Well you are right for as I said, I would never tow a single axle trailer
so my tandem axle trailer weighs aroudn a 1000 pounds empty and when you
add a car you are above 3000 and close to 3500 depending on the vehicle.
True that adding 2000 lbs is not a significant addition UNTIL you find
yourself in a panic situation,t hen 200 pounds can be significant!! Can
you do it safely without brakes and with care? Sure but the point I was
trying to make is that we never know when, regardless of how careful WE
are that the opther guy has a "stupid" moment and we find ourselves
trying to manuever our vehicle as well as the trailer behind it.
Another one of my favorite pastimes is to ride my motorcycle. One of the
things I learned early on is to expect the other guy to make a move that
could endanger me and be prepared to take action. That philosophy has
carried over to driving any vehicle now and when I tow I anticipate what
the otehr driver may do and prepare myself for that. That means I prepare
mentally as well as prepare my equipment to handle the situation.
Bob
75 Triumph TR-6
74 MGB GT
77 MG Midget
79 MGB
71 Jaguar XKE
97 Jaguar XJ-R
On Wed, 15 Dec 1999, Joe Curry wrote:
>
>
> Bob Hill wrote:
>
> > First of all, I would NEVER pull a trailer that did not have brakes. When
> > you consider that fact that even if you attach an open trailer with a car
> > on it you have just added about 3500 pounds behind your vehicle, that is a
> > tremendous burden on the braking system of your vehicle. Granted under
> > normal conditions your vehicle will stop you but what about the sudden
> > stop? Not only do you have the daadditional weigh to stop, you have a
> > trailer behind you that has no resistance excepot the vehicle in front of
> > you. Also, I would never load a car on a single axle trailer. One of the
> > advantages of the double axle is weigh distribution and load capacity.
> > Nothing is worse that overloading the vehicle OR the trailer when towing.
>
> If you are adding 3500 pounds behind the car, you either:
>
> Don't have a single axle trailer
> You have a very poorly designed single axle trailer
> You are not towing an LBC
> Some combination of the above.
>
> I estimate the towing weight of my Spit and trailer at somewhere around
> 2000 lb.. That is not a significant addition to the weight of the
> vehicle.
> >
> > There is much discussion on whether or not a vehicle will tow a certain
> > trailer or not. The issue is not whether it will tow it, it is whether it
> > will tow it safely. IMHO, towing with a light duty SUV can be a disaster
> > wating to happen if ever in a panic situation. Back in February of this
> > year, while coming out of Florida, the lady beside me lost control of her
> > vehicle. After spinning a time or two, she hit my trailer which caused it
> > to flip immediately. So at 65 MOH, I was "trying" to steer a truck with a
> > trailer on it's side. Needless to say, the trailer steered me - down an
> > embankment to a clove of trees at which point he truck stopped and the
> > trailer kept coming - right on top if the truck. The point of the story
> > (other than the good Lord was surely watching out for me that day)
> > is that if my truck had not been heavy enough for hte trailer, it woudl
> > have probably flipped it as well. ( I always pull with a Dually - it was
> > a 99 Dodge Club Cab Diesel - totaled with 2500 miles on it now). Would a
> > smaller truck had pulled my trailer? Absolutely! As safely? Not sure but
> > as I was riding down the embankment, I sure was glad I was not on my side
> > as I was doing it!
>
> While your point is well taken, you can get into bad situations whether
> you are towing a tandem trailer with brakes or no trailer at all. Care
> is indeed the watchword. Most of us can't afford the extremes that it
> takes to rid oneself of all possibilities, but if you exercise extreme
> care when pulling even a light trailer without brakes, there's no reason
> to think that it can be done safely.
>
> Regards,
> Joe Curry
>
> --
> "If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort."
> -- Dave Weinbaum in National Enquirer
>
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