For Christ’s Sake! Idiots with Trailers

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Azdunerat

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So I saw a YouTube video of a couple who rolled their travel trailer……a 23ish footer towed by a damn Nissan Frontier with no weight distribution set up!

I could not believe a dealer would sell them that rig and let them leave without a WD hitch….let alone grossly over the trucks payload and towing rating. 
 

it made me wonder how many unsafe rigs are on the road, so today I made it a point to look. Between the half tons pulling 30 foot travel trailers and the I kid you not 4Runner pulling a 20 foot toy hauler only 1 rig had a distribution set up. A Ram 2500 pulling a single axle Coleman. So 6 rigs total and the only one running a distribution hitch probably didn’t need it. 
 

I am surprise we aren’t seeing more crashes. Honestly I can’t believe dealerships would let these off the lot like this. 

 
I have an Armada 2WD, which I believe is comparable to a 1500 Titan, and a Dodge Ram 1500 4WD.  Both have big V8's.  I have towed my SxS on a Playcraft 12 foot dual axle trailer with BOTH of them, with the Dodge being the strongest.

I'm thinking about buying either a 24 foot toy hauler, OR a 24 foot travel trailer (keeping the Playcraft).

Most importantly, I'm thinking about installing a 5th wheel hitch in the Dodge, feeling that it will help stability and and give me better choices on what to buy.

Any opinions are welcome.  I'm a novice with trailers.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Azdunerat said:
So I saw a YouTube video of a couple who rolled their travel trailer……a 23ish footer towed by a damn Nissan Frontier with no weight distribution set up!

I could not believe a dealer would sell them that rig and let them leave without a WD hitch….let alone grossly over the trucks payload and towing rating. 
 

it made me wonder how many unsafe rigs are on the road, so today I made it a point to look. Between the half tons pulling 30 foot travel trailers and the I kid you not 4Runner pulling a 20 foot toy hauler only 1 rig had a distribution set up. A Ram 2500 pulling a single axle Coleman. So 6 rigs total and the only one running a distribution hitch probably didn’t need it. 
 

I am surprise we aren’t seeing more crashes. Honestly I can’t believe dealerships would let these off the lot like this. 
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I'm curious how you know they left a dealer that way?  

 
I believe they bought it new. 
 

I know most dealers are reputable and would never let a customer drive off their lot like that. I also have a feeling some are looking at this mass of newbies running to the lot looking for a new trailer as nothing more than dollar signs. 

 
Phoenix7 said:
I have an Armada 2WD, which I believe is comparable to a 1500 Titan, and a Dodge Ram 1500 4WD.  Both have big V8's.  I have towed my SxS on a Playcraft 12 foot dual axle trailer with BOTH of them, with the Dodge being the strongest.

I'm thinking about buying either a 24 foot toy hauler, OR a 24 foot travel trailer (keeping the Playcraft).

Most importantly, I'm thinking about installing a 5th wheel hitch in the Dodge, feeling that it will help stability and and give me better choices on what to buy.

Any opinions are welcome.  I'm a novice with trailers.
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I always tell people new to pulling larger trailers and haulers the same thing. Pulling them is easy…..it’s stopping them that’s hard. 
 

with either tow rig you need to look at your cargo capacity as well as tow rating. While 5th wheels are more stable I don’t know if a 1500 is designed to accept a 5th wheel hitch. 
 

as long as you have a proper weight distribution hitch and pay attention to the trailers weight rating and hitch weight in relation to your tow rig IE make sure you do not exceed your trucks GVWR and towing capacity you will be off to a good start. 

 
Azdunerat said:
I always tell people new to pulling larger trailers and haulers the same thing. Pulling them is easy…..it’s stopping them that’s hard. 
 

with either tow rig you need to look at your cargo capacity as well as tow rating. While 5th wheels are more stable I don’t know if a 1500 is designed to accept a 5th wheel hitch. 
 

as long as you have a proper weight distribution hitch and pay attention to the trailers weight rating and hitch weight in relation to your tow rig IE make sure you do not exceed your trucks GVWR and towing capacity you will be off to a good start. 
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Thanks for the excellent advice.  I had never heard the "stopping them is hard" advice, and I will do more research on the 5th wheel hitch.  Plus I will be looking into weight distribution hitches.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Azdunerat said:
So I saw a YouTube video of a couple who rolled their travel trailer……a 23ish footer towed by a damn Nissan Frontier with no weight distribution set up!

I could not believe a dealer would sell them that rig and let them leave without a WD hitch….let alone grossly over the trucks payload and towing rating. 
 

it made me wonder how many unsafe rigs are on the road, so today I made it a point to look. Between the half tons pulling 30 foot travel trailers and the I kid you not 4Runner pulling a 20 foot toy hauler only 1 rig had a distribution set up. A Ram 2500 pulling a single axle Coleman. So 6 rigs total and the only one running a distribution hitch probably didn’t need it. 
 

I am surprise we aren’t seeing more crashes. Honestly I can’t believe dealerships would let these off the lot like this. 
Click to expand...
You need to get out more, they're all around us.

