Trailer snaking accident

[Justme]

 

Now, for the past 13 months I've been running a German trailer (Unsinn Web 28) with secondary gas strut stabilisation on the suspension. It is a requirement for towing at 100km/h in Germany and I thought why not, so specced it.

 

Since then, I've towed a lot (17k miles) with on some occasions badly loaded trailers. Sometimes so little nose weight that you have to stand on the drawbar to get it to sit on the tow hitch (not advising this, but 20ft beams are frankly too long for a 14ft trailer). Since getting the new trailer, I've not had so much as a whiff of snaking, whether that was towing with the van or the Landrover.

 

I'm not sure if it's definite proof, but the gas struts seem to have made the difference and for that reason I'd not buy a trailer without them again.

 

Once again, very glad you are OK

 

The damper might be reducing the snaking but its not going to stop jack knifing due to no load on the rear of the truck if you brake heavy on a bend or the road is slippy.

 

Dont use a damper to correct a badly loaded trailer. You need some nose weight at all times. What you have when you force it on is negative nose weight. Not good.

 

Re the OP, most likely a combination of factors.

 

To little nose weight

trailer not riding level to slightly nose down, never have it nose up

excessive steering input (the landrover syndrome of rocking the wheel back & forth)

To much weight on the rear of the trailer or even on one side.

If its got solid sides then wind or the effect of larger vehicles passing or being passed causing pressure to move from in front of the wheels to behind (or vis versa) causing the wag / snake.

[Wood wasp]

My friend experienced a trailer snake on motorway while driving a discovery with another one on trailer. The rear rims were knackered as the back end had been getting pushed around so much, things finally came to a head when front corner of the trailer dug into the motorway and tipped the trailer and towing vehicle.. Whilst the disco on trailer broke free and flew over towing vehicle to land on its' roof. Thankfully he was ok but both land rovers were write offs, incidentally a lorry behind saw what was happening, moved across both lanes to hold the traffic back and give my friend the whole motorway to try and rectify situation.

[PeteB]

I have survived a few attempted tail-wags, by simply backing off the throttle and holding the wheel steady (with well clenched buttocks).

 

That conjures up a vision! How do you manage this in a LandRover?

[Big J]

The damper might be reducing the snaking but its not going to stop jack knifing due to no load on the rear of the truck if you brake heavy on a bend or the road is slippy.

 

Dont use a damper to correct a badly loaded trailer. You need some nose weight at all times. What you have when you force it on is negative nose weight. Not good.

 

 

I am well aware of that, and I am fastidious with my trailer loading. The longer beams were a one off, and in the end we ended up nudging them up the trailer with the forklift as far as possible, which resulted in a neutrally weighted trailer.

 

What I was trying to illustrate is that the secondary shocks seem to near enough eliminate snaking. I had two leaf sprung Ifors before this one and they were awful to tow.

[josharb87]

Scary Jrose!

 

Over here, to do the BE licence, you have to pass a theory test first, some snippets of info from the book about nose weight:

 

Empty, nose weight on the tow car is "normally" recommended around 30-50kg, loaded 70-90kg

you can use your bathrooms scales and a stick to measure the nose weight.

If you have negative nose weight (back heavy) and are stopped by the police, you will not be allowed to continue your journey-its that dangerous!

 

 

Years back working with a mate, we had an 18ft(?) trailer with tw150 on, and a load of wood, couldn't go above 30 without it snaking, moved a handfull of rings from the back of the trailer to the front and even a few onto the back of the truck and could then easily do 60.

[Treeation]

Bloody Hell Jo, really glad you and anna are ok. Must of been terrifying as well as all your equipment getting smashed up..hope you get a good payout from insurance....did you get down to glasto at all or did you just sack it off?

[jrose]

Again, thanks for all the replies

 

Me and Anna are fine, came down to Glastonbury on Saturday and been down there since.

 

One thing I am glad I did above all others is put myself through the B+E test, I know far too many people who tow with the normal license and having the trailer ticket has taken any of the worry out of am I insured, or for that matter legal when the police turned up on scene!

 

So anyone towing ANYTHING be it under or over 750kg, I'd urge to invest a few hundred quid in the licence as it may save you tens of thousands should something like this happen!

[mowingjamie]

best advice yet! b&e test only costs a few hundred quid, only get pulled over once and its paid for itself! never mind insurance etc if something did ever happen...

[Stephen Blair]

I don't understand the accelerating out the problem.

To me it will just mean you will have to go through it again when you slow down . And if there was something wrong faster makes things worse, maybe it's ok on a test track on an air field but not heading down a bust rd or motorway.

I've towed since I was 17 and never had anything snake, just take it easy.

Glad you are ok!

[Stoatally]

Blimey Joe! Glad to hear you and your other half are ok. Shame about the truck but at least they can be replaced