If people would try them they would never want to be without them. Sure saves a lot of "white knuckle" driving

 

Dang, had to check everything real quick. Was afraid Herb's avitar broke my computer.

 

Shoot !!!!!!!! your computer is proably working better now thn it has since Bush got elected.

 

The best is when you talk to someone about equalizer/sway hitches, and they just look at you and tell you they dont need that, my truck can pull #5000. Then you ask them, well how much does your camper weigh dry, and they say #5000.
People will never learn until they wreck the car and trailer.
I used to have a 1988 wilderness travel trailer about #7000 dry. When I was selling it some guy and his wife came to look at it, and I asked them what kind of vehicle they were going to pull it with. He looks at me and points to the suv they pulled up in. It was a Trailblazer with the 6 cyl. in it. I told him that suv will never pull it safely, he then had to give me a lesson on truck pulling weights, and how standing weight and rolling weight are two different things.
I told him to leave because I would feel guilty if he were to wreck it and kill someone. He got mad at me and started to scream at me.
Like I tell my wife all the time, Some people need to be slapped every once and a while.

 

Yer probl'y right...

 

Last night coming up 85 after dinner we saw this 1 ton duramax pulling a tagalong that was about 35 ft long pulling another trailer with a motor cycle on it but the problem is that the hitch on the back of the TT was not reinforced in the middle and I swear that hitch was bouncing at least 6". We went around him as fast as we could go.

 

Had a similar incident just yesterday. I'm at a stop light watching this rig approach from the left of me and his light turned yellow, then red. (His rig, BTW was a Nissan Titan pulling what looked like about a 30' enclosed utility trailer that looked way too big and heavy for his truck). The light turns green for me, but I stay put because I'm watching this guy trying to slow his rig down and I'm thinking he's probably going to overshoot the intersection. You can tell he's on the brakes hard and his little truck just doesn't have the power to slow that big trailer. Sure enough, he overshoots halfway into the intersection, and if I would have proceeded on my green light he would have t-boned me. After he comes to a complete stop in the middle of the intersection, then I go around him, only to see that he's on his cell phone and he has a big grin on his face like he thought his little dumbass inattentive maneuver was funny or something. No gesture of apology.

 

last sunday going through eastern washington we come up on a durango, with a motorcycle in one of those hitch haul carriers(crossways) which was towing a 21-22' ski boat, with another cycle in the boat. that durango must've been at a 30* angle. i have no idea how he was steering. we made sure to go way wide when we passed him. he was running 50.
what a dummy.

 

It's easy to criticize what we see on the road when we don't know the whole story. No doubt the individual in question needed a larger tow vehicle but at least he had slowed down to a safer speed.

I'll confess to running an overloaded and unbalanced trailer but I was 6 hours from home to pick up a vehicle and it was larger that I anticipated. I drove 8 hours at 45mph to make it home safely and yes, it did wiggle from time to time. I'm sure that many of those who passed me thought I was a dummy too but I did what I had to do and did it as a safe speed. If I did it on a consistent basis, that would be a different story.

Just remember that there may be facts that we don't know.

 

I was towing a 33ft boat that was 11ft 11in wide. I am driving down I95 around West Palm Beach in a construction zone I am in the middle lane as reqierd. Headed to the Miami boat show some YAHOO drives by me with a box truck and rides his box down the side of my boat. I make some nice jessters to him he never even looks at me. I am positive he never even noticed he was riding down the side of the boat as he was using his cell phone. I got the companys name and phone # gave them a heads up to were the white stripe on his black truck came from. Good news is boat was fine he rode down the ss rub rail. And I did have all my permmits, banners, flashing lights.

 

Glad to see there are stupid people all over the place.

I was towing my camper back from Myrtle Beach a few weeks ago, and came up on a Honda Civic towing a 10 or 12 foot U-Haul trailer. I could see the guy about a mile ahead of me, trailer swaying from middle of the left lane to darn near off the shoulder. Then it would straighten out, and a mile or so later, start swaying. I slowed it down to about 60, hoping the guy would get a clue, slow it down, and straighten out. But, after slowly catching up to him, I figured out that he was trying to figure out exactly how fast he could push it without the trailer putting him in the ditch (seemed to be about 68 mph, judging by my speedo).

Anyways, he either had a hot date, just didn't care, or did not want to follow a truck towing a trailer, because when he saw me get in the left lane to pass him (he was running about 65 and had the trailer somewhat under control, so I figured that was my chance), he floors it, and gets it up to about 75. I backed off, because I did not want his stupidity being on my conscience. But, after running 60 for awhile, I finally figured I would get past him, let his machismo settle back down, and he would be alright.

So, I finally get past him, and not 5 miles down the road, here he comes again, trying to blow past me (I'm running about 71 or 72). I hit the shoulder as fast as I could, let him get past me, and then just paced him for awhile (about 1/4 mile back). After another few miles of running 60, I decided that it was time to get past him again. Got past him, ran my 71 or 72 again, and about 2 miles later, here he comes again, probably doing 80 this time. So, I slowed up, got on the shoulder, and let him go, and then paced him. About 2 miles later, he must have had enough of the sway, and backed it down to 65.

After about 15 miles of that, I decided that was the perfect time to get fuel, because I was tired of dealing with the increased possibility of him hitting the go pedal again, finally wrecking, and probably having to take evasive action with 9500 lbs of trailer behind me.

Lo and behold, the problem was solved about 40 miles up I-95...there was the remnants of a U-Haul trailer, some busted-up particle board furniture, a Civic on its roof, and about 15 emergency vehicles.

Interesting part, though, was that it did not cause a backup on the northbound side...this guy managed to put it across the southbound lanes, and wrecked over there. Fortunately, he must have managed to missed everyone else on the road, since I did not see any other vehicles. AND, the guy was up and walking around, so I did not feel too giulty about calling him a "moron". (I think the actual term I used would not be permitted on this form! )

I guess it was Darwin in action.

My thought, though, was what moron at U-Haul would let a 10 or 12 foot trailer go home with a guy that picked it up with a Civic? I could understand a 6 footer, but not a 10 or 12 footer!

And, beyond that, NO furniture I have would be worth risking my life, let alone the stuff that he seemed to be carrying...seemed like Wally World specials, and judging by the amount of rubble, maybe $200 worth!

Again, as 12 valve said, though, we might not know the whole story.

 

I was waiting for this one handed or two to hold the phone

 

I've had many interesting events over the years of towing, but to see people fumbulling with a phone while towing makes me Nuts. What really gets me going though is the commercials on TV showing the Import and small SUV's and Trucks pulling big Ol loads (Boats & Travel Trailers).

 

12v, he was doing 50, because that was all it would do. on the downhills, he would get his momentum up, and pass me. that's the dummy part. maybe i should have elaborated.

 

I've never had much problem with a tag, even 10000 lbs on a tag as long as the load is properly placed on the trailer, secured well so that it doesn't move around, and all brakes in good condition. I think most problems with people and tag trailers swaying is having the trailer loaded improperly. Many people think it is better to have all the weight sitting right over the axles or behind the axles to make the vehicle sit level and fail to realize that tongue weight is vitally important to having a trailer ride stable.

That being said, I would still much rather pull a large trailer on a 5th wheel or gooseneck setup.