Rollover I-75 Southbound Gaylord Exit

[old abe]

Uperjim: I have a buddy with a Yukon XL and he has a huge 36' bunkhouse trailer. He refuses to drive on the interstates unless he absolutely has to in the summertime. He pulls on the state roads and yes he has his set up with a standard weight distribution hitch. For him it's a side to side tail wagging when getting passed by a semi. lotsfire, I would be willing to bet that your buddy has a Yukon XL that is equipped with "P" series, "passenger series" tires. that are designed for ride comfort. Not for pulling loads.

Hoosier If I remember correct your out of the Indy area. If you come up to Northwest Indiana I'd be willing to show you my setup in person. There are a couple RV dealers down there in the Indy area that sell the Anderson hitches. Either way if you want more pictures or something let me know. If you look at mine where it's mounted to the trailer there's a 1 in thick plate of aluminum that's been welded onto the trailer and then tapped to allow the chain tensioners supports to be bolted directly to the frame.

 

[wisco-mb]

wisco-mb sorry to hear you had to deal with that. Sounds like overall you were lucky. So did you have your sleds tied down? If so how? Ratchet straps or tie down bars?

With all my years on the fire department I've seen a few accidents. One was a horse trailer upside down in a ditch. The horse was pretty beat up but luckily made it out okay.

Thanks. All part of life's up and downs. It was a pretty cruel to go through it though!
I did not have them tied down. I know people have different opinions on this, and rules. I still do not tie them down. You could argue I wouldn't have any sled damage or missed riding time if they were tied down, but something tells me God wanted me not to go that day. Just my opinion. Insurance is there for rare accidents. I would say most people wouldn't have to go thru something like this.

 

[lofsfire]

old abe - I would have to ask him I think he had load rated tires but honestly I'm not sure. He's defiantly had it long enough to change tires more than once. So if he did not put something better suited for his needs, that's on him.

Thanks. All part of life's up and downs. It was a pretty cruel to go through it though!
I did not have them tied down. I know people have different opinions on this, and rules. I still do not tie them down. You could argue I wouldn't have any sled damage or missed riding time if they were tied down, but something tells me God wanted me not to go that day. Just my opinion. Insurance is there for rare accidents. I would say most people wouldn't have to go thru something like this.

I hear you and understand. I was just curious. I do strap mine down with ratchet straps. They would hold the sled no problem. Honestly, there are a lot of forces happening in a rollover, and I wonder if they would slide side to side still... I do only use one strap in the front and one in the rear. The ends do hook to two different tie down points. Only exception is the back of mine when up un the V.

This summer I'm going to ask a friend to try using his transom straps. This might speed the tie down process up...

 

[dmsrx]

Uperjim: I have a buddy with a Yukon XL and he has a huge 36' bunkhouse trailer. He refuses to drive on the interstates unless he absolutely has to in the summertime. He pulls on the state roads and yes he has his set up with a standard weight distribution hitch. For him it's a side to side tail wagging when getting passed by a semi.


Hoosier If I remember correct your out of the Indy area. If you come up to Northwest Indiana I'd be willing to show you my setup in person. There are a couple RV dealers down there in the Indy area that sell the Anderson hitches. Either way if you want more pictures or something let me know. If you look at mine where it's mounted to the trailer there's a 1 in thick plate of aluminum that's been welded onto the trailer and then tapped to allow the chain tensioners supports to be bolted directly to the frame.

Was his Yukon long or short wheelbase? Probably had passenger car tires as well so a fairly low pressure and soft sidewall. That's alot of trailer to tug around. One thing about TT is the axle placement. There seems to be a trend of having alot of overhang behind the axles now. I think they do it to reduce tongue weight. The by product of that is sway when getting passed or passing. The wake from the other vehicle pushes the back of the trailer away making it sway. And with the overhang behind the axles there is alot of leverage to help the wake move it. A good hitch set up is everything on those trailers. I went from a 27ft trailer to a 35ft with the same floor plan and axle measurements from the tongue to the axles so the extra length was over hang. The wake from passing vehicles always moved it. Wasn't terrible but I was pulling with a 1 ton Ford Van.

 

[lofsfire]

Was his Yukon long or short wheelbase? Probably had passenger car tires as well so a fairly low pressure and soft sidewall. That's alot of trailer to tug around. One thing about TT is the axle placement. There seems to be a trend of having alot of overhang behind the axles now. I think they do it to reduce tongue weight. The by product of that is sway when getting passed or passing. The wake from the other vehicle pushes the back of the trailer away making it sway. And with the overhang behind the axles there is alot of leverage to help the wake move it. A good hitch set up is everything on those trailers. I went from a 27ft trailer to a 35ft with the same floor plan and axle measurements from the tongue to the axles so the extra length was over hang. The wake from passing vehicles always moved it. Wasn't terrible but I was pulling with a 1 ton Ford Van.

His is the XL so I believe that's the long wheel base.

 

[Tuck]

What tires do you like as I am in the market for new tires for my 1500.

currently on Yokahoma geolanders, coopers before that. had good luck with both so far. I will be looking this fall or sooner for new ones if I keep the truck. I did go with load E on a 150 for stiffer side walls. I also added a leaf to the rear springs.
I am going to have to look into the WD hitches again after reading all the above comments. Last time i was looking at them recall reading all the negative about running them on slick roads. I do not get a lot of tail wag but there are a few times the right vehicle passes and there it is.

