Anti-sway hitch for casita 17’?

[stemplar]

At that weight you can get away without a load-distribution hitch, but I'd highly recommend one for the anti-sway benefit.

FWIW I'm a big fan of the Weigh Safe hitches (wdh nor "regular"). They have scales on the hitch, and the wdh uses a companion app to tell you how to set it up properly, and the right setup makes a huge difference.

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[Greatlakespilot]

I bought the scale hitch from weigh safe. Haven’t used yet but will be easy to dial in the loading of the trailer with it

 

[OxygenMask]

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[Greatlakespilot]

Picked up the casita. Did one weekend trip around 600 miles round trip. With the fresh water tank full, there is a little bit of sway. Brake controller takes care of that really quick. Drove back with the tank empty and it’s almost non existent.

 

[superj]

That's what I think I would like, a casita, burro, or scamp about 17 foot long.

The fiberglass body is a huge benefit long term verses the other types. I had the other types, a few times, but never a fiberglass body travel trailer.

 

[bigb]

I thought the advanced towing package had trailer sway control?

 

[John E Davies]

Your chains are about twice as long as they should be, shorten them so they never bind in a turn, you can also add a short bungee cord draped across the tongue to hold them way off the ground. Also, they should attach to the tongue further to the rear, so that when crossed in an X shape,, they will actually catch and hold the coupler clear of the road surface.

Your setup is how wildfires start.

Video dragging chains cause multiple roadside fires

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[superj]

And those crossed chains will save your butt if the hitch comes off. Towing a flat trailer that my buddy "locked the hitch on", we went over one of those odd wide low speed bumps and felt the truck jerk weirdly. So we keep going and i comment that it feels weird so I pull over because the trailer is towing really weird. We get out to look and the hitch is sitting on the chains instead of hitched. The hitch isn't even closed.

Crossed chains Save your trailer from digging in like an anchor being dragged behind a ship

 

[Greatlakespilot]

I already shortened the chains. This was the first trip

 

[HotPepperLariat]

That full fresh water tank clear on the back of a Casita takes 140 lbs off your tongue weight. If you have the optional tank then you're talking 220 lbs off. That can really make a difference in how it tows. I usually only carry a few gallons in ours for the occasional pit stop. I do not use a WD hitch and have towed it from Virginia to Alaska to the Rio Grand with no problems.

Picked up the casita. Did one weekend trip around 600 miles round trip. With the fresh water tank full, there is a little bit of sway. Brake controller takes care of that really quick. Drove back with the tank empty and it’s almost non existent.

 

[Greatlakespilot]

I have a weigh safe hitch with a gauge that tells me exactly what my tongue weight is. I have confirmed it at the cat scale. With full fresh water im at 400 lbs roughly hitch weight. At 5 gallons fresh water im at 360. Then sway is only recognizable in downhill turns. It’s minor and easily corrected with a pinch of brake controller. Not my first rodeo, I’m an airline pilot who understands physics.

 

[Greatlakespilot]

And I know how fires start. I flew fire watch and trained fire fighting pilots for years. Not everyone here is a newbie. You don’t have to be the smartest guy in the room all the time.

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