Help on sway control and hitch |
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techntrek
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9059 |
Topic: Help on sway control and hitch Posted: 12 Nov 2013 at 9:03pm |
Ditto for me, the pod is so comfortable to tow I put off getting sway control until a day when I wished I had it.
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Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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Jdub
Groupie Joined: 17 Mar 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 94 |
Posted: 12 Nov 2013 at 11:28pm |
We had bad sway the first trip out, but we were hauling a full load of water for a dry camp. The pod does handle differently for us (suburban TV) when loaded with water versus not. But the sway bar locks the pod in place whether we are carrying water or not. So a good investment.
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LizKev
Newbie Joined: 26 Aug 2013 Location: Washington Online Status: Offline Posts: 9 |
Posted: 28 Nov 2013 at 3:20pm |
www.etrailer.com/Weight-Distribution/Reese/RP66082.html
Strait-Line Weight Distribution System w Sway Control - Trunnion Bar - 10,000 lbs GTW, 600 lbs TW is what I bought. My tow vehicle is a 1/2 ton GMC Sierra. Might be a little late for you but just wanted to share. I took the pod up through the Skagit valley north of Seattle. It is windy up there. No trouble what so ever. The reason I went for a dual cam sway control is because it is suppose to prevent the swaying from even starting, where as the traditional bar attached to the little ball on the side will stop swaying once it begins. I am no expert by any means so take this for what it is. Maybe I am just a sucker for Reese marketing guys. Either way I have had no problems pulling my pod with this setup. |
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2014 r-pod 178
2000 GMC Sierra |
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Pod People
Senior Member Joined: 22 Sep 2011 Location: Chapel Hill,NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 1068 |
Posted: 28 Nov 2013 at 11:17pm |
We just returned from our trip out west. We drove 10,750 miles and were out for 73 days. We went from NC to Calif and back with lots of side trips to Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada.. So, we can definitely talk about sway-winds, tractor trailers and major gusts.
We have a 2012 Ford Expedition and use a 10" drop shank with a 600/6000# Equalizer 4 point Sway Control WDH to pull our RP173. We had ZERO problems with sway during our entire trip. We drove on looong straaaight desert interstates at 70mph and had trucks pass us in both directions. We drove over 12000 foot mountain ranges and in wicked side canyons exposed to cross drafts. Never felt unstable or unsafe. I am totally happy with our current set-up and would recommend the Equalizer system without hesitation. Vann |
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hogone
Senior Member Joined: 09 Apr 2013 Location: St. Louis Online Status: Offline Posts: 1047 |
Posted: 29 Nov 2013 at 7:53am |
hopefully not a goofy question here. my last trip down to florida and back, i did drive in quite a bit of wind; especially in the flats of northern arkansas and southern missouri. by the way, if you have never been in this area, i think it may be the flattest place on earth!!! i have never really encountered much sway pulling the pod, i do not use either a sway bar wdh, etc; just the old standard hook-up. obviously felt the trailer and my truck being affected by the wind at times during this trip. ok, here is my goofy question. exactly what do you guys mean by sway. i mean i know what sway is, but how much are we talking about? I frequently/always look in my mirrors when being passed by trucks, or in major winds. obviously i get some sway, but it seems like so minimal and normal; or is any sway abnormal? when you use sway bars, is this totally eliminated? it seems like in major wind situations, your still going to be pushed around. am i being unsafe or stupid by not using at least a sway bar? i am definately not opposed to getting one. hopefully this all makes sense. hogone
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Jon & Pam
2013 RP177 2010 F150 2017 HD Streetglide 2009 HD Lowrider CHEESEHEAD |
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Seanl
Senior Member Joined: 19 Sep 2011 Location: Fredericton NB Online Status: Offline Posts: 633 |
Posted: 29 Nov 2013 at 8:17am |
For me there are two types
of sway. The first is when the trailer moves back and forth in an oscillation.
I don't get this much but it is harry when I do. The sway control reduces this
by adding friction to the hitch articulation point to dampen oscillation. The
other type of sway I get because of the short wheel base of my Jeep Liberty is that the trailer pushes sideways on on the hitch and this pushes the front of my TV
around. This is even worse on the Pod because it is a single axle trailer that
rotates on the axle easier than a tandem axle trailer would. Again the sway control reduces the sway by making it harder for the trailer to rotate on the hitch. |
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Sean, 2011 Rpod RP-173,2009 Jeep Liberty Rocky Mountain Edition
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Tars Tarkas
Senior Member Joined: 14 Jan 2013 Location: Near Nashville Online Status: Offline Posts: 1446 |
Posted: 29 Nov 2013 at 9:34am |
I'm like you. I don't really get the sway control thing. We've had our pod almost a year now and have had it out several times. Several thousand miles on the road now. The first time I felt any sway at all was a couple of weeks ago coming back from the Smokies. I think it was due to half a tank of water (too much weight behind the axle). The sway was only technical; yes there was detectable sway, but it was in no way dangerous or even threatening. It was as to sway the way the threat of snow is to snow when they close schools in Middle Tennessee. In Middle Tennessee they close schools if it gets cloudy and the temperature drops below 40 degrees. We are scared to death that a school bus be caught out in a blizzard and will slide off the road and down a 2000 foot cliff killing scores of children. And of course they will be buried under an avalanche of snow and we won't find them until next summer. If sway gets out of control you could die in a fiery wreck. (That is probably not as paranoid as the my Middle Tennessee snow analogy.) Just my opinion coming up here: I think a lot of people with pods get sway control and WDHs because they've heard they might be a good idea and they can afford them. I know that's silly and that pod owners are probably above average savvy about things like this, and maybe too I've been good about keeping 60% of my load in front of the axle or maybe I've just been lucky. Maybe there is something about the 176 (no T) that makes it less prone than other pods to want to sway. Bottom line, I remain unconvinced about the need for sway control or WDHs for my personal use. They are almost certainly good things but maybe some people need them more than others. I hope these aren't famous last words. If I do need sway control I hope I get a warning like Doug apparently did. All that said, if I come across a good deal on a WDH with sway control I might grab it up. Safe than sorry and all that... TT |
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2010 176
FJ Cruiser |
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Jdub
Groupie Joined: 17 Mar 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 94 |
Posted: 29 Nov 2013 at 11:27am |
We drive in the west on big open sweeping mountain sides with lots of crosswinds. I feel the sway of the pod on the back of a suburban. I also pull a 14 foot raft on a trailer....never felt a bit of sway with it, so there is a real difference between the two.
Do I think I could control the rpod sway with the brake and caution? Sure, probably almost always. But for $80 bucks I don't have to even think about it because the friction bar locks the rpod on the back of the car. Hell, I waste $80 bucks all the time on worthless crap. But the friction bar actually works. My 2 cents.....
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hogone
Senior Member Joined: 09 Apr 2013 Location: St. Louis Online Status: Offline Posts: 1047 |
Posted: 29 Nov 2013 at 2:36pm |
friction bar...........sway bar..............same thing?
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Jon & Pam
2013 RP177 2010 F150 2017 HD Streetglide 2009 HD Lowrider CHEESEHEAD |
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HavaPod
Groupie Joined: 19 Dec 2012 Location: Tacoma, WA Online Status: Offline Posts: 59 |
Posted: 29 Nov 2013 at 11:24pm |
...also, what does WDH mean?...
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Steve and Peggy Thorndill
HavaPod 2013 R-Pod 177 Tacoma, WA |
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