This Will Spoil Your Whole Day...

[klaybus]

Huh?

The rules are the trailer and load can't exceed the towing vehicals wieght. That means that a 3/4 ton shouldn't put more that about 6k.





You'll have to explain that one to me..... Since when? Please correct me if I'm wrong here. My truck has a #8800 gross & a #16k GCWR. I tow a #8000 5vr & am currently under my GCWR. I will say though I am a couple hundred over my #8800 gross when I & 3 others are in my truck while pulling. Typically, when we pull it is my wife & I so we are under the CGWR of #16k & under the #8800 gross.

I did alot of research before buying our 5vr to be able to safely pull & be LEGAL & I feel I am. (Well, within a couple hundred pounds with 3 passengers)...

I don't want to be judgemental of this poor guy driving the Ford pulling the triple axle, but as I see it he had a few things going against him IMHO. First, Pulling what appears to be a trailer that was too heavy for his tow vehicle, & secondly perhaps lane placement.

Call me paranoid but I prefer to keep right & let all the others have the inside & fast lanes. I'm just not in that big of a hurry!

This event hopefully opened a few eyes of the many RV owners out there that pull grossly OVERWEIGHT & exceed the speed limit. I'm certainly not saying this guy was speeding as I have no idea, but it appeared to me that he may have been overweight & IMHO perhaps in the wrong lane on a crowded Memorial Day weekend freeway.



Clay

 

[AHuggard]

Well that is really true but few limit it. It is a state law here in kansas, rarely enforced. Also, my Dodge 3/4 ton operators manual specifically says the max CGVW is actually 12k and as you point out 6k for the truck and 6k for the trailer. The shop manual for my truck only allows something like 10800# CGVW. I had this discussion when I was at the DMV and was interested in a two hitch arrangment. May not be the case in other states but the book recommended wieghts support the statement at least for my truck. may not for yours, which could be a younger truck. I have a 93.



Sorry if I seemed to be inaccurate but but it is correct from my sources. I have not confirmation but I think I was told that DOT has the same rule. Perhaps one of our professional driver members could confirm this. You will note that I do not follow the rules with my 23200# CGVW, but as you so eloquently put it, I don't drive fast and I do stay out of harms way in the right most lane, some times even start and brake on the shoulder to avoid interupting traffic. Also, I run country local and not over the road with a camper.



Al

 

[GAmes]

Folk, Let's face it, almost if not all of us pull overloaded. The rules are the trailer and load can't exceed the towing vehicals wieght

There is no logic in that statement. Do you think the tractor of an 80,000 lb rig weighs 40,000 pounds? Your 93 may have a GCWR of 12,000 but a 97 non-California 2500 has a 20,000 GCWR. I'd hate to think I would have to use a 13,000 pound truck to pull my 5er. Your info is way off.

 

[Mad Bomber]

Again in the same area there was a head on today but this time it was

a car verses car with not a good outcome. Maybe the state should do something about this streatch of road. It's a strait piece of road but there are head on crashes?????

 

[GAmes]

One of the linked articles had a piece about the cable system they have in the median. Apparantly it isn't very effective.

 

[SnoKing]

Well the paper last week said the the 70MPH speed limit in this area is going away. It will be 60 up past Smokey Point. Do they read this forum. I think I said that, or on the RV.net forum. SNOKING

 

[NIsaacs]

Actually, Al is not so far off in his half and half towing rates if you factor in the loaded weight of the tow vehicle. An 80,000 lb Truck will have 12,000 lbs on the steer axle and 34,000 lbs on the drive axles, for a total tow truck weight of 46,000 lbs, thats over half of the total weight of 80,000 lbs. If that tow truck happens to be a two axle truck pulling doubles or tripples, than yes the towed weight is way over the half mark. However the three axle truck pulling one two axle trailer is way more stable. In the case of an "02" 1-ton dually with a loaded gvw of 11,000 lbs pulling a 10,500 lbs trailer, you will be right on the gcw of 21,500, or about half and half of what Al is saying.





"NICK"

 

[Mad Bomber]

One of the linked articles had a piece about the cable system they have in the median. Apparantly it isn't very effective.

It always has been VERY ineffective at stopping cars from going though. The other part could also be the center median is lower than the freeway so cars could just over the top of the cables It's also where the freeway goes from 60 to 70 MPH. They said on the news today they are reducing the speed limit back to 60 in that area.

 

[RGH43]

This is a little late but, The truck was a single wheel with a triple axle 5ver. Looks very overloaded to me. My guess was he was following to closely for his speed as it appears he was also in the left lane. When doing all that you don't have the luxury of looking away as you have NO space cushion and no time to react to changing conditions. That is a busy area even on weekends. They are now talking about or are going to lower the speed limit because of the number of accidents in the area.

 

[SnoKing]

Friday the speed limit is going down to 60 up pass Smokey Point.

SNOKING

 

[Joe G.]

Yesterday, coming home from Oregon I saw an accident similar to the one that this thread is about. A Ford towing a travel trailer had somehow turned both vehicles over and completely blocked the north bound lane on US101 just south of Trinidad. The road is straight there and slightly downhill so I don't have any idea what happened unless he was really speeding. No wind that amounted to anything. I met an ambulance just after that that was going really fast with the lights going so someone must have been hurt bad. The CHP restricted the south bound traffic to one lane and were getting ready to route the north bound traffic in the other south bound lane. Really big mess.

 

[dhill]

Looks like a LWB super cab to me, not a SWB. Well on edit, maybe it is a SWB.



