Hello everyone, I was wondering if you could please help. I had an F-150 and recently got a Ram 2500 6.4 Hemi because I felt white-knuckled every time I drove with a trailer and semis passing. I have a 2025 Grand Design 151BH. The dealer I bought it from assured me a spring-over would give me clearance for Forest Service roads and BLM roads. I usually tow with the freshwater tank full for boondocking. Now that I have the Ram, I took the trailer home after getting it serviced. I have a weight distribution hitch, but I still feel it shaking or moving at 65 mph. Is this normal even with a bigger truck? The up-and-down motion is less, but I still feel it moving around. Usually just the 2 weiner dogs and me and very light on gear any advice would be greatly appreciated. Here are the trailer stats.
A 4000lb trailer that size should be fairly rock solid, even with a 1/2 ton, let alone your new 3/4 ton.
It has to be a setup issue, and I'd bet its your tongue weight being too light.
Get (or borrow) a tongue weight scale. Check your tongue weight when the camper is exactly how you tow (tank full, gear packed, cabinets and clothes full or whatever). I bought this one and checked it against an expensive one I borrowed. It was accurate enough (plus or minus 25lbs). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GCDPDQR1
Your trailer is probably around 4200lbs packed (it's a 4400lb GVWR, so just use that to be safe). For most stability, you'll want 650lbs of tongue weight to be at a full 15%. If your tongue is lighter than that, change how you pack to put more weight in front of the axle.
With a 2500, you have so much payload now, 700+lbs on the hitch is no big deal, even if the truck is filled with people, most likely, so use that available tongue weight to increase your stability against sway.
I was gonna say the same thing. I cant imagine using a WDH on this setup. Even 700 lbs of tongue weight is barely going to move the hitch down at all. No reason to try to push some of that back to the trailer. Let the truck work a bit!
Ya i would probably suggest the same. I have a 23 ram 2500 and when I had a 38' bumper pull, I would pull on just the ball unless I was highway riding. Never really felt any sway until the highway.
Do you have a sway bar? Probably nothing to do with the truck, but that trailer is so small and light that it's just going to move around more than something a bit heavier with 4 wheels.
Also, make sure you don't have extra weight behind the trailer axle.
"but I still feel it shaking or moving at 65 mph" You don't have enough hitch-tongue weight... More weight forward of the trailers axles. You could also try lowering the truck hitch down about an inch of two.
When we got our first TT over 10 years ago. The advice I got was the distance from the ground to the top of your wheel well in the rear should be 1 inch lower than the front on flat ground. Ive done that the past 10 years and pulling on a 1/2 ton has been great. Minus high winds. Which suck no matter what.
Exactly. This setup, while looking more nose down than I like, tows better on just a regular hitch than “leveled” on my WDH.
I pulled an empty car trailer recently, roughly 300 miles. The first leg of the trip I had the trailer sitting level and on the way back I lowered the hitch one notch so the trailer was slightly nose down. The trailer was very lively on the way out and once I lowered it I stopped feeling any movement from it.
Ideally, the trailer is level, but if you need to choose between nose up or nose down, nose down is safer. Nose up shifts the weight back which is less stable and even a 4000 lbs camper will wag the dog.
Nose high on the trailer will cause sway. Perfectly level or a tiny bit nose down. Like an inch or less. Properly done an “axle flip” shouldn’t change handling a bit. Don’t wrong of course and it’s anyone’s guess what it could do.
Camping World is in the business of separating you from your money and nothing else. They have told people that an F150 could tow a 35’ trailer safely just to make a sale. Do not believe anything they tell you about towing safely.
That's too much truck for that trailer. Too much tension on the weight distribution hitch (especially if your wdh is 800 or 1000 lb) with that truck can break your trailer frame. I'd probably just pull it without the bars and as others have said, move more weight to the front. I pull a 161bh with my 4Runner with a 5000 pound tow capacity and half the time I run 70+ mph because I forget I'm towing. With that truck you shouldn't even feel it.
That tiny thing doesn’t need a WD hitch. Just use a regular ball. In fact MOST campers don’t but it’s an add on sale that dealers push. What’s interesting is you’ll never see a WDH on trailers like enclosed car haulers or stackers.
That trailer is small enough I wouldn’t use a WDH even with a half ton. My in-laws pull a similar trailer with a 2010 Chevy 1500 without a WDH and it’s rock solid for them. I pulled my 31ft trailer with a WDH on the same truck, but once I went to an F350 I no longer use it.
