Towing a trailer

[jarhead]

No, not much sense at all. From what I heard in the news accounts about U-Haul deciding to eliminate the practice of renting trailers to be pulled by the Explorer, it was all a "perception" problem. An inordinate amount of Explorer drivers who had an accident in an Explorer while towing, had their insurance companies sue U-Haul for damages. It did not matter if there was merit to the case or not. U-Haul decided that the cost of defending such frivolous cases was too high, so they just eliminated the "risk". No Explorer's drivers lawyers suing=no cost to defend. The law profession makes another blow for justice!

 

[sqwkvfr]

U-Haul's headquarters is in PHX. The local "randy" news media types recently ran an "expose" that bashed U-Haul renting a car trailer to tow a Mercedes behind a small SUV...I'm not sure if it was an Explorer, but there was a whole lot of bad publicity surrounding it...and they've made changes...

Seriously, I rode in an Explorer from Minnesota to Denver pulling a car on U-haul trailer....the thing started to fishtail violently just west of Norfolk, Neb., and we nearly died. The guy driving acted properly by slamming on the gas trying to straighten the thing out (he was a cop) and luckily it worked, but there was about 30 seconds there that I thought I was gonna die (the more he tried to slow down, the worse it got). Also, about two weeks after we got back, he had to replace the transmission.

I will NEVER use a Ford Explorer to pull anything.

 

[jarhead]

What you describe sounds a lot like a problem with weight and balance. The Explorer has a tounge weight capacity of 350 pounds, as I recall. If one has too much weight in the back of the trailer to cause negative weight on the tounge, you will get violent fishtailing. I own a Ford Expedition, and I tow often. I ALWAYS weigh the weight on the tounge before I drop it on the ball. I have a good friend I hunt with that has an Explorer, and he is pulling a trailer with two ATVs on it all the time. The trailer was designed by him, to put a lot of forward weight on the draw bar. Never had a control problem. Just a thought.

 

[sqwkvfr]

Most likely.....we stopped in Elk Snout, Nebraska after our near-death experience. We pumped up the rear tires on the Ford, turned the car around so the engine was in the front of the trailer (VW beetle) and flipped the box-end step-down hitch upside down to lift the tongue of the trailer further off of the ground. That seemed to help, but we kept the speed at 55-60 and it was the longest trip I've ever taken.

I'm still certain that if anyone else had been driving it would've been bloody.

I'm with 3 5 0, (for once).....rent a truck.

 

[avbug]

I'm still certain that if anyone else had been driving it would've been bloody.

...the thing started to fishtail violently just west of Norfolk, Neb., and we nearly died.

...but there was about 30 seconds there that I thought I was gonna die...

Wow.

You should have a movie made of your life, culminating in that fish-tail. That must have been really scary. Near death, and all.

Did you see God?

Near death? Good Lord. I bet your account of a hard landing would be a heart stopper.

 

[jarhead]

Avbug......Why the bitter sarcasm? The guy had a dangerous experience on the highway. Do you think the only way to die from an accident involving a machine, is from fighting fires from an airplane? I got news for you.......It ain't.

 

[sqwkvfr]

Wow.

You should have a movie made of your life, culminating in that fish-tail. That must have been really scary. Near death, and all.

Did you see God?

Near death? Good Lord. I bet your account of a hard landing would be a heart stopper.

I guess I was just trying to use an experience to expound on offering some helpfull advice...........unlike you.

It was the closest I've ever came to "buying it" (And I was a cop for 5 years)....I offer my experience in the hopes that no one else goes through what we did.

Best wishes, avbug.

 

[SteveR]

When I moved from Chicago to Dallas, I think U-haul wanted around $500 for a small trailer rental. I bet they didn't pay $6,000 for that trailer new (it wasn't even a covered trailer). I think a 17' truck was only $950. I bought a trailer for a few hundred dollars, moved, and sold the trailer for what I paid for it. Screw U-haul.

 

[Wankel7]

The guy driving acted properly by slamming on the gas trying to straighten the thing out (he was a cop) and luckily it worked, but there was about 30 seconds there that I thought I was gonna die (the more he tried to slow down, the worse it got). Also, about two weeks after we got back, he had to replace the transmission.

