Mac trailer sway control

[Crikey]

Sometimes (well - most of the time!) I'm accused of having my reach exceed my grasp. With the limitations of fixed retirement income, and the ever present desire to pursue other mods as well, I'm having to extend the lifetime of my little Ford Escape for towing my 2010 . That being said, I find myself looking into sway control solutions to take away some of the craziness on the highway during truck passing's, and high winds.
Yes, I can hear the chorus - particularly because of some of the excellent reviews here concerning better choices for a tow vehicle - but (and my personal next option would be a Ford 150 4WD) has anyone had any experiences with these various products that they would like to share?
Ross

[Erik Hardtle]

Your vehicle is not the problem, your trailer is.

Add a second axle.



I added a second axle to the original macgregor trailer... and wow... buses, trucks, wind... no problem.

I can also load any thing in any part of the boat and not worry about fishtailing.

[RobertB]

I second the second axle

[uanhanlouee]

Either move your trailer wheels aft a bit or move the boat forward on the trailer. It sways because you do not have enough tongue weight or the boat is not place correctly on trailer. Also make sure your tires are inflated to the maximum pressure indicated on the sidewalls. The tires do not blow up from too much air they blow up from not enough air that allows the tire to flex abnormally and heat up. All my trailer tires are at max pressure indicated on sidewall and and I have never had tire problems.

[bartmac]

Having just towed 1600Km round trip on a single axle trailer....no problems with tracking or sway...lots of large trucks overtaking.I think the key is the hitch weight.As we only have a 15hp outboard and water bladder forward of the axle ,our hitch weight is right up...not sure how much but certainly up from the 5-10% recommended.We use a truck to tow so hitch weight is not really an issue.Having said all that I'm in the process of building a dual axle trailer....very costly

[NiceAft]

When you travel on the highway, how fast are you going? Also, do you have enough tongue weight (300 pounds/136 kilos) in the bow? I've traveled hundreds of miles at a time, and d0 not have any sway problems when I take certain precautions such as sufficient tongue weight. Keep your speed to 60 or 65 MPH (96.5 - 104.6KPH). Some here travel at even lower speeds.

Ray

[Crikey]

When you travel on the highway, how fast are you going? Also, do you have enough tongue weight (300 pounds/136 kilos) in the bow? I've traveled hundreds of miles at a time, and d0 not have any sway problems when I take certain precautions such as sufficient tongue weight. Keep your speed to 60 or 65 MPH (96.5 - 104.6KPH). Some here travel at even lower speeds.

Ray

Ray, ya just gotta come up to the north latitudes where they let us do 120km/hr without a ticket! Seriously, my poor (but little) Escape still has too little wheelbase to properly handle the massive load behind it, as well as a couple of years under it's belt.
Some of the anti-trailer sway doohickey's come under $300 and can be transferred to replacement vehicles whenever that might occur. Still much cheaper than a second axle at this point in time for me! (that remains a distant goal.)
I learned very early on to get up to the 300 - 350 lb tongue weight and apportionment of the load between the car and the boat. You can take white knuckle fever for only so long on a larger trip. And yes, you do have to slow down! (a bit...)
Ross

[1st Sail]

The ration of tow vehicle wheel base length to trailer hitch to wheel base is certainly beyond the safe range. IIRC 1.5:1. Also specs for 2010 Escape tow capacity is 1500lbs. specs here: http://www.edmunds.com/ford/escape/2010 ... specs.html
I'm not sure antisway bars would solve the issue. Towing around town most likely OK, open highway white knuckle for sure.
I would think at a minimum Trailblazer, Envoy, Jeep etc. with 5k towing capacity minimum. If you can find a used Yukon XL then sit back and relax. Pull with my Yukon XL and it handles very well. Never the less would not want to be around if it jack knifed at highway speeds.
Drive slow and safe. Hope you can find a tow beast with more weight and wheel base.

[Tomfoolery]

There are plenty of anti-sway systems out there, but most don't work with surge brakes, and those that do, aren't cheap. And may not fit the aluminium main members of the trailer frame.

Aside from the usual tongue load, tire pressure, long wheelbase, and second axle suggestions, I've got nothin'.

[kevinnem]

I might question the value of the sway control on a vehicle such as yours.

I don't know exactly how they work, but I think they might keep the trailer in-line, but transferring sideways load to either the car, or trailer tires. likely both. It seems to me that this is an advantage in the case where you have lots of weight,grip, and capacity on your rear tires, also that the cars weight itself has enough grip to control the front.