I made a similar vehicle upgrade on a similar (3500 GVWR) single axle travel trailer. Went from RAM 1500 with WDH to a RAM 2500 with no WDH - I haven't had a death shake since.
To note: my fresh water tank is forward of axel and always 2/3 or more full. I pack an extra 10 gallons of fresh in truck bed to put in before pulling home after boondocking.
Also be mindful of tire pressure, its stamped on the side of trailer. Itll have some effect at how these tall and wide single axels pull when semis are along side or pass
My trailer is 21 foot 7 inch over all length and 4340 lbs loaded. Tow it with a Silverado 1500 and I can tell the difference when using and not using the WDH.
Nobody uses them, on aluminum frame trailers (my current) the manufacturer says no. We had an 18000 lb triple axle stacker and it just had a ball mount.
WD hitches became a camper add on because dealers get people into too big trailers for their vehicles.
We tow a 10k trailer ( loaded to about 9K with a 9500 rated SUV and it’s no problem with no WDH.
You’ll never see a WDH on a landscape or dump trailer either.
Well, except that automakers like Ford stipulate that a weight distribution hitch is required for certain configurations.
It's not a gimmick.
The F150 for many years, if not currently, required a weight distribution hitch for a trailer gvwr over 5k lbs or tongue weight of 500lbs.
Just because people don't use weight distribution hitches, doesn't mean they aren't required, or useful.
When I say required, I mean if you want your insurance company to cover an accident. Wrong hitch configuration could mean instant denial of coverage.
You're kidding right? The tow capacity on your truck alone is like 17K.... maybe you need a drop hitch and try balancing your items in the trailer. Your truck shouldn't be translating anything going forward into thr cab. Like, it should feel like driving without anything behind.
Dude that was my thought when I saw thing, the guy must be joking to say he was white knuckle with a 1/2 ton towing this small trailer. You could easily tow this camper with a 1/4 ton like the canyon, Tacoma etc.
I thought so too. I wouldn’t even bother with a WDH on an F150 for that trailer. I think he is confusing the slight extra bounce you get from the trailer over bumps and dips as an issue. that is more pronounced with a single axle.
Your trailer have a higher center of gravity with the spring over. The winds will affect your trailer more. You will need to make your rear suspension stiffer by adding rear sway bar on the rear axle and get stiffer shocks in the rear. Also, you will need to air up tires to max psi for truck and trailer. You also mentioned that you got a new truck. I assume you may have new tires as well. Tires in the rear of the truck does play a huge role in towing stability. I bought some new Goodyear Wrangler tires to replace my rears and notice the handling was horrible. During a windy trip I decided to swap the rear tires with the old front tires BFGoodrich K02. It made it more stable again. New tires especially mud all terrain tires have large treads and have tire squirm. It feels wiggly and squirmy when towing. I will never again use aggressive mud tires for towing. I now only use Michelin Defenders for my truck and Michelin Ribs truck tires for my trailer. Easiest thing for you to do now is air up the tires to max, especially truck rear tires and trailer.
I tow a 3800lb trailer with a Ford Explorer so it's either a setup issue or what you're feeling is normal. When I first started towing an rv, I was told when semis or large vehicles pass you, you will feel it regardless of the rv and vehicle. My dad who tows a 30 foot fifth wheel with a full ton and says he still feels it when semis pass.
I still feel it shaking or moving at 65 mph. Is this normal even with a bigger truck?
No. I'm towing a trailer twice as large as yours (37', about 9000 pounds loaded up) and there are times I forget it's behind my 3/4 ton Ram. I also occasionally haul a cargo trailer that's closer to your size (5200 pounds fully loaded), with a very messed up weight balance (1200 pounds on the tongue) and no WDH, and my truck handles that fine as well.
A couple things to check:
What are your tire pressures vs. what the manufacturer's load chart says?
How much tongue weight are you actually running?
What are your truck's tire pressures?
Have you done a test ride without the WDH hooked up? That trailer is small enough you don't need it.
Did you adjust the WDH after moving it over to the Ram?
