Pondering the Wreck

[Pat Daly]

Lately I've been thinking about what caused our wreck in Colorado. Could it be that the GMC Yukon's ABS breaking system overrode the brake controller so that the trailer brakes did not engage? Is this possible?

We really want to get on the road again but can't seem to get over our near death experience. Maybe we could if we can learn what caused the wreck.

[RAGZDADDY]

" Hrrrmmmm " on the ledge in the middle of the road then the ridges . I've hit those on a motorcycle a time or ten . TALK ABOUT DRAWING UP ! I'm not much one for a legal fight at all . But stuff like this is a case of state liablity like few others . You know how it goes though . " You can't fight city hall " .

But on the other hand , it a bicycle fell of your rig and hit a State Trooper or a state employee , you'd never be done paying out .
Jesus be with on the contiuing joureny's and my hopes are big for the perfect rig for you .

As for me and my house , we just simply cannot afford to run the roads of adventure anymore . But the few little extra dollars available and the time not traveling has allowed me to tinker around with the " Holy Roller " ( for that is her nickname , lol ) and get her spiffed up in a few areas in need of a little TLC .

 

Just finished up re-soundproofing the Gennie compartment this afternoon and got started in puling out the shouwe moulding to re-silicone in there . You know how it is . Those old RV's sit out in the drive and whisper your name all night long while you sleep with wants and desires for a going . lol

 

Rev D.

[Pat Daly]

thanks for the good words and input Ragzdaddy. Much appreciated. No wind, properly balanced butttt the ashpalt transitioned to concrete with a 4 inch lip (temporary they said while the interstate was being worked on) and I could see where the trailer went up and then landed a little cocked wises and then the dreaded sway started... end of the line for us. 8 other towed vehicles had wrecked in exactly the same place, said the tow truck driver, in the last 4 months of construction; State patrol didn't even want to talk about that!... walked away when asked. Job security i guess.  Having a hard time finding a really unique class A and don't have the big bucks for you diesel dually cummins powered 5th wheels. So, the hunt continues...

[RAGZDADDY]

One more thing >>>>>>>>>>> " GIT YERSELF BACK UP ON THAT PONY AND RIDE " . lol lol

 

Hope to see you there , Rev Daniel

[RAGZDADDY]

OH ! And NEVER rely on a weight distrinuting hitch ..... JUNK . Distibute the weight properly yourself with a tongue scale and meet tha manufactureres recommended tongue weight within a very few pounds .

 

Jesus bless , Rev Daniel

[RAGZDADDY]

OK ! Here I am again . lol . So sorry to hear about and see the photos of this horrific experience for you . But if you don't mind , I do have a few words to innerject on possible causes . 1st thought it always wind when I see this .

But allow to say this , I have pulled , hauled , pushed and dragged seemingly countless combinations of trailers and rigs from , horses , to cattle to travel trailers to big rigs . Again , wind is always my default thought .

But that said , there are a couple of other things that come clear to mind . But I am curious if you felt a wig wag sensation come on at first then it got worse ? Never mind wind . The BIGGEST mistake people instinctively make when they feel wig wag is to hit the breaks . BAD BAD BAD WRONG WRONG WRONG thing to do . The ONLY WAY to pull out of a wig wag is just that . PULL OUT OF IT . In other words hit the gas pretty HARD and as soon as the wig wag stops , ONLY SLOW DOWN ANY AT ALL BY LETTING THE VEHICLE SLOW NATURALLY WTHOUT THE BREAKS AT ALL . NO BRAKES . Even if your trailer brakes are working and you start to wig wag , it is near humanly impssobile to hit the breaks at the exact correct second to stop wig wag . It is similar to " tank slapping " on a motorcyle .

What happens when you hit the breaks in a wig wag , ( trailer brakes or not ) is that the trailer keep on coming and obviously from the pics , you know the result . Again , HIT THE GAS AND PULL OUT , THEN LET THE RIG SLOW NATURALLY . That is if you are one of few that can overcome human instinct and avoid hitting the breaks out of natural panic .

OK , Now for preventing wog wag . If that is what happened , And I got lunch that says that is exactly what happened . Never mind the cause of wig wag . But let's not forget that hitting the gas isn't always offering us available forward motion space to do such in , such as traffic .

 But back on topic of preventing wig wag . The sure fire absolute one way you will NEVER get wig wag is with a Class A Rv . Obviously . The second best way is with a fifth wheel unit . In other words , and in my humble opinion , NEVER pull a bumper mounted rig . NEVER !

