I didn't know where to post this but I'll start here. I just drove back from North of Pittsburgh to the Southern part of NJ towing a 6x12 enclosed Uhaul trailer. I think it was their biggest and I had it packed tight from front to back and floor to roof. I also have a class IV/V hitch that you can crank up or down. I would say the total weight of the trailer and its contents were no more than 3000lbs.

The trailer swayed back and forth like I'd never seen before. I never got over 60mph and kept it around 50-55mph on the Pa Turnpike. It got right down scary at times. I stopped probably 8 times to make adjustments on the hitch. I pretty much went from the highest position to the lowest position to adjust the tongue weight. I'm positive the trailer was loaded perfect. The heaviest items were over the tandem axles and favoring the front slightly as recommended. The trailer always looked level. Tires were inflated properly. I called my brother-in-law who does a lot of towing and he thought it was possible that no weight in the bed of my pickup could be causing it.

But what I observed on the way home was this. I was being passed by many 1/2 and 3/4 ton pickups with empty beds and pulling larger and smaller trailers. Most of them DID NOT having equalizing hitches. I've seen half tons many times pulling enclosed car trailers with a car inside which would have been more weight than I was pulling.

I'm talking some very serious swaying here. Even a Pa State Trooper pulled me over to make sure everything was ok. We even discussed it. My wife was a wreck by the time we got home. It took us about an extra 2 1/2 hours driving time. I know I had other drivers worried but I kept my eyes in the sideview mirrors constantly watching the sway and people passing. One time I thought I was gonna lose it but kept it on the road.

Does anyone have any idea what the problem could have been? I was even wondering if it coulda been a suspension problem or even the possibilty that the trailers tandem axles were outa wack.

Sorry for the long read but that was a scary trip I'll never forget.

 

Being 12' long I'm assuming it was a single axle trailer?




If so, most 12' trailers do not tow great. However, you shouldn't knotice the trailer much, other than a little side to side movement.

The few things I could think of.

1) Some part of the trailer is made wrong, causing something to be out of allignment.
2) You had the side to side weight distributed unevenly.


A 3,000 trailer isn't much at all for an F150, so I dont see a need for a weight distributing hitch. Longer trailers tow much better than short trailers, but 3,000 should have easily been enough weight to hold the trailer down good. I've pulled a small jet ski and 4-wheeler trailer at 75mph with no problems... and the short length didn't effect towing much at all.

I would have to say something was wrong with the trailer, bent axle, spindle, etc...



Sounds like something similar to the Jeeps who experience the "death wobble"... Many people go months trying to figure out what causes it, and every case is different.


By chance, did you try speeding up any to see if that cured the problem any?

 

My first thought would be the suspension on the trailer. If the springs are weak/cracked/outright broken, and many of these rental trailers go through a beating, then I would say that would cause it to waddle/sway. These units are supposed to be inspected every time they are returned, then serviced and reinspected before renting out again. So I would then reassess the problem and think that something that obvious would be recognized and dealt with by any conscienous person. That being said, the other possibility could very well a misaligned axle. Especially if it's a tandem axel trailer. Both axles have to be absolutely parallel or you will also get a waddle and possibly a sidewards track alternating from one axle to the other. I know, I've experienced both in my time.
But not least, I'm glad you made the journey safely.:santa:

 

Inside measurements of the trailer were 6x12 so the trailer is a little bigger than that. It was a 2 axle trailer. It looked to be a newer trailer and looked to have been well maintained. I got it up to 65 mph and that is when I almost lost it. Anything more and I would have lost it. Uhaul doesn't want their trailer towed with weight distributing hitches I guess because of the wy they are made.

I did wonder if the side to side loading of the trailer could have been the problem. I did load it what I considered very well although I did have two sofas stacked on one side.

I did see at least 100 pickups fly by me with larger trailers and they did look rock steady as they went by.

Thanks for your input!!

 

My brother-in-law use to tow a fairly large boat and I know at least once he moved the axles to a different location on his trailer and I could see that it would be easy to get both axles out of alignment. It was a long time ago that we did this and I think it was done by loosening U-bolts and sliding them up or down the trailers chassi. The dealer that I got the trailer from I would say by what I saw it looked like everything was well maintained for turning them around to be used again. It wasn't some small lot with one or 2 units. This was a major rental place that had a crew that looked like they knew what they were doing.

Thanks for your help!!

 

No problem.

A tandom axle trailer... would almost have to have improperly alligned axles or something in the suspension/axles. Could even be a bent axle, something the U-Haul inspectors would not notice unless they drove the vehicle. (and who is going to say "hey, I hit a curb going really fast and since then it doesn't tow good " so they would have no reason to know the axle was bent.)

 

I am gonna talk to the place I return it to around the corner from me to see what they say. I also considered hooking it up to my sons Grand Cherokee which has a towing package and a larger engine to see if there would be a difference but I want to have it unloaded by the time he gets home from work tomorrow.

