How to tow a travel trailer: hitching, sway and reversing

The hitch: the ball, the coupler, and the latch

Three parts do the holding, and each one has to match.

• The ball. A travel trailer takes a 2 inch or a 2-5/16 inch ball, depending on the model. It has to be the size the coupler was built for, because the wrong size will not lock down. A travel trailer also needs a frame-mounted hitch rather than an accessory receiver, and the hitch package should be rated to match or exceed the trailer's gross weight and its hitch weight.
• The coupler. This is the cup under the trailer's tongue that sits down over the ball. It seats properly only when the trailer is lowered straight onto the ball, not dragged across it.
• The latch. The latch locks the coupler onto the ball. It goes closed only after the coupler is completely seated, and it should take firm effort to close. If it drops shut with no resistance, the coupler is not on the ball.

Height matters too. Set the hitch so the trailer rides level once it is coupled. A hitch set too high can make the trailer fishtail, and one set too low can throw too much weight onto the tongue. The maker of your hitch gives the adjustment procedure for its own hardware, and it is worth following rather than guessing.

Hitching up, in ten steps

Work through these in order, every time, even when someone is watching and you feel rushed.

• 1. Chock the trailer wheels. The trailer must not move while you back under it.
• 2. Raise the tongue above the ball. Use the tongue jack crank, or the EXTEND or UP button on an electric jack, until the coupler sits higher than the ball.
• 3. Open the coupler latch. Open it fully so the ball can drop in.
• 4. Back the tow vehicle into position. Put the ball directly under the coupler. A helper or a rear camera makes this easier.
• 5. Lower the coupler onto the ball. Use the jack, or the RETRACT or DOWN button, until the coupler comes down over the ball.
• 6. Close the coupler latch once the coupler is completely seated.
• 7. Fit the weight-distribution bars. These are the spring bars, or equalizers, and they go on as the hitch maker directs. They put part of the tongue weight back onto the front axle of the tow vehicle and onto the trailer axle, so the combination sits level.
• 8. Retract the tongue jack all the way. Remove any dolly wheel or platform first, then wind the jack up to its highest point off the ground.
• 9. Attach the breakaway cable to a solid, permanent part of the tow vehicle, not to the hitch ball or any other removable piece.
• 10. Attach the safety chains. Cross the left chain under the coupler to the right mounting point, and the right chain to the left mounting point, so the chains form an X. Leave each chain the same amount of slack, just enough to let the combination turn at full lock without the chains dragging on the road.

Three more jobs finish the hookup. Plug in the trailer harness, then walk around the trailer with the lights on and check that the tail lights, brake lights, turn signals and markers all answer the tow vehicle. Remove the wheel chocks last.

Loading the trailer so it does not sway

How you load the trailer decides how it tows, often more than any piece of hardware.

• Aim for a tongue weight of 10 to 15 percent of the loaded trailer weight. That is the downward weight at the front of the trailer that the hitch carries. An improperly loaded trailer, with too little weight on the tongue, is a leading cause of sway.
• Keep heavy items low, and over or near the axles. Load heavy objects on the floor or as low as possible. Weight placed high raises the trailer's centre of gravity and makes it less stable.
• Balance the load side to side. Spread cargo so neither side of the trailer carries more than its share, and so no axle is overloaded on one side.
• Do not put heavy items at the back. Weight behind the axle lifts weight off the hitch, and a light tongue is what lets a trailer sway.
• Secure everything inside. Loose items shift on the first corner. Tie down appliances and furniture if they can move.

The ratings behind all of this, what you can tow, what the trailer may weigh, and how the tongue weight is measured, are worked through one at a time in the towing capacity guide and the pin weight and payload guide. Read those before your first trip rather than after your first scare.

Sway, and what to do when it starts

Sway is the trailer swinging side to side behind you. It is caused by crosswinds, by the air pushed ahead of a passing vehicle, by poor weight distribution, or by simply driving too fast for the conditions.

If it starts, stay calm and do the opposite of what your hands want to do.

• Ease off the accelerator gradually. Slowing down is what settles a sway.
• Keep the steering still. Do not steer hard to correct it, because each steering input can feed the swing rather than stop it.
• Do not brake hard. A hard stop on the tow vehicle can make a sway worse. If you need to slow further, apply the trailer brakes gently, and the trailer will pull straight.
• Stop somewhere safe once it has settled and work out the cause: the load, the speed, or the wind. Fix that before you carry on.

