Be careful who you let hook your trailer up

Wingnut · Jul 30, 2002

'bout 8 years ago in Alberta ... half an hour before I got to the intersection (intersection of 2 highways ... one had to stop) ... dump pup unhooked from dumptruck coming to the intersection ... passed the truck ... took out some unsuspecting poor old guy driving into town. Nothin' left of the car.
Chains are a good thing! Good chains correctly installed and utilized.

Wingnut · Jul 30, 2002

I learned my lesson on making sure that you have the coupler pinned or locked ... with my first boat. Was out on the highway (steep nasty ditches, no shoulders) on my way to the lake when something in the mirror caught my eye ... I was the wheel of the trailer lifted into the air ... then I noticed it was in BOTHG mirrors, whipping back on forth, up on wheel then up on th eother. Slowed ... carefully, stopped ... climbed out to see what was going on. Tongue cradled in the crossed safety chains ... looks like a bump had popped the coupler release.
Never trailered without a bolt or lock through the coupler release again!
Safety chains work .... but I sure know a lot of supposedly sane folks who disdain them ("I'd rather lose the trailer than have it flip my vehicle").

hazmat · Jul 30, 2002

Two years ago I had aspirations of joining the Jeep community. I bought a beat up CJ7 to restore. I rented a U hual tow dolley (couldn't get one of their car trailers) and picked up the Jeep for a 30 mile trip.

25 miles into it on the Mass Pike Extension (the part near Boston with NO BREAKDOWN LANES) the Tow dolley jumped off the ball. The tounge speared into the road and the front end of the Jeep rolled over the tow Dolley and onto the road, but didn't hit the truck. The safety chains & tiedown straps kept everything attached. I had to drag it 1/4 - 1/2 mile before I had a spot to pull over.

There was a state trooper ahead of me who had someone pulled over for a traffic stop. I walked up to him and asked for assistance. After a few questions - did somebody hit me, did I hit anybody etc. He called the roadside assistance truck & started to laugh at me. With the help of the assistance truck, we tried to jack the Jeep up & get it back onto the dolley to no avail. A wrecker and a flat bed later, we had the Jeep loaded on the flatbed for the remaining 5 miles.

The trooper must have put a call out on the radio because two more came by to check out the jackass towing the jeep. The wrecker driver took a polariod for posterity.

This all happened because I didn't check the trailer after the uhaul tech attached it for me. I should have know better ('been towing since I've been driving) & learned my lesson. Sold the Jeep a year later when I moved from that apartment into one that didn't have a garage.

TimSullivan · Jul 30, 2002

Your experience with the tow dolly reminded me of the only time I ever used one.

I was towing my son’s sick car back home with a friend on one one winter day. The expressway was clear but the wind was blowing snow so I was driving under the speed limit. I was driving a the friend’s Jeep with, I think, Quadratrac. Cars were passing me or running up on me from behind and tailgating until they could get by. In a flash we were on ice and cars were going in all directions instead of straight down the road.

The dolly and the car on it started to fish tail back and forth. Then the rear wheels of the Jeep Wagoneer broke lose too. Back and forth we went as I tried to keep the front wheels pointed down the road. Cars ahead and behind us were sliding down the road or off it. I let the Jeep slow but I knew I had to get it straightened out. I gave it a little gas and was able to pull the dolly and car in behind the Jeep. All the time we were going back and forth I was waiting for the crash. Luckily it never came. The cars in front just parted and we slipped through and none of the spinning cars behind us caught up. Out of the corner of my eye I could see my passenger trying to hook his seat belt. He was one of those who did not believe in them. Suddenly he became a believer.

Soundguy · Jul 31, 2002

I like the newer connectors for the livestock trailers ( and many other ) That have the flip out side, and a collar that slides up to lock in place with a pin... pretty much idiot proof, if you hook it up.. still wouldn't trust someone else...

Soundguy

"I've seen this happen so often with horse and cattle trailers. Just last week I was over helping a friend bale hay and a guy was driving by and his trailer came off and went right along side of him. A guy coming the other "

Jeff396 · Aug 1, 2002

My father in law went out and finally bought his dream boat...a Rhodes 22" sailboat I think it was. He drove from Michigan to SC to pick it up without a bit of problem. About the third time he put her in the water he was trailering her home when on the way up a highway entrance ramp the hitch came undone, the safety chain hooks straightened and off the boat went into a ditch drilling itself into an embankment. Boat was totaled! Turns out that the ball had a lip on it and you had to be extremely careful when tightening it down that it didn't get caught on it. This particular time he let his son hook it up who had no knowledge of the problem. Soooo, he had to trailer the boat back to SC where they stripped all the good stuff off, scrapped the hull, and put it all on a new one. He managed to miss the whole summer season, which in Michigan isn't all that long to begin with, because of one simple mistake.

Wingnut, I direct this to you because he is always saying that he was better off having the S hooks straighten causing the trailer to break away. I personally think it's nonsense. It kinda reminds me of a few people I knew who had accidents on motorcycles while not wearing a helmet. Somehow it eventually made it around to the "having a helmet on probably would have killed me" comment./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Jeff

Wingnut · Aug 5, 2002

Somehow it eventually made it around to the "having a helmet on probably would have killed me" comment.
yeah .... someday I'd like to meet someone (who still has a head) who could say that with a straight face.

We've got a few folks on the GL1800 board who swear that laying the bike down saved their lives ..... uh-huh ... sure ... giving up the only control you have ... 2 tiny patches of rubber ... and sliding down the road behind 900 pounds of plastic and chrome .... yup, that'll work better than using brakes! (they're anti-ABS ... claim they're faster, better and smarter than the ABS computer ...)

DocHeb · Aug 6, 2002

I've seen more motorcycle victims than a body should, and they've all said "I laid the bike down" with this machismo tone. I guess it sounds better than "I was driving too fast, nearly crashed, panicked, lost control, and crashed anyway as the bike fell over". As the story gets told again and again, their story of the brilliant bike-handling techniques that "saved their life" helps blunt the wife's reaction about the $$$ to get the bike fixed. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Edited Post Disclaimer: Please don't take this as a "flame" of the bike-layer-downers (BLDs) that may be members of this board. This represents the opinion of the tired (and perhaps a bit too cynical) person responsible for cleaning up the mess after the fact, and in no way disparages nor casts ill-will on BLDs /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bird · Aug 6, 2002

"I laid the bike down"

Yep, I did that once; nothing machismo about it; no brilliant bike-handling technique involved; just plain ole everyday stupidity./w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

Wingnut · Aug 6, 2002

I'm with you on that, completely, Chris. I am so tired of listening to these "heroes" who saved their lives by laying the bike down and sliding under a truck ... or whatever. I know it looks cool on TV ... but in the real world ... well, back in my younger days, I was a medic in the Canadian military and spent most of my "career" in the surgical ward at the forces largest hospital. Helped to dig the pebbles and other debris out of few folks including several friends who got severe cases of road rash.
Me, I'm kinda partial to the ABS on my new Wing as I feel hitting something at the lowest speed I can manage by grabbing as much brake as possible is preferrable to sliding into or under anything.

pete