Trailering

[JayWltrs]

Yesterday saw a brand new F-150 Platinum taken out by the cheap flatbed trailer it was towing. Speeding in left lane coming down interstate overpass and the trailer started hopping on the overpass seams. Traffic slowing ahead & he brakes. Trailer sway increases, hits the Jersey wall, flips back around to other side, spins the truck into Jersey wall. Truck and trailer end up on their sides, still attached. Took about 5 seconds. Injury accident.

So guy destroys his $75k+ truck and gets an ambulance ride b/c speed & dumb. But even then he’d have been OK if he’d spent a few hundred extra on a breakaway kit, stabilizer and better trailer brakes.

Very Oklahoma story, but reminder for me to check my rig, driving and don’t be penny wise & pound foolish.

 

[JFENG]

You must have be a bit nervous watching this unfold in front of you.

There is no mandatory training for how to tow a trailer safely here in the USA. Anyone can add a 7000lbs trailer to their pickup, dramatically changing the entire dynamics, and then go out and drive as fast as they want. It’s the old Darwinian approach, right?

I wonder if the active trailer anti-sway function on BMW X5’s would have helped prevent the crash.

 

[JayWltrs]

You must have be a bit nervous watching this unfold in front of you.

There is no mandatory training for how to tow a trailer safely here in the USA. Anyone can add a 7000lbs trailer to their pickup, dramatically changing the entire dynamics, and then go out and drive as fast as they want. It’s the old Darwinian approach, right?

I wonder if the active trailer anti-sway function on BMW X5’s would have helped prevent the crash.

I was in the far lane and saw the trailer bouncing, so it was easy to stay out of fire. Once it started bouncing and the trailer speed exceeded the truck speed as he hit the brakes, he was done. Same principle as a case I had years ago with a front tire blowout on a Harley pulling a trailer--RIP. Something you know in theory, but seeing it in action is quite a thing. I'd assumed that level of F-150 has all the towing bells & whistles, but maybe the X5 anti-sway could have kept the trailer on the ground an instant more to give the brakes some more bite.

 

[Stevehose]

His last words before hitting the wall were "hold my beer"

 

[Sooner]

Oh how I remember the seams in the roads!!

 

[JayWltrs]

Oh how I remember the seams in the roads!!

Yep. This was I235 over NW 23rd. But I'm sympathetic to ODOT: limited funds, increased population, high trucking traffic w negligible regulation, and a decade of historical droughts & rain events with temps ranging from -5 to 110 wreak havoc on roads. And they've improved the interstates tremendously in the last 10 years.

 

[jmackro]

I assume the trailer was empty and that's what resulted in the hopping. Wow! I've heard of incidents when the trailer is overloaded relative to the mass of the tow vehicle, but never when the trailer was too light. But I can believe that this happened.

Yes, trailering can be hairy. And I agree that most people have no idea. I have heard countless "experts" say "my vehicle has plenty of power - what does it matter what it weighs?"

 

[autokunst]

This is a present reminder of an incident I "almost" had some 35ish years ago. Back then, I was what some parents referred to as a long-haired musician type. I was on the road with a band. We were "touring" the middle of the country: the Dakotas, Utah, Wyoming... We'd play one location from Monday or Tuesday through Saturday or Sunday night, then pack up that night and drive to the next destination overnight. One night I was driving the truck (a van with a 14' cargo box - think U-haul) towing a 24' trailer filled with heavy equipment. I was a little sleepy that night (it was maybe 4:30am) and I was in the middle of a sweeping ramp when I snapped fully away from my semi-doze and realized I/we were way overspeed. I quickly applied a lot of brake, but evidently not too much. The big trailer thought about jack knifing around us, but it had good electric brakes - and I was EXTREMELY lucky that night. The manager who was asleep in the passenger seat woke up and asked what was going on. Sweating, shaking, I said "oh, nothing - just got spooked by a deer" (that was a lie). He saw through that, yelled at me for risking the lives of him and two other long-haired musician types, and then went back to sleep. After that night I learned that if I nibbled on peanuts while driving it kept me awake. I gained about 15 pounds on the rest of that tour, but didn't fall asleep at the wheel again.

 

[JFENG]

... this is why there is a manual trailer brake button on the brake controller. If the trailer is loose you can hit that button to activate the trailer brakes, which often will straighten everything out. But you have to remember to calibrate the brake controller for the trailer load or you might cause the trailer to skid more. All things which could be learned in a 60 minute class on how to tow safety.

And how many of you check your tongue weight. Too low and the trailer can pickup the vehicle back wheels on a bump! Too high and the vehicle front tires will have so little weight that you lose most of your steering and vehicle braking capacity. I had a minor scare with the latter once, and immediately went out and bought a tongue weight scale. I used it to develop safe, repeatable load configurations for my various cars. Best $100 I ever spent wrt to the trailer.

 

[JayWltrs]

I assume the trailer was empty and that's what resulted in the hopping. Wow! I've heard of incidents when the trailer is overloaded relative to the mass of the tow vehicle, but never when the trailer was too light. But I can believe that this happened.

Yes, trailering can be hairy. And I agree that most people have no idea. I have heard countless "experts" say "my vehicle has plenty of power - what does it matter what it weighs?"

