Guess the tow bill

[jimh406]

I'm glad nobody got hurt. Most people suggest 65 is more appropriate for most RV tow combinations. I get it though ... it's hard to drive that speed when people are passing you at 85 or more.

 

[Gr8bawana]

I'm glad nobody got hurt. Most people suggest 65 is more appropriate for most RV tow combinations. I get it though ... it's hard to drive that speed when people are passing you at 85 or more.

I have a self imposed speed limit of 65mph whether I'm towing our T/T or the 5er. I have no need to be in a hurry if towing a trailer.

 

[npaden]

I believe I will have a new self imposed speed limit as well for the future. Save a lot of time not sitting on the side of the road waiting for the wrecker to show up.

 

[406dn]

I believe I will have a new self imposed speed limit as well for the future. Save a lot of time not sitting on the side of the road waiting for the wrecker to show up.

I typed and deleted a long post. One of my suggestions was to drive more slowly. I tow horses with a bumper pull trailer, along with a slide in camper in the bed of the truck. I drive 65mph. That gives you a much better margin of safety. You will also save on fuel.

 

[RealMuddyboots]

Few trailering thoughts:
Tire speed ratings are real and can affect potential tire failure. If you are driving at speeds near max rating, bad things can happen. Check your tire ratings.
Tire temperature ratings same. Check as well.
Tire air pressure set to max posted on tire preferably with Nitrogen to minimize temperature affect. Use really good gauges.
Check tire pressure before every towing. Easily overlooked but can be life saver. I checked tires before a long boat trip and found tire low. Picked up nail and had slow bleed. Luckily changed in pole barn instead of potential crap.
Good practice to stop to let tires cool down on particularly hot days where pavement temperature can exceed 125degrees. Me? Every 3 hours plus double check bearing temps. No big deal and can stop catastrophe. Plus check hitch and lights.
Hitch height even with trailer tongue? Can affect trailer tow balance immensely if not level.
Tandem axle? I carry 2 spares. Why? If you hit a piece of scrap steel kicked into your trailer at 3AM on on I-80 in snowstorm, you will know why. Yes, that happened.

Most will say "Duh" but many do not take the time to do the small things that can prevent an aw poop.

 

[npaden]

On the trailer tires, I had the Chevrolet trailer TPMS setup that gave the real time pressure and temperature of each trailer tire. Pretty nice to have. I would think you would catch bearings heating up by it increasing the temperature of that tire. Tires were fine in this instance but evidently from the responses they can be the cause of some issues.

I had thought that hitch height was my issue and had just purchased a drop down hitch to lower the front 2" for this trip and thought that was my issue. Evidently it was not as I still ended up unbalanced and had the wreck.

My best advice to myself after this is that I will set a self imposed speed limit that is somewhere between 65 and 70 mph in the future. I will also actually take the truck and trailer loaded to a scale and check what my actual hitch weight is when loaded like I would normally be loaded. I think the main cause of this was not having enough tongue weight once the machines were loaded at the back of the trailer.

 

[thebestusernamesaretaken]

Just my humble opinion and observations.
Too light duty of a truck.
Weight distribution incorrect. Not referring to tongue weight.
Too light of suspension AND cheap trailer tires.
Your very fortunate to be able to write the story.

unnecessary back seat driver

 

[4ohSick]

It's getting pretty differently abled around here too.

A year or two ago, I saw a half ton pulling a ~30-ft bumper pull camper with a 18-ft boat behind it. Center lane over the Capital Interchange bridge going 75 and the boat alternating between taking up the entire right and left lane. Unreal.

 

[406dn]

Regarding the bearings and tire temperatures. I don't have gauges that tell me that info.

Every time I stop, when towing, I put my fingers on every aisle hub and tires. It takes maybe 20 seconds to do that. Recently, I had one tire on a horse trailer that was just a bit warmer than the other tires. When I got home, after the tires had cooled off, I checked the tire pressure on all of the tires. The warmer tire was ~3psi lower than the other tire. I filled them all to 65#.

Yesterday, when running dogs from horseback, I checked the bearings and tires as is my habit. Everything was nice and cool to the touch.

