Sway Bars and brake controllers

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Irishwake

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Apr 18, 2018
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I am looking to purchase a small 17 foot (21 foot total) camper Coachmen Clipper and have a Ram 1500 5.7 Hemi to pull with. My question as I am a camper newbie is will I need a sway bar hitch and my other question is I will need a brake controller I was totally unaware that that size trailer even had brakes. I am used to towing a 3500 Lb (dry weight) boat with a 70 gal fuel tank with surge brakes and I am very unfamiliar with elec brakes.
 
I do not feel you will need a weight distribution hitch or sway control.  Just pack your camper correct, in your case, but your extras in the front of camper for tongue weight.  Yes you will need a brake controller. A simple one only.  You should be able to pick one up on Amazon or etrailer.com, along with a short wire harness that plugs into your fusebox.  Basically after you set up once, it's automatic from there.  Do some research, but if you pulled a boat (as I did) and I also have a 21' TT, it's no big deal with the brake controller, and they are less than $100.
 
Yes, you need an electric brake controller for the trailer brakes. Your Ram may be pre-wired for one.

I suspect you mean a Weight-Distributing (WD) hitch with spring bars (they are not anti-sway bars, as many believe). A WD hitch shifts some of the trailer tongue weight forward to reduce the spring sag at the back of the truck.  Whether you need one or not depends on the trailer tongue weight (the weight on the hitch), which will be about 10%-12% of the gross trailer weight.  For a Coachmen Clipper 17 that's probably about 400 lbs (10-12% of a 3600 lb GVWR).  Most half ton trucks can carry that much weight on their receiver hitch without the help of a WD. However, with additional gear carried in the truck bed, multiple passengers, etc,, the total weight the truck carried might get high enouh that a WD hitch would be a benefit in evening out the weight.
 
Thanks for all the replies, I am actually looking to trade my 20 foot Cuddy cabin boat on a travel trailer
 
When you choose your brake controller, be aware there are three types with one being much better than the other.

The best is the built-in factory brake controller if your truck is equipped for it. If it is, installation is simple, just pop off a dash cover and plug the controller into a supplied socket behind it.  It uses the truck's data buss to measure the actual brake pressure you're applying and applies the trailer brakes in direct proportion to how hard you're pressing on the brake pedal.

The other two are aftermarket controllers and are divided into two types.  Both types use the brake lamp signal to tell them you're stepping on the brakes to avoid the legal liability of tapping into the truck's hydraulic brake system.  Since they lack a direct signal telling them how hard you're applying the brakes, they use other means to determine how hard to apply the trailer brakes.

The first type uses a swinging pendulum or a solid state accelerometer to determine how quickly the truck is slowing, and applies the trailer brakes proportionately.

The second type uses a time-based algorithm.  This applies the trailer brakes gradually, starting out with a gentle application when it gets the stop light signal, then strengthens the application the longer the stop light stays on.  These tend to be the least expensive and fulfill the legal requirements for a brake controller but generally don't give good performance.
 
Lou, good explanation on controllers, but I don?t know where you got the ?legal liability? information.  I guess you mean that installers just wanted plug and pray controllers so they could direct any issues back to the manufacturers.  It is a shame that the great controllers made by Brakesmart and MaxBrake went by the wayside due to higher price and laziness.
 
That "legal liability" is a fact of life for products intended to be installed by the buyer rather than a professional. If you tell somebody to modify the braking system on their vehicle and they mess it up, you had better have all the i's well dotted when the lawyers come to call.

Fortunately, with modern solid state accelerometers, there is no real need to tap the tow vehicle hydraulic system to get accurate and effective proportional braking. Nor is there much cost or installation advantage to the time-based controllers these days - digital electronics have made a quality proportional brake controller relatively inexpensive.
 
lynnmor said:
It is a shame that the great controllers made by Brakesmart and MaxBrake went by the wayside due to higher price and laziness.

Actually, the patent holder (I'm not sure which one) licensed the technology to Ford to incorporate into their OEM trailer brake controller.  Dodge later followed suit, I don't know if GM offers a similar option.

In any case, having at least 2 out of the 3 major manufacturers offering the same features in a factory installed package pretty much dried up the market for high end brake controllers.