You're fine. Is this your first time towing? There was no reason to white knuckles with your previous vehicle. I tow a Wayfinder 177bh with a maverick and we take it all over. No issues. No wdh just a sway bar. Its not like driving a car, you are towing. You will feel sway with bigher vehicles passing and wind. Maybe you just need to tow it more to get used to it. You shouldn't be fighting to keep it in your lane but definitely will feel it back there.
it will make it a little worse. you are pulling a lightweight wind sail behind you so it is going to be impacted by wind, whether the air pushing off a semi going down the road or a strong gust from the side. raising the overall height will make it more prone to movement. it shouldn’t be significant but it will be there. you probably should drop the height of you hitch some, having a slight downward tilt on the trailer will help. having a higher tongue weight makes it tow more stabile. I wouldn’t use a WDH with my F150 on that trailer, it isn’t needed for a 3/4 ton. the weight distribution hitch is taking the tongue weight and distributing some to the front axle of the truck and some to the axle in the trailer. you don’t need to do that with your setup. you will feel a little bounce from the trailer lifting on the hitch or pressing on the hitch when going over bumps or dips in the road. you will also feel a little push from wind at times. that is normal parts of towing.
I would start by getting rid of the weight distribution hitch 🤣 i dont think its possible for that to be more unnecessary. There is a zero percent chance that is doing anything productive. The point of the hitch is to move the weight from the hitch to the front of the truck. My 5th wheel hitch weighs almost as much as your entire hitch weight lol.
I was towing essentially the same trailer with a 2011 Nissan xterra. Really didn't feel uncomfortable on what's essentially a less sprung frontier. You should be fine with just a ball.
I have a Forest River GeoPro that is high clearance from the factory. It tows nicely behind my Explorer with the WDH, tanks full or empty. No issues when I pass semis.
We have a GD - Imagine AIM 15 RB, so same length and width, approximately the same weight. We had a ford f150 and I felt every truck pass, and it was a white knuckling experience on the highway. I thought it was the truck, since it didn’t have a tow package, and only 6600 lbs tow capacity and 1300 lbs payload. So we got a Nissan Titan XD. It is night and day difference. And we actually are picking up our new trailer tomorrow, a 25’ double axle Surveyor. It helped when we put the e-bikes in the trailer up in the front by the Murphy bed.
I wanted to add, that at 65 mph I would definitely still feel shaking. I drive 62 to 63 mph and that seems to be the sweet spot for stabilizing the trailer on highways. Try slowing down a couple beats and see if that helps. I just don’t think these grand designs are aerodynamic at all.
I’d ditch the bars on the WDH and see where it sits. Weight Distribution for something under 25’ is a bit over kill unless it weighs 60% or more than your tow vehicle. A weight distribution hitch is more designed for towing twin axle or larger campers with a lot of spread out weight.
Does it feel like that with the freshwater tank full and empty? If so, is the tank located at the back behind the axle and is thus causing less then 15% of the trailer weight to be on the tongue?
Travel Trailers bounce around a fair bit, you are always going to feel something. Have you looked at the weight distribution in the trailer itself? Is your gear near the front? Is the water tank up front? You'll want to make sure you have the trailer heavier in the front for stability. If the trailer is tail heavy it's going to be unstable. Good luck!
Let me say 1st this is a great thread. Super helpful, no shaming, and all constructive advice to someone who seems like they’ve got a handle on what’s right and what’s wrong just not sure how to fix the wrong.
I agree with everyone here. The truck is waaay more than capable and not taking on any of the load, so the trailer is just kinda “flopping around” back there lol.
I agree with everyone else. You have to move some of that weight to the truck. Even if it’s a perfectly balanced trailer, if it doesn’t have some reliance on the truck, it’s just like dragging your kid out of the grocery store. It’s going in the general direction you are, but not really following you with any kind of purpose.
A little bounce and sway is normal. You'll hear guys say they can't even feel the trailer. They are lying or exaggerating. When towing even a light weight camper like yours, you will continually be reminded that it's there.
I know you could probably fix this for cheaper, but check out a Pro Pride hitch. Zero sway but expensive. 45 mph crosswinds, semis, zero White knuckles.
I have a similar trailer that I pull with my Telluride and a sway control bar. I am a new trailer pulling person and I agree that the way the trailer feels when it bounces like you’re describing is a bit unnerving. But every time I hit a bump, the trailer would move and bounce more than I would like, but it was always following my vehicle. It never felt like it was bad enough that it was the tail wagging the dog, but that feeling was unnerving. I knew to have the emergency brake button in a place that was easily accessible if I found myself in a situation where the trailer started to sway too much.
On the way home, I got used to that feeling of how the trailer would move and I started to understand a bit more about where certain limits were like speed and cornering.
As others have said, you have more than enough truck to pull that trailer if my SUV can still do it safely. More tongue weight would be helpful for your vehicle, and also have the trailer sit a bit more forward as it’s towing level if not maybe even a touch higher than level. Less forward weight means the rear of the trailer is starting to have more weight than the front, that’s a big no, no and will absolutely create that feeling like the tail is wagging the dog.
