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Offline Snowman

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Trailer Towing adventure.
« on: January 24, 2015, 04:22:26 AM »
In September, I moved from Virginia, to Idaho. In order to do this, I bought a 34' enclosed bumper pull trailer from a company out of Georgia. 3x 5200lb axles, 15000lb GVW(what about tongue weight?!)

Here it is the day of delivery, sitting in my driveway.(well...mostly in the street)

If you can't tell, that was an early 2000's yukon denali that delivered it!!! :o

Here it is attached to a proper to rig.(empty!)



I ran E-track rails down both sides to secure cargo to.(no pics  >:( )

Took off the 35" toyo MT's in favor of the 225/70/19.5's for the trip. Here are some loaded pics. (Needed bags!)





My dad flew out and we left at about 9pm Friday night. We took turns driving all the way to Sidney, NE before stopping to sleep late Saturday night(and only because we wanted to stop at Cabelas in the morning!)

Trailer+truck weighed 23,200 lbs. Truck was about 7600, so 15,600 on that trailer! (probably less on the axles considering the obvious tongue weight!) Even with the tongue weight, and no bags, it rode and handled great. No pushing, weaving, or anything. In Wyoming we found that 34' of flat trailer makes a pretty good sail!

Averaged about 10mpg untill Nebraska or so, when the speed limit went up to 80. Had no problems running 80 all the way through flat Nebraska, Hills in Wyoming, and into Idaho.( pretty sure mpg went down a little though!)

About 3 hours from home, in Green River Wyoming, we had a little mishap:



Luckily, we were off the freeway, just pulling into a gas station. The pics aren't very good, but there was not an ounce of penetration on the welds on that coupler. This was a Sunday afternoon, so everywhere was closed. Luckily for us, this random guy in a mobile service truck from Utah stopped and offered to help!

 We jacked the trailer up and wrapped the safety chains around the receiver hitch to get it away from the fuel pumps to weld it.

We fully expected this guy to throw a quick bead on to keep the coupler on and we would just have to fix it right when we got back to my dads. But we were pleasantly surprised when Louis the Welder took his time, and about 2 dozen welding rods, and welded this coupler up like the Georgia factory should have.


We praised his work, and offered him a good chunk of cash for his time, but he declined! He started asking about goose hunting, how it was in Idaho and if we did any. My dad knows several avid goose hunters around, and promised to set him up with the goose hunt of his life!

Trailer had a 1 year warranty, but after spending weeks on the phone with the factory, and hearing them say that warranty work had to be performed by them at their factory, I won't be doing business with them again...

After we got home, I took it to get weighed again and this happened:




It's like that trailer was heavy or something....

Offline cudakidd53

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Re: Trailer Towing adventure.
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2015, 07:17:04 AM »
Wow, glad it didn't happen on the road at speed either time!  Great blessing to cross paths with Louis too!  I'm guessing that now being moved, the trailer is "For Sale" unless your going into the moving business!
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Offline Bob Smith

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Re: Trailer Towing adventure.
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2015, 09:53:55 AM »
Wow, what an experience. I guess that is why the hitch people place max weight limits on their stuff. The trailer coupler, well you were darn lucky you didn't go through a section of rough road at 80 and have that give away.

Offline Flyin6

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Re: Trailer Towing adventure.
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2015, 10:12:58 AM »
Holy smokes!
I'm glad there wasn't a third "And then this happened!"

Would probably have been your truck breaking in half!

But you survived and the story ends happily with you at home all in one piece with all your belongings???
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Offline KensAuto

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Re: Trailer Towing adventure.
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2015, 02:36:26 PM »
WOW!!
That's the last part of the trailer that should EVER break off, no matter the weight!!
Lucky for you, and the trailer builder, that no one was killed on the freeway.


Same question as Big D, did you make it ok??
« Last Edit: January 24, 2015, 02:37:21 PM by KensAuto »
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Offline JR

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Re: Trailer Towing adventure.
« Reply #5 on: January 25, 2015, 02:52:03 AM »
Dang, shows how much you really need to pay attention to tongue weight!! You were lucky all the way around mishaps or not. Someone up there likes you  :D

I had to rethink mine when I checked mine and found I had a 10k ball and a 12k trailer.

For some reason I don't find what Louis did all that out of place. I have done the same and have been helped the same way (well maybe not quite that bad)

What a crock for the trailer manufacturer though. You are on the side of the road on a weekend and they want you to go to a dealer!!
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Offline Snowman

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Re: Trailer Towing adventure.
« Reply #6 on: January 28, 2015, 06:04:39 PM »
Yeah, I was surely counting my blessings that day.

WOW!!
That's the last part of the trailer that should EVER break off, no matter the weight!!
Lucky for you, and the trailer builder, that no one was killed on the freeway.


Same question as Big D, did you make it ok??

I fully agree Ken, that's one reason I was as upset as I was, and spent lots of time on the phone with the factory, demanding that they check their other trailers, and teach whoever welded that how to do is job.

Everything ended up relocated safe and sound in the end.

Yeah, I was counting my blessings that day.

Wow, what an experience. I guess that is why the hitch people place max weight limits on their stuff. The trailer coupler, well you were darn lucky you didn't go through a section of rough road at 80 and have that give away.
I honestly don't think any part of the trailer was actually overloaded. 23,200 total weight, - 7600 lbs for the truck= the exact 15600 trailer GVW, with only about 12200 lbs on the trailer, leaving about 3400 lbs on the back of the truck. There was at least 1000 lbs in the bed, so 2400 lbs of tongue weight on the trailer itself. That is 60 lbs over 15% tongue weight. And with as long as this sucker is...I don't see how you could load that much weight far enough back to get it any lower. The whole front of the trailer was loaded with boxes of blankets and clothes for goodness sakes! Everything heavy was loaded aft of the axles. Washer/dryer/welder/toolbox/beds/dressers/desks/motorcycle were all piled at the axles or aft.

We were very lucky this happened where it did. It wasn't a very smooth trip. It seemed like every overpass we crossed had a 1 foot lip going up, and 1 foot drop off the far side. And after this happened, we just thought back to all those bumps and had nightmares about it happening on one of those at 80mph.

Wow, glad it didn't happen on the road at speed either time!  Great blessing to cross paths with Louis too!  I'm guessing that now being moved, the trailer is "For Sale" unless your going into the moving business!
Trailer is already sold, I actually made a profit on it! A trailer that type and size is pretty rare around here, and ordering one from elsewhere incurs pretty hefty delivery fees, so I had it sold dang quick for enough to cover the cost, and probably the fuel to drag it here!

Offline Dawg25385

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Re: Trailer Towing adventure.
« Reply #7 on: January 28, 2015, 06:22:32 PM »
Wow... so lucky you weren't on the freeway when that happened! Glad you're safe and sound
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