Star 1.jpg

Star 2.jpg

 
my buddy had a ford excursion with a 6.0 and drove out to PA and bought a 32' I believe toy hauler got it all set up for his maiden voyage down to Hatfield Macon trails in about 3 weeks with other Buddys he was meeting down there.very new to a trailer of that size.i was there the week prior after work having a beer and giving him advice how to load or how I would load  it and told him to back his 4 seater in motor of the axles and all that...turns out he did not listen and did not want all the crap he had bought up near the kitchen cabinets sliding on the floor and what not.he wound up pulling the 4 seater in and loading the pisss out of the sxs up in the seats and bed along with a good size tool box all in the back garage area.4 hours into his trip he said all of a sudden he hit a section of uneven pavement and in a blink of a eye the trailer went left and right about 4 times then did a big last hard tip and flipped the hole truck and trailer at 60 mph on its side and just slid down the high way.banged,cut and  bruised him and his wife kicked out the windshield and walked out.shut down all but the shoulder on near the fast lane.everything destroyed but the sxs as the straps held it down to what was left of the floor..he said the trailer was shredded all over the road there cloths, food,kitchen cabinets he said you name it it was scattered down the lanes and the grass.and then the insurance did not wanna pay the tow company bill for bringing in a skid steer and small dumpster to clean the  highway as it was almost diverted down to the fast lane shoulder for over a hour he said.dont remember the total  of the entire tow, storage and clean up but it was well over 10,000 and then his insurance company did not want to pay the clean up end of the bill and only covered some and believe he had to pay 4,500 out of pocket to the remaining part of the clean up

 
Saw this at the beach a few months ago. Truck was capable of towing this camping trailer. But clearly they were uneducated on how to set up the hitch. Trailer hitch tongue was way to low. Probably 5 inches off from being level. Has to be sketchy on the freeway? Then they had the wrong adjustable receiver on the truck and was only a few inches from dragging the ground. Speed bump plow! Then look at how low the WD bars are. Then you could tell his trailer plug has to be dragging at times. Just a mess! 
 

Backing in can be tricky depending on who’s parked around you, and this guy struggled as many do. But it would not have been as bad if he would have loosened or removed his anti sway mount and the WD bars. Those things were popping and screeching so loud, that everyone around was watching. The guy camped next to him asked if he wanted him to help him and loosen the sway mount. But he declined the offer. So another couple shots he was in. 
 

F1A0C5C3-D753-46F2-A136-9917AAB81311.jpeg
 

385CE99E-05D1-4216-870B-AFCDB3DFFDB5.png

 
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Brian Machnach said:
my buddy had a ford excursion with a 6.0 and drove out to PA and bought a 32' I believe toy hauler got it all set up for his maiden voyage down to Hatfield Macon trails in about 3 weeks with other Buddys he was meeting down there.very new to a trailer of that size.i was there the week prior after work having a beer and giving him advice how to load or how I would load  it and told him to back his 4 seater in motor of the axles and all that...turns out he did not listen and did not want all the crap he had bought up near the kitchen cabinets sliding on the floor and what not.he wound up pulling the 4 seater in and loading the pisss out of the sxs up in the seats and bed along with a good size tool box all in the back garage area.4 hours into his trip he said all of a sudden he hit a section of uneven pavement and in a blink of a eye the trailer went left and right about 4 times then did a big last hard tip and flipped the hole truck and trailer at 60 mph on its side and just slid down the high way.banged,cut and  bruised him and his wife kicked out the windshield and walked out.shut down all but the shoulder on near the fast lane.everything destroyed but the sxs as the straps held it down to what was left of the floor..he said the trailer was shredded all over the road there cloths, food,kitchen cabinets he said you name it it was scattered down the lanes and the grass.and then the insurance did not wanna pay the tow company bill for bringing in a skid steer and small dumpster to clean the  highway as it was almost diverted down to the fast lane shoulder for over a hour he said.dont remember the total  of the entire tow, storage and clean up but it was well over 10,000 and then his insurance company did not want to pay the clean up end of the bill and only covered some and believe he had to pay 4,500 out of pocket to the remaining part of the clean up
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Thanks for writing the story.  I think he was already in trouble with the Excursion towing a 32 footer with a 4 seater SxS, and the loading was the straw that broke the camels back.  

 
NIKAL said:
Saw this at the beach a few months ago. Truck was capable of towing this camping trailer. But clearly they were uneducated on how to set up the hitch. Trailer hitch tongue was way to low. Probably 5 inches off from being level. Has to be sketchy on the freeway? Then they had the wrong adjustable receiver on the truck and was only a few inches from dragging the ground. Speed bump plow! Then look at how low the WD bars are. Then you could tell his trailer plug has to be dragging at times. Just a mess! 
 

Backing in can be tricky depending on who’s parked around you, and this guy struggled as many do. But it would not have been as bad if he would have loosened or removed his anti sway mount and the WD bars. Those things were popping and screeching so loud, that everyone around was watching. The guy camped next to him asked if he wanted him to help him and loosen the sway mount. But he declined the offer. So another couple shots he was in. 
 

View attachment 14838
 

View attachment 14839
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I would be most concerned with how level the trailer is and the load on each set of tandem axles. If it is indeed level with this setup then they should cut off the excess of the hitch.

 
onanysunday said:
I would be most concerned with how level the trailer is and the load on each set of tandem axles. If it is indeed level with this setup then they should cut off the excess of the hitch.
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It was not anywhere near level. You could visually see how much lower the front of the trailer was vs the back. I’m guessing maybe 10 inches or more? That’s why I said they needed to lift the front 5 inches at least. It was the typical sketchy crap you see people doing all the time. It’s got to be a white knuckle ride as it can’t pull nice. 

 
I've learned trailer hitch weight AFTER it snapped in half on me. Leaving Glamis on Ogilby Rd BAM. Dropped the trailer. Headed back to the store. Welded (Temporary) the hitch. Pulled over in El Paso and got a new one installed on the Moho. Didn't know the hitch that came with the Moho was extremely lighter than what I pull. Highly recommend everyone check the load capacity of your trailer hitch. It was a mental beating driving home that year. Peace 

 
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