SHARKEY-IMAGES

It's been pretty much covered about the hitch chains etc. etc. Balance and tongue weight I think we need to give her more info as well. If your load is not balanced right, you could end up in the trees! I will tell you one thing and hopefully it never happens to you. As hard as it may seem, if your tow vehicle and trailer starts to fishtale or swing back and forth uncontrollably FLOOR IT!!! In most cases it will straighten everything out and you will get a second chance at adjusting the weight. I don't mean to scare you Jane, but these things do happen... I will leave the rest up to the others about how much tongue weight you should have with the Suburban. I have never own one...GOOD LUCK!

[ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: SHARKEYMARINE ]

Uncle Toys

Sharkey, I tried that "flooring it" once - it almost killed me! I was trailering my Dad's pontoon boat to Havasu with my 1/2 to Suburban. Around 65mph on the freeway the thing started fishtailing. Remembering my brother-in-laws advice (same as yours) I accelerated, but it only got worst. Eventually I had to use the brakes. As I got down to around 50mph it straightened out. Scarred the hell out of me and it was lucky the freeway wasn't busy. That was two years ago, I had been trailering boats about five years at the point, and I never saw anything close before or since. Turned out I was negative tongue weighted and had to proceed at 55mph the entire trip. That was the only time it happened to me, do any of you have experiences fishtailing? What did you try and how did it work?

IDRPSTF

Always check everything yourself. I had a little "Problem" earlier this year towing back from Sa Diego. Where the Nut screwed onto the Ball, I found there was no Lock washer. The whole assebly was already on the TopKick before I left the shop so I "Assumed"(No comments please) it was on right. I towed all the way there and half way back (including twice over the Coranado Bridge) without problem. An hour from home going 15MPH in bumper to bumper traffic I got cut off and had to slam on the breaks (You will learn to hate people after trailering awhile) anyway. The trailer shifted forward and the ball had enough play by then to shift. The trailer Jumped right off the truck. drogged it over two lanes of traffic and the highway patroll helped out. I took 100% responsabuility for the whole thing because I was the driver. Now I take a long time to check everything on the rig. Even if it is just driving a mile or two. It is not a good feeling. Take your time. and If anything doesnt look right dont take chances!!!

Wild Horses

I can sure as heck tell you what NOT to do.

Don't pick up your tri-axle trailer fresh from the paint shop and let the "shop boyz" hook it up.

Don't get on the highway and do a 65-70 mph with your 1 week old dually with the tri-axle behind you - when you have not hitched it up yourself.

Don't go over the local railway tracks at 50mph with the whole unit bouncing around.

Finally... once you are safely home and yapping on the phone in the driveway about you new shiny truck and trailer freak out when you notice ........ they loaded it on top of the ball already locked and it was balancing there the whole 15 miles.

How it ever stayed in place... I'll never know!

FA18Driver

Oh yea and one more thing I might add

When you get home and un-hook from the trailer and pull forward so you can wash the boat before putting it in the barn.

Then go inside to get a cold one

And look out just in time to see the boat rolling down the hill into that new shiney truck

Put a chock under those trailer wheels......

SHARKEY-IMAGES

Uncle Tony, I am surprised You did get lucky too when you hit the brakes. If your truck is facing one way and the front of the trailer is facing the other at the precise time, it's instant jackknife and time to spin! Glad to see you came out of it ok though!

NASDBOY

I dont think you should have any concerns with towing your weight with the suburban. I have a 1/2 ton Z71 suburban, and dont have any problems pulling or stopping with a 29 Outlaw on the back. I dont usually go over 65 on the freeways though, Houston drivers have no regrets cutting you off if your towing, unless they know what its like to tow something. Also I put the ball on top of the hitch, since the back is already pretty low to the ground.

Waterfoul

Speaking as one who HAS lost his trailer on the road, since this is your first season trailering your boat, do this before you pull it the first time:

Hook up the trailer as described above (heeding Audiofn's advice to ALWAYS do the securing part of it yourself, don't trust even your best friend with it). Get out your trucks jack and put it under the tongue of the trailer. You may need a block of wood to make up the height. Jack it up until it lifts the truck several inches. This will give you peace of mind that your ball is the right size and your coupler isn't worn. Mine was worn when I bought it. Lost the trailer coming to a stop. Lucky for me I might have been going 20 mph when it happened. BUT, it still took out the tailgate on my truck, and blew out the master cylinder on the trailer brakes (what a mess!!). Repair facility did this test and the coupler popped right off the ball. Now, I check using this method several times a season, as I do a lot of trailering.

BTW, the insurance company would not cover any of the damage to the trailer because they decided it was "normal wear and tear". Cost me $1100 to fix the trailer. At least they covered the truck. $2300 for a tailgate, bumper, and some paint.

Trust me, lessons learned the hard way ALWAYS stick with you. And I hope this NEVER happens to anyone.

Chart

Uncle Toys: I had a fishtailing problem with an 88 Bronco pulling a flatbed car trailer. Hit black ice on an early morning deserted Interstate. (thank God it was deserted) Also tried accelerating to correct the fishtailing. Then I was just going a whole lot faster and fishtailing. With no other options left, I pumped the brakes, and It worked. Wife was in the passanger seat, and she was wonderful through the whole process. What a gal.

Stopped on the side of the highway and readjusted the load forward. We also had too little tongue weight.

Uncle Toys

THANK YOU Chart!!!!!! I started feeling like a salmon, swimming upstream on that urban legend. Every since my occurrence, I have tried to tell the story to my "more experienced" in-laws. They always gave me that look. When I asked specifically if they had actual experience with the technique, I never got an answer. I realize my experience with fishtailing a trailer is very narrow, but still its actual experience. Sure could use more of our OSO bro's to tell their tales.

Sharky, I appreciate the theory, but as Yogi Berra said, "In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is."