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Old 06-09-2016, 06:25 PM   #1
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I really need some help

However Windjammer 3008 that I'm having trouble with it wanting to sway on me. I just put 4 brand new load range e tires on my Chevy half-ton truck and purchased a brand new Blue Ox sway Pro hitch. I really had hoped that those two things was going to help with the problem as I heard very good things about the sway Pro and upgrading the tires on the TV. Today was the first day that I told with the Blue Ox hitch and to my dismay this way is worse now than it was before I did these upgrades. I called Blue Ox from a rest area and told them the problem I was having and they said take all the air out of my air bags and drop one link on the chains, I did this and it only made the sway worse. I pulled over and tightened up the bars 2 1 more link over what I had them set up to start out , and that did help a little bit butt still didn't get rid of the sway all together. I'm at my Wit's End as to how to get this trailer to tow right and it's getting to the place that I'm almost afraid to tow it. Any suggestions or ideas anyone might be able to give me would be greatly appreciated.
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Old 06-09-2016, 07:10 PM   #2
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What is your tongue weight compared to your loaded weight? Most TT tow better with a heavy tongue. Ours always did anyway.
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Old 06-09-2016, 07:27 PM   #3
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Load range E tires, did you fill to 75-80psi.? As noted, tongue weight is important to get correct on a TT for it to tow smooth.
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Old 06-09-2016, 07:33 PM   #4
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I would check the loading of my TT making sure I had enough tongue weight like others have said. When I haul my Tractor the difference of about 8" of placement determines if the trailer will sway or not because of lack of tongue weight.
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Old 06-09-2016, 07:43 PM   #5
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What Chevy 1/2T do you have? reg cab, crew cab, short bed, long bed?

Have a longer wheelbase helps a little. Chevy's crew cab with the really short bed does not have a long wheelbase. You should get it weighed to find out your tongue weight vs. TT axle weights. You should shoot for 12% but you might want more if you have the overhead on the truck and its rear axle. What size spring bars are you using with the BO?

Are you experiencing a white knuckled drive or is TT wiggling more than you would like?
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Old 06-09-2016, 07:48 PM   #6
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Its a crew cab, not sure what my tongue weight is.
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Old 06-09-2016, 07:50 PM   #7
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1500 bars. Today it was white knuckle
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Old 06-09-2016, 08:01 PM   #8
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If you have not been to the scales, you should.
You will never get the weight and balance right by trial and error.

Here are some attachments that will give you the procedure and where to get your rig weighed.

Remember you need 3 separate weigh tickets for a WD hitch.

Combined with WD bars OFF to find tongue weight
Combined with WD bars ON to find distributed weight
Truck only to find true camper weight.

https://catscale.com/

Travel Trailer Weight Calculator

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...e-30918-2.html

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ion-65118.html

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...tml#post295534
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Weigh Your RV - Bridgestone.pdf (447.2 KB, 43 views)
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Old 06-09-2016, 08:15 PM   #9
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It has a front kitchen unit I believe I don't think there is enough storage to add tongue weight without carrying every cast iron cookware available but you could add SOME water to the forward most tank hopefully it's a fresh water tank. You really have to get it weighed with and without WDH engaged and the truck. Full of fuel and as if it was going camping.

I feel you, we went through the as same things. I had the BO, the tires. I was lucky enough to even find a Hensley hitch at an estate sale (really cheap). That thing did stop the sway, but it only masked the problem of not having enough truck. Now I have the F250 and Hensley. I can't say "I don't know it's back there" but it makes it real easy to forget its back there. Gas and brake pedals are quick reminders!
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Old 06-10-2016, 02:00 PM   #10
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I too have a 3008W. I tow with a 3/4 ton truck. My original hitch was an Equalizer 4 way 10,000 lb hitch. With that hitch handling was good, no sway, but I had plenty of porpoising. A trip to the scales showed that I wasn't getting enough weight transfer back to the front truck axle. I then purchased the 1500 lb Blue Ox. I immediately had sway problems, even with everything properly adjusted. Blue Ox was kind enough to send 2 technicians to my home to diagnose the problem. The determined that the majority of MY problem was that I was using a 2" shank and adapter in my 2 1/2" receiver. The adapter was causing excessive slop which effectively reduced the hitch head angle reducing the effectiveness of the weight distributing aspects of the hitch. They sent me a 2 1/2" shank, as well as a pair of 1000 lb bars so that I could try various combinations. A trip to the scales revealed that they're diagnosis was correct. I now had much better weight transfer and could run the bars at less tension to get everything right.

