Another reason to torque lug nuts!

[WHX?? 48,815]

So 9 at nite this gal comes stumbling up my driveway phone flash lite just a blazing. 

Do you mind if we park our trailer in your driveway? Tire issues. 

Sure... pull it on in.

Hubby pulls ahead a foot and tire falls right off.

Wonder why?

 

 

Lug studs all over the road. 

Pull it in the ditch I got another hub and get some tools.

Oh no she says that won't do we have no time. We need to get to the tavern for their fish fry... 

I says I guess you didn’t have time to check your wheels then either. You couldn't hear this thing rattling 50 miles ago? 

No hubby snores pretty loud...Well I bet this woke him up!

OK I says pull it well off the road then busy stretch here. He barely gets it off the asphalt. 

Yep you come and get it in the morning then. 

Edited November 5, 2023 by WHX??

[Pullstart 62,883]

Snowmobile trailer.  They were probably spinning that poor thing thrice the recommended speed too!

[953 nut 55,230]

Guess the crew chief and tire changer should have ti sit out the next two races like in NASCAR.                   

[WHX?? 48,815]

So the next morning I hear some French and grunting coming from the ditch. 

So I tool down ther on the FEL and see what's goin on. 

Here hubby and his bro were trying to lift it on blocks had no jack. It was a lighter empty sno trailer Kev. My back hurt just watching them. 

First thing I says we need to get it off the road ... idiots fly through here at eighty. 

You guys ain't from around here are ya I says as I spy the fib plates. 

Well we figured it would be easier to work on pavement. 

Obviously no concern for ther own safety.  

 

So I pull it well in to the ditch, turn around and lift the side of the trailer up with the FEL so they can put their blocks in. 

Come git me when you get it fixed I'll get it back down. 

After some more French one comes stumbling up the drive. 

Did you say you had a hub? 

Oh balls here they thought they could put th old mangled studs back in with the splines gone and no threads left! Bearing cavity packed with dirt. Who knows what the splines looked like in the hub... they were packed full of dirt too. 

I says dude you gonna need a new hub.

Lemme see what I got... I scrounge and find a POS. That I was saving for God knows what. No Timkens bro and innner races are shot I says but chrome don't git ya home. Being the nice guy I am I suggested they get a new assembly when you back to wherever you belong. 

How was the fish fry? Best I ever seen he says. 

Didn't have the heart to tell him the cook was out on work release.

 

Least the guy asks whadda I owe ya. Nothing I says it was on the scrap pile...on the scrap pile did not register with him. 

 

Couple hours later I hear a bang. Musta been them pulling it off the blocks with the car. 

Good riddance I mumbled.

 

Now you know the REST of the story! 

Edited November 6, 2023 by WHX??

[953 nut 55,230]

7 minutes ago, WHX?? said:

Couple hours later I hear a bang. Musta been them pulling it off the blocks with the car. 

Good riddance I mumbled.

 

Now you know the REST of the story! 

Not even a thank you or "I will be right back with a six pack"?              

[lynnmor 7,306]

Always, always keep some distance from any trailer, I think what you saw is the new norm.

[WHX?? 48,815]

30 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

Not even a thank you or "I will be right back with a six pack"?              

Oh yes thank yous but no six pack as of this writing. Then again I didn’t do much to warrant it. I think I might have mentioned I drink Busch Latte when I handed him the scrap hub but???

I think I thanked him more for an otherwise boring Friday nite and the Saturday cartoons...

So the thing was they had a spare bolted on the tongue but appeared to be flat. I mentioned I have two air compressors ...

Edited November 6, 2023 by WHX??

[WHX?? 48,815]

42 minutes ago, lynnmor said:

Always, always keep some distance from any trailer, I think what you saw is the new norm.

Exactly what I told the stony... I says your lucky that didn't come off on a major highway and go bouncing up thru mom's wind shield. Went in one ear and out the other me thinks. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by WHX??

