Which Tow Vehicle

I tow with a Toyota 4-Runner which is a mid sized SUV. While it would
appear to be a good choice for towing I found 60 to be the limit
before sway would start. I believe the problem is that even though it
has fairly heavy suspension you can still induce sideways movement by
pushing with one finger on the rear of the vehicle. After trying every
solution I could think of I finally changed the trailer connector to
Al-Ko AKS 1300 Stabilizer, which works by pad pressure to the ball.

http://tinyurl.com/yvjhve


Towing is now stable up to the max speed of the vehicle, which with a
6 cylinder engine and trailer in tow is 85. While pricey at $250 for
the connector and special ball coupler it is cheaper than unwrapping
the car/trailer from a tree.

wrote:
After trying every
solution I could think of I finally changed the trailer connector to
Al-Ko AKS 1300 Stabilizer, which works by pad pressure to the ball.

http://tinyurl.com/yvjhve


Towing is now stable up to the max speed of the vehicle, which with a
6 cylinder engine and trailer in tow is 85. While pricey at $250 for
the connector and special ball coupler it is cheaper than unwrapping
the car/trailer from a tree.

Still cheaper than changing tires and wheels on the trailer or the
4-Runner, buying a new vehicle, or moving the axle back on trailer! And,
as I recall from your article, quite compact and easy to use compared to
the chains and springs of the load distribution solutions.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

You guys are leaving out a very important part of the equation when it
comes to stability and the ability to prevent sway. That would be
tires and the stiffness of their sidewalls. This makes a huge
difference. This can have as much of an impact as suspension.

Case in point; My brother and I at one time both had Dodge Ram trucks.
I had "E" rated tires, and he had really low rated tires (can't
remember which load designation). One of my trailers is a large 4-
place enclosed snowmobile trailer. We hitched it up to his truck to
head north for some snowmobiling and that rig was all over the place.
Glad the trailer had electric brakes because he had to apply them a
number of times to get the sway under control. Well, it wasn't very
many miles of this adventure before we turned back to switch to my
truck. When we got back from the trip, he replaced all of his tires
with a higher load range (don't remember if he went all the way to
"E") and we took a test drive with the trailer. The difference was
night and day. Problem solved!

Some of you guys with sway issues should see your tire dealer and
inquire about stiffer tires. Granted, the ride is not quite as soft,
but it's a lot safer. Even when you're not towing.


Cheers,
Dave

On Oct 17, 3:02 pm, wrote:
You guys are leaving out a very important part of the equation when it
comes to stability and the ability to prevent sway. That would be
tires and the stiffness of their sidewalls. This makes a huge
difference. This can have as much of an impact as suspension.

Case in point; My brother and I at one time both had Dodge Ram trucks.
I had "E" rated tires, and he had really low rated tires (can't
remember which load designation). One of my trailers is a large 4-
place enclosed snowmobile trailer. We hitched it up to his truck to
head north for some snowmobiling and that rig was all over the place.
Glad the trailer had electric brakes because he had to apply them a
number of times to get the sway under control. Well, it wasn't very
many miles of this adventure before we turned back to switch to my
truck. When we got back from the trip, he replaced all of his tires
with a higher load range (don't remember if he went all the way to
"E") and we took a test drive with the trailer. The difference was
night and day. Problem solved!

Some of you guys with sway issues should see your tire dealer and
inquire about stiffer tires. Granted, the ride is not quite as soft,
but it's a lot safer. Even when you're not towing.

Cheers,
Dave

Absolutely. Look back to an earlier post on towing. When I switched
to a cheaper, lower speed rated tire to save some money on my tow
vehicle (VW Passat wagon), the tow stability was noticably worse.
Upgrading to better tires (similar to the OEM values) immediately got
me back to where I used to be, which was a stable tow at up to about
70 mph.

P3

I agree with Dave. Heavier sidewalls, which are higher load rated not
higher speed rated, will help since they are more resistant to lateral
movement. Problem is that after an expensive tire change you may still
end up with some sway but in addition a car that rides like a gravel
truck.

I agree with Dave. Heavier sidewalls, which are higher load rated not
higher speed rated, will help since they are more resistant to lateral
movement. Problem is that after an expensive tire change you may still
end up with some sway but in addition a car that rides like a gravel
truck.

In article . com,
says...
You guys are leaving out a very important part of the equation when it
comes to stability and the ability to prevent sway. That would be
tires and the stiffness of their sidewalls. This makes a huge
difference. This can have as much of an impact as suspension.

Case in point; My brother and I at one time both had Dodge Ram trucks.
I had "E" rated tires, and he had really low rated tires (can't
remember which load designation). One of my trailers is a large 4-
place enclosed snowmobile trailer. We hitched it up to his truck to
head north for some snowmobiling and that rig was all over the place.
Glad the trailer had electric brakes because he had to apply them a
number of times to get the sway under control. Well, it wasn't very
many miles of this adventure before we turned back to switch to my
truck. When we got back from the trip, he replaced all of his tires
with a higher load range (don't remember if he went all the way to
"E") and we took a test drive with the trailer. The difference was
night and day. Problem solved!

Some of you guys with sway issues should see your tire dealer and
inquire about stiffer tires. Granted, the ride is not quite as soft,
but it's a lot safer. Even when you're not towing.

Some good points. I run LT tires (light truck) on my tandem trailer.
These have stiffer sidewalls, and are not rated for speeds over about
100km/hr I believe. Having stiffer sidewalls seems to get the tires to
the right temp when towing (warm to the touch), where "standard" tires
would undoubtably be a lot warmer.

--
Duncan