Hitches and sway bar

[joey2525]

I bought my first pop up and I have never hauled a trailer before.  I need some advice on a hitch set up for my TW (2006 Caravan).  

The Pop up is an 01 Starcraft starliner dry wieght 2400lbs.  Several people have suggested a sway bar which make senses but it appears that in order to add one I need a weight distributing hitch.  My owners manuals make a specific commnet that the tralier should never be used with a weight disrtibuting hitch.

Any suggstions?

[flyfisherman]

A sway bar can be used with a load bearing hitch (like a class III). I'm not at all familar with your tow vechicle. Do you know it's towing weight capacity?


Tried to find the weight of your Starcraft using NADA rv but it only shows a "Spaceliner" with a dry weight of 2374, but no Starliner. Do you know the camper's GVWR?



Fly

[wayner]

Hey, new here, but I hauled my 2003 Bayside for almost two whole summers without a friction sway bar.  And for almost two whole summers I was scared to death a number of times.  Until last fall I put a simple friction sway bar on it... I can't believe my dealer didn't recommend it from the start... Easy to install.. .and  wow, what a difference to the ride...

[threebeachboys]

I bought my first pop up and I have never hauled a trailer before.  I need some advice on a hitch set up for my TW (2006 Caravan).  

The Pop up is an 01 Starcraft starliner dry wieght 2400lbs.  Several people have suggested a sway bar which make senses but it appears that in order to add one I need a weight distributing hitch.  My owners manuals make a specific commnet that the tralier should never be used with a weight disrtibuting hitch.

Any suggstions?

You do not need a weight distributing hitch (WDH) to add sway control.  IMHO, sway control is cheap insurance to help avoid big issues.  It does not make up for improper loading, however.  But well worth the money in terms of safety.

YMMV.

Pam

[eanddrice]

Our last PUP was a '99 Coleman Westlake that we enjoyed using except when it came to towing.  Talk about fish-tailing!!!  I said something about it to the dealer that we bought it from and he said that we needed a sway control on it.  After that was installed, I would take that trailer across country and never think about it!!!  Needless to say when we traded up to the Niagara, that was the first thing installed before we left the dealership!!

[fritz_monroe]

You can get hitches with the anti-sway bar balls that are not WDHs.  You can also get an add on that allows you to add the anti-sway to any hitch setup.

[Recumbentman]

The Pop up is an 01 Starcraft starliner dry wieght 2400lbs.  Several people have suggested a sway bar which make senses but it appears that in order to add one I need a weight distributing hitch.  My owners manuals make a specific commnet that the tralier should never be used with a weight disrtibuting hitch.

Any suggstions?

If I remember correctly. FW is the only PU maker that offers a fully boxed tongue, all the other PU makers only have a "C" channel tongue and a WDH can not be installed on a "C" channel tongue, that is why your owners manual states not to use one. Some PU's have more sway than others, so I would tow your N2Y PU a couple of times to see if you need a sway control arm. If your PU is tongue heavy, you are going to have to look at some air bag type shocks for your van.

Good Luck

[flyfisherman]

If I remember correctly. FW is the only PU maker that offers a fully boxed tongue, all the other PU makers only have a "C" channel tongue and a WDH can not be installed on a "C" channel tongue, that is why your owners manual states not to use one. Some PU's have more sway than others, so I would tow your N2Y PU a couple of times to see if you need a sway control arm. If your PU is tongue heavy, you are going to have to look at some air bag type shocks for your van.

Good Luck

Not so. On Starcraft's smaller, lighter line, they do have the "C" channel  "A" frame (trailer tongue), like mine for eample, but their larger top of the line units have the boxed frame.



Fly

[wayner]

just to repeat what I already said... after we put on the friction anti sway bar... it was so easy to tow...   If I came to bad pot hole, just swerve and avoid... if I did that before the sway bar... I would still be trying to get it to stop swaying on me....    they are worth their weight in gold as far as can see for our big bayside...

I think a WDH would be more than we really need on our set up, plus not sure if it would fix the sway as much as the sway bar does...

[joecowboy]

We have a 1997 Starcraft 1021 Constellation PU. We tow it with a 1996 Toyota T-100 pickup. It swayed quite a bit until we installed a friction sway bar for less than $50. Now, even a tractor trailer passing in the opposite direction at 70 mph doesn't even phase us. Hope this helps

[GREG MOSKO]

I bought my first pop up and I have never hauled a trailer before.  I need some advice on a hitch set up for my TW (2006 Caravan).  

The Pop up is an 01 Starcraft starliner dry wieght 2400lbs.  Several people have suggested a sway bar which make senses but it appears that in order to add one I need a weight distributing hitch.  My owners manuals make a specific commnet that the tralier should never be used with a weight disrtibuting hitch.

Any suggstions?

