pretty stable, I'm not towing anthing that big, but they do help.

Try calling Spec Trac Suspensions. They are on Baseline in Mesa(or Gilbert). Between Country Club and Mesa Dr. or Mesa and Stapley, I think. They do all kinds of trailering issues and are really good. They are right down the street from Super Duty HQ.

Spectrac Suspension Centers Incorporated
405 E Baseline Rd
Gilbert, AZ 85233 Map
(480) 545-5533

 

Thanks for the info DS3!

 

I have an 04 X with the 6.0 diesel. We have a weekend warrior FSW3200 13,000 fully loaded and I have white hands after towing it. I think my answer is a new hitch but dont know what so far from what i hear once you get it setup right its fine but if its no hold on
Nick

 

wwfsw32 - I'm sure it doesn't help that you're 2,000 lbs over the X's towing weight limit either!!!

 

Added Note: I first put a 4" Pro Comp lift on my '04 w/ 35" tires and later switched to a 6" lift from Fab Tech. I was surprised at how much more stable the X is in spite of the 2" additional lift. I pull a horse trailer and 5000#+ boat regularly w/ no problems (have a 6-8" drop hitch also).

 

I wasn't smart enough to make changes in the elevation of my suspension of my EX ( '2005 V-10 4wd). I have this stupid idea that if legit engineers with analysis abilities far greater than my own, set the suspension geometry up for the riding height they were working with, I'd do just fine.

Well, not JUST fine - as I have noted elsewhere, no-one has given me an explanation as to why they let this pig on the market WITHOUT A REAR SWAY BAR ! (someone told me the cheaper versions DO have a factory sway bar >)

Anyway, seriously, the bone stock delux EX (again, the ones like mine that were delivered WITHOUT a factory rear sway bar) are waddling pigs even UNloaded. So the FIRST thing I did was install a rear Helwig sway bar. Then, because the back srpings are so soft, I installed an air bag kit to insure it rides level no matter what the tounge load.

I have two trailers. One, is our boat trailer - a "three axle", which, combined with our Bayliner Contessa cabin cruiser, is about 10,000 lbs). It IS equipped with equalizer-bars. No problems up to 60 mph. Over 60 mph is, I believe, unwise towing that much weight.

The second trailer is my "box" trailer - also three axle, for my collector car. Because it presents an even larger "sail" then the boat, and is NOT set up for equalizer bars (yet !) it does feel a trace on the squirrely side at 60 mph when passed by the big rigs.

I dont want to THINK about what a delux EX would be like trying to tow bone stock.

I hate to ask a stupid question - but if you have managed to figure out that you didnt have these problems UNTIL you "jacked up" the body........well...?