 

I had that problem once....................got so bad I almost crashed a few times. It was a tandem axle open trailer hauling a farm tractor.

As it turns out there was not enough weight on the tongue.

I stopped, and rolled the tractor closer to the front of the trailer, tied it down again, and the sway went away completely.

 

I'd guess alighnment on the trailer as well.

There is really nothing on your truck that would cause this. Except if your hitsh had come loose from the frame. But it would have to be really really loose.
I've pulled with off center hitches, and it pulls straight just off to the side.
I've also pulled my cousins 12' single axle box trailer with my wifes Explorer. We would load it with sound equipment and instruments, many times when I managed a couple of bands. Many times we just threw it in the trailer, didn't really "Load it". It might have a thousand pounds of speakers on one tire and a drum kit on the other. Then I'd fly 80 mph down the highway and 70 mph down curvy roads to get the gear and everyone to the gig in time to set up. Not a problem at all. Only thing I might notice was if we'd get to much tongue weight or not enough. Then it's just bounce up and down. Defintaly nothing to make you loose control.

It could have been anything from, bent axle, spindle or if someone jack knifed it; the tounge.
On most newer trailers the leaf springs are held on to the frame with u-bolts. If one side had slipped back slightly, then it would not be seen in a visual inspection (like UHaul really inspects it anyway LOL) but that would be over looked until someone complains enough for them to send it off.
It could be as simple as a dent in the hitch from someone backing into it while trying to hook up.

Moral of the story, Do Not Rent Uhaul CRAP.....

 

I've hauled trailers upon trailers upon trailers. While yes, an axle out of whack may give you some fits, you'll generally feel it "snapping" on you every time it corrects itself. Makes you feel kind of a shimmy so-to-speak.

From your description, I would say you under-loaded the front. Your tounge weight should be in the neighborhood of 200-300 lbs.

Your truck being empty wouldn't cause the problem. It just magnifies the problem of the trailer because there is less mass holding it true.

 

MY vote is there's something wrong with the trailer. An improper distributed load makes things squirly, but you're talking massive sway. The only time I've seen that was a Superduty pulling a 25ish foot TT down I75 at 85mph.

I've had my 30' TT loaded off and you can really feel it. I've got the WD hitch and sway control. A simple thing of moving a suit case, tool box and a case of water to the other side in the back fixed it.

 

I have a feeling more than the trailer was swaying...


Heres my guess...you were pissed off because you had to load this stupid thing and drag it all the way back down here. So I'm sure the beers were flowing down just as fast as the trailer was getting loaded. Slammed the trailer door shut and had one more before you got on the road, maybe even took one with you....

So tell me...were you able to touch your nose and say the alphabet backwards



BREW

 

It had to be the trailer. My BIL just towed a one of those 2 axle Uhaul's from Langhorne, PA to Riverton, WY. He also had a Yamaha Grizzly in the bed. He too said that the Uhaul was all over the road to the point of being dangerous. In contrast, the 6X6X12 CarMate (awesome trailer, I recommend it to ANYONE, see my gallery for a pics or two) I towed to Asheville, NC & back towed so nice that you could hardly tell the thing was back there. Well, except for the fact that the truck is a gutless wonder that is. The CarMate has a torsion bar rubber damped axle. The Uhaul has leaf springs. I would definitely say the trailer was at fault not your truck.

BTW, I was in the AC pattern last night. Clear and awesome all night...

KC-10 FE out...

 

Interesting problem. I just did the exact same drive with the exact same trailer a week and a half ago. I loaded the u-haul to the max (btw empty weight of the trailer is about 2000#) and had some stuff in the bed of my truck. I drove across I70/76 to I 80, etc to chicago then up. I ran about 70-75 mph the entire way. I did get some trailer sway if i got much above 75. The only difference I can think of is the little bit in the bed of my truck and maybe the difference in vehicles. Mine is a SCAB 4x4, I have the towing package and used a reese 2" drop hitch. It didn't sit perfectly level but it was close enough (front was a little lower).

BTW I weighed the vehicle and trailer fully loaded and it was about 10,500 pounds. I got anywere from 12.8 mpg going across Indiana (70mph) to as low as 8.6 mpg going across the plains of North Dakota (70 mph with a 20+ mph head wind).

Edited to add: Fuel mileage was with the Edge on Tow mode and were manually calculated (edge reads about 1-1.5 mpg higher than the onboard computer and calculated is always somewhere inbetween.)

Oh and did you notice the sticker that says "speed limit 45mph) on the trailer? So U-hual will just tell you that they aren't designed to go 65mph and thats why it swayed.

 

The only problem is Uhaul is the only game in town. Ryder and Penske don't rent trailers that I've ever seen.