How much does length affect towing stability?

[squark]

Hi everyone! I pull a Transcend Xplor 265BH (32' 9") behind a Ford Expedition Max with a ProPride hitch. I've verified I am within all of my weight ratings at the CAT scale. While I have zero sway, I do get pushed around more than I'd like by wind and semis. I imagine it's because the trailer is 7,800lb pushing my 6,000lb vehicle with a 132" wheelbase. When the wind is calm, it tows great. A few weeks ago we got caught in 35mph gusts and it was unnerving. I never felt out of control, but I was getting pushed all over the lane.

We absolutely love the trailer, but we're toying with the idea of getting a shorter one to improve the towing experience. My wife REALLY doesn't want to switch to a heavy duty truck and lose the 3rd row seats (we have 3 kids). We walked through an Imagine 2400BH and think it could work well for us. It'd be about 4' shorter and 750lb lighter than our current trailer. Would that make a significant difference behind the wheel?

[llr2800]

Push from wind is not avoidable. Less surface area and more weight helps but even semis get pushed around.

Sway is a different issue and it does not sound like that is your problem.

One of my 1st jobs was in a toy warehouse, the semi drivers absolutely hated delivering the play balls, the biggest trailer box they could get at the time and probably under 1,000lbs of cargo. They were pushed all over the entire time.

[The_Lovells]

Hi everyone! I pull a Transcend Xplor 265BH (32' 9") behind a Ford Expedition Max with a ProPride hitch. I've verified I am within all of my weight ratings at the CAT scale. While I have zero sway, I do get pushed around more than I'd like by wind and semis. I imagine it's because the trailer is 7,800lb pushing my 6,000lb vehicle with a 132" wheelbase. When the wind is calm, it tows great. A few weeks ago we got caught in 35mph gusts and it was unnerving. I never felt out of control, but I was getting pushed all over the lane.

We absolutely love the trailer, but we're toying with the idea of getting a shorter one to improve the towing experience. My wife REALLY doesn't want to switch to a heavy duty truck and lose the 3rd row seats (we have 3 kids). We walked through an Imagine 2400BH and think it could work well for us. It'd be about 4' shorter and 750lb lighter than our current trailer. Would that make a significant difference behind the wheel?

You summed it up with: "I imagine it's because the trailer is 7,800lb pushing my 6,000lb vehicle with a 132" wheelbase." We used to have a 7700 GVWR TT that we towed with both a 2004 F250 CC LB and then a 2012 RAM 2500 CC. The extra weight that those TV's had, both about the same as the TT when loaded etc.. made had significant impact on wind push from both Semi's and Mother Nature. Even that would not reassure me enough to tow in a 35 MPH wind. Living in OK at the time, those occurred quite frequently, especially in the summer, and I sometimes had to cancel/postpone a trip to wait for lighter winds.

[pilotpip]

A shorter trailer will help, but what tires are you running? If they're P metric I'd strongly suggest getting LT tires. The sidewalls are much stiffer and while ride will suffer a bit, you'll have a much more stable towing experience.

Aside from that, suck it up and ditch the 3rd row.

[sande005]

A heavier tow vehicle will inherently tend to resist disturbances better, but if you can't go there....

Look to get stiffer tires for the truck - load range "E", and pump them up to the max on the sidewalls (typically 80 psi). Even now, with whatever you have, pump them up to their rated max. The goal is to reduce sidewall flex as much as you can. Solicit lots of opinions when shopping for the stiffest sidewall tires you can find.

With your new tire pressures, and/or new tires, relook at the setup of your ProPride. Download the manual (if not pretty recent), they have clarified and improved some sections about the setup. Start from the beginning, and recheck everything. I had the same issues and after redoing mine completely it vastly improved the truck suck and wind behavior. So much the conversations went from the other driver saying "We ought to sell this trailer" to "It tows as well as the old fifth wheel". Make sure that when ready to roll, the trailer is slightly nose down. While Ford says you only need to recover 50% of the weight lost on the steer wheels, many report (and I confirm) that getting 100% back improves things greatly.

I sometimes do still feel the passing semi's that blow past me going 20 mph faster, but it has to be an extreme speed difference. And winds up to the 30+ category are no issue. Yes, there are times when gusts are 35-40 that I know it. But I no longer have white knuckles while driving, and generally can do it one handed. And she's taken over driving a fair share again, too!

[squark]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I have load range E tires, but I have been keeping them at the proper pressure for the load (~52psi). I will try raising the pressure to see if that helps. I believe I have standard rubber valve stems, so I'm capped at 65psi to not blow those. The next time I get tires I'll switch to metal stems so I can push the pressure higher (assuming my stock wheels can handle it).

Good idea to recheck everything on the ProPride. I have been following Ford's recommendation to put 50% of the weight back on the front axle, so I'll give 100% a shot.

[uwskier]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I have load range E tires, but I have been keeping them at the proper pressure for the load (~52psi). I will try raising the pressure to see if that helps. I believe I have standard rubber valve stems, so I'm capped at 65psi to not blow those. The next time I get tires I'll switch to metal stems so I can push the pressure higher (assuming my stock wheels can handle it).

Good idea to recheck everything on the ProPride. I have been following Ford's recommendation to put 50% of the weight back on the front axle, so I'll give 100% a shot.

When I was setting up my ProPride, I made an extra trip to Home Depot to get more washers to fit on the tilt pin at the recommendation of Sean W. Even with that, I run my 1400 lb bars pretty much cranked to the max (I crank them until they stop then back off one turn). My front ride height is pretty close to identical loaded and unloaded. Another thing to check is for tilt in your receiver. Can you lift up on the end of the stinger and get 1/2" of motion or so? If so, you can shim that so it tilts less. I have some large flat washers I use for this on mine to largely eliminate that action.

[CWSWine]

There no hard fast rule about wheelbase to length of trailer but a suggestion. Check out the link below under "What Is My Wheelbase?"and there chart that recommends what length trailer you can with different wheelbases. The article is written by E-Trailer and well done.

https://www.etrailer.com/faq-how-muc...can-I-tow.aspx

[goducks14]

I towed a 31' 7200lb TT with an F150 with 145" WB.
Max tow with 1857lbs for payload.
Used an HArrow.
Never noticed any sway even when passing semi's side by side.

Could very well be your 132" WB.

[Gronk1]

You can put more water in the fresh tank, if you have the weight room for it. I'll do that if I know I'm going to tow in a stiff wind...with a 13'4" tall billboard it does help.
I would think it would help you with wind, but don't know about truck suck.
But what do I know, I've only towed 5th wheels or semi-trailers, not TTs.