This is why you don't use too small of a vehicle to tow...

..and you drive responsibly when you don't.

http://gizmodo.com/5814567/what-happens-when-a-car-trailer-starts-bouncing-uncontrollably

Having driven (for education) an improperly loaded F250+trailer, that was more about loading properly than a small tow vehicle.

10% on the tounge, if the tow vehicle can't handle that, then find a better vehicle.

bummer for the cars.

I would argue that the video showed theTouring doing the towing being a phenomenal tow vehicle. The incorrectly loaded, overly tall, trailer fishtailed horribly to the point of flipping and dumping its load and the only thing that happened to the touring was a spin.

Edit-A phenomenal "smaller" tow vehicle meaning I would put it against most of the small pickups or Grand Cherokee size utes for capability. A giant Dually could tow a trailer that is tumbling down the highway with nary a wiggle.

alfadriver wrote: Having driven (for education) an improperly loaded F250+trailer, that was more about loading properly than a small tow vehicle.

Having pulled a completely unbalanced 7200lb trailer thru a pretty wicked storm with 60mph crosswinds with a 2500HD... that would not have happened. In fact - the truck didn't give two E36 M3s at all. My old tundra would have been a white knuckled terror. Towing is one of those places where I am a total convert to the "Overkill is good" side. It can mean the difference between "Whoa, I better take the cruise off" and "Crap. Can one of you guys help flip me back onto my wheels".

it sounds like their saying "oh, cool" after it flips. I do realize they aren't saying that.

Tail wagging the Dog.

BTDT survived.

One more off the bucket list thank you.

yup.. trick is to catch it before it gets bad... means you have to be alert.. and most people I know are not lerts

^IIRC, I've read it's proper procedure to try to accelerate through it?

towing newb

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

alfadriver wrote: Having driven (for education) an improperly loaded F250+trailer, that was more about loading properly than a small tow vehicle.

Having pulled a completely unbalanced 7200lb trailer thru a pretty wicked storm with 60mph crosswinds with a 2500HD... that would not have happened. In fact - the truck didn't give two E36 M3s at all. My old tundra would have been a white knuckled terror. Towing is one of those places where I am a total convert to the "Overkill is good" side. It can mean the difference between "Whoa, I better take the cruise off" and "Crap. Can one of you guys help flip me back onto my wheels".

Well, since I'm not a big fan of having a car/truck that I only use 3-6 times a year, and if that car/truck is horrible to drive in any other conditions than fully loaded + trailer, and if that car/truck gets bad gas mileage... well, I could go on. I'm happy to get just enough, and pull smart. That way, I can replace a cool sedan that was getting old, and my wife has a great daily dirver that isn't too big, too bad, and just too. And we don't pay extra for an extra car that neither of us like.

mad_machine wrote: yup.. trick is to catch it before it gets bad... means you have to be alert.. and most people I know are not lerts

QFT Hain't many lerts left anymore.

alfadriver wrote: Well, since I'm not a big fan of having a car/truck that I only use 3-6 times a year, and if that car/truck is horrible to drive in any other conditions than fully loaded + trailer, and if that car/truck gets bad gas mileage... well, I could go on. I'm happy to get just enough, and pull smart. That way, I can replace a cool sedan that was getting old, and my wife has a great daily dirver that isn't too big, too bad, and just too. And we don't pay extra for an extra car that neither of us like.

Practice pulling the trailer brake to full blast while mashing the gas... and gently releasing both gas slightly ahead of the brake. You might need it one of these days. BTW, I'm not saying I've never towed with too small a vehicle... just that after buying the big truck - I'd be hesitant to do it again.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

alfadriver wrote: Well, since I'm not a big fan of having a car/truck that I only use 3-6 times a year, and if that car/truck is horrible to drive in any other conditions than fully loaded + trailer, and if that car/truck gets bad gas mileage... well, I could go on. I'm happy to get just enough, and pull smart. That way, I can replace a cool sedan that was getting old, and my wife has a great daily dirver that isn't too big, too bad, and just too. And we don't pay extra for an extra car that neither of us like.

Practice pulling the trailer brake to full blast while mashing the gas... and gently releasing both gas slightly ahead of the brake. You might need it one of these days. BTW, I'm not saying I've never towed with too small a vehicle... just that after buying the big truck - I'd be hesitant to do it again.

BTDT. And did it in training, too. But I appreciate the advice.

I just don't like wasting 1) an extra vehicle, 2) space, and 3) fuel. Towing with an F150 was totally awesome, sure. But towing with an Edge is really, really nice. Better than the Ranger, even.

YMMV.

alfadriver wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

alfadriver wrote: Having driven (for education) an improperly loaded F250+trailer, that was more about loading properly than a small tow vehicle.

