2015 navigator towing 29' trailer

[dale2]

I have a new 2015 navigator with 8500 pounds towing capicity. I am pulling a 22FBS North Trail by Heartland travel trailer. Trailer fully loaded weigh about 6500 Lbs. I have a 1200 Lb Reese hitch with Dual Cam sway control. The 3.5L twin turbo and 6 speed trany has plenty of power to tow this trailer. I'm really impressed with this engine trany combination. However the Navigator seems to "wiggle" a fair amount and sway some when trucks pass or in winds of about 10 to 15 MPH or more. the Navigator has indipendent suspension vs the a conventional truck axle suspension. Depending on road conditions and wind I'm limited to 60 to 65 MPH to still feel in control.
Has anyone had this experience towing with the new Navigator?

[RinconVTR]

Does the Navigator have electronic trailer sway control? Try turning it off when you feel the truck wiggle, you might be surprised by the GOOD results. I wont get into details, but I have first hand knowledge and personal experience with this and certain year/model Fords. You might even find your towing MPG go up when you turn it off for long periods.

Other advice is very good as well, such as bumping to max cold PSI in those P rated tires that come stock. They are soft and allow lateral movement when towing.

Tongue weight and WHD set up is also very important.

Wheelbase comments are so far off, I can only tell you to completely ignore them. 119" too short for a 20' trailer? Please. I've towed a 26' bumper to ball trailer with a 109" SUV. These long wheel base comments are the same as the "need a bigger truck" comment found all over this site. Ignore such responses!

[eluwak]

Make sure you have enough tongue weight. The dry TW on that unit I believe is 380 lbs, or <8% of dry trailer weight. Sure adding propane, battery, stuff to front compartment will bring it up some, but these trailers are squirmy if the TW is too light (been there, done that). It sure helps sell units to folks who have TW restrictions though. At 6500 lbs. you should have somewhere between 780-975 lbs. TW. Of course to know where you're at you'll have to hit the scales.

[rowekmr]

I had a 03 Navi that I briefly towed my TT with. I do agree that changing tires and reexamining the WD/anti sway set up may help but I have felt what you described in with different TT I have towed with different tow vehicles. I have read many post where people say they get zero sway but when a speeding semi passes me my TT (and others) do move and when the wind picks up or gets gusty I feel it.

I have towed my 31' TT with everything from a Explorer V8 to the current F250 LB. The only TV that seemed more sure footed was a 99 3500 CC DRW. I have towed 5th wheels which are MUCH more stable compared to TT so I wonder how much of the instability is in the set up and design of TT and how they are connected to our TV's.

[dale2]

Ron, I believe the Navigator does auto leveling but not sure how to change that when using WDH. I set controls to Towing and Sport mode (tightest suspension) but their is no controls that idenify auto leveling on or off.
The trailer has the newer Wide Trac axle spacing where their is about 12" between the tires. Not sure if that effects towing or not. I believe my TW is 13 to 14% of Tr weight.
I'm going to check TW again when fully loaded before we head south for 4 months and fine tune my dual cams to make sure they are set up exactly right.

[smiggleburger]

I had a 2008 Expedition pulling the same size trailer and it was a nightmare. I ended up getting a Hensley hitch to make all the sway, wiggle and anxiety of towing with that thing go away. The wide stance axles on your 22FBS are probably doing more than you realize in terms of reducing sway.

[kmbelt]

Change to LT tires. I had some P tires on an pickup i had and switched to LT tires and made a night and day difference towing.

[JiminDenver]

We use two Expys to tow with, one with P tires, the other with LT. I certainly can tell the difference although with the sway bar cranked down it isn't a issue.

[Ron_Gratz]

dale2 wrote:
---However the Navigator seems to "wiggle" a fair amount and sway some when trucks pass or in winds of about 10 to 15 MPH or more. the Navigator has indipendent suspension vs the a conventional truck axle suspension.---

Does you Navigator have the automatic rear leveling featue?

If so, do you take any special measures to ensure the auto leveling does not interfere with the operation of your WDH?

Ron

[APT]

I'd focus on the WDH adjustment. The Reese is picky about having the detents on the bars centered on the cam lobes. When mine is properly adjusted, it is rock solid at 75mph. When it's off, 60mph is scary. Etrailer has a number of videos on the dual cam system. This one at about 5:30 mark is useful for you.

[BenK]

Ride quality suspension and 'P' rated tires most likely

Other might be too little tongue weight (it should be +12% to 15% of the ACTUAL
trailer weight

Or the trailer tongue is not level, but pointing slightly up. I prefer slightly
pointed down and that has solved many that I've readjusted and/or talked to on
this and other forums

[1492]

Moved from Forum Technical Support

[camp-n-family]

Depending on road conditions and wind I'm limited to 60 to 65 MPH to still feel in control

You should limit yourself to that in all conditions, always. Most trailer tires are only rated to that.

You're always going to feel some movement with passing trucks and gusty winds, no matter what you drive, but there are things you can do to minimize it.

A longer wheelbase vehicle would be best but I don't imagine you want to get rid of a new vehicle. Ensure you have sufficient tongue weight (~13% of tt weight) and the hitch is set properly to transfer enough weight back to the front of tow vehicle.

Air the tires to the max rating. If you have P rated tires (soft squishy sidewalls) consider getting better truck tires with stiffer sidewalls and higher ratings.

[ChooChooMan74]

Short Wheel Base (I am there with my setup) and P rated tires and soft suspension could be all contributing factors to your wiggle. If you have the 20" tires, I only see one LT tire in your size.

[Walaby]

Not saying this is definitively the issue, but you could be seeing the impact of a small wheel-base. The 2015 Navigator has a wheel base of 119". Here's a good article of the impact of wheel base and the size of the travel trailer.

http://davidsrvtips.blogspot.ca/2009/03/how-long.html

Im not saying this IS your issue, but something to consider. If you assume the article is relatively accurate, it basically says the first 110" of wheel base is sufficient/accommodates a 20 ft trailer. For every 4" above, you're good for another foot in TT length. So, if you assume this is close to correct, your trailer exceeds this "formula", by 7 ft. Now, Im basing that comment on the title of your thread (29ft trailer), not the trailer model (22FBS), which I assume, in reality means the box size of the TT, not overall length.

Again, not saying this is the issue, but could be.

Mike