Engine temps.

[408F150]

I'm using a Reese 800tw/10,000gw Anti-Sway WD hitch (the kind that use break pads inside the WD bar brackets for the anti sway), which seems to work very well. I specifically chose my gearing to put me around 2100 rpm @ 55 mph with the OD locked out. I've geared and modified my truck as much as possible to keep me from having to buy a 250/350 since once you hit 8000#, 150's really start to get tapped out. They can tow it, but it's not fun. Gearing and cooling seem to be the two most substantial ways to make towing easier once you start hitting the 150's limits. My manual says I have a 9100# tow limit, but I'd never, ever pull that much weight in stock form. Next on my list is brakes in case my trailer, God forbid, decides to lock up or lose it's breaks one day.

[Jackpine]

408F150 - I have to apologize to you! I've noticed, now that these threads were moved into this category, that you've been answering my questions all along and I just didn't remember. Sorry!

So, You DO have some extra suspension on the rear? And, reading more carefully, it does make sense.

I think, though, with these loads, I'd take the whole mess to a scales and get the weight on each axle checked. It's pretty cheap insurance.

- Jack

[88Racing]

Originally Posted by 408F150

I'm using a Reese 800tw/10,000gw Anti-Sway WD hitch (the kind that use break pads inside the WD bar brackets for the anti sway), which seems to work very well. I specifically chose my gearing to put me around 2100 rpm @ 55 mph with the OD locked out. I've geared and modified my truck as much as possible to keep me from having to buy a 250/350 since once you hit 8000#, 150's really start to get tapped out. They can tow it, but it's not fun. Gearing and cooling seem to be the two most substantial ways to make towing easier once you start hitting the 150's limits. My manual says I have a 9100# tow limit, but I'd never, ever pull that much weight in stock form. Next on my list is brakes in case my trailer, God forbid, decides to lock up or lose it's breaks one day.

Nice hitch!
I use the equalizer myself. Looked at the reese ones like that but for what I do with trailers the anti sway was a good option but not needed. I kick myself now and then that I should have gotten it.
I have a beefy car trailer rated at 12K that I use from time to time to haul cars for the dealers. The trailer itself is at around 2800.
My buddy called me up one night wondering if I could help him haul one of his broken down handy man vans back to the shop. I said sure. Worst thing I could have ever said. The van was full of the works: tools, materials, and ladders. I know that thing alone was pushing more than 6K. But being a good friend I used the winch and got it on the trailer. To this day I still wonder if I ever did any damage to that 03 f150's tranny. I pulled it to his shop from about 80 miles away the tranny temp never really got above 220. Towed it with od off. But the amazing part was I really didn't know I was pulling anything until it came to the hills.
That old truck of mine was a guinea pig for dakota digital. They outfitted it with a pillar gauge pod that had 3 holes. They threw in their digital gauges and away I went. I only had to stop in every once in awhile to get it looked at. They put in a voltage one, a ect one, and tft one.
Both the ect and tft were tapped and probed into the components. Every once in awhile they would change out the voltage with engine oil temp. They had one gauge that was a combo one, press a button and you could get another reading from a different source. I just thought I would mention the gauges, so know one was thinking about the tft on an edge because it wasn't available.

No edge or gryphon was used or tuner period. But it still felt like that 5.4 2V with 3.73's + stock tires still had power to pull plenty more.

Lars

[408F150]

Anti-Sway has saved me many, many time. With how tall toy haulers are (I think mine is 11' 6"?), wind and semi truck gusts will whip you like crazy. It also saved me one time when one of my 4 ratcheting straps I had my quads tied down with snapped. I had 2 400# quads sliding around the trailer and assumed it was the wind. I could feel the anti-sway fighting it, I don't even want to know how squirrelly it would have been without it.

[Jackpine]

I think anti-sway is important insurance too, especially if you're towing a high profile trailer. That's a huge wind sail back there and it doesn't take too much in the way of sudden crosswinds to have it push you all over the place.

- Jack

[TXWolf]

A question about the anti-sway bars ... When I pulled my new trailer from the RV dealer to the house, I'm assuming that the loud creaking sound that was going on was from the anti-sway bars? Is there any reason why I shouldn't put a little lithium grease on the bars, to cut down on the friction/noise?

[soutthpaw]

Originally Posted by TXWolf

A question about the anti-sway bars ... When I pulled my new trailer from the RV dealer to the house, I'm assuming that the loud creaking sound that was going on was from the anti-sway bars? Is there any reason why I shouldn't put a little lithium grease on the bars, to cut down on the friction/noise?

don't grease the anti sway bar as (most) use friction to control sway,

[zeuss]

My equalizer bars would creak and there was a hole at the top for oil to be added, but like said before, sway control usually works off friction. The ones I had were Reese, but I think nowadays they are incorporating equalizer and sway in one setup. So be careful where you lube. Maybe talk to manufacturer.

[Jackpine]

My Equil-i-zer brand hitch says it's OK to grease the friction surfaces. It says doing this is "optional" and will not diminish the sway control properties, and, it might quiet the hitch.

If you notice the pressure that's exerted on the brackets, I think that's what does the most for sway control.

But the noise IS kind of nerve wracking at first. Sounds like something is breaking, doesn't it?

- Jack

[408F150]

Depending on what type of anti-sway it is, the creaking will be normal. If it's a dual-cam anti-sway, it shouldn't be groaning too loudly. If it's a friction type anti sway (which 90% are), the groaning is the result of metal parts and friction pads under high tension sliding on each other. You can grease the sockets in your yoke that the bars rest in, but anything from the ball back can't be greased too heavily. If you over-lube any of the anti-sway stuff you're just de-frictioning your friction activated anti sway. There's 2 types of friction, static (grip when stationary) and kinetic (grip when moving). The friction the anti-sway relies on is kinetic friction. The part of the groaning that can eliminated comes from reducing the intensity of the force unleashed when switching from static to kinetic mode by lightly greasing the resting points of your sway system (where parts sit when going in a straight line). This gets them from resting to moving more smoothly but doesn't make the amount of grip on the surfaces suffer too much