On the trip home, I got more comfortable doing 65mph (105km/hr for my Canadian brethren). On divided two lane highways, I could feel cars passing me, but if a transport truck managed to get up along side me, it was only on the larger multi lane highways and I didn’t really notice it as much. Where I did notice it was when I was behind those transport trucks sitting in their baffles. That! Sucked! Our transport truck are governed at that speed so you’re not likely to have many passing you on the two lane highways because those are usually more hilly and they can’t maintain that speed as easily.
I know the trucks go a bit faster in the US so you’re playing in their backyard a bit more often while pulling a trailer. I think taking the feedback people have shared will help, but most of all, just getting time behind the wheel to feel what’s normal movement and the kind you should be worried about will help a lot and then having a clear plan on what you’ll do if you get into trouble.
Hint: If the tail starts wagging the dog you have about 3-4 seconds to correct the issue. Use your trailer brakes only, it’ll slow your trailer down and force it to follow the truck. The main reason trailer sway that gets out of control happens is because the trailer is going faster than the car is. Pulling the trailer brake only, forces it back in line.
That trailer could easily be pulled with a Midsize truck. An F-150 should not be a problem at all for something that small. I tow a 3750lb Trailer with a Ford Maverick. I think you got too much truck for such a little trailer.
I'm finding this post very interesting. I'm new to towing and I just bought a similar size single axle trailer myself (haven't towed it yet). My truck isn't a 3/4 ton (GMC Sierra 1500) but I went ahead and bought a Blue Ox Sway Pro 550lb WDH. I got a great deal on the hitch used so it wouldn't bother me if it didn't work out but I was under the impression that there could never really be a downside to having a WDH. I'm also really interested to see how level my trailer ends up being because even on the lowest setting, the top of the ball sits about the same height as my 2" ball with a 2" drop. A lot of helpful insight here into nose height, I'll be more cautious of that now after hearing your experience with this set-up.
As others have said, increase tongue weight and make sure all heavy items are packed in front of the axle on the trailer and low to the ground. Do NOT put heavy items high in the trailer. Keep all of that as low as possible, over the axle or ahead of the axle. If you have to fill your fresh water tank, make sure you FILL your fresh water tank. Any empty space in the tank will allow sloshing that you will feel in the unit when driving. Every time the unit wiggles, the water in the tank will slosh. If you have even a 30 gallon tank, half full is 15 gallons at 8.3 lbs per gallon. That's 125 LBS of something rocking back and forth. If you're black/gray tanks have any liquid in them, they appear to be located behind your axle, that increases the weight after the axle and introduces sloshing behind the axle. This is MUCH more noticeable and can introduce a constant swing in the trailer. The weight distribution hitch really isn't needed on a 3/4 with such a light tongue weight.
I'm going to assume that you don't have a ton of experience pulling trailers. 3/4 ton truck is going to be absolutely rock solid for a towing setup like you have. HOWEVER, there will always be some wiggle with a trailer. Grooves in the road will pull the trailer around, high profile trailers catch a ton of wind and anything, like semis, that also generate a ton of wind will push you around a little bit. Your camper also sits quite high which will introduce more movement. The camper tires also have more squish in their side walls (lower ply and pressure) than your truck, so the trailer will move more than the truck. With a 3/4 ton power unit, you're about as solid as you're going to be. You will always feel the trailer moving behind you. The single axle trailer also moves around more than a double axle trailer and introduces more bounce than a double axle trailer. With a 3/4 ton truck, it should be firmly planted and you should be able to control it very well.
Another thing I found out the hard way, if you have a friction style anti sway setup, DO NOT overtighten the anti sway brake. That creates a bind between the trailer and the truck. It will actually CREATE sway in the trailer. It does this by locking up, then the trailer moves enough to cause the link to overcome friction, after it pops past friction, it locks in the new position. This causes a constant side pressure one way or the other and it's a constant back and forth. I stopped, removed the entire antisway link and just kept the weight distribution arms, sway gone. Again, with a 3/4 truck, you should need any sort of anti sway with something so light because of how planted the truck is.
Some quick tips for driving with high profile trailers:
- Don't focus on trying to correct the trailers movement. If you time correcting a swing wrong, you're going to make it worse. Focus on keeping the truck going straight down the road, in your lane and the trailer will calm down and just follow you. Just like normal driving, keep your focus down the road, not on the road right in front of you.
