trailer sway mitigation TSM

Anyone has experience towing a trailer with a car with the trailer sway mitigation installed?

princiar wrote on 12/16/2019 12:02 PM:
trailer sway mitigation

Are you asking about an electronic system installed in some cars, and do you have
specif car in mind? Or mechanical friction/load distributing devices that connect
to the trailer tongue?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

If you trailer sways, it has ball loading issues.
Fix the problem not the symptom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2fkOVHAC8Q

I've rigged, fitted, towed, and modified a bunch of trailers. These are the things I have done to mitigate trailer sway (in order of effectiveness):

1. Longer trailer tongue. Longer is always better at reducing sway. Unfortunately it also increases trailer overall length, tripping hazard, etc.

2. Mass and CG management for trailer. Move weight out of the tail, but maintain modest tongue weight (~5-10% of trailer mass). A single-seater trailer shouldn't weigh more than about 900 lbs.

3. Stiffer tow car rear springs and shocks.

4. Stiffer tow car rear tires.

5. Stiffer trailer tires.

Things that are generally more trouble than they're worth:

* Supplemental sway dampers--They're a pain in the ass bandaid for other trailer issues, and you can't depend on random crews to rig them properly.

* Tongue weight over 10% of trailer mass--Deteriorates car handling more than it improves trailer handling, and makes your trailer a pain to rig and tow.

* Dual trailer axles--Maybe OK for a two-seater, but generally makes your trailer a pain to handle without a tow car.

--Bob K.

Good shocks seemed to have the biggest effect in my experience.
Look out when moving trailer weight forward... Never exceed the maximum tongue weight!
Jim

JS wrote on 12/16/2019 4:43 PM:
Good shocks seemed to have the biggest effect in my experience.
Look out when moving trailer weight forward... Never exceed the maximum tongue weight!
Jim

Sometimes, moving weight forward is not easy. An alternative is to move the axle
back a few inches: that effectively lengthens the tongue (as Bob suggested) and
puts more weight on the hitch.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

On Monday, December 16, 2019 at 6:41:28 PM UTC-5, Bob Kuykendall wrote:
...These are the things I have done to mitigate trailer sway

Reminds me of when I was a wee glider pilot at MIT Soaring Association.
Instructor: Once, we had a big problem with a trailer swaying.
Dave: So, what did you do?
Instructor: Obviously, we adjusted the center of precussion and moved the axle back.
Dave: So, what happened?
Instructor: It didn't sway anymore, but then the tongue broke off.....

Yup, such was my education.
Couldn't make this stuff up if you tried...

On Monday, December 16, 2019 at 2:03:02 PM UTC-6, princiar wrote:
Anyone has experience towing a trailer with a car with the trailer sway mitigation installed?

Reduce the polar moment of inertia of the trailer - remove mass from the back end of the trailer. Here is a really effective video to describe the problem and its solution:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mW_gzdh6to
You would be surprised how small additions of mass near the back of the trailer can cause big problems.

On Monday, December 16, 2019 at 5:41:28 PM UTC-6, Bob Kuykendall wrote:
I've rigged, fitted, towed, and modified a bunch of trailers. These are the things I have done to mitigate trailer sway (in order of effectiveness):

1. Longer trailer tongue. Longer is always better at reducing sway. Unfortunately it also increases trailer overall length, tripping hazard, etc.

2. Mass and CG management for trailer. Move weight out of the tail, but maintain modest tongue weight (~5-10% of trailer mass). A single-seater trailer shouldn't weigh more than about 900 lbs.

3. Stiffer tow car rear springs and shocks.

4. Stiffer tow car rear tires.

5. Stiffer trailer tires.

Things that are generally more trouble than they're worth:

* Supplemental sway dampers--They're a pain in the ass bandaid for other trailer issues, and you can't depend on random crews to rig them properly.

* Tongue weight over 10% of trailer mass--Deteriorates car handling more than it improves trailer handling, and makes your trailer a pain to rig and tow.

* Dual trailer axles--Maybe OK for a two-seater, but generally makes your trailer a pain to handle without a tow car.

--Bob K.

I would add one more thing high at the top of the list (provided someone is considering the right type of a car for towing): short distance between the rear axle and the trailer hitch, meaning a car with a short back. My Mazda CX-5 is excellent in that respect, never had any issues with swaying, and I have towed my Ventus across the US more than once, including 75 mph through Texas.

My question is related to this, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sbIsIDtxfI , I tow a doble seeter with single axle and is quite unstable even with all possible weight forward.