jason purcell

What causes a trailer to fishtail?

I was towing a trailer with 2 ric of firewood home the other day, and I
couldn't go above 55 miles per hour, the trailer was weaving back and forth
so much...

I have a dakota quad cab 4.7 4wd 3.55 axle 2001, and a
5x10 flatbed trailer, with 13" tires.

What did I do wrong?

J.

max dodge

Load towards the front so the tongue has some weight on it, more weight than
is behind the trailer axle. Tire pressure should be checked as well.

--
Max

"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)

big al

Had this happen to me in the 60's pulling a car trailer. About the scariest
ride I ever had. The trailer was making "S" skid marks and I about lost it
more than once. In my case it was a loose front end in the truck. I replaced
all the bad parts and had the front end aligned. Never a problem after that.
When it happened we tried to add weight to the truck by moving the car
forward on the trailer, then we unloaded the car and turned it around and
tied it as far back as we could. Must have mover that car 20 times, nothing
helped. The only way to stop the weaving was to stand on the gas. Going down
hills was murder.

About 10 years ago I saw this happen to a guy in a Wagoneer pulling a
camping trailer. He stopped and I offered to pull it with my truck. Hooked
it up and it was a solid as if it was on railroad tracks. I pulled it about
40 miles and then we hit I-10 and went different directions.

Al

.bob

Improper weight distribution. You should have about 10% of the weight on the
tongue. What that means is if the trailer and cargo weigh 2,000#, then the tongue
weight should be 200#.
With the kind of hauling you're doing, that's pretty tough to measure or
estimate. So do this. With the truck on an even keel, measure the height of the
bumper. Now find somebody who weighs about 200#, and have them stand on the trailer
hitch ball. Now measure the height of the bumper. That's how much the the rear end
sags with a 200 pound tongue weight (On my truck it's about 1.5"). Now you can
guestimate tongue weight by measuring the bumper.

--
..boB
On Order: 2006 FXDI, Red.
1997 HD FXDWG - Turbocharged Stolen 11/26/05 in Denver
1HD1GEL10VY3200010 CO License J5822Z
2001 Dodge Dakota QC 5.9/4x4/3.92
1966 Mustang Coupe - Daily Driver
1965 FFR Cobra - 427W EFI, Damn Fast.

thesnoman

I do not think that will fix it, too much load and too little tow
vehicle. Try running trailer and rear truck tires at max rated cold
pressure. Low pressure car type tires lack in side/sway stability
control. Is it a tandum or single axle trailer? If it was a single axle
trailer, you were clearly overloaded for the trailer and truck.

--

-----------------
www.thesnoman.com

budd cochran

The scariest tow I ever made was towing a 68 AMC fullsize wagon (engine
trouble) with a 54 Chevy for my older brother.

70 series radial tires on the wagon, a short tow bar and 6.70 X 15
bias-ply tires on the Chevy.

At the first turn, a 5 mph street corner, the wagon tried to push the
Chevy sideways. and that was to be the norm for the 60 mile haul back
home on all but the slightest curves.

Yes, the steering wheel was free to turn in the wagon.

Budd

max dodge

Ya know, I'm not really sure where in the hell you get your info. The OP
never mentioned any details as to how much wood he had on the trailer. As
such, its hard to figure it was overloaded for sure.

But lets assume it was. IF it was overloaded, it would drag like it was in
mud, and getting to 55MPH would be the issue, not towing in a straight line.

--
Max

"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)

"I was towing a trailer with 2 ric of firewood home the other day, and I
couldn't go above 55 miles per hour, the trailer was weaving back and forth
so much..."

that's a good amount of information. "you ant from around here are you boy?"

--
Billy
1995 Ram 2500 4x4 Cummins

max dodge

A "ric" equals how many pounds?

"the trailer" equals how long, what weight capacity, and what gross weight
allowed?

You ain't got any more clue than I do, do ya? At least I know what I'm
looking for.....Facts.

--
Max

"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)

bob m

The worst I've seen was as a police officer a few years ago. A guy was
going on vacation driving a brand new Dodge Ram pulling a popup camper
pulling a boat behind it. Well the boat trailer started to fishtail and
that's all she wrote. Highway was shut down for hours while I worked
this wreck. His beautiful new boat and camper were ruined as well as his
brand new Ram. I felt so sorry for the guy.

Bob