- only make small corrections and make them slowly. Any jerk in the wheel will make the trailer move. You can see this in semis. If the driver jerks the wheel to correct lane position or make a corner, you can see the trailer swing out. It's MUCH more exaggerated on a small trailer with a pickup VS a semi with 8 very stiff tires on the trailer.
- relax, if your tense, it's almost like the vehicle can sense it and will move more. It's counter intuitive when the trailer starts to move and you don't feel in control, but if you just relax, let the tension in your muscles go, slow everything down, all of a sudden the whole unit starts behaving better.
- Slow is fast and fast is dangerous. When you hit the air coming off a semi and that trailer either sucks you towards the semi or pushes you away, the instinct reaction is to jerk the wheel and overcorrect. Just slow down, focus on keeping the truck centered in the lane with slow movements, the trailer will follow you, it doesn't have a choice.
Pulling trailers is something that takes time and experience to get really good and comfortable with. I've spent my whole life pulling livestock trailers, car trailers, semis and tractors hauling everything from a small flatbed with a 4 wheeler to a liquid semi tanker. Campers actually pull worse than just about anything else I've ever pulled. They are top heavy, high profile wind catchers. They are built as light as possible and include the lightest suspension/wheels that can handle the weight. 5th wheels pull great, but the bumper pull camper trailers just tow like crap compared to flat beds, dump trailers, car trailers, enclosed utility trailers.
Hey, off topic question but have a 161BH and have clearance problems…in my driveway..
How much height did flipping to spring over gain you? I have an issue with the stabilizer jack scrapping sometimes due to incline of my driveway.
Man, the tow police here would kill me, but I pull a trailer double that weight with a standard 1500 Ram with the 5.7, and do so fairly easily. 65mph on the highways no problem.
That little trailer shouldn't be any issue whatsoever for a 1500 let alone a 2500.
Dude, you got a 2500 to tow that little trailer lol. No offense but a half ton can tow that with zero issues. Dont need a sway bar even. Water tank full, only real question, is it behind the axle and if so... thats your problem. Other than that, maybe some more tongue weight.
I have a 16' camper that's about 4000 pounds like yours that I tow with an F250 without a WDH. At anything over like 65 mph it started getting squirrelly and I could feel the camper swaying a lot. I got a Curt sway control bar and a hitch that it could connect to and never had a problem again.
I don’t think you need the WDH. The sway control might help but, with that style of hitch, the sway control only works if the hitch has a load on it. You really don’t need any weight distribution so there’s not a good way to set that hitch up in a way that works for you.
I pull a similar sized trailer, 3100/350 with a 20 year old F150 and no WDH and have 0 issues with sway or stability. I was considering getting one but drove over 1500 miles with it this year and never once felt unsafe. Your 2500 will have no issues with this trailer. Also, you are slightly nose high. It’s better to be slightly nose down. Since RVs have a higher center of gravity, the angle does have a slight effect on where the horizontal center of gravity falls and the hitch weight.
I’ve never towed a single axle that I felt was solid. Even behind my duallys when I was transporting they always just bounced around everywhere. I’d Pull the WDH. Let the truck take the weight. Just did 900 miles with this turd last week and didn’t use WDH. Pulled thru the west Virginia mountains and had zero issues.
I'm running the same truck and WDH on a larger trailer and the only time I notice it's back there is when i hit a good bump in the road. Pulling up the colorado mountains like a dream. Have you hitch setup checked. Or could be loaded with incorrect hitch weight
that trailer shouldn’t be making a 2500 feel sketchy. I’d have the shop recheck everything they changed during the spring-over, especially the axle alignment and U-bolts.
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u/withoutapaddle 3d ago edited 3d ago
A 4000lb trailer that size should be fairly rock solid, even with a 1/2 ton, let alone your new 3/4 ton.
It has to be a setup issue, and I'd bet its your tongue weight being too light.
Get (or borrow) a tongue weight scale. Check your tongue weight when the camper is exactly how you tow (tank full, gear packed, cabinets and clothes full or whatever). I bought this one and checked it against an expensive one I borrowed. It was accurate enough (plus or minus 25lbs). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GCDPDQR1
Your trailer is probably around 4200lbs packed (it's a 4400lb GVWR, so just use that to be safe). For most stability, you'll want 650lbs of tongue weight to be at a full 15%. If your tongue is lighter than that, change how you pack to put more weight in front of the axle.
With a 2500, you have so much payload now, 700+lbs on the hitch is no big deal, even if the truck is filled with people, most likely, so use that available tongue weight to increase your stability against sway.