My advise to you is to completely educate yourself on the whole issue of towing! As this is your first time, your number one issue is safety.I can tell you, you are pushing the limit with your caravan with this camper. Having owned a 2001 Grand Caravan and a 2004 Rockwood 2270, dry weight of 1809 lbs, hitch weight of 320 lbs. I  became very concerned on my maiden voyage home after my purchase. This thing sunk the rear end of my van, and I was not even packed to go on a trip !!!

Does your caravan have a tow package? Do you have a class 3 hitch? Does your camper have electric brakes? You NEED ALL OF THEM !!!!

My 2001 did not have the tow package. I added a class3 hitch,a B&M tranny cooler #70268, and B&M #80212 temp guage, an Equali-zer WDH hitch 6000 and a Hayes brake controller.

Check out the equalizer wbsite //www.equalizerhitch.com. There is a very good video that shows you what a weight distribution hitch really does. When you add a camper to your hitch, you greatly reduce the weight on your front tires. Being you van is front wheel drive, this severely affects your steering and drive. Any weight distribution hitch transfers the weight back to the front wheels to properly re-balance your vehicle.

Your manual clearly states that any trailer over 2000# requires a WDH.

Your trailer unloaded is at 2400 lbs and a 420lb tounge weight. Add full propane tanks, and what ever you end up loading in the trailer, you will be around 3000 lbs before you know it.

Your vehicle with a tow package handles a max of #3500. Other than the equalizer WDH hitch, the Reese single pole #350 is the only other WDH you can use on a pop up. The only problem with the REESE is that you also will need to add a Sway friction bar. The Equalizer hitch provides both weight distibution and a 4 point sway control. If you choose the Reese, you will need to also add a friction sway bar to that hitch. Way to much headache for me. I went with the equalizer for $399 at RVWHOLESALERS.com. Free shipping. The only ball that will work on that hitch is the Equalizer ball so buy that too. The reason is the shank is 1/2" shorter than the cheap 2" ball you can buy at auto zone. You need the shorter shank on this hitch because the trunion bars move under the shank in tight turns. After i put the equalizer on my Rockwood, I was blown away by the performance. I was able to balance the weight back to my front tires. My camper and Caravan remained straight after the first 18 wheeler blew by me at 95MPH. Best money I ever spent other than my Rockwood 2270. I installed a Hayes EnergizeIII brake controller for $50. The prodigy at the time was $200, now you can get one for $90. Either one works fine for a pop-up single axle. Both controllers are proportional controlers which is what you want.

After my experience ride home, I researched this stuff until I almost got divorced over it, but now my wife appreciates me AGAIN and how safe we are when we tow. I wanted nothing more than to make my 2001 grand caravan work, but the tranny in that year was junk. From what I have read lately, the trannys have been re-designed since my 2001, Mine blew out twice before 40K miles.  I now have a 2005 GMC EnvoyXL. Obviously, the towing experience for me is night and day. You can make a Caravan work, but continue educating yourself on the whole towing issues and the factors involved so you and your family are safe, not to mention the others on the road. Good luck and welcome to the sport of owning a pop-up. I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything. Families that camp together- stay together !!!

[mike4947]

Close but a few corrections.
Reese makes two smaller WD hitches a WD350mini which has a 350 pound tongue weight limit with integrated sway control and their WD400 single bar hitch with a 400 pound tongue weight limit, but needs a separate friction sway control.
The Equalizer with the smallest bars has a range of between 250 and 600 pounds of tongue weight and integrated sway control.
The friction sway control can be used without a WD hitch as for the WD check with your trailer manufacturer if a WD hitch can be used on your specific model/year of camper without lose of warranty.
As for the brake controllers, the Hayes is a manual pendulum designed first used in the 1950's and is really obsolete in comparison to the Tekonsha Primus/Prodigy/P3 line of controllers.

[Mike Up]

Starcraft, Jayco, and Fleetwood PUPs are recommended to be used with WDHs. Viking/Clipper and the Forest River Three (Palomino, Flagstaff, Rockwood) are not recommended for WDH.
 
If you're going to buy a WDH, throw away the idea of getting those single bar and 350 lbs hitches. They are a lot of money and not upgradeable. This hitch can be used with 200 lbs to 550 lbs tonque weights and is upgradeable through the spring bars to go up to 1000 lbs tongue weights. The tow capacity even on the 550 lbs spring bars is still 10,000 lbs as well as with the 1,000 lbs spring bars.
 
This hitch can also be used with dual cam HP, dual cam, or friction sway on any spring bar configuration. The Dual Cam is my preferred sway control as it doesn't require drilling into the tongue, it uses U bolts.
 
Have a good one.

[Mike Up]

Not so. On Starcraft's smaller, lighter line, they do have the "C" channel "A" frame (trailer tongue), like mine for eample, but their larger top of the line units have the boxed frame.
 
 
 
Fly

Starcraft offers a better frame than most PUPs because they have "2" frame rails. The outter is a standard C channel frame rail while the inner frame rail is a completely boxed tube frame rail. Other makers have just "1", either a boxed tube frame rail or a C channel frame rail.
 
Have a good one.