Having pulled a completely unbalanced 7200lb trailer thru a pretty wicked storm with 60mph crosswinds with a 2500HD... that would not have happened. In fact - the truck didn't give two E36 M3s at all. My old tundra would have been a white knuckled terror. Towing is one of those places where I am a total convert to the "Overkill is good" side. It can mean the difference between "Whoa, I better take the cruise off" and "Crap. Can one of you guys help flip me back onto my wheels".

Well, since I'm not a big fan of having a car/truck that I only use 3-6 times a year, and if that car/truck is horrible to drive in any other conditions than fully loaded + trailer, and if that car/truck gets bad gas mileage... well, I could go on. I'm happy to get just enough, and pull smart. That way, I can replace a cool sedan that was getting old, and my wife has a great daily dirver that isn't too big, too bad, and just too. And we don't pay extra for an extra car that neither of us like.

Why not have something nice? Wife and I both love driving the 06 CC GMC. Being a half ton 2wd it gets low-mid 20's, rides great unloaded, has the most comfortable seats on the planet for long distance driving and corners flatter than either of my last 2 "sporty" cars. WE prefer taking it on longer road trips for all those reasons. We have 4 cars total and the truck has still accumulated 61k miles in 5 years.

Bobzilla wrote: Why not have something nice?

Which is a very relative measurement.

Without a doubt, my wife would not ever want to daily drive a truck to work. She'll do it, but only if something is wrong with her car.

Since OUR goal is to have a car that she'll drive every day to work, and that is capable of pulling what we pull, we ended up with the Edge.

But I'm sure that meausre is different for everyone. If you choose to buy a dualie GMC 2500 series with a turbo diesel for a 3500lb trailer + car, so be it. Especially since you may like driving that truck. We don't. So we go for as little as we need....

YMMV.

^ we did too. half ton, 4.8L V8 (smallest engine), 2wd. Wife adores driving the truck. But since she drives 75 miles every day, we got the Accent that she gets 40mpg out of instead. Paid cash, and we've made up our purchase price in fuel savings alone. 24mpg is fine on vacations and weekends, but driving almost 400 miles a week 40mpg is a lot nicer.

We still fight over who gets to drive it on the weekends.

alfadriver wrote: If you choose to buy a dualie GMC 2500 series with a turbo diesel for a 3500lb trailer + car, so be it.

Well, the trailer is 2700lbs, the car 2200lbs, the tool cart is 400, 8 more wheels and tires, fuel, spares, camping equipment, generator, and giant cooler full of food and beer... say about ~7.5k lbs. A 20% safety margin means 9k lbs capacity.

I might not need a 2500HD Duramax but I can certainly justify it. It makes a 9hr tow to VIR like a 9hr leisurely drive to VIR.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

We all have different requirements. But that does not mean your solution is best for me.

I have a 2400lb car, and a 700lb trailer. Plus being tidy on spares is about 4000lb. Since I know the Edge is cooled out to 3500b, but I know it's rating is based on how well it can cool going up hill in 110deg heat in the desert, and since the identical suspension and powertrain Explorer is 5500lb, I'm quite satisfied.

And we've towed a 3.0l Ranger with the same thing to the challenge, which is a LONG tow. No problems. Easy, no stress... etc.

And I don't have to have an extra truck in the back yard taking up space being used only a few times a year. That actually buys extra CARS that we like.

The Europeans get higher tow ratings than we do for identical cars sold in America. I assume this is because we are so lawsuit happy here.

In any case, the Europeans seem to do fine pulling campers with their 1.3L Renaults but we seem to need commerical heavy duty trucks to pull a trailer with a push mower and a can of gas on it. It just seems like the American way to me.

In reply to alfadriver:

I am not suggesting... just relating. To each his own. I've towed two jet skis behind an NX2000 thru the mountains so I am familiar with the compromises and what you can do when less is better for a given situation.

sOME people actually like trucks. I know, it's an odd concept. I happen to be one of them.

Trucks can be very comfortable to drive. If it weren't for the gas, I would have daily-driven my last two trucks in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, a 40-75 mile round trip commute (depending on the office I'm going to) makes that impractical. I love the seats in the truck, and prefer the higher driving position.

My family did a lot of towing/road trips in a few different Suburbans when I was growing up, and they were extremely comfortable...

Bobzilla wrote: sOME people actually like trucks. I know, it's an odd concept. I happen to be one of them.

I don't think alfadriver is saying trucks are bad, just that he and his wife don't want one. To each his own, and all that.

I love my F-150. In addition to being a great tow vehicle with more capacity than I will ever need, it's roomy, comfortable, fantastic in the snow, and it has a bed for those trips to Home Depot. I don't tow very often, but I use the other attributes of the truck all the time.

Bobzilla wrote: sOME people actually like trucks. I know, it's an odd concept. I happen to be one of them.

And bless you and others who buy them new. Especially if they have an F badge.

Just not for me. us.

I hate to admit, that now that I have one, I really like driving a truck. I, nor anyone who knows would have thought that, but ill also still have a built e30 in the garage so its not a complete compromise.