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Topic ClosedCrashed on the interstate while towing the R-Pod

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sammycamper View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Crashed on the interstate while towing the R-Pod
    Posted: 11 Dec 2012 at 12:30am

I agree with everyone here that the best part of your story is that all the living beings are still living and well. Next best thing is the good treatment you got from everyone nearby.

You are getting advice in several different directions, but one common thread that just makes good sense is to keep the trailer from pushing you - there's nobody steering the trailer. I'll add my vote to those who recommend manually engaging your trailer brakes and staying off the TV brakes as long as possible. I do think your hind sight that you entered the curve too aggressively is spot on.
 
I strongly disagree with a couple suggestions here that keep coming up on this site. I DO NOT think you need a larger tow vehicle, and I DO NOT believe your weight distrubution hitch and anti-sway bar helped your towing a lick. Neither are necessary or even appropriate for such a light, single axle camper.
 
I have been towing campers and boats for nearly 30 years, and the largest tow vehicle I've had is the 6-cyl Trailblazer that we have now. I towed a 19-foot sailboat with a cabin that slept 4 people from San Diego, CA to Rochester, MN with a 4-cyl Isuzu Trooper (we slept in the boat at Grand Canyon National Park) and I towed the rig through Vegas, where we spent a night in a hotel. Just before our rPod 173, we were towing a camper that weighed a thousand pounds more with a Honda Pilot and then the 2008 Trailblazer we have now. I did not use a WDH with the Pilot, because the Honda owner's manual recommended against it. The Pilot was max'd, but did fine. I did use a WDH for the body-on-frame Trailblazer when we pulled that travel trailer; but, that trailer had tandem axels and the WDH could balance the weight on the trailer axles. That was the max that either the Pilot or the Trailblazer could pull safely, and I stayed within about a 300-mile radius for the 6 years we towed it. The rPod 173 is an easy pull for the Trailblazer. I think I'd pull it practically anywhere.
 
Using a WDH with such a light single-axle trailer as an rPod, especially with the tanks full and lifting weight off the tongue, can cause more troublesome dynamics than it remedies. A WDH tends to numb any normal sensation of towing, and that probably contributed to the over-confident speed you were going as you entered the curve. I highly recommend traveling with your fresh and gray water tanks empty for anything but short hauls. I also encourage you to hitch up without all that WDH and anti-sway crap. Go ahead and feel your tow! You will have a much better tendancy to do your best intuitive driving.
 
Please: Hook up your camper directly to a basic hitch in your TV receiver (making sure the ball is at the right height to keep your camper level). Go to the biggest, emptiest nearby parking lot you can find, and drive around until you are comfortable with things. Then do some driving around a few blocks in relatively flat areas. Then try some hills; then some curves; then some hilly curves. Graduate slowly, deliberately, and cautously while the 9-month old is safe in a crib back home with the grandparents - just you, your wife, your tow vehicle, and your rig. Feel what you're towing. It's not a bad thing. It's a nice little pod. I'll bet you bought the rPod partly due to the fact that you wanted something small enough to tow behind the Highlander, because the Highlander is what you have and it serves your little family's needs nicely. Well, you were right in the first place.
 
Practice this until you don't have to listen to fools like me. Practice towing your rig raw until you enjoy the tug you feel behind you. Practice manually engaging the trailer brakes until it's almost as impulsive as pushing the brake pedal or accelerator. Pretty soon you'll know the difference between a tug and a push, and you'll know what to do to get the tug back. BUT, your chances of feeling that difference with a damn WDH and anti-sway on an undersized single-axle trailer are next to zip.
 
At that point, you'll be ready to bring the 9-month old along for a great family adventure.
 
Sam
 
2012 rPod 173
2008 Trailblazer 4WD V6
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g4royce View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 2012 at 12:28am
Glad you were all safe and that you managed to catch your cat before it got away.  


ChaiPod
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2012 at 11:02pm
Thadd, thank God you all are safe, that is paramont. A lot of information is flying around here, I think Seanl is dead on, downhill, increasing radius, braking. I have a Prodigy wireless brake controller, the hand unit plugs into the cigar lighter and communicates with the brake controller on the Pod, it is a litte larger than a microphone on a c b unit, it has a push button that allows you to apply the pods brakes first. I keep it in my lap. I hope I never have to use it. They make cars and campers every day they can be replaced but not you guys, again Thank God your family is safe.
Dane and Donna Smith
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2012 at 10:54pm
Glad everyone, cat and all, is OK.

