Big Bart

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You all have seen it, mabye even did it. That vehicle tangle up with their jackknifed trailer blocking some of the HWY.

Thought you all might enjoy a couple of trailer crash video' I found on Youtube. (Links below.) Folks towing too much trailer with too little vehicle and some just over loading their trailers.

Give us your thoughts, your favorite pic/video links, tell us how you stage/equip, and your anti sway tactics! Also include any relevent pic's you have of accidents or damage!

If you have not traveled oversea's you probably have not seen many car's towing travel trailers. But oversea's it tends to be common. (Big pickups are not common in many countries.)

I own a F-150 so don't get me wrong if you tow with one. But long gone are the days of the F-150 using the same big heavy frame, cab, components as the F-250/350. (Now they advertise 900lbs lighter and aluminum!) They are smaller, lighter, and have more in common with a Ford Expedition than a Ford F-250/350. You will see some enlightening accidents with F-150's, so be extra careful if you tow big or heavy with one be careful.

Just a reminder, if you get into a sway and have electric brakes, use your brake controller arm or push button to apply the trailer brakes only. It will straighten you out and slow both the trailer and tow vehicle down without making things worse. However tap your tow vehicle brakes, or try to ride it out and gain speed, you are likely going to make things worse.

Know as you tow down the road in your big, heavy, and powerful F-250/350 IDI know you are doing your part to keep your truck and trailer on the road and not put others in danger!

Take a look -

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u2slow

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But, but, but... the tow rating on my F150 is amazing!


I always thought a 3/4-ton Suburban or Excursion were great tow vehicles. I guess the memo got lost because they make neither anymore. cookoo
 

subway

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I had a VW Jetta years ago and thought it was a great tow vehicle. I actually put a hitch on it and would tow a trailer on vacations and such.

Here is the difference, the tow rating of the car was about 500lbs IIRC. The trailer was a light utility trailer with my cooler, folding seats, and light bulky items that did not fit well in the car. It worked great before I could get a truck. I think it is handy having a car with a tow hitch. The key is to know the limits, 500lbs is almost nothing and very easy to overload!

I have also towed lightly with my F150, you are right, it is not bad, but it does not hold a candle to my F350 for towing power and stability!
 

Big Bart

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But, but, but... the tow rating on my F150 is amazing!


I always thought a 3/4-ton Suburban or Excursion were great tow vehicles. I guess the memo got lost because they make neither anymore. cookoo

Lot's of sad Chevy lovers missing the 2500 Suburban line! But now at what I hear is $65,000-75,000k before taxes and licensing for a 1/2 ton Sub/Tahoe, not sure they would be selling a lot of 2500's for +$75,000. Personally I would buy a Chevy or GMC 2500 pickup with a Duramax for that kind of money.

I still cannot believe Ford cancelled the Excursion, especially diesel ones. They would still be selling lots of those to families and adventures who want to tow. Awesome tow vehicles! Even worse cancelling the Crown Victoria, imagine they probably were selling 100 a day to just Fed, State, and local governments. Another 50 to folks who wanted a smooth ride.
 
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Farmer Rock

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Lot's of sad Chevy lovers missing the 2,500 Suburban line! But now at what I hear $65,000-75,000k before taxes and licensing for a 1/2 ton, not sure they would be selling a lot of 2,500 for +75,000 Personally I would buy a Chevy or GMC 2500 pickup with a Duramax for that crazy money.

I still cannot believe Ford cancelled the Excursion, especially diesel ones. They would still be selling lots of them to families and adventures who want to tow. Awesome tow vehicles! Even worse cancelling the Crown Victoria, imagine they probably were selling 100 a day to just Fed, State, and local governments. Another 50 to folks who wanted a smooth ride.
Now those crown vics make good tow rigs,lol. 4.6 v8 and built like tank:Thumbs Up

Rock
 

Oledirtypearl86

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But, but, but... the tow rating on my F150 is amazing!


I always thought a 3/4-ton Suburban or Excursion were great tow vehicles. I guess the memo got lost because they make neither anymore. cookoo

My excursion is a great tow rig and I have a heavy half chevy 2500 that I have used as a freigjt train I think a little common sense goes a long ways when towing I camt count the number of times IV been way over loaded amd headed 300 miles from home to unload
 

Clb

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It's one of the times I wish I was an L.E.O.!
Tickets for EVERYTHING I could pull outta vehicle code!
****** hazardous B.S.!

Reading thru ,got some thoughts....
The magnificent over ratings on Towing today are like the horsepower ratings for insurance in the 60- 70's (pure b.s.)
Towing 500 # aint towing grin (remember the first jeep was a 1\4 ton)
I would love to see a stopping power comparison, (fukk hp/tq ratings!)
 
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Big Bart

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Yes, something more than your 4800lb truck can tow 5500-11,000 lbs based on truck options and only in ideal conditions.

