Subject: Really scary engineering

This lesson is on how not to do things seems to totally escape some people. I'd love to see how the trip ended up but I feel confident he ended up in a ravine somewhere wondering why bad things seems to always happen to him.

He's hooked up and ready to fly!! It's amazing how the extra weight really smoothed out the ride in the truck. He did have to air up the rear tires ! a bit ( around 160 psi)

He added some heavy-duty chain for extra support on the tailgate (note that he used the "Heavy-Duty 'S' hooks to attach the chain) He also paid-up for some BIG 5/16 sheetmetal screws to attach the frame to the tailgate. Yeah, he knows it's overkill, but he didn't want the possibility of having an accident.

Much of his time was spent on his front porch whittling down that MASSIVE 4x4 board to fit precisely into the ball mount receiver. Also note that he used a 14" piece of 1x4 to help distribute the load more evenly--"YOU CAN"T BE TOO SAFE, YOU KNOW!!". " It cost a little more, but you just can't be too safe when pulling a trailer of this magnitude !!".
Look out New Mexico, cause here he comes !!!!

I wonder who is writing the insurance on this rig. I would sure not publish the photos on the chance the underwriter would see it.

My comments here from Insurance City.

John

Maybe he's a Donner Party descendant? They went thru Utah, right?

First turn he makes, the roof of that Blazer is history...

Proof positive that "stupid" comes in all sizes!

Wow...looks like this guy really prepared; as he must have taken quite a few hours work and a good bit of thought to engineer his rig. Hey, by the way, what's his name, we need a safety inspector at our nuclear plant.

Oh, my. He seems to have understood the magnitude of the job he was asking that little truck to do, given the precautions he took, but I guess Darwin always takes care of his own.

Like Dude! Try smokin some of this in your pipe man.....

But ocifer, Hic, It only took nearly a case to figger out! Hic Want one, Hic, I's gots a few left.

Wait till he gets in a DOT Stop with that thing! Untz der truck kastoppo vill be happy to hand out der tickets.

What road did he say he was on? I'm goin the t'udder way!!!

Yup, Redneck enginenuity at it's finest! Dandy Dave!

He gets to vote too.

I first saw these photos maybe 9 months ago and they still make me think "What was he thinking?".

Unfortunately, there are a LOT of people out there who lack the knowledge or simply do not care to tow properly and safely.
These people think that exceeding the tow vehicle manufacturer's recommendations by 1,000 to 2,000 pounds is no problem.
Or, they do not want to spend the money on sway control. They subscribe to the notion that because they towed like that once it is okay.
Personally, I think these people have more luck than brains.

Sad part is, they tell others on the internet and some of those other people believe them which perpetuates this unsafe towing.

Anyway, these photos are FUNNY and are prime examples of how not to do it.

Either he's in jail, been pulled out of a ditch, or dead by now. Dandy Dave!

That combo never made it 10 feet, guaranteed.

I think the guy contrived this and took these pictures just to get people excited. It certinly has worked!

I do agree with you to a certain extent. This photo appears to be an extreme example.
Unfortunately, I have seen many, many, other photos similar in nature to this one.
That leads me to believe that there are actually people out there that tow trailers that are simply unsafe.

Speaking about towing in general, here is a somewhat different setup for towing.
Do have to wonder how much re-enforcement is needed to use this setup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-WKwRZQjHc

i did something not as bad, but fairly stupid similar last weekend. i towed a Dodge Ramcharger 4x4 with a lift on 31in tires on a car dolly behind my 1500 Chevy 4x4 pickup. well it would have been alright had the ramcharger been on the rear wheels, not on the fronts. needless to say, it swayed and tried to get away 4 times (started swaying,snaking back a forth) and the most i could travel was 40 mph. dangerous.

that blazer is the best, i like the 4x4 under the gate between the hitch and and tailgate

Probably just needs to get strapped to the rain gutters.

My 30 ft 5th wheel has 1500 lbs of pin weight. That's a lot to expect of the rain gutters. We're not talking about a surfboard rack or a bicycle carrier. Other that the backing up trick, that thing doesn't do anything that a regular bed mounted hitch will do. The guy claims to be a marketing guru. Perhaps. No vehicle manufactured will allow that contraption to be mounted and remain under warrenty. The insurance companies will run and hide from it. I'm gonna go out on a limb and state, for the record, that thing is a stupid idea. Just my humble, yet accurate, opinion

Just another candidate for a Darwin Award.

Couple of observations. While that fine bit of whittlin' does a good job of transferring the weight of the back side of tailgate to the hitch, and the bolts passing through the side rails of the 5th wheel receiver add attachment points, I believe he failed to factor in the fact that the tail gate is HOLLOW.

I especially like the massive safety chains he added to the sides. That "S" hook will do wonders as he hits the brakes the first time. He needs to add a sail to the tow vehicle to act like a rudder, 'cause those front tires aren't going to provide much turning traction.

I hope his wife and the rest of his cousins didn't ride in it.

Peter is just trying to embarrass me again as he thinks this was me!!!

It does point out once again the need for absolute safety when towing a trailer and to make sure you invest in whatever you can to have the safest possible traveling mode. Some guys get too comfortable and either try to do it on the cheap or get lazy. I saw a car at Charlotte this weekend that had the whole car sideways on the open trailer from improperly being tied down.

Helping out with the parking of the truck and trailers for the Glidden tour, it was absolutely amazing what some consider safe. I am surprised that there are not more fatal accidents, and even more surprised at how many really don't know how to safely pull a trailer including simply backing one up.

Bringing this thread back to the top!

I have hijacked the last few posts of this thread to promote a trailing seminar, a necessary action.

Wayne

I don"t think a translation is needed.... you can figure out what happened looking at the load in combination with the towing van: a big truck coming from the opposite direction caused turbulence causing the trailer to move to the other lane: the driver in a car behind the big truck could not stop in time and died:

(I estimate the combination of the Wagon and trailer at 2500kg and the towing van aroud 1650kg with a 2.9 liter turbo diesel engine)...)

Streaming video:
http://www.hartvannederland.nl/item/...al_Stompetoren

Any time you tow a vehicle on any of it's own wheels you run the risk that it's going to sway. Some don't do it until you get to a high speed, some do it at lower speeds. But every car I've flat towed with exception of one Chevy Suburban, has had a speed where it didn't track well.