Controlling Sway
Causes of poor tow-vehicle/travel-trailer handling
may seem elusive, but remedies can be fairly simple
by Bill Estes
Were it not for the tendency of many travel trailers to sway at least occasionally, the fifth-wheel trailer may not have grown so popular. Certainly, fifth-wheels have strong attributes. Travel trailers do, too, but the fifth-wheel does not, indeed, cannot sway.
The travel trailer's Achilles' heel is the way it's hitched to the tow vehicle - at a point often four or five feet behind the axle. Thus, the trailer has the necessary leverage to move the tow vehicle's rear to one side or the other, which has the effect of steering the tow vehicle. This steering effect can go into oscillations, which are fondly known as fishtailing - another name for sway.
By contrast, the fifth-wheel hitch pin is centered over the axle, unable to move laterally, which makes the fifth wheel trailer virtually immune to this motion.
While many tow vehicle/travel trailer combinations handle quite well, and their owners greatly enjoy their travels, sway may occur in a substantial number of others, creating uneasiness, white-knuckle experiences or even accidents. The trauma is unnecessary because sway can be tightly controlled in most cases. Many owners of swaying travel trailers figure sway is the "nature of the beast" and just live with the reduced enjoyment of RVing that it produces. But travel trailers can and should handle well. The causes of sway often are not analyzed correctly, if at all. The step-by-step procedure described here can be the key to safe, enjoyable towing.