F150 and active sway

[NYWarren]

New Jayco 28bhs, 2014 F150, towed it from lake George and it was allllllllllll over the road. Have an EAZ-lift Trecker system. Found out after a stop at camping world and Ford dealer, that the active sway in the f-150 is fighting the Trecker sway system.. solution... turn off the truck sway system.

[rbpru]

I do not know what is on all the whiz-bangs of my 2011 F-150, but it has kept me in control on a couple of really hard serves.

[NYWarren]

I'll definitely try adding pressure next trip!!

[TurnThePage]

When you say your tires are properly inflated, what does that mean? When towing, especially with typical P rated tires, you might want to consider going with the maximum pressure listed on the tire side wall instead of the more conservative pressure listed in the door jam. Been there, done that. HUGE improvement all by itself.

[NYWarren]

The other thing to note is that I wasn't experiencing sway exactly, but more of a general instability. Like even a passing SUV would push me around, and a Semi was VERY annoying. The truck has 4 brand new GoodYear Wranglers that match original equipment for the truck, and they are properly inflated, yet it more felt like I was towing with 4 nearly flat tires. Still, the trip home from the dealer seemed a LOT better. Is it possible that the active sway is now working properly in the truck? I purchased the truck a bit over a month ago and it came off the 3 year lease with only 30k miles, and it was clearly well cared for.

[NYWarren]

Wow, ok.. checking back in and didn't expect all the responses, so thanks guys!!! So, after towing back home (about 45 minutes on some interstate, and secondary) the trailer towed just fine. I had the tanks empty, and pretty much most of the weight in the trailer was in the storage up front with the exception of food in the fridge 🙂 a couple bikes in the bed of the truck and 3 passengers. The eazlift rep looked at the picture included here and said it looked fine.

https://www.snapfish.com/photo-gift/share?via=link&token=Hd70ZWukSWn5bxJTAGwXAQ/AUS/27947858692070/SNAPFISH

[BurbMan]

NYWarren wrote:
New Jayco 28bhs, 2014 F150, towed it from lake George and it was allllllllllll over the road. Have an EAZ-lift Trecker system. Found out after a stop at camping world and Ford dealer, that the active sway in the f-150 is fighting the Trecker sway system.. solution... turn off the truck sway system.

So have you tried towing with the Ford sway control off? Was it better? I'm on board with everyone else, you got baaaad advice from both CW and Ford.

[beemerphile1]

LT tires or P-metric on the F150? Proper tire inflation of truck and trailer tires?

Correct adjustment of the WDH (weight distribution hitch)?

The problem isn't likely the Ford sway control.

[2012Coleman]

NYWarren wrote:
New Jayco 28bhs, 2014 F150, towed it from lake George and it was allllllllllll over the road. Have an EAZ-lift Trecker system. Found out after a stop at camping world and Ford dealer, that the active sway in the f-150 is fighting the Trecker sway system.. solution... turn off the truck sway system.

A better place to stop would be a CAT Scale to get your setup weighed - that will help you figure out how to correct your issues.

[Acdii]

Blue Ox is telling Ford owners to deactivate it because it interferes with the hitch. I can tell by the other posters here that is BS. I don't believe that to be the case either since the anti-sway only activates when there actually is sway. I have purposely activate the anti-sway while towing a dump trailer just to see what it does, and it worked perfectly.

[am1958]

coolmom42 wrote:
We had a similar experience with a wind gust on a bridge in Wyoming a few weeks ago. No doubt that the F150 sway control saved us that time, because it reacts faster than a driver can. This is on a correctly set up trailer with an Equal-i-zer sway control system.

The Ford system kicked in ONCE, in a 6000 mile trip, with a lot of bad roads and crosswinds.

I strongly advise against de-activating that system. You need to address the problem that is causing your sway in the first place.

Interesting, I have the Equalizer too...

I'd agree not to deactivate the F-150s sway control too... If it's noticing things before I do when I notice other comparatively "huge" things that it ignores then it's probably doing something good.

[elivi8]

There is no way that the built in sway control should come on unless in extreme circumstances. Something isn't correct in your setup. I have towed over 20,000 km's in my setup and not once hit the built in sway. Do you have a picture of your connected setup?

Ryan

[campigloo]

If you eliminate the most likely causes of sway such as tongue weight and load positioning try checking the hitch. On the bottom of the hitch under the bars there is a bolt sort of thing you can tighten. Do it without the bars on. If you can easily move the bar sockets with the top nut tightened call EAZlift. They sent me a new one no questions asked and no charge, not even the freight.

[coolmom42]

am1958 wrote:
Actually, the F-150 sway control is an interesting beast. I tow a Bullet Premiere 31BHPR and I can feel cars passing me at times. When large trucks come barreling by we can get a nice push but the F-150 sway control never says a word.

Coming home from Myrtle Beach a year ago we were in the Blue Ridge Mountains in a high wind warning and coming down hill we'd hit bridges over the bottom of the valley and the curtain of trees would end so the wind had a free shot. Most of the time I wouldn't feel a thing but the sway control would kick in, the cruise would be knocked off and the brakes applied for a second. My usual reaction was to hit resume on the cruise and carry on.

I have only had the F-150 complain a couple of other times in the 4 years of towing this rig over 12,000 miles.

I'd make sure your hitch is set up properly and that the tongue weight etc. is correct. If all that is in order then I'd get a new sway system for the trailer.

We had a similar experience with a wind gust on a bridge in Wyoming a few weeks ago. No doubt that the F150 sway control saved us that time, because it reacts faster than a driver can. This is on a correctly set up trailer with an Equal-i-zer sway control system.

The Ford system kicked in ONCE, in a 6000 mile trip, with a lot of bad roads and crosswinds.

I strongly advise against de-activating that system. You need to address the problem that is causing your sway in the first place.

[manley]

I’d be willing to bet you don’t have nearly enough tongue weight. By chance, did the camper have anything loaded in it’s rear? Perhaps full tanks behind the axles?