Have them do real life testing (Better have a 3rd party under input from the fed.) with say 30 standardized trailers (Once the vehicle hits a unsafe size, testing on the rest of the trailers stops.) by size, weight, and braking capacity.

Stop tests. (Dry and wet.) Pulling up a grade speed test. Stability tests. Steering tests. Then in the owners manual pictures of what is acceptable and what is not. Big red circle through 5th wheels, goosenecks, and large travel/box trailers in the F-150/1500 owner’s manuals.


We have a lot of folks in CA pulling big oversized (Tall, long, and wide) toy haulers (Half RV/Half covered car trailer.) with lots of weight inside to the desert and back every weekend. (Generally, with 250’s/2500’s, rarely with a dually but they should.(Sadly sometimes with less.) I see these people doing 70-75mph. (Speed limit if towing a trailer is 55mph in CA.) Front end is lifted 3-6 inches, rear sagging 3-6 inches (Clearly too much tongue weight for the set up.) and tossing the safety of all others on the road out the window. It would be good to see more education on towing and more ticketing enforcement of those doing so unsafely. (Overloaded, speeding, lack of proper tie downs, unsafe lane changes, traveling in the wrong lanes, etc.) Not govern them like a commercial Big Rig (I think we are taking that a little too far now.) becuase these are not businesses. Rather enforce the laws that are in place.
 

Old Goat

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The last video is a mostly a repeat of the first vid.
The last wreck in the 3rd vid, looks like the towed vehicle could hook up to the trailer and move on, as least they were up right...LOL

Yeah this is the most dangerous time of the year as America is going camping, and all the terrorists hit the roads...errr I mean tourists.
They over load the trailers, too much tongue weight or too much on the rear of the trailer and doesn`t take too much to up set the apple cart.

The average Joe buys a trailer but has no experience towing one, let along trying to back up one. There is no DMV testing requirements, like if you have a CDL license.

Seems like all the wrecks were bumper pull trailers.
And some of them looked like full size PU`s and or suburban type vehicles as the tow vehicle.

Back around 69 I bought my first horse, so then I needed a trailer. bought a 2 horse bumper pull. ($1700 new, unbelievable what they cost today)

Had a 64 International step side 1/2 ton PU. Hauled horses every where in it and never a problem until one time I was hauling a horse from Santa Cruz to Sonora, Ca. Had it on the left side, and suddenly the horse started banging around in the trailer, and the trailer moved a bit and I went from the left lane to the right lane pretty quick. Luckly no traffic at that time and i was going up hill.
Pull over and go back and open door, and he looks at me like "hey Dad what`s up?". he knocked the center divider down and was stradling it. Put the divider back up and put him on the other side and he rode the rest of the way w/o a problem.
So it can happen pretty quick even when you have everything set up right.

Another problem is the electric trailer brake controller. They are usually mounted down low under the dash, and trying to reach down to slide the little knob over to apply the brakes in a hurry is difficult. At least on my 86 F250 that is where it is mounted.

Back when I had the 64 IHC I had a kelsey Hayes brake control box that was under the steering wheel. It had a brake line going into it that pushed over the lever, or you could manually pull the lever by hand.
Easy to get to, kind of like the turn sig lever.
Don`t see that style any more, maybe illegal?

In Ca. the trailer and big truck speed limit is 55 mph, here in Nv. same as the posted speed limit.
I usually pull around 50 - 55 max and let the big guys in their jacked up PU`s blow by me.


Edit: Bradd you laid it out pretty well.

Goat
 

Oledirtypearl86

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Act stupid in mt and they will nail ya hard bit it isnt uncommon to see a 250 with a goose neck hauling 12. Bales weighing 1200 to 1500 lbs double stacked and not tied down but like I said if your being stupid they will stop you and write you a hefty ticket
 

Big Bart

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I don't think most people even remeber that is what the lever/push button on the brake controller is for.

So often I see them mounted barely sticking out from under the dash and to your point not immediately in arms reach.

As much as it is not sightly and tidy, I put mine on the bottom half of the dash in arms reach. So when needed its there.

Fortunately newer trucks now have them built into the dashboard and very much within reach.
 

spg

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Reese Dual Cam Sway Controller for ANY weight distributing hitch is the way to go. If you get into a trailer sway condition. Apply Trailer brakes if available but also remember to Never touch car brakes and in most cases accelerating will pull you out of the sway. The trailer HAS to follow the vehicle if it is PULLING it. If the trailer is Pushing the tow vehicle accidents happen.
 
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spg

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Notice many of the crashes are caused when the vehicles run into the air from the Semi trucks and trailers pushing them sideways.
 

ocnorb

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I just recently removed my old brake controller and installed the Redarc Tow-Pro Elite. It’s nice little form factor- button and dial that allows me to push it for just trailer brakes when I want.

Mounts about anywhere so I put it in the kick panel under the right side vent to make it very easy to push in an emergency. My old controller was down under the ashtray and I couldn’t reach it without leaning down to the point I couldn’t see the road.
 

Big Bart

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