Half Tons are NOT useless!!!

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

jmtandem wrote:

I wanted to submit a civil thread concerning the usefulness of half ton trucks. Here is my observation..based on experience... both as a past owner and a future owner of said class of vehicles.

Wow! I can only imagine how much more your could write and get excited about if you got enlightened using a three quarter ton or one ton truck. You could fill pages not just a couple paragraphs. Imagine 865 foot pounds torque in deference to only 400 or so for the V-8 in your half ton. And a real payload, and tow ratings up around 30,000 pounds, and no loss of power at altitude with a turbo diesel, and an exhaust brake, and and ........

UH...would you be talking about one of these?

I did the 1/2 ton thing years ago, soft sidewalls supposedly the proper load leveling and sway control and still rolled over.

Plenty of truck after that near death experience for me from then on.

:) Hi, always sorry to hear about a roll, but seldom hear the true story as to why and how it happened. Was it driver error? No-one will admit that. Was it the fact that the trailer you had at the time was really too big and heavy for your half ton? And you should have had a larger truck in the first place. Did you fall asleep at the wheel. Would it never happen if you had a $3,000.00 magic hitch? Or does a one ton over compensate for driver ability? We will never know because crash victims never admit that it was their fault.

This happened in 1981. I was told by local RV experts my truck would handle the Trailer with REESE load levelers and one REESE sway bar.

We were traveling North coming into Portland the area is the "S" curves and is known by the State Patrol as RV Death Alley. We came around a curve on a downhill area with the bank of the road very low for the posted speed. The trailer started swaying applied the trailer brakes and it did not help it was too far gone and the trailer passed the truck and the truck was spun around 180 degrees and completely rolled over and back onto it's wheels and was idling towards the traffic that was behind us. After that accident we bought a dually did not have sway bars and there was never any sway after that towing the same trailer.

My point is there are MANY people that are told they can tow these TT's with a 1/2 ton and go blindly doing it because a so called expert told them they can do it.

When it comes to TT's I believe you need more truck then most people think.

BTW had lots of experience towing trailers, was not speeding, now YOU know what happened.