I think the mash the accelerator working/not working may have to do with the TV's engine some..

I bet when I mash my accelerator, I get a whole lot more "pull" out of it then someone in a smaller TV.

Specially in the Excursion.

Course.. I can't pour water out of a boot faster than I am burning gas at that point.. lol
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2012 at 10:43pm
techntrek - Have to disagree with you about the acceleration.   The physics dictates that it does work. Accelerating the TV is much the same as applying the RV brakes.  It allows you, the TV, to remain in control.   Michelin has (or had) several good videos as to how and why this works.  I'll see if I can find the links again.
Linda and Dan
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2012 at 9:48pm
Thank goodness no one got hurt and everything seems repairable. Just wondering how tight your anti sway bar was. 

Also wondering if the fact that your tanks were full contributed to the sway.
"Whether you think you can or think you can't, either way you are right"- Henry Ford

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2012 at 9:41pm

As others have mentioned already and I want to stress, when sway starts ...

... never touch the accelerator, this adds energy to the equation right when you need to be removing it.

... never touch the TV's brakes, this magnifies the problem even though you are removing energy.

... never try to steer opposite of the the wobbling feeling, there is a 90% chance you'll increase the wobble, and increase it significantly.

... ALWAYS apply the brake controller aggressively, even if it means temporarily locking up the trailer brakes.  You may have to keep applying some trailer brake all the way down the hill.  This forces the TV to pull on the hitch which negates the sway.

One exception to the accelerator rule - if you are pulling a trailer without trailer brakes, and you are within 100 feet of the bottom of the hill, and nobody is in front of you, then mash on the accelerator.  It has the same effect as applying trailer brakes by forcing the TV to pull the trailer straight.  But this is a rare exception to the rule.

Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2012 at 9:26pm
Danthoman,

The idea is not to tap the TV brakes, but to only lightly touch the brake pedal, just enought to actuate the stop light switch. This engages the trailer brakes, but not the TV brakes. This is the same thing as manually using the brake controller control, but maybe not as aggressively. The idea is to let the trailer put some drag on the TV, thereby straightening out the rig. I can easily feel this point when I touch the brake pedal, albeit, I'm not in a panic situation.
Charlie
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2012 at 9:15pm
 
Originally posted by thadd

...
Weight: We had both our fresh tank full and grey almost full, black nearly empty. This meant we were tongue-light which probably contributed to the sway. ...

The biggest contributors to sway, in this order:

1. Not enough tongue weight

2. Speed

3. Short wheelbase vehicle

4. Not enough pressure in the TV and trailer tires (they should be at or near their max sidewall rating)

5. Lack of sway control

6. Outside forces like side winds, etc.

Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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Goose View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2012 at 8:47pm
   Thank goodness that everyone is alright and that the guardrail was there to keep you from going down into the ditch. Traveling over the road for most of my life this happens more often than you think, it's all Weight and Momentum. The trailer has the Weight and your speed sets the Momentum, after just 7 degrees of deflection from a straight course at highway speeds a lose of control is going to happen and is not recoverable, a jackknife most likely will happen because it is the trailer that is now in control. 7 degrees is not much of an angle at highway speeds.
   Seanl is right that the trailer brake only should have been applied as soon as the sway started and a slowing of speed ahead of the curve would have helped.
   Thadd if your wife never pulls the trailer again that is to be expected, this was a very traumatic experience that may not hit her for a few days. My wife has seen several major accidents involving people pulling flatbed or box trailers behind their cars on mountain roads as we have traveled over the years that made her very worried when we first got our trailer and headed off west. She is much more comfortable on curvey roads now but it really took awhile, she only co-pilots.
   Your honesty in what happened is to be admired and your wanting to share your disaster with us so that it might help someone else in the future really stand out. 
    Safe travels for the rest of your journey.  Goose
Mother Goose's Caboose..2011 RP171..07 Grand Cherokee
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