Towed Tractor Rollover

[CCWKen]

Pilot Error!

 

[Garandman]

It looks like way too heavy of a load behind a 1/2 ton truck.

Dodge RAM Invincible! Ask any of the [zero money down] owners!

Glad they were OK or I wouldn't be trolling....

 

[Redneck in training]

This is a question for you experienced guys. What should you do if your trailer start fishtailing? I have only very limited towing experience but based on one event while transporting upright piano (high CG) stepping on brake (no hard braking) stabilized the trailer instantly. My guess is that braking removes energy from the system while acceleration would add energy flipping the trailer.

 

[prichard]

Not sure it's a fact that it was overloaded. Seems to be a lot of conclusions drawn about the incident and quick judgment on the driver.
Haven't heard anyone mention mechanical failure.

Agreed. An awful lot of people sure seem to "know" exactly what happened based on a picture and an account from some guy on another forum who may or may not have been there.

 

[CCWKen]

This is a question for you experienced guys. What should you do if your trailer start fishtailing? I have only very limited towing experience but based on one event while transporting upright piano (high CG) stepping on brake (no hard braking) stabilized the trailer instantly. My guess is that braking removes energy from the system while acceleration would add energy flipping the trailer.

Actually, I've found the opposite to be true. The last thing you want to do is touch the brake or slow down. You MUST stay ahead of the trailer. I've come out of two fish tail occurrences by flooring the accelerator. Once going down a hill and once on a level road after a truck passed doing about 90. A white knuckler without a doubt but accelerating pulled the sway out of trailer and I was able to maintain control. In both cases, the trailers had serge brakes--An enclosed rental trailer and a 20' boat trailer, both loaded.

If the trailers had electric brakes, I may have opted to engage the brakes manually but I would still keep the power on the tow vehicle. There's something about seeing your trailer along side of you that never works out.

 

[check]

Actually, I've found the opposite to be true. The last thing you want to do is touch the brake or slow down. You MUST stay ahead of the trailer. I've come out of two fish tail occurrences by flooring the accelerator. Once going down a hill and once on a level road after a truck passed doing about 90. A white knuckler without a doubt but accelerating pulled the sway out of trailer and I was able to maintain control. In both cases, the trailers had serge brakes--An enclosed rental trailer and a 20' boat trailer, both loaded. If the trailers had electric brakes, I may have opted to engage the brakes manually but I would still keep the power on the tow vehicle. There's something about seeing your trailer along side of you that never works out.

Good point about surge breaks, Ken. I had them on a boat trailer once, and thought they were really nice to have, since I did not have to worry about a brake controller and an electrical supply to the brakes. However, now that you have mentioned it, the surge brakes leave you no option when your trailer starts to sway. Since then all of my trailers with brakes have been controlled electrically by a brake controller, and several times I have use the brake controller to control or reduce sway. No serious incidents, but I have had the trailer start to sway a bit, and instantly stopped the sway by touching the brake controller, before things got out of hand. Now that you have mentioned it, I will probably never get surge brakes on anything again.

 

[dieselcrawler]

I stand corrected. I looked more closely at the picture, it is indeed a 3/4 ton, long bed truck. Blurred picture, but it does seem to have 8 lug wheels, and being upside-down made it look like a short bed to me.

However... if the tractor was loaded backwards, with the loader over top of the mower, it still may have caused a light trailer tounge...

Lots of speculation on all parts, including mine.

Glad no one was hurt.

 

[sixdogs]

So if you have electric brakes on the trailer and a brake controller, it's OK to put the brakes on?

 

[aczlan]

I am going to go with those who say not enough tongue weight, probably from too short of a trailer for the tractor and the bushhog. Might have been preventable with the tractor being backed up a little more, but without seeing it loaded, its hard to tell.

Aaron Z

 

[4570Man]

So if you have electric brakes on the trailer and a brake controller, it's OK to put the brakes on?

There is a lever on the brake controller that will only engage the trailer brakes. Don't touch the truck brake.

 

[aczlan]

So if you have electric brakes on the trailer and a brake controller, it's OK to put the brakes on?

