big loads require big trucks

[deere755]

I was headed home today on the interstate when a Dodge Dakota passed me pulling a big boat. I would say the boat was 24 to 26 foot long and the truck was really setting down in the back end. I noticed he was all over the road, just as he got past me he got to whipping real bad and he had both left wheels of the truck off in the grass. The trailer was quite a bit wider then the truck so it was way off in the the grass. He then jerked the wheel and cut me off trying to keep it under control. Luckily no one was hurt and nothing torn up but it was just stupid to pull a boat like that with such a small truck. I noticed he kept on going down the road never slowing down. I was running about 62 so he had to have been running 65 or better. I don't understand why people think if they own a truck they can pull anything they want and drive like idiots.

 

[the_sandman_454]

The answer is because people are idiots. Selfish idiots, who also usually think they are invincible and the best driver in the world. No consideration for the safety of anyone else. The driver in your situation probably didn't even have any brakes on the trailer, or at least no brake controller in the truck. I've seen it a handful of times.

Try to tell people that though... "You mean I can't drive 100mph while towing my 35' yacht with my 1/4 ton light duty pickup truck? Of course I can and it's perfectly safe, I've done it hundreds of times, get off my back man, you're just jealous. That's why you're hatin'..." Something like that is probably the response you'll get.

 

[Catman1]

It always seems to me that the fastest speeding people on the highway are always towing something. What's up with that?

 

[DieselPower]

You can blame (hmm, who was that that made that commercial?) Ford, GM or Dodge. Remember the commercial that shows a pickup truck pulling a Semi tractor and trailer. The nucklehead probably saw that and figured his little Dakota would easily pull his boat.

 

[KICK]

I came upon this one recently near the space center in FLA on I95 while on my bike.

you know, the rolling traffic jam.

car in the right lane, content to while away his life doing 62-1/2 mph.
pretty big boat on trailer in the left lane, attempting to pass slowpoke in right. boat on trailer is doing 62-5/8th mph. needless to say it was taking miles for the boattrailer to overtake the other slowpoke.

I'm on my bike so I wind my way thru the gaps and get up to the front and when there is finally a little room I get around these 2 rolling traffic stops.

As I go past what appears to be a 24-26 foot boat( same as post starter LOL) I see what the source of the problem is.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

the dummy that is pulling this big boat has a Subaru Forester for a tow vehicle.

I could not believe it.

You wish the DOT would enforce civilian vehicles sometime and take an idiot like that off the road.

 

[Thomas]

Yikes...I say that guy was couple french fries short of happy meal.
If those's would only stop and really think what would happen if.....yeah stop and think.

 

[KICK]

Florida seems to be particularly bad for that kind of thing.

snowbirds with big RV's, bunch of boat owners, lax enforcement of traffic laws all combine to make it a coin toss when on the road.

last year, same story, on my bike on I95 and a guy pulling an airstream with a pickup passed me doing 85 mph. one of the good things about riding a bike is that your sense of smell is enhanced and I smell rubber as soon as this trailer gets past me so I let off the gas to let airstream get some distance... sure enuf, he loses a tire ,just about goes out of control and ends up on the shoulder. different idiot, same story.

OTOH, some people ar just oblivious. couple weeks ago I passes a guy pulling a tandem flat bed trailer on I75. Technically it was a tandem, due to the fact it had two axles. problem was he had 3 tires on it and one rim. Rim just showering sparks, you know he can see it in his mirrors because it is nitetime. I pass him in a hurry
( you dont follow people like that!) I kept going, dont know if he mad eit or not.

another potential candidate for a Darwin Award.

One other observation is that a big utility trailer can pick up a Crew Cab dually. I seen that on I 75 by Ocala FLA.
Big old Wells Cargo style trailer on its side wit F350 still attached. Back end of F350 crew cab 4 feet in the air. musta been a helluva ride while it lasted. LOL.

 

[jejeosborne]

I agree with the fact tow limits should be inforced as well as inspections to trailers and hitches. I once saw a truck towing a car hauler using a bumper hitch, no trail wire plugged in (no brakes), and the bumper tilted to about a 45 degree angle. Do they not care about the safety of others they could kill? Sounds like this guy needed a lesson in physics as well as driving.

On a side note, I own a quad cab Dakota and consider it a fine tow vehicle within its ratings. Realize this truck is 219 inches in length (14 inches longer than a standard cab chevy and just 4 inches shorter than a suburban), 131 inch wheelbase (12 inches longer than the chevy, and 1 inch longer than a suburban), and rated to tow 7150 pounds. I have a prodigy brake controller and weight distribution hitch. I have no problems toting around my B7800 or 27' travel trailer. Just didn't want to bash all Dakotas, some models can safely tow a sizeable load and are not "1/4 ton" rated vehicles.

 

[mjarrels]

Shoot... the latest adds show a XXXX truck pulling a train... 100's of tons. 24 - 26 foot boat is nothing!

mark

 

[LoneCowboy]

Boat people are the worst (and I used to have a boat)
i've seen 18' boats (about 4k lbs) being pulled by honda accords (you know, 500 lb tow rating)
I remember going up wolf creek pass (12,000 feet) and zipping away and pass this guy pulling a Bayliner (it's always a bayliner or a tri-hull) on a single axle with a Nissin P/U (the smaller one), that's probably marginal but doable. so, we get to the top and I gear down to 2nd (manual) and putter down the hill (it's mighty steep, with hairpins every so often). This guy comes flying by me (not hard to pass downhill) and brakes hard into the first hairpin. We putter all the way down, I've hit the brakes maybe twice and I see the same truck at the bottom, smoke just roiling out of the wheels and I go and pass him. Uh huh, some people shouldn't tow.

I've seen people put their whole cars in the lake, trying to get the boat out. boats not hooked up to the trailer and drive off.
yep, seen it all.