Wild Towing Video

[MrJimi]

I would have taken my foot off the throttle
and said lots of prayers real fast
and the usual holy crap, what now
I don't ever want to get in that situation

[ray66v]

Originally Posted by digicamnut

Ya'll may not believe this but if your pull starts fishtailing DO NOT hit your brakes. You should excelerate to regain control.

I knew a Trucker that told me that in my early days. It makes sense because the force of the acceleration pulls the vehicle into a straight line. And I have tested this and found it helpful. Although you have to then very carefully decelerate, since in most cases, I have found that you do not realize you have a fishtail problem until you reach a certain speed.
Having the stones to accelerate with that going on behind me , I don't know if I could do it.
This was a case where I would want hit the electric trailer brakes, (if applicable), and exhale.

[Builder]

That's a perfect example of an overloaded trailer with too much tail weight and not enough pin weight. The trailer starts to fishtail and "crack the whip" on the trailer swinging it side to side.

Another dumbazz trying to tow more than the truck is rated to tow off the bumper. I swear, you give these idiots a diesel pickup and they think it's a Peterbilt.

[Champy]

Cleanup by Maytag!!!

Actually the acceleration technique also works on motorcycles.....when they start to wobble or get squirrely, crank the throttle and the gyro effect straightens you upright,

[Renze]

Originally Posted by digicamnut

Ya'll may not believe this but if your pull starts fishtailing DO NOT hit your brakes. You should excelerate to regain control.

Been there, done that. I absolutely disagree, NEVER increase your speed untill you have control over the vehicle.

I was doing 70 km/h on a narrow road with lanes of trees on both sides. When the tandem trailer began to swing, i accelerated to 90 km/h.... The tires began to squeel and when the front tire of the car rode over the roots sticking out on the foot of the oaks, (missing the actual trunk by inches) i realised that i had no control and should loose my speed ASAP...
I slammed the brakes as hard as i could, the car swung 180ï½°, while slingshotting the trailer against a tree, half into a ditch. Later that day I remember that i saw the underside of the trailer floor in my rear view mirror when it swung over.
Lucky for me the ball hitch cracked open so i didnt stay hooked to that trailer.


Afterwards, i can tell you that the brakes didnt work: When i noticed the first fishtailing, i released the gas pedal and let it roll. Didnt really help. Then i accelerated. Didnt help.
Then i tried braking. no effect. (later we found that the brakes of this trailer never worked, so braking with no trailer brakes is dumb anyways.

When neither of those actions had any effect, i threw it into 3rd gear and hauled into 90 km/h. At this speed i was even less able to control the vehicle.


Later i had 1 or 2 of these occasions where the trailer began swinging. Like the time i had 2.5 ton of concrete on a short and high tandem trailer, behind my Volvo 850.

Just hitting the brakes HARD (actuating the surge brakes) and releasing the brakes right again, allmost immediately pulls you out of the swing.
Because the trailer still brakes when the car is freewheeling, changes the frequency of the swing. I had to do this at several trips and it worked all times.


If a trailer is fishtailing agressively, please DONT increase your speed because more speed = less control. I learned it the hard way.

[George2615]

Providing the trailer has brakes and you have a controller in the tow vehicle. A swaying trailer can be straightened out by slowly manually applying the trailer brakes with the contoller and not touching the tow vehicle brakes which is much safer than accelerating.

[NuBota]

Originally Posted by Champy

Cleanup by Maytag!!!

Actually the acceleration technique also works on motorcycles.....when they start to wobble or get squirrely, crank the throttle and the gyro effect straightens you upright,

Not arguing your point in general because I don't know enough - but when I was an 18 yo punk on my KZ750 running at a high (read stupid - like 90mph+) on curvy back road with two buds. We all felt the wobble, me and the one guy eased off, but the other sped up - bike shot out from under him sideways - was shredded in the trees - "luckily" he landed in the ditch/shoulder. After a helicopter ride to shock trauma and 2/3 of his liver gone, he lived.

So, just for me, not sure I subscribe to the while "Cole Trickle" theory...

[ray66v]

It is not about increasing speed, simply going faster is not the goal, and will certainly not help. Speed is usually a contributing factor in the likely, unbalanced condition that results in trailer sway, it is about a jolt of force that results in the side momentum being converted to forward momentum. The same force that motorcycle races will tell you they use sometimes to, "save it," and that is where I first used it.

This is not a beginners maneuver, It then requires a burst of power to be effective, careful application of that power, and then, careful deceleration down through the speed that began the sway. But, this is a technique that can, and has been used successfully, in a situation where there are no other options. If you do not believe it can work, you are welcome to refrain from using it. Nor, do I think it would have helped this dumb SOB much. The bounces this trailer took suggest that there were serious deficiencies in this entire set up.

Applying the trailer brakes is the easiest way out. However, with many trailers that have only surge brakes, or no brakes at all, this is not always an option.

Hitting the towing vehicles brakes during the unsafe sway is not only the worst possible choice, it is usually the last thing the driver remembers doing, when he wakes up in the emergency room.

[Builder]

Learning how to load a trailer correctly and not overload one to begin with is the easiest way to avoid the problem.

[firemanpat2910]

I agree with builder, get the right size truck, and trailer, load it correctly and test the brakes. Or if not please drive on US hwy 27 in Havana Fla. I havent extracted anybody from under a truck /trailer combo for about a year.