I do not think a hot bearing is going to heat up the tire very much, if at all. There's a decent distance between them and the mass of the bearings is very small compared to a tire.

 

[npaden]

I've always done the touch the hubs when filling up method as well.

One interesting thing seeing the temperatures real time is that if the sun is one one side of the trailer or the other the tires in the sun will run about 10 degrees warmer than the tires in the shade.

 

[JDH]

I have no advice to add, but this reminded me of a couple of things I've seen. One time I saw just the frame from a camper sitting along the road and a few scattered pieces of insulation. It looked like someone cleaned up the mess but planned on towing the frame home. About a month ago I saw someone hauling a small camper with a midsized SUV. The camper was leaning with every little breeze and I could see the axles shifting around. I figured they were built cheaply, but that one seemed unsafe.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Few trailering thoughts:
Tire speed ratings are real and can affect potential tire failure. If you are driving at speeds near max rating, bad things can happen. Check your tire ratings.
Tire temperature ratings same. Check as well.
Tire air pressure set to max posted on tire preferably with Nitrogen to minimize temperature affect. Use really good gauges.
Check tire pressure before every towing. Easily overlooked but can be life saver. I checked tires before a long boat trip and found tire low. Picked up nail and had slow bleed. Luckily changed in pole barn instead of potential crap.
Good practice to stop to let tires cool down on particularly hot days where pavement temperature can exceed 125degrees. Me? Every 3 hours plus double check bearing temps. No big deal and can stop catastrophe. Plus check hitch and lights.
Hitch height even with trailer tongue? Can affect trailer tow balance immensely if not level.
Tandem axle? I carry 2 spares. Why? If you hit a piece of scrap steel kicked into your trailer at 3AM on on I-80 in snowstorm, you will know why. Yes, that happened.

Most will say "Duh" but many do not take the time to do the small things that can prevent an aw poop.

You do point out some good practices like checking PSI before every tow, having the correct tires for the load and a TPMS is always a good idea.
Nitrogen is a waste of $$ because the air all around us is already 78% nitrogen.
Also have you EVER seen any tire manufacturer tell us that we need to keep an eye on road and tire temp and to stop and let the tires cool off? No you haven't.
How do you explain all the millions of cars and trucks out there towing in the desert in the summer time?

 

[Cammy]

Others have mentioned the TPMS systems that a lot of newer RV's have installed. When I bought our RV in '22 it came with such a system and it has proven to be worth every extra penny the manufacturer charged me for it. 1200 miles from home in the middle of nowhere Nebraska along I-80 I got a high tire temp alarm. Limped to the next exit and when I got out of the truck I could smell hot brakes. The over temped tire was actually the hub being smoking hot which heated the rim and eventually the tire. The brake backing plate had the nuts that secure it to the axle flange come off and the brake pads were scrubbing on the drum. Checked the rest of the wheel ends and found 2 missing nuts on the other axle and loose nuts on all remaining wheel ends. Would hate to think what could have happened had it not been for the TPMS system.

Axle manufacturer has agreed to replace both axles under warranty due to the flange mounting bolt holes having some elongation from the mounting bolts being loose.

 

[npaden]

Shockingly the tow place called my wife yesterday and said that the disposal ended up not costing as much as their estimate and they are refunding us $540!

That drops the total down to a paltry $11,267.50. I might go out for McDonald's tonight to celebrate!

 

[Dave N]

Shockingly the tow place called my wife yesterday and said that the disposal ended up not costing as much as their estimate and they are refunding us $540!

That drops the total down to a paltry $11,267.50. I might go out for McDonald's tonight to celebrate!

Don't blow it all in one place!

 

[wolfpup]

Sometimes shit happens! I double tow (I know not everybody's cup of tea) and when i do I realize I am more likely and at some point will have an issue. I think the same holds true in this situation. Your combining the toys in back of the camper. Same theory just different method. Your number came up. Your probably still money ahead by not insuring rather than insuring it all those years.... maybe ... maybe that makes you feel better?

 

[bonedogg]

OMFG...... that's insane!!!!

thanks for informing us of the scenario and helping most out with something that could happen that we just don't think about.