In my trials, I also found that sway was increased with the hitch ball set too high. The Blue Ox instructions instruct one to set the ball height one to two inches higher than the trailer coupler. The Blue Ox folks said that this is wrong and the hitch ball should be adjusted to be at the same or slightly higher than the coupler. Sway was much reduced when the correct ball height was set.

In the end, with everything optimized, the 1500 lb bars gave me the best handling and ride. Sway was eliminated, but squirrelly handling still existed. Passing cars and trucks had a strong effect on handling, and curves were taken in jerky segments rather than smooth arcs. I got used to it and had no problem, but my wife refused to drive.

I then decided so go back to the Equalizer, only to get the 12000 version as my original was not capable of adequate weight transfer. I acquired said hitch, and all is well with the world. Handling is great. Absolutely no sway or squirrelly handling, and my wife is happy to drive again. I highly recommend the Equalizer for the 3008W. I could have easily gone with the heavier Equalizer in the first place, since I had excellent luck with my old one on my old trailer. It just was too light for the 3008W. However, I thought I'd try something different and went for the Blue Ox. I loved many aspects of the Blue Ox. I think it is an excellent hitch. I think it just isn't the right one for the combination of factors that result in odd handling with the 3008W. I always travel with my trunk full and a full tank of fresh water and my tongue weight is still in the 11% range which is adequate so don't waste a bunch of time trying to figure out how to put more weight on the front. I did all that and it made no difference. There is simply no issue with the Equalizer hitch.

Many will tell you that more truck will also be helpful. This is absolutely true and I can't tell you if yours will ever tow this trailer as well as would a 2500. One thing you should seriously consider if you haven't already done it is to install some load range E tires on the truck. The ride will be worse, but the stiffer tires tend to resist sway much better than P tires.

Good luck.

I have all my weights for every hitch permutation that I tried in a spreadsheet. If you are interested I'd be happy to share it. Just PM me.

Rick
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Old 06-10-2016, 02:36 PM   #11
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We have a Front Kit V-Lite,tow with a 2500HD,Reese Dual Cam, 14% TW,it was a" Death Trap"hooked it up to friends 3500 Ford Dually,it was a" Death Trap"! Replaced the OE Tires on the trailer with Maxxis 8008s No more "Death Trap" The OE tires were 1/2 the weight of the Maxxis and I believe you could even "Tie them in a Knot" they were that Flimsy! Our FW tank is in the Rear,cant Travel with Full Water even Today! Youroo!!
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Old 06-10-2016, 02:49 PM   #12
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You should get lighter weight bars. What you have now is overkill and could be your problem.

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Old 06-10-2016, 03:46 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by redcloud1 View Post
However Windjammer 3008 that I'm having trouble with it wanting to sway on me. I just put 4 brand new load range e tires on my Chevy half-ton truck and purchased a brand new Blue Ox sway Pro hitch. I really had hoped that those two things was going to help with the problem as I heard very good things about the sway Pro and upgrading the tires on the TV. Today was the first day that I told with the Blue Ox hitch and to my dismay this way is worse now than it was before I did these upgrades. I called Blue Ox from a rest area and told them the problem I was having and they said take all the air out of my air bags and drop one link on the chains, I did this and it only made the sway worse. I pulled over and tightened up the bars 2 1 more link over what I had them set up to start out , and that did help a little bit butt still didn't get rid of the sway all together. I'm at my Wit's End as to how to get this trailer to tow right and it's getting to the place that I'm almost afraid to tow it. Any suggestions or ideas anyone might be able to give me would be greatly appreciated.
Have you checked to see if the tires are wearing unevenly. Dog tracking can be a real pain. Your axles might not be aligned? Just a thought.
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Old 06-10-2016, 03:49 PM   #14
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Is pretty unlikely that the axles on a Windjammer aren't aligned. I suppose anything is possible, but these are the Torflex axles which are bolted into place.

