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Alert Observing VERY dangerous travel trailer towing

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When people say the F250 diesel can tow anything they are telling you the truth. The problem is that in real life the truck needs to be able to STOP the load too! It also needs to be stable enough for adverse conditions. You are not always towing on level ground on a sunny day, right? Your truck needs to be able to hold it's ground during an evasive maneuver like when someone swerves into your lane or when a deer jumps in front of you or during a thunderstorm with 30 mph side winds or when you blow a tire at 70 MPH. The closer you are to the maximum payload or towing capacity of your truck, the more likely it is that you will wreck when something unexpected happens and you have to take evasive actions. In other words you can never buy too much truck!
ok, thanks for the advice
 
There are some basics to trailer towing, much has to do with weight distribution


I love this video! It's a perfect example of how too much weight in the rear of a trailer can cause terrible sway problems. I used to tow a trailer behind one of my big motorcycles. I didn't get the load quite right one time. We jumped on the interstate and about the time I hit 55 MPH the trailer started "wagging the dog". It took me three days to get my underwear out of my butt crack!! :oops: :oops: :oops:
 
I saw someone the other day that believed that hype. He had a fifth attached to the bed of his 250 the springs completely compressed.

Did I tell you he was turning onto the freeway?
 
The other day we were driving on 101 along the Hood Canal in our DD. We got behind a pickup with a huge camper on the bed. It was obvious that one of the rear springs on truck was suffering as we watched the camper lean heavily to the right side. I am almost positive I saw the left wheel come off the ground several times. It was frightening to watch. The truck was traveling much faster than it should have on the winding road. We thought for sure it was going to tip over any minute. The driver had to be aware if the situation as the truck leaned back and forth. I passed the truck as soon as I could find a clear passing lane. It was incredibly stupid for that driver not to pull off the road and seek help. I don’t know if the truck made it to its destination but what a wild and potentially dangerous situation as there are many spots along this road with no shoulders and sheer drop offs. It’s folks like this that give a bad name to RVers.
 
Here’s the result of poor driving/setup a few days near me. New Airstream totaled and severely damaged Escalade. Both rolled over going down a hill on the interstate. Two words. Slow down.
 

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Weight distribution and hitch height have just as big a part in towing issues. We have all seen people head down the road with the rear end dragging and front end pointing up. Spending the money on the weight distribution hitch and learning how to use it is really critical.
Ken
 
You know those car haulers you see everywhere? The ones with a trailer that carries two to five cars, pulled by a one ton dually pickup? Yesterday one blew past me doing at least 60 in a 45, a common problem on this road. What got me was that he had a double decker five car hauler. Two cars and a pickup ON TOP. And nothing on the bottom rack. My jaw literally dropped. I wanted to follow him just to see how things went around a curve or two.
So it's not just campers.
Car haulers are supposed to be loaded top first.
 
Of course. But then a bit of ballast on the bottom, right? I've found that top-heavy generally doesn't work too terribly well on much of anything except women.
 

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