Towing 282RK with 1/2 ton

[Eltonnoland]

I have a 2011 Silverado 1/2 ton extended cab with a 5.3 and towing a 2015 Hemisphere 282RK (7000# dry). I am using a Blue Ox Sway Pro.

I have plenty of power and after adjusting the hitch have a tolerable ride. Problem is I have more sway when being passed on the interstate than I think I should.

Question is: is this all I can expect from this truck/trailer/hitch combination? Must I go truck shopping? Please relay your experiences. This trailer is advertised as half ton towable but I'm worn out after a 2 hour drive. Thanks in advance.

[Torch]

I had a 2012 Ram 1500 crew,SB with the 5.7. Using The Equalizer hitch set up I felt very comfortable towing a Kodiak 276bhsl dry weight of 6800. I did put Airlift bags on the rear, fully loaded and way over the 7000lb mark I never had any issues towing.

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by Eltonnoland

I have a 2011 Silverado 1/2 ton extended cab with a 5.3 and towing a 2015 Hemisphere 282RK (7000# dry). I am using a Blue Ox Sway Pro.

I have plenty of power and after adjusting the hitch have a tolerable ride. Problem is I have more sway when being passed on the interstate than I think I should.

Question is: is this all I can expect from this truck/trailer/hitch combination? Must I go truck shopping? Please relay your experiences. This trailer is advertised as half ton towable but I'm worn out after a 2 hour drive. Thanks in advance.

My honest advice is to get a ProPride hitch. It is expensive, but you won't believe how great it will pull. People regularly spend $1500 plus on good 5th wheel hitches, but for some reason no one wants to spend more than $500 on a travel trailer hitch. I would honestly rather tow my trailer with my 1/2 ton and the ProPride than with a 3/4 ton and a cheap hitch. I have pulled with standard bar type hitches with friction control and an Equalizer 4 point, for reference.

[Cajun Po-Boy]

Originally Posted by dustman_stx

My honest advice is to get a ProPride hitch. It is expensive, but you won't believe how great it will pull. People regularly spend $1500 plus on good 5th wheel hitches, but for some reason no one wants to spend more than $500 on a travel trailer hitch. I would honestly rather tow my trailer with my 1/2 ton and the ProPride than with a 3/4 ton and a cheap hitch. I have pulled with standard bar type hitches with friction control and an Equalizer 4 point, for reference.

X2...the proper hitch makes all the difference no matter what your TV is!

[X96mnn]

Towed 8200pds or so for about 2 years with a Ram 1500. Was just under all my weights including payload and had the reese dual cam anti sway. I would get tired after a couple hours as well.

I added airlift 1000 airbags, E rated tires, upgrade the brakes and played around with everything from PSI to hitch setup and was able to achieve 3hrs of driving before I was tired.

I really think it comes down to the person, if you had a bad experiance or a white knuckle moment I find regardless your always waiting for it. Any variation in the feel makes you clinch the staring wheel. Had guys take the ride out and said it felt fantastic and what I was experiencing was just normal. Have rode with guys who stated their setup drove like a dream and I can tell you from my perspective it did not. When I would feel the jolt or push and ask them they would either say I did not feel I thing or that is normal.

Personally I wish I had of cut my losses earlier on, I was roughly $3500 into upgrades trying to make my ride work. I upgraded the TV to a 1ton and have 0 regrets. Also upgrade my camper to a 13k 5ver shortly after and still have no regrets lol.

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by X96mnn

Towed 8200pds or so for about 2 years with a Ram 1500. Was just under all my weights including payload and had the reese dual cam anti sway. I would get tired after a couple hours as well.

I added airlift 1000 airbags, E rated tires, upgrade the brakes and played around with everything from PSI to hitch setup and was able to achieve 3hrs of driving before I was tired.

I really think it comes down to the person, if you had a bad experiance or a white knuckle moment I find regardless your always waiting for it. Any variation in the feel makes you clinch the staring wheel. Had guys take the ride out and said it felt fantastic and what I was experiencing was just normal. Have rode with guys who stated their setup drove like a dream and I can tell you from my perspective it did not. When I would feel the jolt or push and ask them they would either say I did not feel I thing or that is normal.

Personally I wish I had of cut my losses earlier on, I was roughly $3500 into upgrades trying to make my ride work. I upgraded the TV to a 1ton and have 0 regrets. Also upgrade my camper to a 13k 5ver shortly after and still have no regrets lol.

Your mistake was in focusing only on the TV and ignoring the hitch setup. The Reese dual cam and the Equalizer 4 point are about as good as it gets with a friction type anti-sway setup. They are good. But not even in the same league as the ProPride. If using a tow vehicle that is substantially larger than necessary for a given trailer, I think I'd still use the Equalizer. I'd never be satisfied with it again when pulling anything that was at ~50% or more of capacity, though. First trip with our ProPride was picking up the camper and making the 1250 miles or so trip back home. Had 3 days of 7-11 hours on the road, and I am NOT a distance driver by any means. No way in the world could I have made that trip with the Equalizer. I think the main problem with people thinking they need a 1 ton dually with anything larger than a popup is because of poor hitch selection and improper setup of the hitch. Take a look around the campgrounds- the majority of people I see are using the old school chain type with a friction bar. And a large portion of those are NOT setup correctly.

Edit: I've never personally pulled a fiver, but the accounts I read from people that have indicate that the feel of using a ProPride is almost exactly the same. High winds and semis might give a push, but the whole rig moves together as a unit- no pivoting at the ball, which is what sway is. I suspect you'd have had just as good an experience with the ProPride as you now have with that big fiver as far as the towing experience is concerned.

[techntrek]

A write-up I did on the R-pod forum I run:

The biggest contributors to sway, in this order:

1. Not enough tongue weight
2. Distance between rear axle and the hitch ball
3. Speed
4. Short wheelbase vehicle
5. Camper tongue is pointed up, not level or pointed slightly down.
6. Not enough pressure in the TV and trailer tires (they should be at or near their max sidewall rating)
7. Lack of sway control
8. Outside forces like side winds, etc.

When sway starts ...

... never touch the accelerator, this adds energy to the equation right when you need to be removing it.

... never touch the TV's brakes, this magnifies the problem even though you are removing energy.

... never try to steer opposite of the the wobbling feeling, there is a 90% chance you'll increase the wobble, and increase it significantly.

... ALWAYS apply the brake controller aggressively, even if it means temporarily locking up the trailer brakes. You may have to keep applying some trailer brake all the way down the hill. This forces the TV to pull on the hitch which negates the sway.

One exception to the accelerator rule - if you are pulling a trailer without trailer brakes, and you are within 100 feet of the bottom of the hill, and nobody is in front of you, then mash on the accelerator. It has the same effect as applying trailer brakes by forcing the TV to pull the trailer straight. But this is a rare exception to the rule.

[OldCoot]

If you still have P rated tires on the truck, that is probably your biggest problem. Regardless of what brand hitch you have the P tires contribute to sway more than most folks want to admit. Switch them out with LR E tires and pump them up to 65# and see what a difference it will make.

[tlambert]

I think he posted in another thread he changed to E rated tires.


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[Great Laker]

X2 with Old Coot on the LT tires.

[rlocicero]

I went with E rated /10 ply on both truck and tt, and what a difference.

[Eltonnoland]

Rlo, is your TV a 1/2 or 3/4 ton?

[Obrieri]

I am towing a Hemi 282RK with a 2010 Ram 1500. I feel the Air Ride rear bags are important for sway control along with LT tires. I run 30 lbs in the air bags. I have a standard Reese hitch with torsion bars but no sway controller.