I will never again try to use a heavy equipment trailer to haul a car. It pulled like crap with no load on it, we thought it would pull better with a load. We loaded it how we thought it needed to be. We got up to about 40-45 mph and all h3ll broke loose. Trailer went right, left, and back right and my cousin spun us around 180 degrees on a small county road and kept it out of the ditch and didn't get stuck. We moved the car forward and tried again. Still crappy, moved it to the complete front of the trailer and took the car back where we got it so we can pick it up next weekend. Thanks for watching over us Grandpa! All this happened less than a half mile from where he's buried.

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Now THERE'S a set of skid marks!

Why was the heavy equipment trailer bad? I'd assume load too far back, taking weight off the rear wheels, 'cause that bed looks a bit high for the load.

Something for us all to remember in the future.

Glad you guys and the Olds are alright .

- Eric

 

Best pull I've had was with a U-haul car hauler. Well worth the $60 they ask for a 24 hour rental. It's easy to load, and super easy to secure the car with the over the wheel straps and rear safety chain. If you don't have a car hauler, it might be worth looking into.

That's what I use to haul my silver car, for the rare occasion I have to trailer it the $60 3-4 times a year is less than $40 per month to store one.

 

been there , done that !
That trailers wheels are too far forward . The front tires on the car would have to hang over the front edge to get weight over the axles properly , the height of the trailer isn't the issue .
I would have had a hard time separating my **** from the seat after that ride .
Glad to see all survived !

 

I'm not an expert but I would have guessed the loaded trailer was too heavy for the truck pulling it. Many many years ago I had a 3/4 ton International pickup. I rented a trailer with full diamond plate floor and put a 3/4 Ton Studebaker truck on it. Going down the freeway at 50 mph the front of the truck started going up and left, back down then up and right, the trailer doing the same thing. I was putting fingerprints in the steering wheel, my two buddies left their prints in the dash. We were using both lanes of the freeway and everybody slowed down to watch the show. Somehow we didn't crash but that's one story we all shudder over when it comes up.

Glad to hear your all OK and survived the adventure!

 

Was using a two wheel dolly once to tow my full size Bronco on the back of my short bed Chevy P/U when 1 of the straps that hold the tires on snapped while I was stopping for a light. Man what a ride managed to save both trucks but an expieriance i'll never forget.

 

I'm just curious - did that adventure leave any other skid marks than the ones in the grass?!!! It would have if I was there!

Randy C.

 

I always used tow with an equipment trailer. never had issues but i towed with a 2500 dodge ram diesel . loading the trailer properly is very important. I have unstarpped a car after thinking it was right just to re loctae it to a better spot. the whole key to loading it is to get the trailer to balance not too much weight on the truck but enough to have it sit level as possible . I used this trailer never had issues ad i had no room for error on loading it

 

Wow , I would of crapped me pants ! Glad your ok , just like I learned lately not to sand blast with regular safety glasses on . Unless you like to pick sand out of your eyes

 

LMAO! Yeah, I think I would've had skid marks too!

 

Notice how much farther forward Copper's car is on the trailer, compared to Raw's:





"Don't try this at home, Kids!"

- Eric

 

I am thinking the u-trou would be unsalvagable after that one!

 

The hitch is on the wrong end of Raw's trailer, it's bass ackwards.

 

I'm in agreement that it was too much weight for my truck (it's a K1500). The trailer pulled like complete crap when it was empty (I couldn't go over 50 mph). We figured it would pull better with a load on it. We loaded it with the car to the back more thinking we needed a little more weight on the rear of the trailer. After our little "ride" we pulled the car forward almost 2 more feet and tried again. It still wanted to wiggle, so we pulled it ALL the way to the front of the trailer and I made the "executive decision" that trying to get that car moved was not worth our lives, so we then drove back and dropped it off so we can pick it up with another trailer. I also wanted to mention (to add to the fun of the ride) that we had placed the tanks for a cutting torch (caps locked on top of course) in the truck of the car.
I will agree about the U-haul trailer, that's what I used to bring my 442 home with and it pulled like a dream!

 

Here is my two cents. My experience with trailers is towing single and double axle boats, about 100 tows in 4 years.
The pickup truck in the picture has a trunk full of supplies, including a full spare tire, Toolbox and its assumed to have some tools in it. Two bare rims and a bunch of other stuff. Most of this weight is centered over the rear tire, which is good for towing.
However, when I look at the PS rear wheel, I do not see any tire sidewall bulging or and rear spring compression as I would have expected with a loaded trunk and a 3000 pound car and a 2000+ pound trailer and a truck bed full of weight.

You should have had approximately 500 pounds tongue load for this setup.
I do not see it.
The tongue load almost looks positive and not negative 500 pounds.
The car is way too far back.
Lesson learned, the trailer must be properly balanced and the weight must be within the specifications of the tow vehicle.
You were very lucky, good luck with your new project.

 

Since the trailer towed badly when empty, it was poorly designed in the first place; as another noted, the wheels are too far forward to use as a car trailer. Second, you need 10% to 15% of the With a heavy car and trailer, that can end up putting a lot of weight on the rear suspension of the truck, and requiring an equalizing hitch. I would buy a decent trailer--it si not the cost of the trailer, it is the value of your life.

 

My very first towing experience was with a rented aluminum car trailer. I had the car too far back on the trailer, causing instability when towing. I finally moved the car forward and the trailer towed just fine. If you have problems empty, the trouble is with the trailer, period. My current trailer is a five ton equipment trailer flatbed, and I've towed everything from my 62 wagon to a crewcab dually on it with no problems. I tow with my Chevy crewcab dually and I always make sure the trailer weight is forward of the wheels, which is MANDATORY for trailer stability. The wheels act like fins on an arrow and MUST be behind the center of gravity for stability.