 

But and if one insists on a bumper pull unit , there is one ABSOLUTE , NEVER FAIL CAUSE OF WIG WAG . And that is a rig that is to tail heavy . If you are tail heavy , there is an unavoidable effect of the trailer actually trying to raise the rear of the hauling vehcile , ( such as your yukon ) . When tail loaded , you stretch your suspension up . When the rear is light , and you hit the brakes at all , the natural response of the vehicle is for the rear to be lifted and make rear traction a mess . Causinf wig wag to increase very quickly and very hard .

Now , if you are nose heavy on your rig , you obviously have the rear of the tow vehicles front end getting light causing steering to be looser than deisred , This can also cause wig wag , but usally not so bad as the trailer being tail heavy and trying to lift the rear of the evhicle .

I'm hoping I am making sense here and helping at the same time . But as aforementioned , Iam guessing some form of wig wag bit you real hard and real bad . Of course , I grieve for you over the whole thing .

If you are one to insisit on having a bumper pull unit , and lot's of people find it needful just because they need a tow vehicle to secdond as a family car and it also seems like smart economics to boot . There is however one sure fire way to KNOW you are neither tongue or tail heavy on your trailer .Here is a link to a gadget that you can rest assured your RV trailer manufacturers RECCOMMENDED load specs are met to the T . http://www.sherline.com/lm.htm

 

In hy humble opion , these things are an absolute must to all who bumper pull ANY KINF of trailer . RV or otherwise . They are worth their weight in go

[Pat Daly]

We'll really never know. We do know that next time we would definately have a "hensley" type anti-sway controller as part of the trailer hitch system. We did have a new and excellent (well, except it did wreck) weight distributing hitch. So good, in fact it never came unhitched after 3 360 degree rolls at 65 mph. Wow!

Possible causes:

- Grooved cement pavement. the interstate up in the high lonelies above 6,000 feet in Colorado transitions from asphalt to cement with heavy grooves... and there is about a 3 inch "lip" where it transitions. We actually felt the trailer go up in the air when it went over the lip so it is possible that the trailer tires landed at a slight angle to the straight grooves and lost control.

- SUV abs system. We did feel the abs system "pumping" as we carefully tried to apply brakes and slow down so it was active, but we did not see corresponding trailer braking skid marks so the abs may have overridden the brake controller. GMC nor the brake controller company would respond to any inquiries. Totally stonewalled.

- There have been 8 other "towed" vehicles wrecked within 1 mile of where we wrecked in less than one year. Hmmm....   the very wonderful Colorado state partollman got way quiet about this and actually got in his car and left. Hmmmm on that one too.

Other points:

Our beloved GMC Yukon XL probably saved our life, along with the Michelin tires. You can't even tell it totally rolled over and then skidded on it's side for what seems like hundreds of feet being whipped down the interstate by the 5,000 pound trailer. The side of the suv looked like someone had taken a huge rake to it and ripped all the sheet metal... which was the only thing between our heads and the grooved concrete.

- This was a new "test" trailer that we were testing for a trailer manufacturer. We had towed it from Oklahoma to florida twice, once to South Dakota, including thru blizzards with 40 mph winds, ice and snow and to Colorado where it met it's demise. It towed like it was on rails, never even any sway. Go figure.

- Weather was perfect, no wind and bluebird skies.

- Instantly uncontrollable with the trailer beside than in front of the suv towing us backward at 65 mph (speed limit 75... but of course we'd never tow THAT fast)

 

Made us wish we never sold our 57 flxible bus convrsion. THAT never wrecked. LOL

 

Our learning:   get an anti sway bar, or don't tow anything, or if we're still in shock just don't tow anything anyway.

[Sandy & John Bressler]

...wind? ...road? ...have you come up with some advice for us new RV'ers?

[Sandy & John Bressler]

OH MY...what happened???

 

[Pat Daly]

Thanks Jim and all. I'm thinkin "maybe" either the brake controller or the GMC abs over-rode (is that a word?) the brake controller. No response, of course, from either GM or the brake controller folks.
Everything, and i mean everything, was in proper working order, including new Michelin trailer tires... my upgrade. fat lot of good THAT did!

Jim, how's the trailer tower coming?

[Jim]

still stunned.... I wish I had some answers for ya.