Lateral rocking when towing M101. Wth? (1 Viewer)

[AOD84]

So I was driving across the Golden Gate Bridge and the trailer started to rock sideways. TOTALLY SCARY!!
Pulled over to check if everything was ok -fine. Drove off another mile or two and it happened again-CRAP!
So I took everything out of the trailer and put it in the back of my 60. The rocking stopped....

I have a heavy lid, maggiolina on top and random camping crap in the trailer. Is all this load too much for my trailer or did I load up the trailer inappropriate? I appreciate any advise.

 

[greentruck]

How's the weight distribution in the trailer? It should be around 60% in front of the axle and 40% behind. Too much weight behind the axle will cause all sorts of issues, depending how much weight is where, road conditions (is it worse going downgrade?), wind, etc.

Just looking at your rig, the first thing that comes to mind is your spare hanging of the back of the trailer. If it was empty and all else being equal, that could be the issue.

Note that you can use a bathroom scale to check tongue weight. If you find it only gives you 40 or 50 lbs down-force (or less), there you have it,

 

[ntsqd]

General RoT is 10% of the total trailer weight on the tongue. With these light trailers that may not be enough. As mentioned, with the spare hanging on the rear you'll likely need to load everything heavy forward of the axle.
What is the condition of the shocks on the trailer?

 

[itbrokeagain]

I have noticed my trailer empty does that. With a good heavy load it doesn't move. Granted it dost sway a lot but if I watch it in the mirror I can tell but I can't feel it in my truck

 

[rusty_tlc]

Unless your trailer is really light (ie you can lift the tongue when the trailer is loaded) I wouldn't try to measure it directly on a scale
Here is another way to do it indirectly.
http://hildstrom.com/projects/tonguescale/index.html

It sound like you need a sway damper to me.

 

[Splittilps]

My trailer also did this. I was running the original tires around 40psi and it would rock side to side on most bumps. Talked to a buddy and he said to try less air in the tires. I let out 5 psi at a time untill it stopped, now running around 25psi is doesn't sway or rock.

 

[gofast]

Your spare is in the wrong location. Mount it on the front. MY M101 without spare unladen will sometimes wander and rock (slightly).

Also, how you load the trailer is important too. Heavy items to the front, light in the rear. This forces the weight to transfer to the tongue which will keep it from rocking.

Take a look at most generic trailers and you'll note that the axles are situated towards the back of the trailer. This also helps. The M101's axle is slightly back of the center of the box - not very far so its easy to transfer the balance of the weight to the rear making the load light on the tongue. This will cause it to rock.

 

[AOD84]

Shocks are fine, tires are at 40 but the weight in trailer was more toward the middle( could of been more toward the front). ill move the tire location this weekend! I was extremely stressed and scarred it would flip driving across the bridge. It's a sweet trailer; I was gonna put it in classified before all of y'all input. Thanks Mud!

 

[BC40]

My trailer has done that with weight up high, the sway back and forth. I have not seen it be much of a problem when I had light tongue weight, so long as the trailer had low COG. I'd guess you'd see more difference without the tent then pulling the spare.

 

[Mud_Guppie]

add tongue weight
I've had to pull over and take stuff out of my Cruiser or trailer and ratchet strap it to the tongue area to add weight

 

[tmarx]

I would also try to swap the tent around to improve the aerodynamics a bit

 

[ntsqd]

Tent is best the way it is shown above.
Airflow around it shapes a falling drop of water, the water itself has no shape. Therefore the "teardrop" is the shape with the least air resistance for that volume.

 

[itbrokeagain]

Towed my m101 this weekend with my Cherokee. There is defiantly a sway there that I don't feel when the trailer is behind my f250. I think they just sway a little and any unbalanced makes it that much worse

 

[greentruck]

Were you towing it empty or ?

 

[crgrissom]

I have the spare mounted o the back of mine, and it sways just like that if I do not have enough weight on the tongue. If you can lift it easily, it's too light.

 

[se2000]

Since it was on the bridge, I would bet that airflow got changed up a bit. I have a tall sided utility trailer that bounces all over the place if there is nothing in it. Put stuff in it or put a cover over the top and it rides smooth.
Maybe adding a rice burner spoiler will "fix" the problem. Or at least give everyone a good chuckle