Supernug,
A few years ago I was moving back from NC to NY as I was temporarily living down there for work. Well I bought a 6 1/2 x 16' landscape trailer when I moved down and built 4' high wood framed sides so I could load it up.
I had it loaded with everything from my garage including my Cub Cadet 1811. I don't know how much weight I had, but the full 4' high and 16' long was filled with no more room.
I started the trip about 6:00 am and wasn't up the road 5 miles and I knew that I did not have enough tongue weight so I put my 100 lb tool box on the tongue to help. I was traveling fine until I got on 95 headed North. I cannot remember exactly how far up 95 I was, but I was still in NC and had probably went about 2 hours of what I figured would be about a 12 hour trip (I was doing it in 10 1/2 with my car on a regular basis). Anyhow, I got into some washboard on the highway that started me swaying. I didn't have a break controller to hit the breaks, so I tried to speed up to maybe pull it out, this did not work either.
Pretty soon the trailer was the tail wagging the dog. It started throwing me in my loaded Ford Expedition all over the road. Every time it would come swinging back from one side to the other I would counter steer as best as I could. It kept squeeling side to side in a jackknife then back to the next each time slowing us down and moving the truck from one lane to the other.
Finally it came around enough that it threw the truck sideways and sent us into the median. This is when I thought it was all over and we were gonna roll. But it stayed upright and I got it stopped about 5' from the trees. In the process, some of my stuff was scattered along 95 as the back gate I had built had broke loose.
I got out of the truck and a few people stopped to see if I was alright. Thank God that no cars were around me when I started loosing it, or they would have been wiped out. A couple of the people who helped me pick my stuff up said that they saw me start loosing it and were amazed I didn't roll it too.
Lessons from that trip were as follows:
1) Know your equipment limits and never overload your trailer.
2) Electric brakes can be a lifesaver for more than just stopping.
3) Even going slow (I was doing 55 at the time in a 65 zone) doesn't mean you can run overloaded.
4) Proper loading and weight distribution is essential (I already new that tongue weight was important, but this reinforced that.
5) Always carry a clean set of briefs /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
6) Tie downs and anchoring are very important. (my cub stayed put and actually most of my belongings stayed in the trailer as well because I was using several straps)
I am much more nervous and uptight when pulling these days, especially when the wind hits you and you start swaying the slightest bit.
Hope this helps someone not experience what I did. I have never in my life been so scared.
