Trailer sway

wroughtn_harv · Jul 13, 2002

<font color=blue>Shoulda bought the rest of the bed while you were at it........</font color=blue>

Reminds me of the time I'd walked in to pick up some coffee while the truck filled up with gas. As I was talking to the ladies I referred to the truck as a she.

One of the ladies, obviously a character, asked just how I knew the truck was a she.

I looked out at the the truck, turned to the ladies, and asked if they'd ever seen a butt that big on a boy.

wroughtn_harv · Jul 13, 2002

<font color=blue>Saaaaay What? That's as long as they come! Full 8'</font color=blue>

No, mine's thirteen full feet long! One time getting some sand and gravel in Arizona when the nice young lady behind the counter told me politely that it was eleven dollars a pickup load. I told her that was fine but she might want to see my pickup from Texas before she committed to that price./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Inspector507 · Jul 13, 2002

Derek,
Kinda hard to buy a Chevy (for me) with my little Bro being Sales Director for one of the largest Ford dealerships.
BTW we have a Lutz's Towing around here too.

Oh..... and 2 of the Lutz's also work at that dealership, so guess what they drive. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

dcollie · Jul 13, 2002

I have a Ford F150 Extended Cab and frequently tow my Porsche to the track (3400 lb of car) on an 18' automotive trailer. I've found that weight distribution is hyper-critical and the load on the hitch has to be more than on the tail or else your handling of the rig is all shot.

My first tow with the Porsche on the back was a disaster, at 65 mph the rig was swaying all over the place. Funny, it never did that with the BMW back there and both cars were on the same spot on the trailer and weighed the same!

After thinking about it a bit I realized the problem was the Porsche had a 35/65 weight bias with the rear engine, vs. the 50/50 of the BMW. After that, the Porsche was backed onto the trailer and all was fine. Just getting that weight to the front solved the bulk of the problems.

One other item that really helped a lot was the addition of supplemental Air Bags to the F150. I installed these in an evening with the optional onboard air compressor and they work perfect for hauling the trailer as well as just using the pickup itself with a load of topsoil in the back. Highly recommended. When the back of the truck is dragging or weighed down, just hit the air button until it levels off. Here's where I bought mine and more info on it:

http://www.centuryperformance.com/airlift/index.htm

-Duane C

Woody1 · Jul 13, 2002

Its hard to follow this thread! goes from trailers-truck/brands-back to trailers again. Question for you that started this thread. If I am reading this right, you are loading the tractor in the forward position...correct? and the weight is to much on the reaqr of the trailer, thus making you fishtail. Try backing the tractor and impl. onto the trailer? Also, if i read it correxctly, something about sag?(i think) when I load my trailer...17 ft flatbed, I made a "chunk" to go under the backend of the trailer. Just think enough to go under the trailer with ALL the weight on it you are going to carry. Put it under the backend before you load. The trailer will "bottom out" against this "chunk" and take the stress off your hitch when loading. When you are ties down, thro it in the back of the truck so you got it to unload. Dont do the same mistake i did at 1st tho. Made the 1st chunk for the space unloaded. When it was loaded, couldnt get it out!

bgott · Jul 14, 2002

I use a concrete block with a 2x6 on top. Be sure and check to see that your hitch is locked. I had a guy hook up my trailer one day for me. This guy didn't lock the hitch and I didn't double check. I found out about it when I went to load my 8N. I ran the tractor up the ramps and the tongue flew up and smashed the tailgate on my 3 month old $30,000 Dodge Ram. I was not a happy person. I had ran the truck and trailer all the way into the lot up to the fence so here I am, tractor on the end of the trailer, tongue in the air, no way to pull the truck out of the way to let the tongue drop without hitting the tailgate again. It took awhile to cool off enough to think and then I chained the front of the tractor to the front of the trailer and drug it back far enough to miss the truck. Moral of the story, always block the back of the trailer and always double check your hitch connection.

Gary_in_Indiana · Jul 14, 2002

I guess that's another reason to get an electric hydraulic tilt bed trailer. I can actually load or unload mine safely whether it's attached to a hitch or not /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif This is, of course, assuming a good, level base for the jack stand and the wheel chocks I always use being in place.

I just love that trailer. /w3tcompact/icons/love.gif It pulls straight and true loaded or empty. It even has a platform on the back that allows me to load the front wheels of a car or truck and pull it behind like you would on a car dolly. /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif Even with that and the two pivot points, there's no sway. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

It doesn't matter whether it's behind my 4x4 Chevy Tahoe or I'm using the receiver hitch on the back of my 98 Peterbilt with Cat power (for you Ford guys who obviously don't really know, THAT, gentlemen, is a truck). /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

Rowski · Jul 14, 2002

I'm sure family get togethers would be interesting if you had a Chevy/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif.

Lutz is actaully my father's first, the last name is to long and harder to remember. Its a family business. We service, repiar and diagnose cars and light trucks; due towing and recovery (near a ski area); Plow and sand 110 drive ways. Enough to keep us busy.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=photos&Number=101713&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1>Link</A> to few recovery pictures, there are some at the end of the tread too.

We a customer come in with a picture of a Lutz's towing from Ohio, I think.

JimMc · Jul 14, 2002

Same thing happened to me the first time I let my son hook up the trailer to my Expedition. I always warn about not denting the license plate (pet peeve of mine). Hitch jumped past plate from receiver hitch straight into the middle of the tailgate. Safety chains kept the damage from being worse.