Forum Discussion
- In my experience you can not drive out of a death wiggle oscillation. It gets worse with speed.
romore wrote:
It looks he just came out of a dead zone beside the semi then caught the wind. That plus speed and inexperience got him in trouble. I would have been backing out of it and reaching for the trailer controller before things got out of hand. Bet his wife won't let him buy a new trailer.:B
More like the bow wake from the semi!
I agree with speed and inexperience.romore wrote:
It looks he just came out of a dead zone beside the semi then caught the wind. That plus speed and inexperience got him in trouble. I would have been backing out of it and reaching for the trailer controller before things got out of hand. Bet his wife won't let him buy a new trailer.:B
X2 had he simply just applied the trailer brakes only the whole thing would have snapped right back in place and he would have been fine. Anytime your trailer starts to sway you don't let off the gas you apply your trailer brakes using only the controller.
Don- Besides tearing up his setup and injuring himself those propane tanks could have been disastrous if those valves got compromised.
Only time I have had sway in my TT is very windy days and fast passing (speeding) semis. I have learned to tighten my bars, proper loading of the trailer and not travel on windy says although travelling long distances you will encounter varying weather conditions along your route. Now I pretty consistently check my side view mirrors. It catches approaching (speeding) semis, trailer sway, and any other trailer issues.
I had dangerous sway towing a 20" flat bed with improper load (9k) distribution (light tongue weight). I eased off gas and tapped trailer brakes and pulled off next exit and rebalanced the load and travelled 4 more hours with no issues. Looking back I think with experience with trailer you can feel instability before the dangerous sway. That trailer was twitchy at lower speed before I got to cruise speed. I now know my load weights and can approximate the load distribution. nohurry wrote:
His speed hurt him for sure, as well as the torque weight (Or lack thereof),
x2. I'd guess that it was mostly trailer loading, not enough tongue weight. A long time ago I towed a 16' hard side Aljo trailer with a tiny, short wheelbase top heavy Mazda 4x4 pickup. There were some white knuckle moments to begin with, but once I got the WD hitch set right and the right amount of tongue weight, the combo was nice and steady, despite the trailer weighing twice the truck's tow rating. It also helped that the heavy trailer (for that truck) limited my speed to no more than about 60! ;)FishOnOne wrote:
45Ricochet wrote:
Cummins12V98 wrote:
FishOnOne wrote:
Wow..... I would think by simply letting off the go pedal when the camper started to sway would have prevented this mess.
NO that will make it worse! Been there done the same thing hit the brakes and did not get the job done!
No F-ing way will I ever again tow a TT unless I have a lot more TV than one would think needed!
Troy you need to get it under control before slowing gently. Yes the rim and tire and skirting will be toast but hopefully you'll guide it to a safe location buddy. You need to first get the steering under control and the only way to do that is to speed up or your toast.
Short tube
Let me clarify a bit more. I meant letting off the gas as the vehicle was just starting to pass the 18 wheeler and the trailer started to oscillate and not when all hell was about to break loose. Are you saying at the early stage of trailer oscillation that reducing the speed the vehicle still would have ended up in the ditch?
My mind thinks more proactive than reactive. :h
Well sorry to say once sway starts to best way to stop is light application of the trailer brakes manually with the brake controller. At that point the tail is wagging the dog, and the only way to correct is to apply braking to the trailer only, slowing or braking the TV will have the same results as the clip! Trying to Power out is what the F250 tried, real bad result.Hannibal wrote:
rhagfo wrote:
jerem0621 wrote:
What would have happened had this been a fiver vs a TT?
Sorry to say likely nothing, a 5er doesn't have the leverage on the TV the same as a TT. The TT acts on a point about 3' to 4' behind the rear axle. With a correctly hitched 5er the pin acts on a point either directly over or a couple inches forward of the rear axle.
I've watched our 5th wheel in the rear view mirrors as it sways in strong side winds when we don't even feel it in the truck. As has been pointed out in tire threads, this puts tremendous loads on the already maxed out trailer tires.
I think our trailer ball is 5' behind the axle of our F250. That's a lot of leverage. Some TT's have their axles further back than others too which I can't help but believe helps with stability.
Well I also don't run MAXed out tires on our 5er! The 5er has 12,360# GVWR and comes in at around at 11,000# with LTs at 3,042 ea we are in very good shape. One of several reasons I chose a 5er.- His speed hurt him for sure, as well as the torque weight (Or lack thereof), but I will admit I have been guilty of temporarily speeding up to get ahead of a semi etc. Either to see something, or to get over for an unexpected exit etc. I don't ever recall though in over 20 years of TT ownership going much over 70 MPH for an extended distance.
Couple things to add; I wonder how a properly adjusted integrated sway control hitch like equal-I-zer or the like would have done, and I wonder how the built in sway control feature on new trucks would have affected his situation? Doesn't give him license to go that fast obviously if the speed estimate mentioned is accurate. As sorry for him as I am, he kinda brought it on himself, and it's a good reminder/lesson for us. rhagfo wrote:
jerem0621 wrote:
What would have happened had this been a fiver vs a TT?
Sorry to say likely nothing, a 5er doesn't have the leverage on the TV the same as a TT. The TT acts on a point about 3' to 4' behind the rear axle. With a correctly hitched 5er the pin acts on a point either directly over or a couple inches forward of the rear axle.
I've watched our 5th wheel in the rear view mirrors as it sways in strong side winds when we don't even feel it in the truck. As has been pointed out in tire threads, this puts tremendous loads on the already maxed out trailer tires.
I think our trailer ball is 5' behind the axle of our F250. That's a lot of leverage. Some TT's have their axles further back than others too which I can't help but believe helps with stability.FishOnOne wrote:
Wow..... I would think by simply letting off the go pedal when the camper started to sway would have prevented this mess.
I think it is safer to back off, but if you have snaking due to a blown tyre, it is best to keep driving like you are, not slow down