A weight-distribution hitch with a sway-control device does two jobs. The bars spread the tongue weight across the axles so the combination sits level, and the sway control damps the side to side movement. Both help, but neither one fixes a badly loaded trailer. A trailer with too little tongue weight will still misbehave no matter what is bolted to the hitch.

Brakes, and the controller in the cab

The trailer's brakes are electric, and they work alongside the tow vehicle's brakes rather than instead of them. Use them together. A trailer this size needs a controller mounted in the cab, and the controller has to be matched to the trailer's brake system.

• Set the gain. The gain is how hard the trailer brakes at a given application. Set it so the trailer pulls its own weight under braking without locking its wheels. The full setting procedure is in the trailer brake guide.
• Test it at walking pace. With the trailer connected and everything switched on, creep forward and squeeze the controller's manual override. You should feel the trailer pull back against the tow vehicle. If nothing happens, the trailer brakes are not working, and the tow vehicle is doing all of the braking.
• Attach the breakaway cable. The breakaway switch on the trailer's frame is a safety system. If the trailer ever separates from the tow vehicle, the cable pulls a pin and the switch applies the trailer brakes. The cable has to be attached to a permanent part of the tow vehicle, and the switch needs a charged battery on the trailer to work at all.

Which trailers must have brakes, how to test the breakaway battery safely, and the detail behind setting the gain are all in the trailer brake guide.

Tires and bearings before you pull out

• Check the tire pressure cold, against the pressure on the trailer's certification label rather than the number on the sidewall, and check the spare while you are down there.
• Look at each tire. Cracks, bulges and uneven wear all matter. A trailer tire can look perfectly fine and still be too old to trust, which is why they are replaced on age rather than on tread. That rule, and how to read a tire's age, is in the tire guide.
• Watch your speed. Special trailer tires carry a maximum speed of 65 mph, and pushing a loaded trailer harder than its tires are rated for is asking for trouble.
• Re-check the lug nuts. Wheel lug nuts settle and loosen, so they are re-torqued after the first few short distances and then checked periodically. A loose wheel can leave the trailer.
• Mind the bearings. Bearing wear shows up as wobble or uneven tire wear. Whether your axle bearings need grease or are sealed units that cannot be serviced, and how often they need attention, is set out in the trailer wheel bearing guide.

Driving with a trailer behind you

The first drive should not be the trip. Find an empty car park or a quiet road and practice there first: drive slowly, turn both ways, stop from low speed, and get the feel of how the trailer follows before you do any of it in traffic.

• Turn wider than you think. The trailer cuts inside the path of the tow vehicle, so the rear of the trailer will run over a curb on a normal turn. Go further into the intersection before you begin the turn, and take it wide enough to clear.
• Do not cut corners. A corner clipped by the tow vehicle is a corner taken by the trailer's wheels, and that is how wheels and curbs meet.
• Leave more room in front. The combination is heavier and takes longer to stop, so following distance has to grow.
• Expect to be pushed by other traffic. A large vehicle passing is a moving wall of air against the side of the trailer. Grip the wheel, hold your line, and slow a little if it helps. The same goes for crosswinds, where slowing down is the best defence there is.
• Keep the speed down. Speed makes sway worse, so the fastest safe speed is lower than you might expect.
• Take the hills gently. On long climbs the combination will be slow, so use turnouts to let traffic past. On long descents, use a lower gear and let the engine hold the speed rather than riding the brakes, because overheated brakes fade and stop working when you need them most.

Some states require a towing vehicle to stay in the right hand lane. California's handbook, for instance, sets that requirement in law, so check the rules for the states you drive through.

Reversing, where the steering is backwards

Because the trailer pivots at the hitch, reversing is counterintuitive. You steer one way and the back of the trailer swings the other way. That is normal, and there is a trick that makes it click.

