Trailer tongue weight safety videos.

[drcoastline]

A few good videos on tongue weight safety and vehicle handling. You can see in the first video with the blue truck, if it were to connected to the bar it would have lost control and crashed.

[dad911]

Then there is too much tongue weight, with a 20 YO receiver (internal, invisible rust)



Yup, I did this, after 30+ years of towing, never expected the hitch tubes to be so weakened from age. Even though it was a class V, frame mounted receiver. Going down a hill, slow, but when I braked for the stop sign it really loaded the hitch.

[Arizona_928]

Rust belt....

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by Arizona_928

Rust belt....

Don't know anything about such a thing.

On towing, I tend to tow tongue heavy. Nice thing about using a tilt deck trailer now is, when the deck tilts over you're pretty well positioned on the trailer. Once the bed tilts down I normally put just a bit more weight on the tongue and call it good. But I also have 5000lb air bags under my truck that help level the ride.

[flatbutt]

A very good demonstration of a function related to the torque created by the weight placement.

[URY914]

The ol' tail waggin' the dog situation.

[drcoastline]

and here it is in real life in my own back yard. Apparently happened yesterday.

LOL, I guess it would help if I posted a link?

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwildwoodvideoarchive.com%2Fb oat-accident-removed-safely-from-garden-state-parkway%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3UrmNLF8mmq2oadUnrnmto-9vKY2MeSYnrUGPNoVhQRXFq8mEEfNFnssQ&h=AT0E-HyiZebCXE140XnyM7V3Xw4g6g-qhyFZfwTnZ66Zdtyl5wBjHTvPA48rEg8Bs0hvcazJPzF65hG9v qG4PQoowXlyLiqyb2_SNVOr50-l9HyOk8Pt31V7g9zzqUBU_RoYOwKHIB-sRbkq1A&__tn__=H-R&c[0]=AT2a2tV4q1OkHk6RI5omCBLJ2ZNMSjlRsci3t_KnowTWqfCVA Wercd5CXk7dDht2uVMVPVdOdfXJrKqMOxAAHPlbECRand2S8K1 u-RT7675exWVu02K7iLpsdZ7mC2HmRRiRqrjLNR83m4DAKKKMqOi fhfnYVS2ZdnBYh2kRP7opZke2TxK_Ym1hoRG_LUAtNEFUOv-04JX-jkOQH_xABw

[cabmandone]

I'm just impressed by the springs on that F150. Every time I load my UTV to the front like that behind my friend's F150, we have to pull it back a bit because the wimpy shocks can't handle it and the nose comes up.

[rfuerst911sc]

Rust is a hidden evil and can bite at the worst time . A friend of mine in VA. was getting his plow truck ready the other day . It's a Ford F250 and as he was raising it on his 2 post lift it slowly bent in half as it was going in the air !!! Basically frame so rusted that it bent in half .

Tongue weight runs the gamut of not that important to critically important . If you are towing with a large heavy vehicle like a dually that has a long wheelbase and four tires in the rear then tongue weight not that critical to a point . That point being how much total weight being towed . The bigger issue is when towing with a light vehicle AND a short wheelbase like an SUV . As mentioned earlier the " tail wagging the dog " syndrome . Getting into a highway tank slapper with a trailer is no fun and very dangerous so avoid at all costs . Common sense on speed also comes into play , slow down a bit if your rig shows any signs of instability . Having your " stuff " scattered all over the highway is not fun . Be safe guys .

[ckelly78z]

Originally Posted by cabmando

I'm just impressed by the springs on that F150. Every time I load my UTV to the front like that behind my friend's F150, we have to pull it back a bit because the wimpy shocks can't handle it and the nose comes up.

The F150 is meant for commuting so it has a soft suspension, while the F250 won't squat with a pallet of Quikrete, and rides like a truck.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

The F150 is meant for commuting so it has a soft suspension, while the F250 won't squat with a pallet of Quikrete, and rides like a truck.

Drop some 5000 lb airbags under it and it rides like an old dump truck.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Putting electric over hydraulic brakes on my boat trailer was an amazing investment. I did it the first time the boat and trailer, which were heavier than my F150, started dragging me down a boat ramp. Then I upgraded to an F250 for good measure.

[cabmandone]

I've been wanting to put E/H brakes on my trailer for a while now. I've been told the stopping power is phenomenal.

[tdw28210]

Based on these, it seems like I should be BACKING the 911 onto the trailer..seriously.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by tdw28210

Based on these, it seems like I should be BACKING the 911 onto the trailer..seriously.

As long as you can see the back end of the tow vehicle drop a little, you should be fine. I used to look at the tail of the trailer before I loaded and then after to help tell if I was tail heavy or not.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by cabmando

I've been wanting to put E/H brakes on my trailer for a while now. I've been told the stopping power is phenomenal.

It takes a LOT of stress out of towing. I bought my stuff from eTrailer, who I have ordered from multiple times over the years. They have some great FAQs and reviews which make picking the right parts easy. I had surge brakes so I disconnected the line at the surge master cylinder, drilled out the sliding section of the hitch, and put in some big effing through bolts to lock in the hitch. Then I tied into the existing line going back to the brakes onto the new brake cylinder. It wasn’t a bad project.