Put all the weight at either end, ie spare wheel/s bike/s & tool boxes in the centre.
There are plenty of videos showing the disaster of weight hanging off the the extremities of a caravan compared to the same weight as central as possible over the axle.
Then one won't likely get into this swaying situation to start with.
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I have read quite a few pieces on the topic of What to do if your caravan starts to sway.
The old "sink the boot in to the accelerator to pull it straight" seems to be well and truly buried.
There are a couple of ideas I won't even mention here.
My Toyota manual says to hold the wheel straight, don't try to correct the sway and slowly decelerate.
Interested to hear member's thoughts on this one....
After much experimentation with shifting weight around, and having a good understanding the effects of yaw, I have set my van up so that it is very stable. However, as a bit of an experiment, on a deserted highway, I deliberately swerved left to right a couple of times in an attempt to induce sway. With much effort I got it to move around a bit, but this was easily controlled by using the Redarc brake controller.
As you are aware, the LAST thing to do with a swaying van is accelerate. Definite "No No" Cheers
What has worked for me, with both override and ele tric brakes, was a quick sharp stab of brake pedal which activates van brakes which have enough delay from full activation to bring things back in line. Far better option to not get into that situation in first place and speed is a major factor. Over 90klmh the risk factor increases dramatically.
Two basic ideas. One to avoid it happening, two to control it when it happens.
1) load as much in the middle to front. Contrary to popular belief, the more weight on the
tow ball the more stable. We unwittingly proved this with our last caravan which had the
axel group visibly further back.
2) if you get sway whilst driving, stop it (as Woolman) said by dabbing the brakes but
better still, grab the brake controller. This will apply the brakes to the caravan only
and it will straighten up very quickly. Because the braking force is applied directly to
the offending party. As you said this idea of planting the foot into it maybe might
work for a light (6x4) trailer.
Having never towed anything larger than our Tvan which I consider to probably, by virtue of it's design to be far more stable than most, if not all caravans, I have never had to deal with 'sway' other than one awful experience many years ago with a badly loaded box trailer, with two motorcycles & camping gear, which frightened the cr*p out of me when it suddenly started fishtailing left & right, it's drawbar mounted spare leaving marks on both sides of the bumper of our HQ Premiere station wagon. We were lucky, don't know exactly what I did back then, but whilst it was happening we were all just passengers, we left the road but didn't roll anything. We were 'lucky'.
The brake controller we use today (Redarc Towpro) allows for just the van wheels to be braked without braking the car. I've never used it other than to test it, but isn't the idea of being able to do this to control sway should it start?
As you said this idea of planting the foot into it maybe might work for a light (6x4) trailer. wrote Deverall,
No it does not
What many don't understand is that when the van starts swaying it is actually travelling faster than the car! Therefore it is the van that needs to be slowed, not the car. Accelerating simply magnifies the problem. Cheers
Best proven method is to install Dexter Sway Control, Not ALKO ESC!
Why not the ALKO?
Experience! ALKO locks up when turning normal corners to the point of stalling tug. ALKO has to be disconnected on gravel roads (when stability control most needed), also need to disconnect to reverse van. I raised these concerns with ALKO Melbourne in 2014 who claimed that this is how they designed it. Definitely inferior design
Note; I believe ALKO has since purchased Dexter to enable them to utilise Dexter technology.
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As Yobarr said, when the van is swaying it is covering more ground than the tow vehicle, therefore travelling faster.
Even a light touch on the brakes is not a good idea because the tow vehicle brakes are usually more effective than the van brakes. So more stopping effort is applied to the car than the van, the opposite of what you want.
Punching the brake controller button is by far the best solution. I have mine mounted centrally and easily reachable. I had occasion to use that once when sitting in the passenger seat and a driver inexperienced in towing swerved to avoid a pothole. I could feel the potential for sway and was able to punch the controller and stop sway before it developed.
I recommend testing the effect of using the brake controller alone so you are aware of how the rig will react. If in the wet, be sure it is not adjusted so the van brakes could lock up.
Best proven method is to install Dexter Sway Control, Not ALKO ESC!
Why not the ALKO?
Experience! ALKO locks up when turning normal corners to the point of stalling tug. ALKO has to be disconnected on gravel roads (when stability control most needed), also need to disconnect to reverse van. I raised these concerns with ALKO Melbourne in 2014 who claimed that this is how they designed it. Definitely inferior design
Note; I believe ALKO has since purchased Dexter to enable them to utilise Dexter technology.
Hmmmm, I never experienced these problems, I also didnt read any of it in the manual. Not doubting you. As for turning corners and stalling, this I definitely never experienced.
Some modern cars have trailer anti-sway control which is activated automatically when it detects a trailer attached. It's just a clever way of using the ABS/traction control systems already present in the car to counteract the sway in the trailer.
Best not to zag or zig !! Apply brakes very lightly . Hopefully the trailer brake pull it back to settle it down . Ive only had the problem when towing a car that was rear heavy so balance was the issue . One good part about drum brakes is they are self assisting meaning they brake harder when activated especially leading & trailing shoes . Wedge . Sign your going too fast also . See some keep swaying at the speed . Instead of slowing down or changing load balance !!
We had Dexter on our old van and we have ALKO on this one I havent really noticed any difference with how either operate. We have never been in a sway situation which maybe says that they have been working as designed - it is interesting what Possum said about the ALKO system locking up. We were half way through a 10K trip with this new van when I tried to reverse back about a mtr and the vans wheels kept locking up - it had never happened before and it hasnt done it again. I use an Andersen Hitch which is supposed to be anti sway, the car has an anti sway system, the ball weight and load is in the correct range with the load correctly balanced (I know that because we had it checked by a mobile weighing service prior to us heading off).. If we ever do get into a bad sway situation I guess my first response will be to hit the brake controller knob which is mounted right next to me on the centre console. We had a bad experience with our last van when the trailing axle turned at 45deg to the direction of travel after a tyre blewout and the U bolts holding one side of the axle snapped. The van wasnt actually swaying but it was jumping and throwing us around that much we felt like we were bull riders in a rodeo especially as we were doing 95kph when it happened.. Different situation to a sway but all I did was grip the wheel and try and keep it straight while bringing everything to a standstill - we were pretty shaken and had the feeling that it could have ended up a lot worse than it did.
On a trailer or van that does not have electric brakes, then accelerating gently can bring the sway under control before then slowing down, so this old idea does have some merit in certain circumstances. I have used it on occasion and if done properly it does work.
However, on trailers with electric brakes then the trailer brakes need to be applied which will straighten things out.
Advice to hit the car brakes is a recipe for disaster as that can cause complete loss of control. The vehicle will all ready be on the edge of instability which can be rapidly brought on by braking and an exit into the scenery is impending.