With the shorter wheel base, and lighter weight of the escape, could sway control make the situation worse by pushing the rear end left/right? Truly, I don't know, but it seems like something worth talking about.

[Tomfoolery]

With the shorter wheel base, and lighter weight of the escape, could sway control make the situation worse by pushing the rear end left/right? Truly, I don't know, but it seems like something worth talking about.

This hitch by Hensley is very interesting, as it moves the center of rotation (for small angles) forward of the rear axle, much like a semi-trailer.

Video: http://hensleymfg.com/watch-video/you-t ... y-hensley/

Web page: http://hensleymfg.com/products/the-hensley-arrow/

I've always thought it was the most ingenious anti-sway sytem I'd ever seen, but it's expensive (you could add an axle for what that costs), and it won't work with surge brakes. But it's cool just the same.

[Québec 1]

As a retired guy on fixed income I have used a 1994 Buick Lesabre to tow my 26M thousands of kilometers, to Florida and back etc. with 2 fingers on the steering wheel and no swaying. The ride is comfortable , cheaper than a F150 on gas and the feeling on board while towing is safe and smooth. Just keep the speed around 100 kilometers an hour, check your tires on car and trailer at every gas stop, have cargo tires on your trailer and surge brakes. You will need to add a transmission cooler to your car. These old Buicks cost very little and from my review of guys with little SUV's and little trucks........... sway less and are more economical as far as gas goes.
Q!

[aya16]

All the answers are right on as far as tongue weight, There are two other things that effect sway. If the Trailer is not level when towing, and I'm sure its not with an escape (we own one) the trailer will sway. The other is your towing at least twice the weight, twice the tongue weight, that ford recommends for that car. That's not safe at all, the stress you are putting just on the factory receiver hitch can cause it to break, your axle cant take that kind of pressure, and the height of the mac on the trailer will act as a sail on the road and just blow you around at will.

Its really really dangerous what you are doing, I almost thought you wrote this question as a joke, or something. Your car is rated for something in the line of a harbor freight trailer for towing, the mac, although light for its size is way to much for the escape. I would get under the car and check the bolts holding the rec. hitch on, look for damage. The rec. hitch that comes from ford is only a 1 1/2 rec. Not the three inch standard you would need. even the adapter that would allow you to use a three inch plug in would bend when towing, the inch and a half plug in is not rated for 300 lbs. tongue weight.

You really need to rethink this, you lose the mac on the freeway, and people get killed, it will cost you way more than a 5000 dollar older truck you want to tow with. Depending on what breaks, your car could get out of control too, so losing the car, your life, is a possibility too.

Please don't tow this setup anymore, even the ford escape tires are not rated for this kind of towing.
Hope you read this in time...
Mike

[mastreb]

As a retired guy on fixed income I have used a 1994 Buick Lesabre to tow my 26M thousands of kilometers, to Florida and back etc. with 2 fingers on the steering wheel and no swaying. The ride is comfortable , cheaper than a F150 on gas and the feeling on board while towing is safe and smooth. Just keep the speed around 100 kilometers an hour, check your tires on car and trailer at every gas stop, have cargo tires on your trailer and surge brakes. You will need to add a transmission cooler to your car. These old Buicks cost very little and from my review of guys with little SUV's and little trucks........... sway less and are more economical as far as gas goes.
Q!

best idea thus far. Or spend $1000 on a 10yo crown Vic/grand marquis/police interceptor and have a rock solid tow vehicle for 2x the price of an effective anti-sway. Plus you can just leave it hitched to the trailer for legal street storage.

[Crikey]

Mike, it's not often I get b*tch slapped with such accuracy - but you're 100% right! Though my hitch is not the weak factory model and my shocks are uprated, there is an abundance of truth in the possible scenarios that you've laid out. Clearly this vehicle must be replaced, and will be replaced when we turn our property this spring. I was wishing out loud for some kind of a miracle 'add-on' to mitigate some of the worst habits but I always felt the only true way - as you (and others) pointed out - is to upgrade to a better towing package.
Apart from a few lucky trips in the past, we only take slow country roads now, to our launch point twenty minutes away on Lake Ontario. Once the season opens we'll be staying in mast-up storage until I find the next vehicle and can get into the longer ranging expeditions we're hoping for. Gonna miss the escape though - that's one plucky 'little' car!

Ross