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Old 06-10-2016, 04:06 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hunterrick View Post
I too have a 3008W. I tow with a 3/4 ton truck. My original hitch was an Equalizer 4 way 10,000 lb hitch. With that hitch handling was good, no sway, but I had plenty of porpoising. A trip to the scales showed that I wasn't getting enough weight transfer back to the front truck axle. I then purchased the 1500 lb Blue Ox. I immediately had sway problems, even with everything properly adjusted. Blue Ox was kind enough to send 2 technicians to my home to diagnose the problem. The determined that the majority of MY problem was that I was using a 2" shank and adapter in my 2 1/2" receiver. The adapter was causing excessive slop which effectively reduced the hitch head angle reducing the effectiveness of the weight distributing aspects of the hitch. They sent me a 2 1/2" shank, as well as a pair of 1000 lb bars so that I could try various combinations. A trip to the scales revealed that they're diagnosis was correct. I now had much better weight transfer and could run the bars at less tension to get everything right.

In my trials, I also found that sway was increased with the hitch ball set too high. The Blue Ox instructions instruct one to set the ball height one to two inches higher than the trailer coupler. The Blue Ox folks said that this is wrong and the hitch ball should be adjusted to be at the same or slightly higher than the coupler. Sway was much reduced when the correct ball height was set.

In the end, with everything optimized, the 1500 lb bars gave me the best handling and ride. Sway was eliminated, but squirrelly handling still existed. Passing cars and trucks had a strong effect on handling, and curves were taken in jerky segments rather than smooth arcs. I got used to it and had no problem, but my wife refused to drive.

I then decided so go back to the Equalizer, only to get the 12000 version as my original was not capable of adequate weight transfer. I acquired said hitch, and all is well with the world. Handling is great. Absolutely no sway or squirrelly handling, and my wife is happy to drive again. I highly recommend the Equalizer for the 3008W. I could have easily gone with the heavier Equalizer in the first place, since I had excellent luck with my old one on my old trailer. It just was too light for the 3008W. However, I thought I'd try something different and went for the Blue Ox. I loved many aspects of the Blue Ox. I think it is an excellent hitch. I think it just isn't the right one for the combination of factors that result in odd handling with the 3008W. I always travel with my trunk full and a full tank of fresh water and my tongue weight is still in the 11% range which is adequate so don't waste a bunch of time trying to figure out how to put more weight on the front. I did all that and it made no difference. There is simply no issue with the Equalizer hitch.

Many will tell you that more truck will also be helpful. This is absolutely true and I can't tell you if yours will ever tow this trailer as well as would a 2500. One thing you should seriously consider if you haven't already done it is to install some load range E tires on the truck. The ride will be worse, but the stiffer tires tend to resist sway much better than P tires.

Good luck.

I have all my weights for every hitch permutation that I tried in a spreadsheet. If you are interested I'd be happy to share it. Just PM me.

Rick
Thank you could you send me that information. My email address is kylemcgary@gmail.com
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Old 06-10-2016, 06:14 PM   #16
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Are your load range E tires LT tires or P tires?

Tom
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Old 06-10-2016, 07:48 PM   #17
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They are Lt 265/70R17
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Old 06-10-2016, 08:18 PM   #18
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I tow a 33' Wildcat MAXX TT (7,700 lbs empty) with my half-ton Ram Laramie using the Blue Ox Sway Pro (1,000 bars) and it's steady as a rock. I had to
re-adjust the hitch ball so that when the trailer is hitched to the truck, and the bars are tightened, the front of the trailer is slightly lower than the rear of the trailer and the truck is sitting level. The bar chains need to be tightened to the degree that the bars are essentially parallel with the tongue rails. You will need to run the electric tongue jack several inches into the air AFTER the truck/trailer are hitched to each other. This will allow you to hitch/unhitch the bar chains without so much pressure on them making it both easier and safer. Most folks choose to lose the flat tool Blue Ox provides for chain tightening and use a 18"-20" breaker bar with the appropriate sized socket to tighten/release the chains. Just as a guide line, when I tighten my chains I fit the 8th link ( from the loose end)of the chain into the grove on the rotating assembly.
So when your setup to travel, your bars are almost parallel with the tongue, the front of the trailer is 1-2" lower than the rear, and your truck is sitting level front to back. Good luck and be careful out there!
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Old 06-21-2016, 12:21 PM   #19
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Here is an update on where I'm at with the hitch . after talking with Blue Ox tech support they had me lower the hitch head and tighten the bars up to the 10th link. This did help somewhat butt the trailer still wants to wiggle going down the road at anything above 60 mile an hour. I'm continuing to work with blue ox to try and get this straightened out. A couple people have looked at the trailer and remark that they think it's a tongue weight issue because they're such a large overhang on the back of the trailer from where the axles are placed. I hope that sooner or later I can get this figured out.
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