Yet Another Way To Have a Bad Day Towing - Fiberglass RV
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Old 01-21-2008, 07:54 AM   #1
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Old 01-21-2008, 08:26 AM   #2
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That's a good one. Better the trailer upside-down than the car!
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Old 01-21-2008, 08:47 AM   #3
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Boy, that sure brings back some memories. Fortunately, we made it home without incident, but many others did not. Whew! We did have a truck and a double axle U-haul, but it was still nerve wracking. We had already been on the road twice as long as it normally takes and we decided to spend the night 60 miles from home. Smart decision.
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Old 01-21-2008, 09:48 AM   #4
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Here's another...... that police officer was very lucky
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Old 01-21-2008, 10:19 AM   #5
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Here's another...... that police officer was very lucky
Joe
Now that one shows what a sway control is supposed to prevent.

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Old 01-21-2008, 11:27 AM   #6
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Now that one shows what a sway control is supposed to prevent.

Harold
If you noticed the windshield wipers were going on the police car. That would mean wet roads possibly quite slick. Aren't you supposed to disconnect the anti-sway bar on slick roads? If the trailer balance is all wrong and had anti-sway connected would this have been the result?

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Old 01-21-2008, 01:23 PM   #7
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Here's another...... that police officer was very lucky
Joe
This is a graphic demonstration of an improperly loaded trailer.
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Old 01-21-2008, 04:52 PM   #8
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Aren't you supposed to disconnect the anti-sway bar on slick roads? If the trailer balance is all wrong and had anti-sway connected would this have been the result?
Definitely the instructions are to release the friction of a friction sway control bar during rain and while the roads are still wet after a rain.
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Old 01-21-2008, 11:59 PM   #9
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My opinion is that even on a dry road with a properly adjusted friction sway the same thing would have happened. That probably waaay too heavy trailer was yanking the tow vehicle all over the road and the driver's corrections may have been making things worse.

Actually, this is the sort of result I envision when someone uses a bandaid friction sway bar to compensate for some fundamental underlying problem with balance or tow geometry and it allows them to be going faster when things start to go wrong...
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Old 01-22-2008, 10:16 AM   #10
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From my limited knowledge of forces it appears that friction anti-sway bar can cause more harm than help. An anti-sway bar stiffens the side to side movement of the connection between the TV and Trailer. The result of that is when you going into a corner there's a side loading on the trailer tires, hence the warning disconnect the anti-sway on less than Ideal roads. If there's anything causes the trailer to loose traction sideways the trailer is going to attempt to whip the TV. It's difficult to overcome the friction on a side loaded tire, but once the tires start sliding they want to continue sliding. From watching that video several times, I'm not so sure that there wasn't some kind of stiffening of the coupler joint.
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Old 01-22-2008, 10:54 AM   #11
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If a trailer starts swaying DON'T SLOW DOWN, step on the gas, this will straighten out the trailer. I 've towed many cars on a trailer and this worked for me. It's a bit scary to step on the gas when the trailer is swaying but it really works.
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Old 01-22-2008, 10:59 AM   #12
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If a trailer starts swaying DON'T SLOW DOWN, step on the gas, this will straighten out the trailer. I 've towed many cars on a trailer and this worked for me. It's a bit scary to step on the gas when the trailer is swaying but it really works.
OR if you have trailer brakes, activate the trailer brakes and NOT the TV brakes.
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Old 01-22-2008, 02:46 PM   #13
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And so Byron THAT is the reason to have trailer brakes even if the TV has super duper brakes.
If that trailer get a mind of it's own ,accelerating ( if you can) or activating the trailer brakes is the only answer.

I was in a slide downhill on wet pavement with a U-haul rental so called surge brake trailer. Surge brakes are no good either as far as I am concerned. While sliding downhill toward a stop sign on a off ramp in KY. NOTHING worked. ABS was trying to stop the car but there was no "surge" hence no brakes on the trailer. Give me a brake controller any day, just a tap and it would have been less scary.

Eventually I stopped just past the stop sign but my nerves were shot for the next few hours.
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Old 01-22-2008, 03:31 PM   #14
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If a trailer starts swaying DON'T SLOW DOWN, step on the gas, this will straighten out the trailer. I 've towed many cars on a trailer and this worked for me. It's a bit scary to step on the gas when the trailer is swaying but it really works.
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Old 01-22-2008, 03:36 PM   #15
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I am now looking for a fiberglass trailer, and have a question. If you're driving along, are these lightweight trailers more prone to blow over than a heavier one would? Yesterdays picture showed one unside down. What caused that?
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Old 01-22-2008, 03:59 PM   #16
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I am now looking for a fiberglass trailer, and have a question. If you're driving along, are these lightweight trailers more prone to blow over than a heavier one would? Yesterdays picture showed one unside down. What caused that?

In a word NO.

The side surface is a lot less, and with rounded corners less pressure will build up.

I'm not sure what picture you're talking about. If you're talking about the videos above, the first was a UHaul on a snowy road. More than likely started sliding around, speed and loss of control. The second one is sway. That's caused by an imbalanced load, which usually means not enough tongue weight. I've seen guys hauling cars on trailers that think they can reduce the tongue weight to near 0lbs, my guess that is tongue weight was way too small.

In eastern Oregon there's Big rigs blown over almost every year along with some big ole sticky. I've never seen one of our little trailers get blown over.
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Old 01-22-2008, 04:08 PM   #17
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In a word NO.

The side surface is a lot less, and with rounded corners less pressure will build up.

I'm not sure what picture you're talking about. If you're talking about the videos above, the first was a UHaul on a snowy road. More than likely started sliding around, speed and loss of control. The second one is sway. That's caused by an imbalanced load, which usually means not enough tongue weight. I've seen guys hauling cars on trailers that think they can reduce the tongue weight to near 0lbs, my guess that is tongue weight was way too small.

In eastern Oregon there's Big rigs blown over almost every year along with some big ole sticky. I've never seen one of our little trailers get blown over.
Well, that is true what you say about the big rigs. Thanks for the info.
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Old 01-22-2008, 04:14 PM   #18
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Regarding blowing over, a light fiberglass trailer would be more likely to blow over than a pop-up trailer because the center of gravity and the wind pressure on the latter is so low on the latter. However, I'd prefer a light fiberglass to a heavier sticky (or that UHaul) because the egg is more aerodynamic.

Regarding brakes, when Roger had his stopping incident (his controller was out of adjustment), he still had the option of manually using the controller had he remembered it in time (I likely wouldn't have, but had I, the brakes were there, not the money in my pocket).

Also regarding brakes, they MUST be used carefully in the event of trailer sway. If they are applied too hard when the trailer is not behind the tow vehicle, they may lock and the trailer will then skid sideways and not straighten out. IMHO, a friction sway bar would make such a scenario worse, which is why the warning to loosen under slippery road conditions.

I agree that the tongue weight in the sway incident was probably too low, likely to keep the tow vehicle from sagging in the rear.
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Old 01-22-2008, 09:40 PM   #19
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I would suspect that the cause was actually because the driver was using his cruise controll. On wet or snowcovered roads if one wheel loses traction it can actually speed up and when it re engages with the pavement will cause you to loosa controll as seen. Most manuals state this somewhere.
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