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dee74's avatar
dee74
Explorer
Jun 28, 2015

Travel Trailer Towing Safety Concerns

Let me start by saying I am not the tow weight police or the guy that goes to the CAT scales to set up my truck and trailer, I do know the towing capacity of my truck and what the proper setup should look like. I took my longest trip yet with my tt this week, about 700 miles round trip to the beach and I saw some really dangerous tow setups. My first concern was at a rest area, I saw a lady towing a tt with a more than capable TV but the setup had the hitch head down almost to the ground and scraping the pavement and the front wheels of the truck barely touching the ground. The WDH used bars with chains and she was only on the first link. I offered to take it up a couple of links to try and level it out a little but she thought it was fine. I saw dozens of people with golf carts in the truck bed causing the trailer to be nose down and the truck to sit way up in the front. I also was passed by several people towing at 70+ mph weaving in and out of traffic. I guess I do not have a question here but I did not realize how many people knowingly or unknowingly put themselves and others in danger while towing a tt or fw . I usually frequent one campground all summer and I do not see this type of thing very often.

25 Replies

  • I'm a truck driver( as well as we travel with our TT several times a year vacationing) so I've seen all types of set ups. The other day a guy passed me towing at least a 30' TT with a lifted 4x4. The thing is, the truck was wayyy down in the rear but the TT was wayyy high in the front. Imagine how that thing handled. He was going the other way so I couldn't watch him.
  • Hate seeing rigs on the road that are no were close to being setup correctly.

    Then again I just put a new shank insert on the new truck because it sits higher than the old truck. So if you see me going down the road and I'm not set up correctly. Then feel free to flag me over and yell at me.
  • It is all but impossible to determine what is safe or unsafe for another person.

    You can set their rig up to spec. only to find they feel it is twitchy, bouncy, too stiff, too soft or unstable etc.

    Certainly it is good to offer suggestions which might improve a person's ride but the results can be mixed.

    How would you feel if someone thought your rig was unsafe?
  • Often the folks with funky setups are only doing what their friendly RV salesman told them would be just fine. The ones driving 75+ are morons.
  • Wife says I'm not a nice guy. Let me prove it.

    When you run across people that have set ups that are dangerous not only to themselves but to the public (including you) and they think nothing about it, don't help them. Period.

    There I'm a bad guy. By the way... might of saved them crashing into you.

    But I've helped people change tires if they had a spare. I've given gas to people, I given bungee cords and rope to people, etc...

    But when somebody needs a jump and their battery is caked over with corrosion because lack of maintenance and they don't even know where the hood latch is or their back bumper is falling off because they scrapped a driveway with their nose high 5th wheel by about 3 feet.

    Just keep on going about your business the life you save could be your own.