[Mike'sHorseBarn 2,998]

Aren't people interesting? haha

[wh500special 2,184]

14 hours ago, WHX?? said:

.

You guys ain't from around here are ya I says as I spy the fib plates. (steve:  emphasis added)

 

 

Hey, not everyone from "I" is a "F-B"!

 

But some of us are

 

Steve

[stevasaurus 22,740]

There are times I don't like to tell someone that I am from Illinois.  Just drive the freeway from Rockford to the North Woods or back on a Sunday to see the Clown Show.    Not all of them, but the bad ones sure stand out.  

[SylvanLakeWH 25,560]

6 minutes ago, stevasaurus said:

There are times I don't like to tell someone that I am from Illinois.  Just drive the freeway from Rockford to the North Woods or back on a Sunday to see the Clown Show.    Not all of them, but the bad ones sure stand out.  

 

The Friday night to Sunday evening "Up North" Michigan migration sounds eerily familiar... Perhaps a scientific study with a stupid o meter dashboard on a billboard...?

[stevasaurus 22,740]

Jim, (Sylvan) I have made that trip toward Traverse City many times.  It is usually a nice ride until you hit Indiana on RT# 94.  I did have a trailer in front of me lose a wheel on west bound 94 one night.  He was in the middle of 3 lanes when it let loose.  It was at night also.  No one was involed in the incident, but it was a great relief to hit that 1st rest stop in Michigan.  That was many years ago (40ish)...it was 4 lanes back then.  To day, that would shut down 8 lanes in both directions for several hours while the people were cut out of their vehicles.

   I missed one of those shut down accidents by a few minutes one night on the way to the big show.  We spent 5 hours on 294 by the Cline exit from 2:00 AM until 7:00 AM.  You know about those events in life that you always can recall??  This was one of those.  They had helocopters fly in to cut the people out of the vehicle that had slid under a semi-trailer.  When it was over, we drove the rest of the way to the show.

   WHX??, those idiots are going to get someone killed.  I'll bet you wrestled with calling the authorities or making sure they were going to do the right thing.   Bearings full of dirt, especially that sand base that you have is toxic for bearings.  Those YAHOO's are going to be back in your neck of the woods next year...if they made it home??  

Edited November 7, 2023 by stevasaurus

[Handy Don 12,232]

Had it drummed into me by the dealer service manager when I bought a pop-up camper trailer years ago. He was seriously intense telling me "EVERY SINGLE TIME you stop for a leak or to change drivers, check the trailer wheels. Wiggle ‘em and check for bearing heat. Check the lugs and pressure before setting out (and if you find a loose lug, don’t just tighten it, find out WHY is is loose)."

I was a noob so I listened and so far have never had a towing issue. 🤞

[WHX?? 48,815]

I hear ya Don. Went to Horror Fright and bought cheapy torque wrench and some sockets. Permanent resident in the camper truck. Gets checked before every show and when packing up after show. Been known to offer it to bros in camp too. 

[lynnmor 7,306]

You can do everything right with trailer maintenance but the quality of the parts may still cause a breakdown.  For example; I had brand new hubs, brakes and bearings that began to fail on the first revolution, the bearings were made poorly,  I replaced them with Timken.  Brakes are a joke as well, I have had 7" brakes fail in several ways and 10" brakes with numerous magnet issues.  I could write a book on snowmobile, utility, popup, enclosed and travel trailers, they are all junk.

[wh500special 2,184]

1 hour ago, lynnmor said:

You can do everything right with trailer maintenance but the quality of the parts may still cause a breakdown.  For example; I had brand new hubs, brakes and bearings that began to fail on the first revolution, the bearings were made poorly,  I replaced them with Timken.  Brakes are a joke as well, I have had 7" brakes fail in several ways and 10" brakes with numerous magnet issues.  I could write a book on snowmobile, utility, popup, enclosed and travel trailers, they are all junk.