Slide show available here http://www.kirotv.com/traffic/4549114/detail.html



In slide one, if compare the lenght of the bed to the width of the trailer, it appears to be a long box.



SNOKING

On slide #4, it shows that there were 3 lanes. In Washington, if a hiway has 3 or more lanes, vehicles with trailers or over 10,000 lbs. PROHIBITED in left lane. That includes motorcycles with trailers. This is posted about every 5 miles so you can't miss them. If that truck was in the left lane, he was illegal to start with.

A friend of mine, who pulls many trailers, argued with me that there was no such posting. His wife, who was in the back seat of his dodge pick-up said that the signs were all over. A few minutes later when we passed the sign, he had to eat crow. He said that it was just put there. Also in Washington, it is illegal to use the left lane except to pass, you will see in Washington, Oregon too but not a bad as in Washington, people driving in the left lane for hours and everyone having to pass on the right.



Dave

 

[JThiessen]

Also in Washington, it is illegal to use the left lane except to pass, you will see in Washington, Oregon too but not a bad as in Washington, people driving in the left lane for hours and everyone having to pass on the right.

Boy, I'd love to see some of those laws actually enforced just once in a while. I'm sure a discussion about them would end up being a flame war.



Regarding the 60mph change - I almost wish they would have made it 60 all the way up to MT Vernon. Coming back from a camping trip and getting on the freeway up there is always a wake up call to remind me what its like where i live!

 

[Mike Ellis]

My son and I just got back from a 2-week trip up to Yellowstone, saw thousands upon thousands of RVs on the roads and as usual most of them were driving well over the speed limit. It may be my imagination, but it seems to me that in the last 5 years or so the average trailer has gotten about 5' longer - huge fivers and toy boxes are the rule nowadays, not the exception.



Inside Yellowstone, where the speed limit is 45, I saw several folks having trouble handling their rigs at slow speed - sure wouldn't want to be driving around them at 65 or 70.



A lot of those "unexplained" accidents are no doubt due to people swerving to miss animals. A rapid avoidance maneuver in a heavily loaded towing situation can put a rig into danger in a fraction of a second. The driver may miss Bambi, but end up killing their whole family as a consequence. Don't kill yourself trying to avoid hitting the wildlife folks, buzzards need to eat too and your family will thank you.

 

[EricBu12]

And I saw on the report it was a 61 yr old driver so Age and wisdom should have come into play even though he said he was cut off, you hold straight, maybe you'd hit him, maybe a bumped bumper or such. . , but no fatals, no 3 car and wrecked trailer... .



I drive long haul Doubles and tripples... . When I need to avoid something, I do a long drift, no sudden moves... tripples are very touchy...



I have a 36' toyhauler like that trailer, might be lighter than that one... . I also have heavier duty tires (245 70R-19. 5" 12 ply) on the truck rated for the weight and I drive my trailer like I drive the big rig. . Don't need to hurry, Let the idiots go by, etc.



I used to drive to the Washington area and I agree that alot of those drivers are agressive and the roads are narrow and rough... Still, sad story, hope the truck driver will learn from this and change his habbits. .

 

[SnoKing]

It is in the Seattle Times paper this morning that the driver of this pickup truck received a 538 dollar ticket for second-degree negligent driving. It is nearly a year later. SNOKING

 

[Turbo Thom]

I guess it's like on RV Net... ... ... some folks on there can handle anything. They spin out, cross lanes, and then talk about how they handle their rig. A 38 foot flat bed. That time they didn't kill anybody, so it's funny. Yeah, I'm 62, but I am wise enough to know when something is not very smart. That was not. I will not tow with a single wheel truck. I didn' say it was not wise, I just won't do it. I did 35 years back, but not again. The experience I got from that put the fear in me, and it worked. I stay to the right and travel not over 65 MPH. Most times I drive my age.



All I can say to you is, if you don't like the way I drive, go around and get with it. Most times, I'll pass you on down the road.



. . Preston. .

 

[EricBu12]

so when you get to 80 are you going to be doing 80? ... .



I agree that the best way is to be safe and to the right and let all the idiots go. . Most people go 80-90 on the highways now so having a cut-off is not too bad.



I just got back from Moab and I drove Highway 6... One of the deadliest roads in america... there is a 40 mph curve and several 50's and perople get impatient with the lack of passing lanes and do head-ons on passing. There have been 2 Tractor accidents in as many monts, both on the same curve!! but more die from passing.

 

[TowPro]

I saw one on rt 95 down in the south where some little wedge shaped car hit one of those cables, it cut the roof clean off the car. Luckily there were 2 young girls walking around the car unhurt, they had to have duct when they hit the cable or they would not be alive today.



In pa we use those "jersey barriers", they are designed to deflect your truck back onto the road.

One of the linked articles had a piece about the cable system they have in the median. Apparantly it isn't very effective.

 

[Bertram65]

I guess it's like on RV Net... ... ... some folks on there can handle anything. They spin out, cross lanes, and then talk about how they handle their rig. A 38 foot flat bed. That time they didn't kill anybody, so it's funny. Yeah, I'm 62, but I am wise enough to know when something is not very smart. That was not. I will not tow with a single wheel truck. I didn' say it was not wise, I just won't do it. I did 35 years back, but not again. The experience I got from that put the fear in me, and it worked. I stay to the right and travel not over 65 MPH. Most times I drive my age.



All I can say to you is, if you don't like the way I drive, go around and get with it. Most times, I'll pass you on down the road.



. . Preston. .

What do you think would happen if one of your front tires blows out?

I agree with you on the speed.