 

I agree that it is too far back on the trailer and it has too little weight on the hitch ball. That means the majority of the weight (relatively speaking) is on the the trailer wheels and the trucks front wheels, and the trucks rear wheels are kind of floating. The really bad part, if you continued, is when you brake, or go down a grade, it gets worse, since the trucks front end would dip, the rear of the truck lift with the trailer helping with that, taking even more weight off the rear wheels. If you go down a grade AND have to brake, it would might be an impossible situation. Don't ask me how I know! I'm not sure the heavy equipment trailer is designed to haul a car. It doesn't appear you have enough room to move it far enough forward. Basically, the weight of the car needs to be balanced over the trailer wheels, but with more forward to put enough tongue weight on the hitch. Miles71 suggested about 500 pounds and that sounds about right to me.

Years ago I towed a nearly 5000 pound 64 Thunderbird Convertible (yes, it was almost 5000 pounds) in a 24 foot enclosed trailer. It required 1000 pounds tougue weight and a load leveling hitch. I pulled it with a 3/4 ton Suburban 454. It was a beast, and took a little trial and error to find the "sweet spot", but then it was a nice tow. But it required plenty of room to stop!

 

Thanks for all the comments guys. We've learned our lesson about this trailer. We've pulled many cars before, but never with this trailer (1st time using it) and never encountered any problems. We've pulled a 3 car gooseneck from west Texas back to Missouri and even pulled a 18 foot with a 5' dovetail pulling an extra car behind it from farther west Texas and we've never even had a problem with a single one get goofy on us.

 

you got lucky. FOUR WORST EVER pulls were with a U haul. Worst was pulling my convertible back from florida. Somewhere along the way the trailer lost a leaf from the spring, about 60 miles from home I get a frantic driver pulled up along side of me saying my car/trailer was smoking and on fire. Well it turns out the whole axle came loose and shifted into the fender causing the smoke. I cargo strapped the axles together and limped it off the highway. tire, axle and fender was destroyed. It took over three hours to get a guy to come "rescue" us and the Vert. Not to mention the battle with the Uhaul people to get my car home. They wanted the dealer to drive 60 miles to my home town, to pick up a trailer, to drive 60 miles back to the garage, LOAD my car and then let me take it. SO I had to battle them (and won) to just put my damn car on the flat bed to get my car home "since they were driving there ANYWAY".. grrr...

Next one was a trailer that just fishtailed the ENTIRE time, loaded. I moved the car several times to see if it was somthing I had loaded wrong. Turns out the tongue of the trailer was bent just enough to cause my issues..

Then two flat tires, one with a trailer, one with a dolly... ever get a flat with a dolly at 60? FUN TIMES!

So now I'm the proud owner of a 1991 Classic trailer, never again to rent a damn thing to haul a car with.

F U-haul. (for hauling cars)

John

 

I think Pilot got lucky with those U-hauls too. You never know what kind of misuse or abuse rental equipment has been thru, or how it's been maintained.

We deal with a lot of leased/ rented equipment at the powerplant and while most of it is in pretty good shape esp if you get it new, some of that shyt is downright scary. We had a manlift a few weeks back that the rental company inspector had signed off as fit for use, and one of our contract electricians checked it over and ALL of the basket supports were cracked.

After nearly losing a SBC/bellhousing assembly about ten years ago with a rented cherrypicker, I bought my OWN cherrypicker. I don't like having a loaded hydraulic ram failing and dumping an engine 3 feet with no warning. Can you imagine if a 455 had been hanging on it?

I am very selective who uses my crane too.

 

i haul stuff all the time..cars to 10,000 lbs of equipment..probably 500,000 miles by now...easy rule of thumb...

you never need more weight on the back...always on the front..its not scientific..but when someone says, we thought it needed more on the back of the trailer, it always ends up bad...if ya haul a car on a tandem, you need to hysically seee the weight transfere happen, you see the trailer move when it pulls past center and has weight on the front..not scientific but works if you are inexperienced...

 

I don't think it was a poor designed trailer, but a wore out trailer. Definately no weight on truck. I have had pretty good luck with the u-haul trailers over the years. Only trouble I ever had was pulling my 72 CS behiwwend an 84 Ranger. Tail pushing the dog. I was much younger learned my lesson.
Personally, I just bought my father in law's trailer, it isn't pretty, but it pulls great, especially loaded.

Glad everyone is ok.

 

That trailer is set up for some kind of equipment. Which must have all the weight forward up against the front bar. Also for that trailer, there is not enough drop on the hitch.
like all have said the wheels are to far forward, but again it is set up for some kind of big equipment, maybe a tractor with a bucket up front.

Gene

 

This.....

I used a U-haul car hauler to carry my race car a few years ago and you never knew the trailer was behind you. I had to keep looking back to make sure it was still there.

 

Like most said, 90 percent of the time a trailer swerving is a lack of tongue wieght.

 

Like I said, I use a U-haul when I go to the track and I've never had a problem. I will say, I inspect the trailer when I go to pick it up and if it doesn't look like the newest one in the bunch I choose another. Don't ever let the U-haul D-A tell YOU what you're gonna pull...it's the other way around, if they want my money. The place I use usually has 10-15 trailers to choose from so there's enough selection to get a good one.

I guess maybe I am lucky

 

I agree inspect it before you pull it. That goes for all trailers. Most of the U haul places only have two or three trailers around here, but most have been in pretty good shape.