 

[Hoosier]

Uperjim: I have a buddy with a Yukon XL and he has a huge 36' bunkhouse trailer. He refuses to drive on the interstates unless he absolutely has to in the summertime. He pulls on the state roads and yes he has his set up with a standard weight distribution hitch. For him it's a side to side tail wagging when getting passed by a semi.


Hoosier If I remember correct your out of the Indy area. If you come up to Northwest Indiana I'd be willing to show you my setup in person. There are a couple RV dealers down there in the Indy area that sell the Anderson hitches. Either way if you want more pictures or something let me know. If you look at mine where it's mounted to the trailer there's a 1 in thick plate of aluminum that's been welded onto the trailer and then tapped to allow the chain tensioners supports to be bolted directly to the frame.

Thanks. I'll let you know. My family is mostly in NW Indiana so I'm up there once in a while. Our trailer has a straight tongue, not a V, so I'm not quite sure how that would work. Seems like it would be money well spent.

 

[lofsfire]

Thanks. I'll let you know. My family is mostly in NW Indiana so I'm up there once in a while. Our trailer has a straight tongue, not a V, so I'm not quite sure how that would work. Seems like it would be money well spent.

Sounds good, I'll PM you my number.

 

[lofsfire]

currently on Yokahoma geolanders, coopers before that. had good luck with both so far. I will be looking this fall or sooner for new ones if I keep the truck. I did go with load E on a 150 for stiffer side walls. I also added a leaf to the rear springs.
I am going to have to look into the WD hitches again after reading all the above comments. Last time i was looking at them recall reading all the negative about running them on slick roads. I do not get a lot of tail wag but there are a few times the right vehicle passes and there it is.

That shocks me, the whole point of the WD hitches is to balance things out. If the truck is not riding correctly you can be in for a wild ride on good roads. I could only image being even more susceptible to problems on slick roads on trailers that are really heavy. Honestly, had I bought my trailer new I probably would not have thought to try the system I have. So I'm glad the guy before me had it on the trailer. When it come time to change trailers I will make sure I can use this same setup.

 

[elf]

I have a 1/2 ton and had my 20 x 8 trailer try to pas me on the freeway one time. End up facing southbound in the northbound lanes of the freeway. Luckily no rollover and no damage to the sleds inside but I do tie down both front and rear bumpers on the sleds. There was some damage to the truck and trailer though. This trailer makes me nervous every time I hook up to it now.
I also tow a 30' RV and I have a Reese weight distributing hitch with sway control. Pulls it like a dream. No wiggle at all, not when passing or being passed. The problem I have is the tongue on my sled trailer will not allow weight distributing hitch to work on it.

My plan to eliminate the nervousness on the sled trailer is two fold, buy a smaller trailer since I only ever pull 2 sleds anymore and plan to order a 1 ton in the spring. Going with a 1 ton instead of a 3/4 ton primarily to avoid MN ridiculous registration fee's and we are planning/hoping to retire in a couple of yrs and get a bigger camper and see more of the country.

 

[dfattack]

Thanks. I'll let you know. My family is mostly in NW Indiana so I'm up there once in a while. Our trailer has a straight tongue, not a V, so I'm not quite sure how that would work. Seems like it would be money well spent.

My legend trailer has the straight tongue too. I'm not a gear head but I have great mechanics. One of them fabricated a steel u channel type cross member and bolted it to the tongue. He then mounted the connection points for the trunion bars to that. Works great and I always use the WD setup when trailering long distances. Notice a big difference even with my duramax.

 

[offpiste]

I tow a 25 foot inline with my F150. I have the 6.5 foot box and airbags. The longer wheelbase and airbags work great to keep trailer sway at a minimum. I've towed it from Detroit to Pinedale Wyoming 4 times without issue. All 4 trips I encountered the Wyoming wind and was just fine. Anybody who has ever made that trip will understand Wyoming wind, especially going over Elk mountain area. I would never use weight distributing hitch when trailering on slick roads. Is a 3/4 or 1 ton better?!? Absolutely, but a 1/2 ton properly equipped work just fine.

 

[lofsfire]

Thanks. I'll let you know. My family is mostly in NW Indiana so I'm up there once in a while. Our trailer has a straight tongue, not a V, so I'm not quite sure how that would work. Seems like it would be money well spent.

Sounds good, I'll PM you my number.

Now that the board is back up and working can someone tell me how to PM Hoosier? The only thing I could find was what looked like a semi-private board. It looks like others can still read but not reply... I don't mind my phone number out to those legitimate users but I prefer it not open to everyone on the web... lol

 

[mezz]

It's only shared if you wish it be. To my knowledge, it is the same as the previous private messaging with the option to include others if you wish. I have used it a couple of times & I haven't seen it shared. Perhaps Gary or one of the other mods could add to this.

 

[lofsfire]

It's only shared if you wish it be. To my knowledge, it is the same as the previous private messaging with the option to include others if you wish. I have used it a couple of times & I haven't seen it shared. Perhaps Gary or one of the other mods could add to this.

Thanks I forgot I asked the same question in another post.

 

[jime]

i have found tongue weight is a dynamic with trailer wag. s/b 10%? or more

i rotate tires, or use heavier tires on front axle in order not to over work tires on my dual axle trailer.
seen lots of different people load up, and its not trouble until it's trouble.

can a big truck over come this, don't think so. imo