I was also surprised. On the way home tonight on the same road, I noticed that area also has a curve/bend I didn’t appreciate. I also didn’t remember there’s kind of a dip in the road after some of the seams. So, it makes more sense to me that it got away from him trying to brake from
85 mph than it would have if he had been straight aligned at 65-70 mph.

 

[bluecoupe30!]

This is a present reminder of an incident I "almost" had some 35ish years ago. Back then, I was what some parents referred to as a long-haired musician type. I was on the road with a band. We were "touring" the middle of the country: the Dakotas, Utah, Wyoming... We'd play one location from Monday or Tuesday through Saturday or Sunday night, then pack up that night and drive to the next destination overnight. One night I was driving the truck (a van with a 14' cargo box - think U-haul) towing a 24' trailer filled with heavy equipment. I was a little sleepy that night (it was maybe 4:30am) and I was in the middle of a sweeping ramp when I snapped fully away from my semi-doze and realized I/we were way overspeed. I quickly applied a lot of brake, but evidently not too much. The big trailer thought about jack knifing around us, but it had good electric brakes - and I was EXTREMELY lucky that night. The manager who was asleep in the passenger seat woke up and asked what was going on. Sweating, shaking, I said "oh, nothing - just got spooked by a deer" (that was a lie). He saw through that, yelled at me for risking the lives of him and two other long-haired musician types, and then went back to sleep. After that night I learned that if I nibbled on peanuts while driving it kept me awake. I gained about 15 pounds on the rest of that tour, but didn't fall asleep at the wheel again.

Makes me think, that night driving to Chicago or was it Detroit? You probably needed "Country and Western on the bus, R&B, Disco and 8 tracks, and cassettes in stereo...Rural scenes and magazines, truckers on the CB"
but perhaps you did not have the same transportation as Jackson Browne. The deer idea, that was good!

 

[sfdon]

as a city dwelling Californian I have to say that I have zero idea of what you folks are talking about... city folks are big dummies about trucks and trailers.

 

[Markos]

as a city dwelling Californian I have to say that I have zero idea of what you folks are talking about... city folks are big dummies about trucks and trailers.

Ha! I’m a city dweller and I trailer quite regularly. I have had plenty of learning opportunities. I’ve done multiple cross country trips with trailers and I rent a Uhaul utility trailer about once a month. I now tow with my outback wagon, which was my first experience pulling an overloaded trailer (short distance but still scary). I have since downsized to a 5x9 with target load sizes. When I take it places employees see my car and assume I will be a hot mess when backing up. It’s funny because I can thread an open utility trailer through a needle in reverse. Closed trailers with limited visibility - Hot Mess!

I used to have an old pop up that I would take on rugged BLM and USFS land. I built an off-road coupler for it that was smooth and quiet. Modeled after an australian company named Treg. It rotated in every possible direction. The whole trailer was about 700lbs.

 

[sfdon]

Excuse me??
Is that a Jeep??
oh my!

 

[autokunst]

Excuse me??
Is that a Jeep??
oh my!

Hey now, that seems harsh.
I personally find that Jeeps cross a number of lines and live harmoniously in many automotive circles. Here's a photo of my beloved SNO KAT before I sold it a couple of years ago.

What about boats - surely a trailering right of passage. And, plenty of opportunities to prove your back-up skills while critical on-lookers sit on the dock and scoff at the weekend warriors while they narrowly escape rolling their whole rig into the lake.

 

[JFENG]

Excuse me??
Is that a Jeep??
oh my!

Hey, watch it. A friend of mine races a 904, a real Cobra, a Cooper Bobtail, a 250GTO, among other fun cars, and you will find her in a Jeep on the street.

They are pretty good utilitarian vehicles.

 

[JayWltrs]

Ha! I’m a city dweller and I trailer quite regularly. I have had plenty of learning opportunities. I’ve done multiple cross country trips with trailers and I rent a Uhaul utility trailer about once a month. I now tow with my outback wagon, which was my first experience pulling an overloaded trailer (short distance but still scary). I have since downsized to a 5x9 with target load sizes. When I take it places employees see my car and assume I will be a hot mess when backing up. It’s funny because I can thread an open utility trailer through a needle in reverse. Closed trailers with limited visibility - Hot Mess!

I learned on horse trailers and boats. I still have to consciously think through backing a trailer into a tight spot. I think I'd buy the cheapo back-up camera and stick it on the back of a closed trailer if I had to pull one again.

 

[JFENG]

The newer f150’s have a feature for auto-trailer backup, right?

 

[JayWltrs]

The newer f150’s have a feature for auto-trailer backup, right?

Yes. My guess is you can get it on the F-150s in the Platinum, Limited or Eddie Bauer levels or pay a la carte. But even if I had unlimited $$$$, I’d still have trouble paying that kind of stupid money for a 1/2 ton p/u. Except the Raptor. I’d own a Raptor
with loud pipes, de-badge it, tint the windows, and not tell anyone. Sorry, you can take the boy out of the country, etc etc

 

[Gary Waggoner]

It's all about trailer set up. Having the knowledge that it is back there is only 1/4 of the whole trailering idea. Tongue weights, proper trailer balance and working brakes that are set up to react at the proper time will make even a novice look like a seasoned veteran.
The fact that the trailer reacted behind the F150 in that manner suggests not enough tongue weight. If it was an empty trailer, then it was a trailer that was not set up correctly. I have pulled everything from 10' single axle to 50' 30k lb boats coast to coast and never had and issue.