Trailer crash on mountain road.

[rockhillmanor]

Yet but another horrific lose of control of RV as seen from the dash cam of a semi-truck.

VIDEO http://www.carbuzz.com/news/2017/8/29/Watch-The-Moment-A-Trailer-Trashes-A-Ford-Excursion-At-High-Sp...

BUT I defy anyone to come to 'this' RV'ers defense, like in so many other threads, and say we don't have enough info to say one way or the other that RVer's like this have NO business on the road.

1. Obviously a high altitude road from the view of drop off on the right side
2. PASSING a semi on a 2 lane mountain road forcing semi to pull over.
3. SPEEDING to pass the semi
4. Too large of an RV for TV.
5. All caught on dash cam of who he was passing.

And anyone would ever wonder WHY he crashed this RV and flipped over. :R

Driver had is family and kids in that truck and had he flipped in the other direction it would have been all over for all of them.:(

[WTP-GC]

jerem0621 wrote:
I blame the 7.3 diesel.

Since we are all speculating. That 7.3 was tuned, had bigger injectors, 5 inch exhaust, and of course, a tuner.

OMG, you just crossed the line big time buddy...nobody dares speak a word against the 7.3L PSD. LOL of course.

Seriously though, why is this thread of endless pontificating and bloviating still alive?

[Paul_Clancy]

There but for the grace of God go I. I think this one can be closed.

[Max62]

Double check your set up, drive safe and hold your family close.

[Max62]

122 miles of trouble free driving we summited Manastash ridge 2672' on I82 in Eastren Washington. This is a 4 lane Interstate 2 lanes each direction. Sometimes both directions are next to eachother other places they are seperated. The summit was at mile marker 6, the accident was at mile marker 9-10. I was in the passing lane due to the slow moving trucks accending the ridge. I was going about 65-68 when I was beside the 18 wheel flatbed hauling rebar. His dash camera shows my excursion come into view. At this time I was already aware that I was in trouble. I tapped my TT electric brakes and nothing happened. I knew I was beside this large heavy truck (105,000lb I find out later). I'm heading down hill, I know from my truck driving experance on the farm that if I touch the TV brakes I would jack-knife. so I try to accelerate out of it (mentally hard to do in this situation). I'm trying to maintain my lane because I'm thinking this 18-wheeler is still beside me. If you look at the video my brake lights never come on, because I'm on the gas trying to get my TV more velocity than my TT, on a down hill grade, and trying to keep in my lane. It happens so very fast. There was no gust of wind, and I didnt experiance turbalance from the flatbed truck like you would expect from a normal 18-wheeler trailer.
I was lucky that the place we went off the road allowed for our speed to bleed off, and we went up a slight incline, and back 15 feet down toward the road. The excursion didnt flip. The rear window blew out, but the second row passenger window blew in. My daughter was sleeping with her head against that window. Why did it blow in? I found a 10lb rock on the floor board at her feet. How that rock went threw that window and miss my angel's head is something I have to thank God for. Its also a reason I have trouble sleeping, thinking of what could have happened.
What I think caused the accident was the TT electric brake wiring worked its way loose. The sway was from cresting the hill and very little to do with the flat bed truck. The cut outs in the hill for the road maybe? The down hill grade and the inability to speed up enough to get the TT's velocity slower than the TV. The not knowing that the truck beside me had slowed and that I could have used both lanes to try to slow the amplitude of the sway... All I know is my family is ALIVE. Things can be replaced, people cant. SO who is at fault? ME. I was in the drivers seat, I'm responasable for the safety of my family and the other people who I share the road with. Back when I drove the racecar the saying was IF you back the car off the car hauler ITS already your fault. But I would never intentially put my family at risk.
The truck driver stopped and gave my family assistance. He lifted my little girl out of the TV hugged her and told her she would be ok as I attended to my young son. He also found some rope and controlled our 130lb family dog. I am forever grateful to a man whos name I dont even know.
I hope this adds the details many of you have been asking for. This account is under a fake name. If you dont understand why, read the comments on the "Daily Mail" out of the UK. This world has some real sick people in it.

