Trailer sway with my Rockwood 5th Wheel 2280WS

[Robshaz157]

Good morning, I purchased a Rockwood 2016 8280WS 5th wheel Trailer earlier this year and I have had issues with my trailer swaying!

I pull my trailer with a 2007 Dodge Ram 2500, 5.9 Diesel fitted with air bags with approximately 30lbs of air in each bag.

I have already moved the pin forward towards the engine so that the hitch is over the rear axle more so than before and this has had a slight difference however it is still apparent that sway is still there.

Has anyone else had any issues dealing with this?

From medicine hat Canada.

Many thanks for your help.

Rob

[Hclarkx]

Check the rear shocks on your truck. Also look at the 5th wheel axle mounts. My 2015 WS8280 axles were not seated properly and had some loose bolts.

I raised my WS8280 3 inches to get tire clearance (it was 1.25" when Dexter says 3") and to level the trailer (truck is 2500 HD). In 2015 the WS8280 was designed for 1500/150 pickups so sat lower. I do think leveling it improved handling but surely not enough to solve your problem.

My 2015 WS8280 came with a Reese Revolution hitch. If yours did too, are you using it? It will move the pivot point rearward 22" and make the fifth wheel behave somewhat more like a conventional trailer (i.e., sway some). I enabled the Revolution after about a year and could feel the trailer move around a bit more but not nearly enough to convince me to not use it. I get into some tight spots where the extra 20 degrees helps (6.5' bed so I could go 90 without the Revolution but had only 4" clearance).

Are your trailer tires topped off? My factory tires needed every bit of their 50 PSI max to be stable. I've since replaced them with Maxxis Load Range D and run just under 55 PSI in them. That helped stability noticeably.

And, finally, how about weight? I think mine is rated 9,000 lbs max. Going over that would be problematic, especially for the factory China bomb tires. I try to stay under 8500 lbs given how marginal the axles and everything else is on these things.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Are you talking..."Constant Sway" ? or sway when the wind blows, sway when a large vehicle passes ? Try shifting weight. Take some off the front, some off the back, move it around before you go and dump $1000's of dollars on crap you don't need. Had to take our 2018 in service earlier this year, and did not realize the wife took a bunch....I'm mean a bunch of stuff out of storage and front bedroom. Couldn't figure out why trailer was so squirrely on the drive to dealer. Front was lighter and all the weight was to the rear. After repacking...it rode fine again.

[mwdilday]

Is your pin forward of the axle, on the axle or behind it? Also check tire pressures on truck and trailer. Have the truck and trailer weighed, each axle connected. Then weigh the total trailer and each axle on the truck. You can determine pin weight and trailer weight distribution on the truck. Trailer may be tail heavy.

[5picker]

There are a couple other discussions going on presently about this same thing.

5th Wheel Trailer Sway

I'll try to find the other...

Trailer sway on new 5th wheel

[Hclarkx]

Originally Posted by TheWolfPaq82

Are you talking..."Constant Sway" ? or sway when the wind blows, sway when a large vehicle passes ? Try shifting weight. Take some off the front, some off the back, move it around before you go and dump $1000's of dollars on crap you don't need. Had to take our 2018 in service earlier this year, and did not realize the wife took a bunch....I'm mean a bunch of stuff out of storage and front bedroom. Couldn't figure out why trailer was so squirrely on the drive to dealer. Front was lighter and all the weight was to the rear. After repacking...it rode fine again.

Wolf, MW, excellent observations especially re this 5th wheel. The WS8280 has a rear kitchen and a VERY light tongue weight from the factory. Mine was 7700 lbs dry with 1100 lbs on the tongue. Load up the kitchen and pantry and it might have been even less (unless bedding and clothes in the bedroom are heavier). Every pound in the kitchen is a pound off of the hitch offset only by weight in the bedroom. Assuming a rear (kitchen) weight bias, the tongue could be as low as 1000 pounds. For a 9000 pound (loaded) trailer, that's 11% on the tongue. That's far less than the oft recommended 15 to 25%. My truck handled it well, but some might not.

Though when I realized what was going on, I took the spare tire off the rear bumper and stowed in on the forward shelf under the bed. That 40 pound tire (just guessing) put 80 pounds on the hitch. I moved all heavy kitchen pantry stuff to the coat closet near the door (just forward of the axles) leaving only light stuff in the actual pantry (on the rear wall).

[Robshaz157]

Thanks for the information, all the shock absorbers are in good condition, trailer tires are the correct pressure, what I have done is to move the trailer further forward to the last position on my 5th wheel. This seems to have made a difference, however I still feel some sway. I do have a Reese Revolution hitch, however I was not aware of the properties until you mentioned it. many thanks for your help, much appreciated. Thanks again rob

[Hclarkx]

Originally Posted by Robshaz157

Thanks for the information, all the shock absorbers are in good condition, trailer tires are the correct pressure, what I have done is to move the trailer further forward to the last position on my 5th wheel. This seems to have made a difference, however I still feel some sway. I do have a Reese Revolution hitch, however I was not aware of the properties until you mentioned it. many thanks for your help, much appreciated. Thanks again rob

I ran a year before enabling the Reese Revolution hitch. I did notice a bit more sway when I did. This is logical because the pivot point is rearward more like a conventional trailer (all of which tend to sway, hence the stabilizing hitches often used). However, the weight is still over the rear axle and that advantage remains. The Revolution 22" rearward pivot combined with a hitch pin behind the rear wheels should add noticeably to the sway so moving the pin forward surely did help.

I also believe that going from the Pioneer China Bomb tires (load range C and 50 psi max) to Maxxis load range D set at 55 PSI helped. Not sure, but I did raise my WS8280 3 inches so it would sit level and I think that reduced sway further. I now have virtually no detectable sway.

Anyway, glad you found some improvement.