Sway Bar Groaning

[nicholto]

Hi, I am a newbee to popup and I'm midway through a three week trip.  I am towing a lightweight Palomino with a single friction sway bar.  On the open road and freeway, no problems. But, as soon as I'm in a town and traveling at low speeds, the sway bar groans loudly with even the most gentle or slight turn. The manual says nothing about groaning. I have greased both balls and it appears that it is coming from the friction bar.  The directions say to tighten the friction bar to 'bottom out' the treads with the adjustable leaver.  It also has a tighten nut on the bottom that is 'factory preset.'  Should I try to loosen this nut? The directions say nothing about it.  Thanks for any comments.


Todd Nicholson
1995 Palomino Stallion

[fritz_monroe]

That's normal.

You may have it a little tight, but it won't hurt anything.  With mine, it groaned for about 2 trips and it's been relatively quiet ever since.  Just make sure that you tighten it each time you put it on.  And take it off if you will be making fairly sharp turns while backing up.

Oh yeah, welcome to the forums.

[dthurk]

Can't be as bad as what we get from our Reese Dual Cam Weight Distributing/Anti Sway hitch.  That thing groans, pops, chatters, clanks, squeaks and squeals.  Unless we're going straight, of course.  

Noise from anti sway just tells you it's working.

[AustinBoston]

Groaning is good.  When it starts to verbalize it's complaints, then you need to get help.  :p

Austin

[SheBantam]

Mine has groaned from day one ( my Reese groans more than my other one I got from Camping world), but to me that is a good thing, I know it is tight and doing it's job. I have a tendency to overtighten because I do a lot of expressway driving, and tow 2 high profile trailers (NOT at the same time of course), so I get a lot more wind resistance than when I towed the popup.

[nicholto]

Thanks for the info, I feel better now.
TN

That's normal.

You may have it a little tight, but it won't hurt anything.  With mine, it groaned for about 2 trips and it's been relatively quiet ever since.  Just make sure that you tighten it each time you put it on.  And take it off if you will be making fairly sharp turns while backing up.

Oh yeah, welcome to the forums.

[tlhdoc]

My sway bar groans too.  Welcome to the club.

[CajunCamper]

There's a joke in there I'm sure with the groaning and the greased balls, I'm just going to leave it at that.

CajunCamper

[haroldPE]

I used to "bottom out" tightening, until i had sway tab bend ... twice.
I keep it tight enough to groan, and work, but no longer tighten the whole way.

[flyfisherman]

Well, I don't use a sway bar ... but I do have squeaky spings ... does that count for anything?