[Max62]

I am the driver of the TV,TT. A lot of things have been said once this video went public. I'm not trying to defend my actions to people I dont know but there is so much mis-information I wanted to post the facts here. Thank you for being classy in your discussion. I have read on other posts things like "imagining the screams in side that truck makes me happy and puts a smile on my face". Not many people can watch over and over again a video of almost killing his family.
I do know how to drive. My dad put me on a tractor at 6 years old becasue he didnt want to walk across the farm again to retrieve the tractor he pulled out of the mud. I could not reach the pedals but my tractor was in 1st gear low, Dad was able to get to the barn first stop his tractor and jump on mine and stop it for me. I was driving grain truck dealing with shifting loads on the rolling hills of eastern Washington before I was legal to drive a car. I have owned one exotic sports car and was a accomplished stockcar driver on a 1/2 mile circle track for 2 years during my "mid-life" crisis. I know how to drive.
We bought the TT new in 2010. It was a Keystone Sprinter Select 31BH. 35' long, 8'wide, dwt 7,635lb, payload cap 3,347lb, GVWR 11,000lb. All liquid tanks were empty. TV: 2000 Ford Excursion 6.8L 10,000lb max tow, GVW 8,900lb, Payload cap 1,710lb, wheel base 137", length 226.7"
TT rear cargo weight 128lbs (3.3cuft EMPTY Fridge 51lb, portable gas grill 43lb, 4 patio chairs 8.5lb each). 60% of TT weight was in front of TT wheels.
We spend two 1 week camping trips a year and multiple weekends in between for the last 7 years. We were breaking camp when I noticed a hair line crack in our 7 year old hitch. It was late in the day so we extended our trip 1 day so I could buy a new hitch. Camping world was close by, but they didnt have one in stock for my application. They suggested a trailor sales shop a few miles away. They sold me a Anderson 3350 No Sway wt distrubtion 4" drop hitch $474.99. I returned to the state park and installed it. I then drove back to the hitch dealer and asked that they inspect the install and torque the bolts. After getting their blessing, I asked him if anything about my set up concerned him. He gave me a square tab lock pin to put threw the lock handle assembly that keeps the underjaw around the trailer ball. He then routed my trailer 7 blade connector threw the square tab saying it keeps the wiring up out of the way of the hitch.

[jerem0621]

I blame the 7.3 diesel.

Since we are all speculating. That 7.3 was tuned, had bigger injectors, 5 inch exhaust, and of course, a tuner. "I can pull that trailer at any speed, up any hill" I am sure that the owner said from time to time around the campfire.

Seriously, it doesn't take much to see that the RV was tail heavy.

Been there, done that, won't do it again. Thankfully I didn't wreck, but I learned right quick how to load a trailer properly.

I'm glad that the people escaped without serious injury, hopefully, the lesson is well learned.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[Acdii]

Z-Peller wrote:
Five pages here, and only one person mentioned pulling on trailer brakes to get out of a sway situation, regardless of what caused it. Been there, done that. And I don't mean stomping on the brake pedal. I mean applying trailer brakes only, to pull unit into alinement. This thread shows how many trailer tow'rs sure need more education.

We have a winner!!!

I got my Class A CDL in 1988, been there, Done that! You know why they call it skid pad training? Because by the time you complete the course, you have SKID marks in your drawers!

I one time had pulled a rental dump trailer with a 2001 F150, Well within the weight limits of the truck since I was taking it empty to my farm and use it to move materials around, then return it empty. So as I am cruising at 55 down a rural road, washboard road actually, the trailer started wagging enough to toss the front. I immediately slammed on the controller and got the trailer brakes activated, which immediately stopped the sway, brought the trailer and truck back in line.

