Noisy anti-sway on WDH

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scottydl

scottydl

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My weight distribution hitch uses friction sway control with an add-on device like the one pictured here.  It's always worked great without much noise, until yesterday when we were towing back home about 250 miles. 

It still works fine, but suddenly got REALLY noisy on turns.  When tightened down as instructed (pretty much as tight as I can make it by hand) and towing the trailer through a sharp turn, the device was making a constant pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop as the "slider" portion jerkily moved in and out of its tightened sleeve.  I tried loosening the tension a bit (a full turn on the handle), and the noise reduced to a loud grrrrrroannnn during the turns.

The one environmental occurrence that happened during our trip was heavy rain.  Could some development of surface rust cause this problem, and how should I safely clean it off?  I know these device are never supposed to be lubed/greased or they can lose their friction-based anti-sway properties, so I'm curious what I can do.  The noise and vibration are loud and noticeable enough that it does not seem natural.
 
More likely dirt in the water sprayed up from the road made the friction slide grabby. I think you will find the friction slider has a synthetic "shoe" of some sort, so rust shouldn't be much of a factor unless maybe one side it metal only. Even then, one or tow turns should burnish it well enough to eliminate that as a probelm.

Yeah, you can take it apart and clean it up, as long as you don't lubricate the friction surfaces.

This sort of thing is one of the several reasons I recommend against getting a friction-type sway control. Owners always end up loosening them to the point where they are ineffective anyway (assuming they had any measurable benefit to begin with!).
 
Gary RV Roamer said:
Even then, one or tow turns should burnish it well enough to eliminate that as a probelm.
Click to expand...

That's what I figured, but I made several more turns the rest of the trip and the noise/vibration persisted.  Maybe I just didn't have it tightened down as much in previous trips...?  The noise went away when I loosened the handle another full rotation (2 rotations back from the noisiest point), but as you mentioned then the effectiveness of the device is greatly diminished.
 
You are not using it correctly.  The handle IS NOT the adjustment.  You always tighten the handle, it doesn't have to be extremely tight.  Now adjust the friction by using the bolt.

Take it off and pull out the bar.  Clean the bar with steel wool and then wash it with soap and hot water.  Clean the inside friction pads as best you can using soap and hot water.  Reinstall using a bit of grease on the balls.  Tighten the handle.

To adjust, find an empty road and adjust the bolt till the trailer shows sway improvement when making sudden slight steering wheel corrections.  You may already have the bolt too tight.

Many complain about the simple friction bar type sway control, but when asked how they adjust, few can give a correct answer.
 
Mine groans a lot on turns too.  That said, I'd rather have that than sway.  But a properly loaded trailer correctly set up and towed by a sufficiently large vehicle shouldn't sway to begin with.
 
Attached is the installation instructions. The first sentence specifies that it should not be used with surge brakes and you do. I'm not familiar enough to say if that could be a problem for you.
I reread your post and I think now that the picture you provided is probably not your set up because the picture is not a WD hitch.

http://site.drawtite.com/N3400.pdf
 
lynnmor said:
You are not using it correctly.  The handle IS NOT the adjustment.  You always tighten the handle, it doesn't have to be extremely tight.  Now adjust the friction by using the bolt.
Click to expand...

Ah, that makes sense!  Thanks for the clarification.  I would assume that the handle and the bolt would probably need to be providing similar pressure on both top and bottom, when tightened for use.  I was likely tightening the handle too much and causing uneven movement of the slider under pressure.  I got my device used from a previous owner, so I've never made any adjustments or did initial setup myself.

Rene T said:
I reread your post and I think now that the picture you provided is probably not your set up because the picture is not a WD hitch.
Click to expand...

Yeah sorry about the confusion.  I just pulled the linked image off of the etrailer.com website to show the type of anti-sway device I have... that photo is not my specific hitch setup.
 
I did add a spacer under the handle on mine so that the rests straight front and it now gives a more centered pressure on the pad spring.  You could add washers there as well, if needed.
 
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