Yes, when the trailer starts swaying, it is pushing on the truck (that's one reason why you see more fishtailing going uphill). You want it to be pulling back on the truck that way it doesn't have as much leverage to push it around and hitting the manual lever on the brake controller will do that.

Aaron Z

 

[CCWKen]

So if you have electric brakes on the trailer and a brake controller, it's OK to put the brakes on?

Do NOT touch the brake pedal. Use the manual engage for the brake controller. Some older designs had a lever, most new ones have a large button. Be sure your controller is mounted so that you can get to it.

 

[KennyG]

Recently watched "The Long Long Trailer" (Lucille Ball) again. "Trailer Brakes First!"

 

[PJ The Kid]

Seems to be to small of a truck. See stuff like this and it makes me mad. Had an ex brother in law with a 1/2 ton ford and a gooseneck dump trailer around 20 ft. Kept telling him its's not about the power, yea the truck will take off up a hill. He never understood till he blew thru a red light and almost nailed someone and on a separate occasion started swaying badly why I told him to use a bigger truck. Your truck not only is the power plant but it is what anchors to the road. See people all the time pulling 25-30 ft boats and such behind a small suv.

 

[jk96]

A few years back I had an 05 Ford 3/4 ton and 20' enclosed bumper trailer. Interstate driving was the worst with a heavy load, especially when semi-trucks would pass. They would pull you in and then you could feel the air pushing you out as they passed sometimes causing the trailer to start fishtailing even with proper tongue weight. I got tired of the squeezing the trailer brake controller and the steering wheel.

My current setup is a 2012 ram 1 ton dually with 24' enclosed gooseneck. The difference is night and day. I'm a lot safer now as well as everyone around me. Even with heavy bumper loads I've never had a pucker moment like I had with the 3/4 ton.

 

[bspeedy]

A few years back I had an 05 Ford 3/4 ton and 20' enclosed bumper trailer. Interstate driving was the worst with a heavy load, especially when semi-trucks would pass. They would pull you in and then you could feel the air pushing you out as they passed sometimes causing the trailer to start fishtailing even with proper tongue weight. I got tired of the squeezing the trailer brake controller and the steering wheel.

My current setup is a 2012 ram 1 ton dually with 24' enclosed gooseneck. The difference is night and day. I'm a lot safer now as well as everyone around me. Even with heavy bumper loads I've never had a pucker moment like I had with the 3/4 ton.

This is interesting b/c I have a 1999 Ford 3/4 ton and a 20' eqp trailer as well as a 24' bumper pull camper. I, too, can feel a bit of a push from semis passing, but no pucker factor. Mine is a CC long bed, so I think that helps. I've heard similar towing horror stories. Maybe I'm just lucky? FWIW, we took the camper all over the USA last summer. Generally ran 70-80 mph. Maybe weight is a factor. My camper is only about 6500 to 7 k loaded up. Also, I use WD hitch on camper but not on eqp trailer.

 

[sixdogs]

This has been a great thread. I've never had any towing problems probably because I load correctly and stay on the back roads at a slow speed. Today, while towing I paid a little more attention and have a question.

I think--but am not sure--that the trailer brakes engaged a bit before the truck brakes did. Is this possible? I have a 2011 Toyota Tundra with the tow package and I have a "tow/haul" mode button that I presumed just lowered the shift point. Not much mention in the owner's manual. Any thoughts?

 

[greggn]

Yes, when the trailer starts swaying, it is pushing on the truck (that's one reason why you see more fishtailing going uphill). You want it to be pulling back on the truck that way it doesn't have as much leverage to push it around and hitting the manual lever on the brake controller will do that.

Aaron Z

Don't you mean downhill.

 

[aczlan]

Don't you mean downhill.

Good catch. Yes.

Aaron Z

 

[aczlan]

This has been a great thread. I've never had any towing problems probably because I load correctly and stay on the back roads at a slow speed. Today, while towing I paid a little more attention and have a question.

I think--but am not sure--that the trailer brakes engaged a bit before the truck brakes did. Is this possible? I have a 2011 Toyota Tundra with the tow package and I have a "tow/haul" mode button that I presumed just lowered the shift point. Not much mention in the owner's manual. Any thoughts?

Do you have a brake controller in your truck, or does the trailer have surge brakes?

Aaron Z