Somebody's vacation got ruined

Moved from ATC

Badhabit wrote:
Wasn't windy so not sure what happened but it sure looked like not enough truck for the trailer. Hope they were alright
H

Agreed without knowing any real details... but sounds like not enough TV, improper loading with too light tongue weight, too high of speed resulted in uncontrollable sway that caused a crash.

And also hope no one was injured. Hard way to learn a lesson.

Since we are guessing at the cause, I suspect Alien Space Craft. They are sneaky you know.

These days it could have been “a sleep at the wheel”, Texting or a host of other things. I hope all are okay; it sure would be interesting to find the real cause.

I'll volunteer a guess: tail wagging the dog. I had Trailblazers in the past - great SUV's that were capable of hauling 6 or 7 thousand pounds. One day we were coming home with a car on the open 16' hauler - we were well below the load limits; but with some extra weight on the trailer (rather than Ed's lightweight dragracer) - it wanted to get a little "pushy" with the shorter-wheelbased SUV; actually, scarily-so. That's when I traded up to a pickup truck - the longer wheelbase made a world of difference.

I can only imagine how pushy a travel trailer would get with a short SUV....

I tow a 1991 prowler 19E with my 2002 Jeew WJ (Grand Cherokee) it handles it very nice. Obviously I have my brakes tuned in and an anti sway system helping but it seems to tow nicely even with the 3' of extra trailer that's been added to the rear bumper for my diy tire/luggage/bike rack

Wow - TV and TT on the side of the road and it is immediately obvious what caused the wreck...

It always makes me cringe when I see an overloaded TV.

Reminds me of a topic I tried to talk to a new popup owner about...loading. They got sway when they pulled it. I tried to tell them they need to go weigh their popup after they load it and make sure it is loaded correctly. Gave him all the instructions and stories. He responded they gave me the storage cabinets and it should be designed for whatever I load in them. OMG I could not convince this guy that was not true, he also felt that the pickup bed was designed to load whatever you could fit in it, leaves or lead did not matter to him.

He totaled his new popup within the next month heading to the grand canyon, thankfully no one got hurt. I got to swaying and left the Tahoe somehow and went over the guard rail and down the hill.

Luckily he did not replace it, decided hotels were better.

93Cobra2771 wrote:
Wow - TV and TT on the side of the road and it is immediately obvious what caused the wreck...

Yeah - amazing how everyone becomes an expert without seeing the accident or even being involved.

I'll put this out. Coming home from NJ last night going I78 Westbound. Saw a nasty wreck on the eastbound lane. Crinkled trailer (looked to be a car or landscape trailer, not an RV), demolished TV, and missing guardrail. It was either an F250 or F350 as I saw the Powerstroke badge. Guess not enough TV there too. Should have been using a Kenworth.