Watching that video, the driver was doing at least 75 MPH when he passed that Semi, was either not using a sway control hitch, or was extremely tail heavy to move the Excursion like that. The fact he never slammed the trailer brakes on shows the lack of towing experience. Even with one pair of wheels in the air, it would have been enough to help correct it if applied in time.

Improperly loaded trailer and/or wrong, or incorrectly setup WDH, driving too fast, and inexperience all add up to this. I don't need to armchair it, I have seen it happen first hand. I have seen s**t happen on the highways while sitting high above the road that will make you sick.

Just because you could, does NOT mean you should. Don't let your ego drive your foot,use your brain, especially with kids in the vehicle. They just got very lucky that it didn't go completely over the other side and that they walked away.

[Grit_dog]

time2roll wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Btw, everyone arm chairing this raise your hand if you've pulled trailers that got into uncontrollable or almost uncontrollable sway. If you haven't then you're speculating period..

I have a few times. Never wrecked.
Reducing speed and holding the steering wheel in fixed position helps.

Absolutely, it does. I believe this is most effective if you catch the swaying early and you're not much over the threshold speed where it still pulls straight.

Now that we're 2 more pages down the thread, I stand corrected. The cause was totally from having residential TP in the holder and not the lightweight rv paper. I mean looking at it closer, being a RBM (rear bath model), the additional TP mass and cushion of 2 ply paper is what threw it over the edge! Lol

[down_home]

harmanrk wrote:

down home wrote:
We don't have as many miles on our Mh as many o you have on your rigs or sure.
We had Fifth wheel, 32 ft length.
Towed like on rails with the F350 Dualie.
We have seen a lot of wrecks of Pickups and SUVs towing trailers,mostly North Florida and South Georgia for some reason. Haven't seen many out west or north of here.
Small too light duty tires and only leaf springs controlling the axle, and weight on the bumper or maybe on the rear of the trailer, in some cases.
No way is it going to be safe to drive. A little wiggle, a side wind, or semi at 90mph comes along side. You start to fishtail and off the road you go.
Load distribution bars help with too much bumper weight for springs, and sway control but they don't over come the larger dynamic forces.
I think the Dealers as they tried with us sell "oh yeah your Excursion can pull this 38 ft trailer, easy."
The Excursion is now the big vehicle at Ford and not as heavy as needed.
The old Expedition with a diesel had weight and was a lot more capable.
The best idea in towing remains the fifth wheel with the weight over the rear axle of the towing vehicle and with dual tires.
Light weight on a tow vehicle is not a good thing, unless it is a small towable, at lower speeds and not on a Texas to Oklahoma highway with 70 mph cross winds.
I or e would have to examine everything the weight and distribution and tires and so on to accurately place the responsibility, however I don't think the Excursion is heavy duty enough for the trailer, never mind the tow rating.

You have shown you really don't know the vehicles you are talking about.

The Expedition has never had a diesel option. It is currently the largest SUV Ford makes, based on a previous F150 chassis (Up to the 2018 model) and it is currently in production.

The Excursion WAS the larger SUV Ford made based on the F250 chassis, with the option of either gas or diesel. It was by far a better tow vehicle than the Expedition in its day, it has been out of production for nearly a decade at this point.

The vehicle in the video is clearly an Excursion, for those who know the difference.

My mistake on Excursion vs Expedition. Thanks 🙂

[dodge_guy]

They walked away with no major injuries.

[cross21114]

downtheroad wrote:


Simple root of the cause....HE WAS GOING TOO FAST.

Agree with this!

Does anyone know what happened to the driver and passengers?

[Z-Peller]

Five pages here, and only one person mentioned pulling on trailer brakes to get out of a sway situation, regardless of what caused it. Been there, done that. And I don't mean stomping on the brake pedal. I mean applying trailer brakes only, to pull unit into alinement. This thread shows how many trailer tow'rs sure need more education.

[rockhillmanor]

.

[wnjj]

The sway was aggravated because the vehicle was heading downhill, like this thread.

[slickest1]

It was a loose nut behind the wheel.