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Towing an Airstream and sway issues with anti sway hitch

BARTAN

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Hi All,
Newbie tower here, I found our dream airstream and bought it last week , towed to our home wout brake controller (I know it is dangerous , It was in shipment)

My hitch is a little weird it is an hensley hitch which has a fixed receiver that you cant adjust height, I have one straight hitch and one 4 inc drop, I put straight one and the trailer looked ok I took some pictures in a flat parking lot . When I was driving back to home I felt some sway in freeway , I checked one of the reasons is inadequate tongue weight. Rechecked the pictures it seems the nose of the trailer is a little up , I will do a tongue weight check but wanted to get your opinions

a) does this look straight?
b) what happens if I Install drop hitch ? I expect it to increase tongue weight (maybe I am very wrong about this assumption)

I have stock everything on sport s max tow with a bed rack and a RTT probably 250 lbs total

Here are the pictures

Jeep Gladiator Towing an Airstream and sway issues with anti sway hitch gl 1
Jeep Gladiator Towing an Airstream and sway issues with anti sway hitch gl2
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GladiatoRic

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My weight distribution hitch has a anti sway brake bar that I crank down snug to mitigate cross wind shear. I also move cargo weight around so that both your truck and trailer are level. If you are tongue high pack more heavy stuff in the front of your trailer. We’ve towed our similar weight trailer with our gladiator for over 10,000 miles now and it is as good as pulling it with a full size but needs to be perfectly level. Also watch the cargo In The truck bed as that and the tongue weight can cause it to be sloppy. Good luck and happy adventures!

C5F69576-695B-4595-850A-4762EDCDB40C.jpeg
 

PsyRN

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Here are the pictures

Jeep Gladiator Towing an Airstream and sway issues with anti sway hitch C5F69576-695B-4595-850A-4762EDCDB40C
Jeep Gladiator Towing an Airstream and sway issues with anti sway hitch C5F69576-695B-4595-850A-4762EDCDB40C
what size is your airstream? I've been looking at some of the older models and wondering what I can reasonable pull.
 

Jim_n_Tx

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I weighed my hitch weight and adjusted load to as near 10% of trailer weight as possible on the hitch and adjusted hitch height to level the trailer. Added load leveling hitch and sway control and never had a problem towing max load.
 
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BARTAN

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what size is your airstream? I've been looking at some of the older models and wondering what I can reasonable pull.
Mine is 1998 Safari 25 , it is 5 K dry because it is widebody. There are couple of factors for determining the weigt of an airstream , I have seen 1970s 28-30 ft airstreams weights less than mine, couple of things you should care :
  • The type and year of airstream, safari, agnosy, excella etc , this effects the base weight check specs from nadaguides.com
  • Of course the length :)
  • Any modifications, this is important but sometimes I see airstreams guttet and re floored with hardwood or vinly plank which adds alot of weight, one other heavy (!) modification is solar

But to give a general answer to your question, you can tow 25 and some 28 older models easily (5, 5.5 k) , you will be maxed out for new flying clouds or older 30+ lengths. One bad news though currently there is a huge shortage in RVs especially small lengths.

let me know if you have any questions ,
 

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Chinz67

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I'm no trailer expert by all means... But it seems that a trailer that size seems to be much too big and dangerous for our little JTs to handle isn't it? I'd be petrified!
 
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BARTAN

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I'm no trailer expert by all means... But it seems that a trailer that size seems to be much too big and dangerous for our little JTs to handle isn't it? I'd be petrified!

I honestly dont know, I have been told with good weight distribution hitch airstreams are the easiest to pull with smaller (!) tow vehicles . If anyone who has more experience with towing a long gig behing gladiator please let me know
 

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If a trailer is swaying, you have insufficient tongue weight 97% of the time. Get the thing loaded up (all fluids, all toys, all typical passengers and cargo, etc.) and get to a 3-axle CAT scale. Measure it 3-axle with trailer and 2-axle without back to back and subtract out the truck rear numbers to get tongue weight. Trailer weight is trailer axle weight plus tongue and IMO, 10% isn't enough of a margin on small trucks.

No matter what, you're going to have some sway because that's a long trailer; leverage sucks and you'll just need to learn to deal with it. What's important is that the sway is self-correcting and doesn't turn into oscillations.
 

Bacon

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I just towed my double axle, 33’ Forest River travel trailer to storage this morning with my JT Rubicon. I have 37” tires and a 2.5” lift. The trailer weighs 6400lbs dry and I’m sure it’s nearing 6700lbs with all of the stuff we have in it. I have an Equalizer hitch and a RedArc brake controller (Set to 5)

Aside from the engine revving high on hills, it towed really well with no swaying at all. OP, I’m not sure how invested you are in your hitch, but I highly recommend the Equalizer.
 