I had a Brakesmart controller when it first came out, and my dad had one of the old Kelsey Hayes hydraulic controllers that tapped into the brake system for the proportional braking.  Having first hand experience with those, along with driving a double trailer semi truck for a summer, I can say there's no comparison between directly controlled proportional braking versus an aftermarket controller that has to sense and interpret the truck's slowing before it applies the trailer brakes. 

The aftermarket proportional controllers let you "feel" the trailer brakes engage as they lag the main vehicle brake application by a noticeable amount.  You step on the brake pedal, the combo starts to slow, then the trailer brakes kick in.  Some controllers try to hide this by pre-loading the braking as soon as the brake light signal comes in, but they're still guessing at how hard to apply the trailer brakes.  If the main vehicle skids on some ice or gravel on the road, the trailer brakes also release since the main vehicle isn't supplying as much braking.  This happened to me after crossing some railroad tracks before a T intersection, the bouncing of the truck confused the brake controller so it released the trailer brakes, propelling me halfway into the intersection.  My fault, of course for not slowing enough in advance but the controller releasing the trailer brakes while I was trying to stop didn't help.

With direct connection, there's no lag.  The truck and trailer brakes respond as a single unit, both during gradual and hard braking.  You don't "feel" the trailer brakes working, they just do.
 
If using an add-on controller, you can't go wrong with a Tekonsha:

http://www.tekonsha.com/

Another thing I found out with my 2013 Ram 1500 is that if installing a factory controller, you have to go to a dealer to get the ECM flashed to accept it.
 
the trailer I am getting is less than 3000 lbs (its 2600) Im actually surprised that you would even need brakes for it as a boat the same weight its not required. My boat is 3500 lbs dry weight 70 gal fuel (500 lbs) plus ice, gear and in the past before I replaced the brakes went without and had no issues towing it and stopping. I am planning on getting a controller that fits my budget and have watched many you tube videos on how to set the proper gain. I am still not knowing if I would need a WD and sway hitch for that size trailer. I would assume I will know that on the 30 mile trip home from the RV dealership.
 
You keep quoting dry weights, but that is meaningless by the time the trailer gets hitched to your truck. Whether talking about the boat or the travel trailer. Either one will weigh substantially more, e.g. fuel, water, basic equipment, etc.

You said the boat trailer does not require brakes, but Alaska is the only state that does not require trailer braking on rigs over 3000 lbs (it's 5000 in AK). In any case, your first post you stated the boat trailer is equipped with surge type brakes built into the trailer. The travel trailer will almost surely have electric brakes, thus requiring a brake controller on the truck.

The Tekonsha Prodigy series of controllers is one of the best available and around $100 from discount sources.
 
sorry, I may have left out info. My previous boat required no brakes. I do know that the truck is going to require a controller and I am ok with that but the WD hitch and sway for that small of a trailer is my question I should see how it handles before I buy a WD hitch and sway kit
 
There MAY be a mis interpretation between LEGALLY REQUIRED to have brakes and, from towing without brakes, feeling that they are not needed.

According to the chart I just looked up,  Alaska, Delaware and Massachusetts are the only states that do not require brakes on a 3,000 lb trailer.

http://www.hitchemup.com/statetowinglaws.htm

When I bought my 12,000 DRY FW (used), I suspect the brakes had grease on them, as the braking was poor.  I towed it home with my F350 diesel SRW with no issues.  I left extra extra braking distance.  From this, one could conclude I do not need trailer brakes. WRONG!!  It has been too cold to get a look at them so far, but repair is VERY high on my camper to do list!
 
I might be wrong for saying this but it is my opinion, I believe that every person towing a TT should have sway control of some sort hooked up all the time on the hwy.
You might tow it home or maybe across the country and back and never experience sway but when you do your are going to wish something was there. So why not spend the extra money and get prepared, Its a heck of alot better then picking up the contents off the road. And that even happens with sway control.

As for brakes if they are on the trailer then they should be working.

Now if it is a pop up tent trailer then you probably wont need anything.
 
It's axiomatic that you don't need trailer brakes until you REALLY need them. And then you wish you had more!

It's not rocket science - the minimum stopping distance always increases as unbraked weight is added. Put a 3000 ln trailer without brakes on the back of a 6000 lb truck and the minimum stopping distance increases about 50%.  As long as you maintain good spacing, pay attention to traffic, and nobody else does anything stupid, you can always stop in time. But when the inevitable day comes that a panic stop becomes necessary, you are gonna need those trailer brakes.
 
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