I've worked the same problem with several vehicles. For your situation I'd recommend
1) Weight distributing hitch
2) Air bags, you'll hate to stiff rear leafs when the van is not towing
3) Dual sway controllers, I've found 2 is 4x better than 1 that's been over-tightened
4) Stiff sidewall tires, has the same effect as sway controllers
Where are you located? I recently got my rear suspension upgraded (too much weight, of course!): Spring Works in Glenwood Springs did a great job adding some leafs to the Ujoint setup.
I have been across the scales fully loaded several times and according to specs I am well within all weight limits. I've even had the tongue weighed, unhooked from the van, while full loaded and that was fine too. I have E range tires on the van and camper checked and fully aired up before each trip.
I've got a really nice hitch and dont have any issues with sway. What I dont like is it sometimes feels like the camper is pushing me around too much, especially around curves and turning corners. On rough hilly roads I deal with some porpoising too.
I'm wondering if it's just the higher center of gravity these vans have that's causing my issues and I just need to deal with it?
Where are you located? I recently got my rear suspension upgraded (too much weight, of course!): Spring Works in Glenwood Springs did a great job adding some leafs to the Ujoint setup.
I'm in Michigan, although a trip out west does sound like a really good idea!
I've worked the same problem with several vehicles. For your situation I'd recommend
1) Weight distributing hitch
2) Air bags, you'll hate to stiff rear leafs when the van is not towing
3) Dual sway controllers, I've found 2 is 4x better than 1 that's been over-tightened
4) Stiff sidewall tires, has the same effect as sway controllers
When you say stiff sidewall tires, are you referring to the van or the camper? I wonder if I upgraded to a G rated tire on the camper if that would help anything.
That looks pretty interesting, I may have to look into one of those. I really dont do much serious offroading, mostly two tracks and fire roads, so I dont think a rear sway bar would hurt me much with that.