• Put your hand at the bottom of the wheel. Hold the wheel at six o'clock. Now, whichever way you move your hand is the way the trailer goes. Move your hand left and the trailer backs to the left. Move it right and the trailer backs to the right.
• Go slowly and steer in small amounts. The trailer does not react at once, so a quick corrective flick usually makes things worse and can jackknife the combination. Small inputs, made early, work.
• Use a spotter. Agree hand signals before you start and keep the spotter in your mirror the whole time. If you cannot see the spotter, stop.
• Plan to pull forward. If the trailer gets out of line, pulling forward and straightening up is a normal part of backing, not a failure. Reset and try again rather than fighting it.
• Use your mirrors. A trailer this size blocks the view straight back, so set the mirrors before you leave and back in by them.

Arriving, and unhitching

Pick a site that is roughly level and back in slowly, checking for obstacles as you go. Before anything else, set the tow vehicle's parking brake and chock the trailer wheels. Nothing gets unhooked until the trailer cannot roll.

Then, in order:

• Unplug the trailer harness, unhook the safety chains, and detach the breakaway cable. Stow all three out of the way.
• Fit the dolly wheel or platform if the jack has one.
• Release the weight-distribution bars.
• Open the coupler latch.
• Raise the tongue jack until the coupler lifts clear of the ball.
• Pull the tow vehicle away.
• Level the trailer front to back with the tongue jack.
• Extend the slide-outs, then lower the stabiliser jacks. Stabilisers settle the trailer once it is level. They are not for lifting or levelling it.

Before you drive the tow vehicle away, look at what you are leaving: the wheels chocked, the tongue jack on a firm block, the weight bars off and stowed, the wiring and chains clear of the ground, and the trailer level. Then check the inside of the trailer before the next move, because anything left loose travels on the first corner.

The mistakes that damage things

Almost all of the expensive damage from a first trip comes from a small handful of things left in the wrong position.

• Driving with the tongue jack down. A jack that is still extended will catch on the first speed bump, driveway or dip. It is retracted to its highest point as part of the hitching procedure, and that step is not optional.
• Driving with the stabilisers down. Stabiliser jacks hold the trailer steady once it is parked, not while it travels. They are fully retracted before the trailer moves, or they bend and tear at the frame when they hit something.
• Forgetting the breakaway cable. If it is not attached, the trailer has no emergency braking at all if it separates. Attach it to a permanent part of the tow vehicle every time. Never use the breakaway switch as a parking brake, because it is not built for that and the constant current can damage the wiring.
• Forgetting the antenna. A television antenna left standing is the most common thing left up on a roof, and it is the last thing you see as you hear it snap on an overhanging branch or a low structure. It is one line on a pre-trip checklist for a reason. The full walkaround that catches it, and the other things that are easy to leave up or down, is in the pre-trip walkaround checklist.

Sources

• Jayco Towable Owner's Manual, 2027, for the travel trailer hitch and its ball sizes, the ten-step hitching procedure, the safety chain crossing rule, the 10 to 15 percent tongue weight range, LOADING YOUR RV, the sway causes and the response to sway, the weight-distributing and sway-control systems, the electric brake and breakaway switch notes, the tire pressure and 65 mph speed rating, the wheel lug re-check, and the travel trailer unhitching sequence and stabiliser warning.
• Lippert, 4 Secrets to Backing up a Trailer with Confidence, for reversing: the pivot at the hitch, the six o'clock hand position, slow and small steering inputs, avoiding a jackknife, using a spotter or a camera, and pulling forward to straighten.
• California DMV, Recreational Vehicles and Trailers Handbook, for driving: turning patterns and the wider turn, staying off the curb, increased following distance, crosswinds and applying the trailer brakes to control sway, brake fade and using lower gears, using turnouts, the right hand lane rule for towing vehicles, and practising in an empty space.
• Towing capacity guide, for the four weight ratings that decide what the tow vehicle can pull.
• Pin weight and payload guide, for how tongue and pin weight are measured against payload, and how a weight-distribution hitch changes the numbers without changing the weight.
• Trailer brakes guide, for which trailers need brakes, the brake controller gain procedure, the walking-pace test, and the breakaway battery and its safe test.
• Tire guide, for reading a tire's age, the replacement rule for trailer tires, and the load safety margin.
• Trailer wheel bearing guide, for which bearings need grease and which are sealed, and the service interval.
• Pre-trip walkaround checklist, for the full loop that catches the antenna and the other items left up or down.