abodyjoe
Well-Known Member
What about some air bags on the truck? Maybe you have the wrong tires on the truck for towing. Load located properly? Maybe a anti sway hitch would help.
Trailer Tire Pressure
- Thread starter SpeedThrills
- Start date
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What about some air bags on the truck? Maybe you have the wrong tires on the truck for towing. Load located properly? Maybe a anti sway hitch would help.
Thanks for that, Joe. It appears that there are a lot of speeding trailers in NJ!
On my 'puter pages 4 and 5 don't show the state the info corresponds to.
The load seems to be distributed ok. The truck doesn't squat. It rides fairly level as I loaded it.
I was wondering if the tires need stiffer sidewalls. They are P235/75R 15's.
Goodyear on the back, Hankook on the front. Probably not the ultimate. 7"rims.
I'm sure an anti sway hitch would help. I'm trying to avoid throwing a zillion dollars at it, but I know "safety is first".
nm9stheham
Well-Known Member
Good on the level of the truck.
Grab the back quarter of the truck without the trailer and shake vigorously sideways; you may see a lot of movement if you time the shakes to build up a resonance. Looks to see what the tires are doing front and rear; since they are passenger car tires (the P in front of the size), then the sidewalls may well be too soft. An LT tire might be good, at least load range D and E preferred. (But there is some $$$ for sure.) And if you have leaf springs in the back of the truck, they are not really made to resist small to moderate sideways flexing, so you make see movement there. Is the hitch tight in the receiver? You'd be surprised how much that can allow things to veer back and forth, especially on a short trailer.
Also look where the center of gravity of the car (front to rear) is relative to the trailer axles. Car CoG is usually pretty close to where the drivers butt is located. Just make sure that CoG is not behind the midpoint between the 2 trailer axles.
Good engine in that 300 6 cylinder.
sireland67
Well-Known Member
You might want to use leveling bars with sway control hitch. I got mine off amazon for around $250 took the sway out on my 1/2 ton truck.
My 1 ton does not need it just hook to the ball.
My 1 ton does not need it just hook to the ball.
The "P" tires are something I figured ain't helping. Definitely sidewall flex when I shake the truck. I have 28 psi in them. I'll try more psi when I tow.
Yeah, and leaf springs don't have the lateral resistance that a 4 link with good bushings would.
I checked the hitch. It has 1/4" deflection by the time it gets out to the ball! I'm going to weld some flat washers or something on it to tighten it up.
If the C of G is at driver's butt (car is 55/45), I had it 4" forward of the middle of the two axles.
I agree, that 300 is a champ. 20 mpg highway, 16 local, w/o a trailer. I don't want to check it w/a trailer!
Great ideas! Thanks.
I'm gonna try some lesser $ stuff first. I just bought the hitch, hate to take a beating on it. But, money is less significant than safety, for sure. Thanks.
GeorgeH
Well-Known Member
I use the high pressure ones. Cheap insurance compared to the standard all rubber ones. It's when they get a little age on them that I've had problems with the standard ones. Rubber is just not the same these days. They usually dry rot and split at the hole. Start at 50 psi and it climbs from there once warmed up. Already over what a standard stem can handle.
Milton (MIL49350)
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nm9stheham
Well-Known Member
Yes, that is a lot of motion out at the ball.... the trailer will wander back and forth with that. I have just wrapped duct tape tightly around it or shoved pennies in the gap LOL. Once you get a tight fit , slather it with grease so it will not 'rust-weld' itself in place. I leave the vertical slop in there.
BTW.... It's easy to figure the CoG location longitudinally if you know the F/R weight ratio. For 55/45, it'll be 45% of the wheelbase length as measured back from the front spindles.
Yep, the 1st 300-6 I saw was in a '65 Galaxie with a 1 bbl and 3-on-the-tree..... got 22 mpg locally in the mtns.
I welded washers on it. Dressed them down and added some weld in other areas to eliminate the wiggle. Next time I go to Atco, I'll see how it is. On the way home, I'll put a little more air in the truck tires and see what happens.
I guess it is what it is. I went to Atco again last night. It still pulls about the same with the slop taken out of the hitch and 35 psi in the tires. The sticker on the door says I can run 35 in the front and 41 in the rear. The tires on the rear say 35 is max. When it needs tires, I'll put LT's on it.
I went the "back way" (about 50 mph), and did however, find out that it handles the back road curves well. "That is all."
I went the "back way" (about 50 mph), and did however, find out that it handles the back road curves well. "That is all."
Towing speed must be considered. I run both the enclosed car hauler and the 5th wheel camper at max PSI “cold” for tire rating cause my foot is heavy and the load as same. I once had to drop the PSI on the 5ver due to extreme temps coming home from the beach in Fl. After loosing 2 crappy Goodyear ST’s on the trip. All my tires today are 75mph rated!
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