I will NEVER use a Ford Explorer to pull anything.

It is funny that you mention that thing about slamming on the gas if you have a blow out. I was reading this months Motor Trend and they had an artical about tires. And one of tests they had watched on video was a SUV that had a small charge of plastic explosives on the tire. To simulate a blow out.

The person that had the blow out (Test driver) let off the gas and hit the brakes. The truck almost lost control (and this is a test driver). Then they did the same thing and the person floored it and saved teh situation.

I wonder how this would work in other cars that are not SUVs. Say a sports car.

Wankel

 

[wms]

From Philly to East TN.

In June.

And big enough to hold approx 2 rooms, mostly boxes and bedroom furniture.

Bringing it back is going to be an issue though.

I don't know about Philly or TN, but where I live some of the trailers are already furnished. It really saves time on the packin' and unpackin'. Just make sure you bring in the dog if he's not one of them indoor ones.

 

[Ailerongirl]

I got some quotes....

And Penske that gave us such a good deal last time is $700 , U-Haul was $310, and Budget was $280. I'm just going to go with a 10ft truck that I can drop off, and then have my sister drive my car down on the weekend.

Thanks for all your advice guys!

(And seriously, drop me a line if any of y'all want to help load.....I'll supply the beer )

 

[avbug]

I don't think anybody was making a comparison, but I find describing a fishtailing automobile as "nearly dying" or "near death" hysterically comical and overly dramatic in the extreme. I passed by a blackwidow spider yesterday. I guess that was near death. Lots of parachute jumps. I suppose each one could be near death. Why there I was, looking death square in the eye. Crusy old devil. I could see the fishtail in those soulless orbs, the grim reaper waiting in the eves to take me to his hellish lair...

Or taking a glass of water. You can drown with an ounce, you know. That's a near death experience. Why, after running the mile, I had a whole two pints. I could have died many times over. And then in a choking fit of death throes, fallen to the pavement and bonked my head, cracking my skull, ruining the nearby carpet. It could have been bloody.

Pardon my obvious pugnatious pontification...after extricating more than a few people from twisted wreckage, servicing them as a firefighter EMT on the scene, and transporting them to the hospital in an ambulance, the floor of which is slick with blood, I have a very hard time taking seriously any fishtail in a truck as a "near death experience." I'd be more inclined to take it seriously if they'd say, actually had an accident, or been hospitalized, or the vehicle had tipped, or struck something. But did they come close to death by staying upright and fishtailing a little. Not hardly.

I've spent time in intensive care following trauma, I've spent a great deal of time hospitalized when relatives were told I wouldn't survive. I had emergency respiratory treatment two or three times a week growing up, until about the age of 12 for the worst severe chronic asthma any doctor who treated me had ever seen or treated. I never considered any of that near death. Despite coming back to school as a child and frequently hearing teachers and students tell me they'd been told that I had died.

Now I have had experiences in which I was quite certain I would not survive. I fully understand the feeling by now; a cold chill and a little tension, followed by a relaxing acceptance of what appears inevitable. Those were not "near death" either.

But fishtailing in a car, straightening it out, and continuing the trip. Gimme a break.

 

[jarhead]

Gosh, Avbug, maybe you could star in a movie about your own life. Or maybe just get Steven Siegal or Sly Stalone to do the actual staring in the movie, and you could script it. No one could possibly have a legitimate cause for fear, when you are the gold standard for making that determination. Just can’t for the life of me figure out what you are so insecure about, that you have to belittle and berate a stranger, who to my knowledge has done very little harm to you. Maybe just your “hero” psyche is bruised when someone else relates a life experience on these boards. Get over yourself.

 

[avbug]

You're absolutely right. By that standard, then, about twenty million people have near death experiences every day. Stallone is going to need a clone. I believe Segal would be embarassed to star in a movie in which the leading man describes a fishtail on the highway as "it could have been bloody."

Then again, there's always that spider. Keep trying.