What did you do in your shop today?

[94touring]

Finished 3600 miles of testing out the tow bar. Worked great!  Things to improve upon it.  Needed my hitch stabilizer clamp for the back of the truck. I think some of the swaying would have been reduced with that. Not a single damn one to be found driving back for 3 days. I have 2 at the shop.  Grooved pavement made it sway as it turns out, where it tried to track the grooves. My front upper right torsion arm that I have a replacement for in fact needs replacement. I knew something was wrong with it, bent or something, which has too much camber for the suspension specs.  As a result that tire wore badly on the inside. 

[MiniDave]

Torsion bar on the Bus or the truck?

Glad to hear it went well - for once! Where did you leave the truck while you were at BM?

12mpg towing sounds about right, the best my Tundra of that year ever did was 17. Curiously, the next one I got which was considerably bigger, heavier and had a bigger V-8 with way more HP, got the same mileage - 17 - whether I was just cruising or towing a trailer.

[94touring]

I needed this on the truck hitch connection sideways to keep the hitch receiver left and right movement to 0. Any slop in the system multiplies swaying once it starts. What is maybe 1/8" of play at the hitch becomes a lot extended 16 feet out. 

Left the truck at the hotel in Fallon for a week after talking with them. 

[MPlayle]

I have one of those hitch stabilizers on my Subaru.  Even in the upright position, it totally locks the hitch in place.

[MiniDave]

The hitch receiver is moving? On the truck? Or the draw bar is moving in the receiver?

Mine has that bit of play between the receiver and draw bar, but I've never had any swaying to deal with.....I imagine that would be a bit disconcerting, especially towing something as heavy as a fully loaded Bus.

Bruce's tow bar that he used with his Mini and his MINI did this when towing his classic, over a certain speed it would start walking back and forth, slowing down just a bit would cure it. I think his issue was with his tow bar itself tho.

[94touring]

The bar with Ball that slides into the receiver. That thing. It never sways more than a certain amount when it does it, but eliminating it or at least reducing it would be nice. Strong crosswind or going up a hill it's more stable. I am guessing because that bar is forced into a fixed position and not allowed to shift left and right.  I wouldn't be surprised if fixing the torsion arm helps with tracking too. For the majority of the drive it wasn't swaying, but it's annoying when it starts acting up. Grooved pavement made sure of it. I noticed an camper trailer doing the same thing on a section of grooved road. 

[MPlayle]

The stabilizer eliminates all the play between hitch and draw bar (forward/backward, right/left, and up/down).  As Dan says: any small play at the itch end get magnified at the back of the trailer.

On my Subaru, going over irregular pavement and bumps or changes in speed would make the draw bar rattle in the hitch due to jolts from the trailer.  The stabilizer eliminated that as well.

[94touring]

I need to install one on the rear cargo hauler with bikes too. It would help angle is more level instead of slightly drooped.    Overall happy with the setup. I can carry the same amount on the cargo haulers as I do on my little trailer.  I could add bigger bins to the front if I get motivated and install headlights on the cargo hauler. They get blocked otherwise with wide bins.