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BARTAN

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I just towed my double axle, 33’ Forest River travel trailer to storage this morning with my JT Rubicon. I have 37” tires and a 2.5” lift. The trailer weighs 6400lbs dry and I’m sure it’s nearing 6700lbs with all of the stuff we have in it. I have an Equalizer hitch and a RedArc brake controller (Set to 5)

Aside from the engine revving high on hills, it towed really well with no swaying at all. OP, I’m not sure how invested you are in your hitch, but I highly recommend the Equalizer.

That's the exact hitch I was planning on buying but airstream came with 3000+ dollars hitch . IT is old, but these things are indestructible . I will try with the lowered hitch to get more weigth in tongue, I am restoring inside, it started with cleaning now installed new flooring kitchen etc I will measure once everything is done


Thanks all for the suggestions.
 

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I just towed my double axle, 33’ Forest River travel trailer to storage this morning with my JT Rubicon. I have 37” tires and a 2.5” lift. The trailer weighs 6400lbs dry and I’m sure it’s nearing 6700lbs with all of the stuff we have in it. I have an Equalizer hitch and a RedArc brake controller (Set to 5)

Aside from the engine revving high on hills, it towed really well with no swaying at all. OP, I’m not sure how invested you are in your hitch, but I highly recommend the Equalizer.
Do you hit the highway often with this setup? I am mostly backroads everywhere I have gone so far and everything handles great on my rig that is just a little smaller, but I have stock tires. Been curious what hitting the highway will be like though.
 

Bacon

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Do you hit the highway often with this setup? I am mostly backroads everywhere I have gone so far and everything handles great on my rig that is just a little smaller, but I have stock tires. Been curious what hitting the highway will be like though.
I tow exactly twice a year, from storage to the campground and then back to storage at the end of the season. It’s an hour trip each way and I hit speeds of 65-70. Having a well adjusted WDH is key, IMHO.

I am seriously considering 4.88 gears as any hill at all drops the transmission to a low gear and high RPMs. It’s absolutely fine on flats or downhill :)
 

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Hi All,
Newbie tower here, I found our dream airstream and bought it last week , towed to our home wout brake controller (I know it is dangerous , It was in shipment)

My hitch is a little weird it is an hensley hitch which has a fixed receiver that you cant adjust height, I have one straight hitch and one 4 inc drop, I put straight one and the trailer looked ok I took some pictures in a flat parking lot . When I was driving back to home I felt some sway in freeway , I checked one of the reasons is inadequate tongue weight. Rechecked the pictures it seems the nose of the trailer is a little up , I will do a tongue weight check but wanted to get your opinions

a) does this look straight?
b) what happens if I Install drop hitch ? I expect it to increase tongue weight (maybe I am very wrong about this assumption)

I have stock everything on sport s max tow with a bed rack and a RTT probably 250 lbs total
One thing I may have gotten from your first post is that you were looking at how level it was to deterine if the tongue weight was good, etc.

That has nothing to do with it. You can tow level and have either not near enough tongue weight or too much tongue weight. So you adjust the height of your hitch to tow level AFTER you have the tongue weight correct.

You said you expected dropping the hitch to increase tongue weight - only in very extreme situations, not for towing like this. The weight would have to sit very high to have much impact on tongue weight by lowering the hitch.

Adjust weight, then make it tow level - level equalizes the load on the trailer axles. Low in the front puts weight on the front trailer axle, takes it off the rear. High in the front puts the weight on the rear trailer axle.
 

eaglerugby04

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I tow exactly twice a year, from storage to the campground and then back to storage at the end of the season. It’s an hour trip each way and I hit speeds of 65-70. Having a well adjusted WDH is key, IMHO.

I am seriously considering 4.88 gears as any hill at all drops the transmission to a low gear and high RPMs. It’s absolutely fine on flats or downhill :)
Thats not to bad then at all. Mine is amazing on flats and minimal hills, but I have hit a few seriously steep ones and you can hear the engine kicking up with the speed dropping. Even my 8 year old noticed.

Mine so far has been limited to the SC and probably a few NC state parks. But I am thinking of upgrading the tires and a few other components and at least getting a Disney trip in with it.

After my last trip I feel like my WDH is good, but I need to tweak it some. Also probably getting a tongue scale. I feel like with the bunkhouse at the back of mine I might need to jam some more crap at the front to get the ride a little more balanced.
 
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BARTAN

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One thing I may have gotten from your first post is that you were looking at how level it was to deterine if the tongue weight was good, etc.

That has nothing to do with it. You can tow level and have either not near enough tongue weight or too much tongue weight. So you adjust the height of your hitch to tow level AFTER you have the tongue weight correct.

You said you expected dropping the hitch to increase tongue weight - only in very extreme situations, not for towing like this. The weight would have to sit very high to have much impact on tongue weight by lowering the hitch.

Adjust weight, then make it tow level - level equalizes the load on the trailer axles. Low in the front puts weight on the front trailer axle, takes it off the rear. High in the front puts the weight on the rear trailer axle.

Thank you !! this was exactly what I was asking. I am refurbishing interior now, so I think I will have more weight after its done, I might install additional batteries which weights 50 lbs at least so I will balance it before towing


bartan
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