Trailer safety

[NICKYPOO]

Please make sure your trailer is safe and operating as it should. Take your setup to a qualified trailer shop and have it checked out once a year if your not sure about anything. Keep good tires on it, pack the bearings, check the brakes and make sure everything is tight. An ill handling trailer is dangerous. You are not only taking your's and your passengers lives in your hands, you are taking other people's lives in your hands. Please be safe.

This was just the other day. My friend was driving the west bound truck. Oddly enough, he used to own the shop that I have work on my trailer and he was the one who schooled me on trailers. He measured the tongue weight for me, installed my hitch and serviced my trailer every year. I will miss him.

The mess you see is actually two trucks and my friends flatbed trailer with a scissor lift on it.

http://www.ktvn.com/story/19285966/t...coach-accident

[bja37]

sorry to hear that...

[NICKYPOO]

Correct link now posted.

[Joeprunc]

Wow, wrong place at the wrong time. Hope for best wishes to the families.

[jslayde1]

Sad, sorry to hear that....

[Dawgs2011]

Sorry about your friend. One other thing to note would be the bolt for the swing away tongue. About a month ago, my buddy found that his bolt had broken and luckily he found it while the boat was in the water. He ended up taping it back in long enough to go get the bolt replaced. About a month later, we were at Havasu and he was walking through my campsite and saw what looked like an old lug nut laying on the ground and sure enough, my bolt had also broken. He happened to have another bolt with him. But all I can think is that we avoided 2 disasters.

[Yessup]

Very tragic. Good reminder on the trailer safety check.

[Ruger761]

Man sorry to her about your friend. Life can change in an instant. Trailer safety is something a lot take too lightly especially when it comes to securing loads.

[chpthril]

Sorry to hear about the loss of a friend. Thats a tragic story.

[NICKYPOO]

Thanks for the kind words fellas. I feel I owe it to him to do a little preaching about trailer safety. If it keeps two more kids from looking their father, its worth it.

[Iwndr]

Sorry for your loss Nicky. Thanks for putting it out there so others can learn

[jwanck11]

Article didn't say anything about a trailer malfunction - just that it started to sway and the 19 yr old driver lost control. So sad, but not sure why a 19 yr old is driving such a heavy rig.

I had the trailer start to sway on me on the turnpike last Summer - VERY SCARY! I was not even aware of what started the swaying, but clearly there was sway and I could feel it in the truck. I let off the gas and applied moderate brake until the trailer started to behave again. Not sure how else to stop the sway.

Any fool-proof knowledge?

[NICKYPOO]

Ya, there was a few more articles out there. They think weight was the issue. I would venture to say the cows were moving around. If they shifted to the back of the trailer, that would upset the balance. Without enough tongue weight, your trailer will be all over the place. Not really an issue for us boat owners as once it is set, its not likely to change unless you are driving around with full rear ballast.

[kko]

Sorry for the loss of your friend.
Being hes a rancher he has prob. been driving that rig on the farm for many years and most likely hit the road with it as soon as he got is lisc. its hard to blame him for anything at this point without knowing a lot more of the facts. But I pray for him as he will have to live with this for the rest of his life. Being so young it does make me wonder if he was qualified or legal to be driving that rig.
Praying for the families that lost loved ones on that day as well.
****And on a side note pertaining to trailer saftey. Had a friend come buy today driving a new to him truck. I asked him where is old truck was. He said he traded it. I asked why he said the final straw was when he hit a bump while towing a loaded dump trailer and his trailer hitch assy. broke off. He bought the truck used and never really thought to check the integrity of the hitch assy.(how many of us would? Not me) But he said after he got it back home you could see where it had been damaged and repaired before and thats where it had failed. So I think I will learn from his incident and check that on any used truck I purchase and add that to me service on any truck I own.

[Duncan]

I had the trailer start to sway on me on the turnpike last Summer - VERY SCARY! I was not even aware of what started the swaying, but clearly there was sway and I could feel it in the truck. I let off the gas and applied moderate brake until the trailer started to behave again. Not sure how else to stop the sway.

Any fool-proof knowledge?

I think a trailer will start swaying because it is going faster than the tow vehicle. I have read that hitting the brakes (with a surge brake trailer) will not quickly remove the sway. Rather, if you accelerate the tow vehicle, the trailer drops back into line (because it is no longer faster than the tow vehicle).

But if you have electric trailer brakes, then you can tap the trailer brake button (not depressing vehicle brakes) and the trailer will straighten up. I know this works well for a 29 foot travel trailer of ours with electric brakes. (Which makes me wish I had ordered electric brakes instead of surge brakes on the boat trailer!).