Tips for Preventing Sway with Double Trailer Setup

Updated 07/27/2020 | Published 07/23/2020

Question:

Before I ask this question I understand that this is not legal in every state but it is legal in my state. I have a 24 foot travel trailer Double axle/electric breaksthat weighs 4000#’s. I use a weight distribution hitch as well as an anti sway bar. I have welded a curt receiver hitch to the frame of the rear of the trailer. I purchased it from here and it’s the model that is rated for 500# tongue weight well within the tongue weight of my cargo trailer that I plan on towing with it. The cargo trailer weighs 1400#’s 6x12 single axle and the golf cart that will be in it weighs in at around 1000#’s. I am towing with a Ford F-150 Ecoboost rated around11,000#’s of towing capacity. When I first attempted this set up i had a dangerous amount of sway I practiced before I set out on a long distance trip. I went home and adjusted the distribution hitch and flipped the rear ball to pick up some more on the cargo trailer it made things much better. Then I turned the golf cart around to put more tongue weight on the cargo trailer and loaded some heavier stuff toward the front of the travel trailer so that the tongue weight of the rear trailer wouldn’t negate the tongue weight of the camper. It made it in my mind safe enough to tow on our first trip with this set up. I still get some sway out of the cargo trailer especially when being passed by long strings of traffic which happens a lot bc I keep my speeds around 60 mph. Will adding a sway control to the rear trailer reduce my sway further. Ideally I would like zero but we don’t live in a perfect world. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks. The picture included is everything hooked up except the weight distribution hitch on the tow vehicle is not hooked up. When installed the truck sits perfectly level.

asked by: Devin G

Expert Reply:

Its really hard to come up with a totally safe way to tow double trailers. Probably the best way would be to add quite a bit of tongue weight to the first trailer so that when the tongue weight of the second trailer is present it's not offset to the point of being too light and dangerous. A second sway control like the part # 83660 would help too but it's really going to be about getting the tongue weight of each trailer in the sweet spot.

expert reply by: Jameson C