I advise you to listen to what he is saying again.

I haven't looked at the Utube video, I figure that if things are going wrong one would be too busy hanging onto the steering wheel, and the wife will be doing a panic. But what I have done is on the Red-arc Tow-Pro which I use I find the numbers are too hard to see, and trying to remember which way to turn the dial to increase or decrease trailer braking was confusing.
I copied pictures from the instructions, increased their size, laminated and have stuck them to the reverse side of the visor. I now drive with this down, and will be able to see at a glance which way to adjust the brake settings, so now I can easily make the van heavier for highway and down hill traveling, and then back it off when required i.e. through towns etc.

iana wrote:

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I haven't looked at the Utube video, ~SNIP~ But what I have done is on the Red-arc Tow-Pro which I use I find the numbers are too hard to see, and trying to remember which way to turn the dial to increase or decrease trailer braking was confusing.
I copied pictures from the instructions, increased their size, laminated and have stuck them to the reverse side of the visor. I now drive with this down, and will be able to see at a glance which way to adjust the brake settings, so now I can easily make the van heavier for highway and down hill traveling, and then back it off when required i.e. through towns etc.

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Gday...

Praps have a gander at the video Ian - fast forward to the 1.55 (one minute 55 sec) mark and let it run to the 2.22 (two minute 22 sec) mark it will clearly state how to 'control sway'.

No need to twirl any knobs. If travelling downhill (or anywhere) and sway begins ... the video advice between those marks says it all.

Cheers - John

 

Aus-Kiwi wrote:

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Big thing is NOT to panic . Sign of wrong balanced load . Most cases too much weight in the rear !

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Gday...

Definitely contributing cause/s ... but a bit simplistic to isolate just those things ... and yes, the biggest problem once sway begins often is panic - unfortunately it can override every other sensible action eliminating any chance of taking corrective actions. 

Cheers - John

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:

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Sway is caused in part by excessive energy in the "system".
Any acceleration will add additional energy and that is purely counter productive. Getting rid of the energy is vital, so applying the van brakes while slowing is the best response.
Not all "experts" get it right.

Cheers,
Peter

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 Spot on.

I 'practice' applying the trailer brake slide on a regular basis, just so I can do it automatically without having to look down to find the controller.

 

Many, many years ago while landscaping my new home, I was using a rusty old box trailer to recover sleepers from an old disused railway line.  Of course I had it piled up with as many as possible without bending the axle (well not too bent, I'd stop loading when the axle started to bow) and pulling it with my beaut Valiant. 

Well wouldn't you know it, when coming down a slight incline it got up a death sway. I think that I just took my feet off everything & glided into the sandy & grassy roadside which luckily pulled us up the right side up without hitting any stumps. 

So, being a young bullet proof teenager, I just sat down & cracked a stubby to settle the nerves and have a laugh with my white faced mate & later on drove home very slowly.  Our  future loads of sleepers or mossy iron stone rocks were always much smaller after that scary episode.

My good old 21'6" Jayco Westport with its heavy ball weight sits beautifully behind the GQ Patrol with never a sign of sway as I potter about at around 85-90Km/Hr.  Been doing that for 20yrs & >200,000Km.  But I'm still very sensitive to any tendency to get out of line that it might develop.

-- Edited by Cupie on Sunday 7th of January 2018 11:08:31 AM

Hi yes I agree but an instant reaction should be a slight acceleration coupled with a simultaneous application of finger slide brake
Once brake is applied decelerate slowly.

The KEY is of course applying the brakes on the trailer by using the hand control.

For the panic merchants I am still alive because of a slogan I learned when I became a Diver in the Royal Navy

STOP !  THINK !  ACT !

Someone said they practice this and I think everyone towing should do that

 

Never been in a sway situation and hopefully never will but I cant see if you have an out of control trailer going bananas on the back of your rig slowing down is going to help,gently increasing your momentum and very steadily applying your trailer brake trying to straighten out the mess makes more sense just my opinion...

 

Hi all,

Are we talking Old school, New school, or a bit of both.

In both cases below. Both Different outcomes. 

Both the tug a 2012 200TTD GX and the Van 2015 Jayco journey Outback 17.55 with tandum undercarrage trialing arm susppenion. Both are fitted with ESC. I have A Red-Arc Tow Pro, fitted to the tug.

On our maden Voyage, I took the time to set the Tow Pro up Proper, after both units were loaded with tyre pressures checked, and then loaded proper with full everything.

From delivery the van and tow pro were set at No1.

When we left home I started doing a few Emergency stops to test the whole setup. Setting the tow pro first to No 2. then after a few down hill stops. I ended up using No 3 on the TP.

Our whole rig can be tossed around, hit the brakes hard, and each time we pull up straight.Very happy.

Not every situation is going to be the same.

Last March we were run off the road between Mildura and Renmark  SA, heading to WA. We blew both left side tyres on the tandum load share boat trailer fully loaded, at 100kmph.

My first imput was to drive the car, power on up onto the Bitumin,with following traffic backing off, then backed off on the power total, till I could pull up safely under ligtht brakes.

If I had stayed on the gravel shoulder.

We would have been history.

At All the times I had control.

I put this incident in our Travel Blogs story (Towing the boat to WA 2017).The truck driver concerned, was reported to SA police on "OOO" With rego supplied.

You must known what to do in each case.

On the first trip with the van, Again read my Travel blogs 2016 ( How I jack knifed the van in WA at 5kmph. on the Blacktop. It can and does happen to the best of us.

BOTH WITH ESC. The vans brakes should have avoided this little misshap IMO.

Jim

 

My one time loose it was on wet asphalt, why they let us drive on it was beyond me! I applied a very small amount of acceleration due to a concern for traffic behind me, all my own fault, next second the car started a sideways slide. Why, I don't know. The oncoming semi driver was eyeball to eyeball with me and I could see the swear words. Next second, the ESC on the caravan, I felt it, kicked in and my tow vehicle behaved itself. It was a 5 minute event that lasted probably 5 seconds! My understanding is that ESC only controls the caravan, but in this case, even at 40KM per hour, it pulled the tug into line!

Would you get sway with a camper trailer.

This is worth watching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jk9H5AB4lM

 

Just drive on left side of the road though !! In Aust Atleast !! Lol