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we have all seen it. People overloaded, no tie downs, wrong hitch etc. Time to fess up, what stupid tows have you done?
These were when I was young and dumb and maybe riding with people doing the same. The exact year of the trucks is going by memory so might not be exact.
1989 Chevy 305 V8, regular cab. 3 guys in the cab, about a 1000 lbs in the bed, towing a car trailer with a 67 Cornet RT on a car trailer. About 5500 lbs trailer weight. No brakes on the trailer. Going to the Mopar Nats so middle of summer so A.C. On the entire way. About 500 mike trip one way.
1992 Dodge Ram, regular cab 318 V8. Towing a 70 Dodge Challenger convertible. Borrowed trailer and the owner didn’t believe in trailer brakes because they never work. Just me in the truck so probably within the limits of the truck but no resse hitch so towing off the bumper. The worse thing was the ramps. Two sets of 2x12’s bolted together with concrete blocks stacked in 2 places on each ramp so they didn’t collapse. Trailer was a little high for a car trailer but it worked. Was selling the car and it was restored but made it, about a 250 mile trip one way. I did dent the bumper backing up the truck, the trailer is pretty close when pulling off the bumper.
My towing mistake was letting the wife guide me into a small wooded campground spot Of course she got distracted by something and I bumped into a tree but luckily I was just crawling and heard the thump and then the hitch compressing klang. No damage to the bumper or tree so that was good lol
I dont know if you can call it totally my mistake but:
I used an E350 DRW Penske Box truck to move my wife and I from MA to UT about 3.5 years ago. I also rented a penske car trailer to tow my then stock Jeep Liberty CRD, which Penske approved. Well, I load up the jeep on the trailer at the Penske store per their guidance(Front first, wheels against the integrated chocks on the trailer, etc). I drive away and am heading over to my house to start loading the truck. I am rolling up to an intersection which is in the process of going from green to red and so I slowly roll onto the brakes and BAM, the front tires lock up at barely any brake. I end up sliding half way though the intersection because the front axle was so light that it did almost nothing to stop the truck/trailer.
I attributed this to the poor design of the trailer putting the car to far in front of the axles and the fact that my jeep is a diesel so was fairly front heavy. It also was likely due to the fact that the rear overhang on the penske truck was enormous. It allowed the fairly heavy trailer tongue to have a massive amount of leverage around the rear axle and lifted the relatively light front end of the truck. The thing was it didnt look bad. The suspension on the truck was so stiff that it barely squatted.
My solution was to turn the jeep around to put the heavier engine over the trailer axles and also used some blocks of wood to space the tires back a little to help move the whole thing back a few inches. This help a bit but you could tell it was still pretty tongue heavy.
Most likely the trailer was also setup for longer vehicles and you had a pretty short one which probably made it worse. I had the same buddy I talked about in my first post move to Kansas from Illinois. He rented a pretty large U-Haul and a trailer to move his 67 Cornet RT. The truck was built for it and the trailer had surge brakes. It was designed for it but it had something like a Chevy 360 big block in the moving truck. I was driving the moving truck and went through Kansas City. I just remember this uphill entrance ramp and having the pedal floored going into heavy traffic. I was probably having to merge at about 45 mph and just turned the blinker on and started moving over. That thing was such a turd with that trailer behind it, plus it had a governor that wouldn't let you go over 65 mph.
Most likely the trailer was also setup for longer vehicles and you had a pretty short one which probably made it worse. I had the same buddy I talked about in my first post move to Kansas from Illinois. He rented a pretty large U-Haul and a trailer to move his 67 Cornet RT. The truck was built for it and the trailer had surge brakes. It was designed for it but it had something like a Chevy 360 big block in the moving truck. I was driving the moving truck and went through Kansas City. I just remember this uphill entrance ramp and having the pedal floored going into heavy traffic. I was probably having to merge at about 45 mph and just turned the blinker on and started moving over. That thing was such a turd with that trailer behind it, plus it had a governor that wouldn't let you go over 65 mph.
Same here. This was a 5.4L Triton and it was pedal to the metal on any kind of hill. In Wyoming, where the speed limit was 80, I could basically leave my foot on the floor.
I live in farm country so I see "interesting" towing everyday. You know 4 gravity boxes full of corn being pulled by a 10 year old half ton on the highway. Not that I would ever do such a thing!
My personal best towing story (it's good because there was no accident). When I graduated from University I bought the first year Mazda GLC imported. It had a 1.3 L motor which made about 60 horsepower. With a tail wind I could do the speed limit on a 400 series highway! Being young and stupid, I decided it would be a good idea to tow a small trailer so I mounted a hitch bolted directly to the bumper. For a couple of years I towed a small boat trailer with a couple of canoes on it, going on some really long trips including the steep hills north of Lake Superior. (second gear up the hill being tailgated by a transport!). Never had a problem. One winter I slid off the road into a snow bank and a friend showed up to pull me out with a tractor. We hooked the chain up to the hitch and there was a clunk and the entire bumper, hitch and all fell off the car. It turns out it was held on by 4 very small plastic screws. I still have nightmares about could have happened with the trailer!
I've had one mistake - forgot something...….I put the hitch in the receiver and did not put the pin in it...….I have know idea how I made it 1/2 mile from my house because I have to drive up a hill just to get out of my house and then the road slops up hill...….got to the stop sign and turned right and BAM the trailer and hitch came out of the receiver......but I did have the chains connected!!!!!!!
This was a snowmobile trailer with two ATV's on it......my kid got a laugh out of it and he didn't tell the old lady like he normally does - but I did!!!!!
Glad nothing got damages and know one got hurt!!!!!
I used to tow a 20' gooseneck equipment trailer with my F-250. After you unload your equipment, it's a good idea to turn the gain down on the brake controller...Because you'll lock up the trailer brakes at the first stoplight/stopsign...Happened almost every time.
This was when I had my Nissan Titan. I rented a terramite backhoe for a weekend project. I figure it weighed around 8500lbs. The trailer that came with it was probably 3k. I only had 2 days to get a job done by myself so I also had one of those bulk bags of gravel in the bed. I think they are 1000lbs. So not knowing knowing that I know now, I loaded the backhoe towards the back of the trailer so I wouldn't be on the bump stops of the truck. I towed it about 30 miles this way with no trailer brakes (actually it may have had surge brakes, I'm not sure). I can't believe the guy at the rental place let me leave with it!
Now, that I'm a little more mature, I hit the scales and make sure everything is legit to the best old my abilities. Getting scared as I get older I guess. I still think back on that one and shake my head. The Titan had plenty of power, but over 45mph it was wagging all over the road. At least on the way back, I didn't have the gravel and I loaded the backhoe still the way forward. MUCH better experience.
I pulled about 25,000lbs with my 2.7 F150. It wasn't very far or fast, but an F350 with a dump trailer full of gravel ran out of fuel in the middle of the highway. All I had was a piece of a strap I found somewhere on the highway. I eased the tension and heard that thing creaking and popping, but I got him up to the next intersection and off the road.
Don't get too worked up. We only went about 3 miles like this and we were out in BFE and don't think we even broke 10mph.
So far out I've never seen any police and sitting in the front you might see 10 cars on a busy day. Plus I did have a car follow me since we didn't have any lights on the boat.
Didn't have a winch and the boat trailer had two flats. Got it far enough up that the tires we touching but the wheels weren't.
07-06-2018, 07:21 AM
Towing mistakes.
