Know before you tow

I’m good with my ‘hands’

 

Why did you guys have to go make this thread sticky?

 

Why not?

 

Thanks for the video. I’ve towed small trailers but got a good tip about braking from this vid.

 

T-rex, I wasn’t refering to you making the thread A sticky. I support that idea completely.

 

So randomly I was reading through this thread yesterday. I then get a text from my SIL that says brothers in the hospital. They were at the dunes so I ask how bad. She says they think broken clavicle. Long story short we setup a plan to come get them Sunday morning. Three hours later I get a call he needs to get home they can’t make it through the night down there. We take off immediately for a 3.5 hr trip to the beach.
By the time we get there the toy hauler is loaded and we hook up the truck. I do a quick walk around to make sure everything is closed, secured and ready to go. Talk to my brother about tool location and he mentioned he brought 2 spare trailer tires. We set the trailer brake control and get him and his wife in my wife’s Camry(agreed that was a more comfortable ride then his F350 with the 38ft trailer bouncing around) and we take his truck. About 15 minutes after we get out of the coastal mountains and back on I5 I’m scannin my mirrors and catch a puff of smoke from the trailer. By the time I hit the hazards and tell my wife to call them the tire blows. I was already merging off the highway. I get the tire changed decently fast for doing it on the side of the highway. And we were off again. Few hours later we got them home, trailer parked and then we headed home.

Morals of the story:
1. Always do a walk around of the truck and trailer.
2. Know where tools and emergency equipment is and how to use it.
3. Scan your mirrors way more frequently when towing.
4. For the love of God if a vehicle is on the shoulder MOVE THE F OVER! It’s not fun sitting inches from the white line trying to work and watch for idiots that you know you probably don’t have time to move from because they are to dumb to know better.

 

What exactly happened in that original video? Wrong tow vehicle? Going too fast? Didn't let up on the throttle when the trailer started to whip? What are all the problems you see that contributed to that massive failure?

 

Possibly weight placement inside the trailer (too much weight behind the axels).

 

Tongue weight issue. Also braking when the trailer is doing that can make it worse.

One trick is to manually activate the trailer brakes. Supposed to help pull it back in line with the tow vehicle.

 

Could be a combo, these things can still happen using a truck...

1. Travel trailer not weight balanced, perhaps placement of storage behind the trailer axle and too light in the front of the trailer inside.
2. Dry wt of trailer exceeding max towing capacity, so packed wt is definitely way over, breaking the GCWR rule.
3. Exceeding max tongue wt, likely no WDH, no sway control, no rear suspension help like airbags and more leafs to prevent sag. Not only is the SUV nose high, it's probably bobbing up and down over bumps reducing steering control. In effect, neither TV or TT are level.
4. Poorly setup or no brake controller, trailer's brakes are non-existent.
5. Going too fast, high crosswinds. Try whipping by a transport without towing anything, you'll feel the sway from the air vacuum.

A friend of mine sells RV's, he knows 2 people who toppled this year already, it's not uncommon.

 

Know your payload as well, just saw this on FB, guy was talking about pulling his trailer as well. Now this is an accident waiting to happen, over payload, weight is WAY too high.

 

Also know your tongue weight. I needed a new drop hitch for my Tundra, so I got this one. American made high quality, not cheap. This is extremely accurate way of finding out your tongue weight. A certified scale built into hitch, no more guessing. If your towing a trailer with a car, tractor, etc, it's amazing how many pounds you can take off or put on just by moving the vehicle a couple inches on the trailer.

 

They refer to it as half ton in comments section.

 

I think this is a great video for those who are not familiar with towing.

 

Great thread. I was lucky enough to work in a vineyard starting at age 14 and had the chance to tow all manner of things along with learn a lot of other skills. I could hook up, back up, and tow a trailer before I even had a license. But as others have said there will always be idiots. Like this guy who thought it was smart to weld a “hitch” to the crash bumper of his Minivan.

 

Just purchased a new 33’ Jayco travel trailer yesterday. The dealer (in MI) said that he was required to run my DL to see if it was clear and valid. If there was any funny business on it then the sale was a no-go. So it sounds they are trying to limit the stupidity somewhat.

For the record, the trailer is 6200 dry with a max gross of 7500. With a WDH it’s well within the limits of my CrewMax. I also plan on making a few trips to the Cat scales to get it loaded right.

 

The Libertarian in me hates the government oversight, the guy who drives on the road and has been in 2 not-my-fault accidents in three months in me wants a special license for people who tow trailers . . .

 

Some towing humor.

 

I feel the same and MI is such a nanny state. You can’t legislate common sense.

 

Are there any decent tow calculators to use to help when getting everything prepped? I have towed a uhaul trailer across the country and across the northeast, but I had my dad help me get everything setup. I am not even sure the weight was distributed properly.

I will be doing some towing soon and want to make sure everything calculated and is distributed properly. I was following the one video posted earlier. Is what is presented in that video all that is needed to calculate for towing?

Is the weight and max load of trailers marked somewhere on the trailers? I will be towing my buddies tractor soon with his trailer, but not sure if the trailer has a data plate with the needed info for the calculations. The tractor should be easy to look up.

I am also thinking about getting the weight safe hitch. I know it is a a lot of money, but it would help with towing unknown loads and getting the proper tongue weight. I just want to tow safely.

 

Uhaul produced some videos on the hazards of improper weight distribution in trailers. This one demonstrates it quite well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWd8ml9mFMo

 

What's an easy way to check tongue weight once your trailer is loaded?

 

That should work well at freeway speeds. That little wheel is good for 20ft