Reminder: Attention to Trailers

[Peter J.Heizmann]

Folks...thought I would post a reminder to get your trailer(s)ready

for the meet/touring season. (Lube, Inspection, Lighting and Brake checks)

I was sitting here thinking my cars are up-to-snuff when it dawned on me my trailer inspection expired in February.

(Should anyone digress to the age old Trailer Queen subject, I attend 10-12 meets per year and tow to about 5 due to miles involved.)

Regards, Peter J. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[Guest]

Don't forget tire pressure.

Check the secutity of the hitch equipment where it attaches to the tow vehicle. I don't mean the trailer to the tow vehicle, but where the hitch itself is bolted or welded to the tow vehicle frame. They can and DO come loose.

hvs

[Guest imported_SKYSTHELIMIT]

They sure can. About four months ago driving home on 33 a tri axle dump was towing what looked like a huge generator behind it. It came off the hitch and was dragging by the safety chains. It was bouncing around quite violently and when they pulled over instead of just slowly cruising to a stop (which is a huge mistake) whomever was driving slammed on the brakes and the generator crashed hard into the back of the dump. That maneuver probably destroyed the generator and had to cause a good amount of damage to the dump.

Do that with an average pickup towing even just one vehicle the weight of the trailer crashing into the back of the truck not only would cause alot of damage to the truck doing the towing but it could also cause you to spin out or jackknife. You don't want that happening or you your truck and whatever your towing could be in for a world of hurt. Just let the trailer act as a brake and let it drag you to a stop.

If your going down hill if this happens it get a lot trickier. If it isn't a long steep hill with turns I would just let it drag to the bottom of the hill if the trailer was smoothly dragging along. But if thats not possible you will have to hit your brakes but do so gently. When the trailer makes contact with the truck try to keep on the brakes softly to slow down the trailer and come to a stop. If either you or the trailer begin to spin out hit the gas hard to straiten out but not to hard that you jerk the trailer. That would cause a sling shot effect throwing the trailer even harder into the back of the truck.

If your trailer has brakes the best thing you can do if you can is to boost the power to the brakes to the max and gently hit the brakes untill you come to a stop. Be carefull to watch the trailer though as it could begin to violently fishtail so brake gently.

Last but not least never use those open ended safety chain hooks. Get the kind that lock onto or screw on just for a little extra safety no matter how big your trailer is. You should be using considerable force to lock the receiver to the ball. If you can do it with just one hand its not tight enough and make sure it's the right size ball for the receiver. Thats the biggest mistake that people make.

[Dave@Moon]

There's something else that should be checked every year. I saw an idiot on the road this afternoon that reminded me of an episode a neighbor had when I was a kid.

He was towing his boat when a someone pulled out on the guy in front of him at an intersection. In spite of slamming on the brakes, he rear-ended the guy becomming the third car in the wreck. He was fine, no one was hurt until..

...his head started bleeding where the boat came through the (convertible) roof! The boat had done a complete flip over the car, and landed on his hood and the guy's trunk beyond with the bow facing and just brushing the windshield (bending the frame in and striking the driver). He wasn't seriously injured, miraculously, but the boat totaled both cars.

The boat had flipped over the car because the tie-down had been attached to an eyelet that was badly rusted and failed under the stress. The tie-down was no great shakes either, and this guy really had no business towing such a heavy boat with such a weak setup. Hopefully no one is using such a weak point of attachment for a car being trailered. Still attachment hardware is at least as important as the trailer itself, and should be inspected as such.

The idiot I saw today was towing a beautifully restored 1960 era small Chris-Craft cabin cruiser (~18', nice mahogany!) with no tie-downs at all! If I'd had cell phone I'd have called the police (he had no trailer plate either)!

[Amphicar BUYER]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The idiot I saw today was towing a beautifully restored 1960 era small Chris-Craft cabin cruiser (~18', nice mahogany!) with no tie-downs at all! If I'd had cell phone I'd have called the police (he had no trailer plate either)! </div></div>

These are probably the same criminally negligent mental midget morons who don't have safety chains. There was one idiot on a Harley list I used to frequent who was proud that he used silver painted plastic "safety" chains so they would break away. Then the next week during Sturgis (Big biker run) 5 of my fellow bikers were murdered by an idiot who felt safety chains were best left at home. His trailer came off and traveled across Hiway 85 (Wyoming) hitting 4 motorcycles head on, killing 5 innocent people.

Accidents happen, but do all you can to prevent them.