Brothers trailer and truck destroyed

[partsman01]

Thought I would post this here, brother had a pretty new dodge 1/2 ton short box pulling a 19 foot nash, passed a semi and trailer went snakey he says and could not control it, he, wife and son were banged up but survived, happened out of osoyoos, near nighthawk area.
Trailer apparently came right off frame and burst into flames once it hit the ground, he had bought it used, so looks like it was maybe a little rotten where it was held to frame and it just all came apart with the forces at play.

[69_Avion]

mabynack wrote:

wrgrs50s wrote:
I had a similar incident where I lost a racecar, truck and trailer from sway. We had added a toolbox on the front of the trailer which made us shift the car back about 2' or so. It was just enough to change the front to rear weight ratio on the trailer. I felt it twisting as soon as I got on the freeway but was anxious to get to the track. We hit a small dip that started the sway which caused me to hit the rail on an overpass and the truck spun around and the trailer broke loose from the truck just as we went on two wheels. Luckily we were all ok and a valuable lesson was learned about loading trailers and bumper pulls.

I went thru several bumper pull camping trailers and never felt safe while passing big rigs, or on windy days. Finally I decided to try a 5th wheel and am convinced that they are the safest trailer to pull. There is no comparison. I now travel in a relaxed state of mind and hardly feel it back there.

Very similar to an experience I had. We had a home built stock car trailer made with mobile home axles. The axles were too far forward and the trailer would start whipping back and forth if we drove over 45 mph. We needed the whole width of the interstate to get it back under control.

Having the wrong "balance" is one of the worst things that can happen to a hitch drawn trailer. Too light of tongue weight can cause a relatively light trailer to wreck a heavy duty pickup. I've seen it many times. I caution folks, when adding accessories to a TT, if it is heavy, make sure it is up front. Too heavy of a tongue, as long as the TV and the trailer frame can handle it, will not cause a wreck. Too light of tongue can kill you.

[mabynack]

wrgrs50s wrote:
I had a similar incident where I lost a racecar, truck and trailer from sway. We had added a toolbox on the front of the trailer which made us shift the car back about 2' or so. It was just enough to change the front to rear weight ratio on the trailer. I felt it twisting as soon as I got on the freeway but was anxious to get to the track. We hit a small dip that started the sway which caused me to hit the rail on an overpass and the truck spun around and the trailer broke loose from the truck just as we went on two wheels. Luckily we were all ok and a valuable lesson was learned about loading trailers and bumper pulls.

I went thru several bumper pull camping trailers and never felt safe while passing big rigs, or on windy days. Finally I decided to try a 5th wheel and am convinced that they are the safest trailer to pull. There is no comparison. I now travel in a relaxed state of mind and hardly feel it back there.

Very similar to an experience I had. We had a home built stock car trailer made with mobile home axles. The axles were too far forward and the trailer would start whipping back and forth if we drove over 45 mph. We needed the whole width of the interstate to get it back under control.

[hohenwald48]

I suppose everybody remembers the great refrigerator recalls too. Perhaps there was a refer fire that then escalated into a handling issue.

I saw a class "C" motorhome burn once and it went from barely noticeable fire to fully engulfed and destroyed in less than 60 seconds and that was sitting in a parking lot. I can imagine how going down the road at 50-60 MPH might fan the flames and speedup the process.

Look forward to any more details.

[hohenwald48]

partsmano1,
Thanks for posting and hope to hear more details when you get some. Usually there are little tid bits of useful information that come out of incidents like this.

[dodge_guy]

beemerphile1 wrote:

SprinklerMan wrote:
I am wondering if it had anything to do with the dodge recall . A buddy of mine just got a new dodge truck , his old truck was 3 years old and had steering issues with 25,000 miles . Dodge replaced it

My thoughts also. The NHTSA is forcing Dodge to buy back late model trucks due to an irreparable steering problem.

:S it is not "Irrepairable"! they are repairing them and reselling them! or they have already been repaired!

[partsman01]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
In the picture posted is that remains of trailer with the truck OR just your brothers truck :H

Trailer separated from frame and burst into flames.
That is the frame beside his truck.

[beemerphile1]

SprinklerMan wrote:
I am wondering if it had anything to do with the dodge recall . A buddy of mine just got a new dodge truck , his old truck was 3 years old and had steering issues with 25,000 miles . Dodge replaced it

My thoughts also. The NHTSA is forcing Dodge to buy back late model trucks due to an irreparable steering problem.

[TomG2]

What's great about the Internet is that people instantly know what caused a problem while people at the scene might take weeks in coming to a conclusion. Like others, I hope all are well.

[Carlos___Ranae]

Please keep us posted after you speak to your brother. What did he hit? If the front of the truck is so damaged, I wonder what the trailer looks like.
Speedy recovery to all.

[Old-Biscuit]

In the picture posted is that remains of trailer with the truck OR just your brothers truck :H

[partsman01]

Well he does use the anti sway bars, or I guess they are equalizer bars, but I too wondered about the trucks stability, plus the fact the trailer as I understand it, came off the frame and flew off, they must have had the fridge on for it to catch fire, but will be going to visit him this coming Tuesday, so will hope to find out more.
I had a short stint towing a trailer when very young, and did not seem bad, but my fifth seems very stable to me, and have passed the odd semi, but only usually going up our steep Coquihalla hwy.
I try to stay at around 65 miles an hour at most.

[hohenwald48]

I do see a WDH bracket on the A frame. Can't really tell what kind and I don't see anything that looks like a friction sway connector ball. But it's kinda hard to tell.

I wonder about the phrase "passed a semi" I don't think I've ever done that. I guess I just drive too slow.

[69_Avion]

Keep in mind, that trailer, if it starts swaying real bad, can cause a 1 ton truck to wreck. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions as to what caused it.

One thing that I would caution folks about is not to use sway control to mask a trailer that doesn't handle well without the sway control. A good sway control is great to have, but if the trailer has bad handling characteristics, don't use a mechanical device to hide the problem. Figure out what the problem is and solve it, then use the sway control as a safety feature.

[gmw_photos]

Glad they are all going to be ok. That's an ugly truck for sure now....just goes to show how much safer modern vehicles are compared to many years ago.