Agreed.  On a small trailer with 12” wheels I had brand new noisy bearings that I threw away after about 25 miles.  Repacked them twice and no improvement.
 

New ones were silent as they should be. 
 

I’ve never heard anything good about 7” brakes.  Apparently almost universally problematic. 
 

I don’t do it yet, but eventually will get a complete replacement hub with bearings to carry with me for the boat trailer.  Even with regular maintenance I always feel like I’m on borrowed time and destined for a breakdown on a dark, lonely, cold interstate highway.  I carry extra bearings and a grease seal but can imagine something not working out that keeps me

from making the repair. 
 

steve

Edited November 8, 2023 by wh500special

[wh500special 2,184]

4 hours ago, stevasaurus said:

…  You know about those events in life that you always can recall??  

I had one of those events about two weeks ago on my way home from fishing.  Sort of peripherally related to this towing thread…

 

 I was towing the boat so was running 65 mph in the right lane of I-70.  Got passed by a big Class A motor home with a 2500 Duramax 4wd crew cab Chevy behind it as a toad. Michigan plates.  I made a mental note of it because I’d never seen such a big vehicle being flat towed behind an RV.  But it was tracking obediently behind so it looked reasonable.  
 

Thirty five seconds after he passed me something went wrong and there was a big puff of smoke or dust and the RV went all over the road, the truck behind it came loose, everything went through the ditch between the eastbound and westbound lanes, the RV rolled across the highway on the other side and disappeared in the woods down in a hole. I have no idea where the pickup truck went.  
 

It happened in the blink of an eye and my dash camera recorded the whole thing except the causal event. Which I assume was a blown tire.  I managed not to run into anything and got pulled over. 
 

Amazingly, no other vehicles were involved and thankfully everyone survived.   
 

Can’t imagine ever forgetting that. Things can go wrong so quickly at speed. 
 

Steve

Edited November 8, 2023 by wh500special

[WHX?? 48,815]

58 minutes ago, wh500special said:

 

It happened in the blink of an eye

Key words. 

[tunahead72 2,412]

4 hours ago, Handy Don said:

... "EVERY SINGLE TIME you stop for a leak or to change drivers, check the trailer wheels. Wiggle ‘em and check for bearing heat. Check the lugs and pressure before setting out (and if you find a loose lug, don’t just tighten it, find out WHY is is loose)."...

 

This sounds like great advice to me.  I'll be taking my trailer down to Virginia in a few days, guess what I'll be doing before we leave, and also along the way.

 

[8ntruck 7,004]

EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU STOP, CHECK......    You bet!

 

We towed our Cherokee up to our Michigan location yesterday from our Missouri location on a U Haul auto transport trailer.

 

Every time we stopped, I would check the tie down straps, visually check the hitch and safety chains, and lay a hand on each trailer tire, wheel, and hub checking the temperature.

 

I don't really like the amount of tonge weight on that setup, but it is liveable.  Really should have an equilizer hitch.  I think those trailers were really designed to go behind a U Haul truck - enough mass and spring rate there to not care about a car trailer.

 

If I could anchor the Jeep about a foot further back on the trailer, I'd be happier.  However, that adjustment isn't available on those trailers - probably some built in idiot proofing to prevent negative tonge weight.

 

Was a little unsettled in the cross wind we towing at 70mph.  Did fine between 65 and 68mph.

[Handy Don 12,232]

14 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

If I could anchor the Jeep about a foot further back on the trailer, I'd be happier. 

 

14 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

built in idiot proofing

i suspect you are completely correct with your assessment. UHaul provides a really valuable service and has developed a strong brand at least partly, I believe, by staying OUT of the news or social media for being involved in (or worse, the cause of) crashes. Idiot proof is impossible (idiots are just too clever) but idiot resistance is clearly part of their products. Those trailers are seriously overbuilt, for sure, and notice that even the utility trailers for sale at the box stores have had their axles moved rearward to increase tongue weight.