Secret, move both axles back. Keep the same spacing. You may have to modify your brake lines.

Definitely move the axles back. Again, 10% of combined boat and trailer weight should be on the tongue. As I said earlier, tire pressure is critical as well. I would not spend tons of money on tires, shocks, springs and or air bags if you do not plan on keeping the vehicle for along time. By moving the axles back you effectively accomplishing two things. You are first lengthening the wheel base and second you are adding tongue weight. Both are very important. Look at over the road tractor trailers. Their axles are as far back as they can possibly go. Not what you want to do, but just good for illustrative purposes. Anyway, I hope we have all been of some help and get you on the straight and narrow soon.

Ya Shane thanks man I’m starting to get the idea im going to mess around with it some more tonight this has been an awesome help. I’m sure I’ll post again with some more Q’s as soon as I get home & look it over again & I'll be sure to post the result's so if anyone ever uses the search feature :eek: they can get some answers.

& BTW yes the van is going to stay I’m on kind of a tight budget compared to some of you guys :) I’m going for more of a Vintage Theme LOL :)

Shane, 10% is a rule of thumb estimate. Some boat trailers, especially longer ones, will work with less down to maybe 5%. Mine is about 4% and should be higher but it works pretty good up to 75 MPH and the axles are welded in place so I won't be changing it soon.

BTW it was good to see you last weekend. Thanks for the hospitality. We were supposed to meet up with Ronie's cousin on Saturday night so we missed visiting to watch the race. We did watch for about the first 5 cautions though. Stopped by about 11 AM and no sign of life and no Skater so we headed up the lake. We expect to be back on the weekend of July 28-29 are you going to be around?

Sidewazs: In my experience, accelering when the trailer is fishtailing only has you fishtailing at a faster speed. It is something I'll never try again. Pumping the brakes on the truck did work.

Secret: TOUNGE WEIGHT!!!!! Too much is way better than too little. Next, stong tires properly inflated. Then good truck shocks for the rear. (they will do more for your overall ride than a sway bar). If the van still sways too much (like in sudden lane changes without the trailer) then a sway bar may be the fix.

Thanks Chart ya if i ever had to swerve or try to avoid something I'd roll it for sure as it is now. I'm going to look at some of thoughs Goodyears kaamacat mentioned + shocks & Springs etc...

Thanks guys keep em coming I'm feeling better already maybe this thing will be safe after all:)

I'd first check out the shocks and replace them with a heavy duty firm type. Then look at the tires. I would see if that made a difference. Maybe the next step would be a weight distributing hitch. I think I would wait on the anti sway bar unless the above don't do the trick for you.

I do this stuff every day for a living ....
There are a lot of good points here already . People confuse sway bars with weight distributing bars . THey are NOT the same . Sway bars don't realy work well at all . Weight distributing bars work great ! BUT , first you have to have enough tongue weight to make a squat a little , so the WD bars will lift it back up to level and carry some weight . I would say the best money spent is heavy duty tires (D range or better ) and WD bars . Yes you need 2 bars for Wt. dis. Shocks would be a big bonus too !

You need about 400-500 lbs tongue weight like stated earlier . By moving the axels back . Try going back about 8-10" and weigh it level . Wt. dis. bars come in different weight ratings from 500 lbs to 1200 lbs .best bet is buy the bigger ones for about the same money because you may go bigger boat some day . I would use at least the 1000 lbs bars . The smaller ones flex too much and make it feel mushy ! You DON'T want that ! Whne you hook the trailer up with the right tongue weight , it will squat the van . THen you put the bars on and it will pull it back up level or close to level . Trust me I do this every day with trailers too big and vehicles too small ! Trust me it will work great !! If you have any quesions call me or email me . I'll help you through it ! 908-782-0688 or

[email protected] Good luck ,JOE

If you have a surge brake you cannot use a weight dist. hitch. It will not allow the coupler to move in and out. The air bags will take care of the sag.

They do make weight distributing hitch systems that work with surge brakes. They are not cheap.