So this happened to me in Montana...

[pugslyyy]

As this rig was passing me they began to fishtail and wiped out in front of me as we were rolling down Hwy 2 in Montana. Nothing like having a travel trailer on its side skidding down the road in front of you to motivate on those emergency stopping skills.

 

[SkiFreak]

Something that has always concerned me is when the towed vehicle is heavier than the towing vehicle, as this can easily end up in a situation where the tail wags the dog. I am guessing that this is what has happened here. Hopefully no-one got really hurt.
A big advantage of using something like the FG to tow a trailer/caravan is that you are in a vehicle that normally weighs over 4 tonne, which gives you some good grounding at the front.

Also... in an FG you get used to going relatively slow, so the need to pass other vehicles is not really something that happens all that often.

 

[Haf-E]

The trailer is missing a wheel....

 

[kerry]

Was anybody hurt? Any idea what caused it? Wind? Slowing down after speeding up to pass you? Put a wheel off the road? Enough to put the fear of God in you.

 

[kerry]

What's all the stuff on the front of your truck at the right of the picture?

 

[pugslyyy]

The trailer is missing a wheel....

It ended up in the ditch on the left. The propane tanks ended up in the ditch on the right, about 50 feet further down.

 

[pugslyyy]

What's all the stuff on the front of your truck at the right of the picture?

Lights, bumper, pull-pal, hi-lift jack, etc. I'm tail heavy so have made an effort to move some of the weight forward. The pull-pal mounted in front of the winch actually works out really well.

 

[pugslyyy]

Was anybody hurt? Any idea what caused it? Wind? Slowing down after speeding up to pass you? Put a wheel off the road? Enough to put the fear of God in you.

I think they just lost it passing. When a trailer starts to fishtail it is a very natural reaction to slow down / brake even though it is the opposite of what you need to do.

It wasn't windy and they didn't go off the road - just a big heavy trailer with no sway bars. The front passengers were wearing seatbelts, but the kids in the back seat were not. The adults walked away, the kids got transported - they got tossed around a bit but I don't think were seriously injured (or at least I hope not). Why people think the back seat is safe without a seatbelt baffles me.

 

[kerry]

Those kids are lucky. Pretty irresponsible to have kids in a vehicle without seatbelts.

 

[OCD Overland]

Looks like a ¾ ton by the looks of those wheels, so I doubt they were outside of their limits. Just another reminder that any bumper pull trailer is inherently unstable - with enough speed all it takes is a little bump and the chaos ensues. Unfortunately 'enough speed' is much lower than a lot of people think.

 

[pugslyyy]

Looks like a ¾ ton by the looks of those wheels, so I doubt they were outside of their limits. Just another reminder that any bumper pull trailer is inherently unstable - with enough speed all it takes is a little bump and the chaos ensues. Unfortunately 'enough speed' is much lower than a lot of people think.

Yeah that was pretty much what I said in my statement to the highway patrol. I didn't feel like they were doing an unsafe pass or anything else inherently risky (was trying to ensure they didn't get cited for anything, figured the accident itself made for a bad enough day for them without a ticket as well)

 

[dtruzinski]

@OCD Overland - many years ago, I was towing a 24' travel trailer with a 3/4 T Suburban and lost control during a downhill section of the Sierras. We stripped the branches off the trees on the side of the road, danced with the center concrete barriers, and scattered a number of cars/trucks as the rig jack-knifed, un-jacknifed and then started to roll. That's when I got on the GAS and all straightened out. As someone said, not a common reaction, but when braking does not work, MORE GAS is the only solution. We were well within our weight limits with properly distributed weigh. The family and I survived unscathed and we sold that setup upon return home. We upgraded to a 5th wheel and a 1T Ford Super Duty. Never swayed after that! I still cringe on sweeping corners in steep downhill sections (even in the Fuso).

Bottom line...bumper towed vehicles are very unstable and these kinds of accidents are more common than most would think. They can be used safely, but you need to drop your speed. Think like a Fuso driver, we never have speed as a top priority!

Other than the road blockage, Hwy 2 is a great road.

 

[kerry]

Could have avoided that for $38. http://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Distribution/Pro-Series/83660.html

 

[OCD Overland]

Looks to me like it had a WD hitch. There's a school of thought on those that says they mask instability as much as improve it, which makes you more likely to exceed your limits; i.e., it feels perfectly stable up to the point you're on your roof. That seems an overstatement to me, but I do suspect it's easy to rely too heavily on them.

 

[kerry]

I used to help install weight distributing hitches back in the 70's before 5th wheel trailers became popular and the dealer was always recommending that one of the anti-sway devices I linked be added to the weight distributing hitch.