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As a man thinks, so he is. Some people are never. Recent Posts
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CarSpace Alternate RouteTurn off the nav system, crumple up that MapQuest printout, and let's find out where the next random turn may take us! Mar 29, 2008 - Ask Dub Schwartz!
Well Lucky, first off you need to know if you vehicle is even capable of towing anything. But a quick check of your owners manual should tell you about that. Then you'll need all the physical stuff like the trailer and hitch and getting the wiring for the trialer lights ready. But one of the most important things is what you need to know about driving with a trailer. Sure they pretty much follow you anywhere you happen to go, but backing up and maneuvering precisely with a trailer behind you is a skill you're going to need to develop. When I was a kid our family took a bunch of cross-country camping trips towing a small, lightweight Apache tent trailer. Dad would do most of the driving, but Mom would share the load as well. This one particular morning we broke down camp and got on the road early to get a couple of hundred miles in before breakfast and Dad moved to the back seat to catch a little nap while Mom drove. I was riding shotgun playing navigator when we came to a fork in the road. I told Mom to take the road to the right, but she didn't believe me (go figure) and pulled right up to the middle of the fork to look at the map for herself. Now convinced of the brilliance of her son, she needed to back up a bit to take the right road. Problem was, Mom didn't think about the trailer. She was only going to back up a half car length or so, so she didn't need to worry about it right? She cut the wheel a bit and statrted to back up and that little trailer jackknifed right around and caved in the rear quarter panel and did a pretty good job of making the trailer tongue resemble a banana. Needless to say, Mom didn't do many unsupervised trailer tricks over the next couple of days.
Nov 12, 2007 - Apples to Apples
Manufacturers will go to great lengths in advertisements to illustrate how much towing capacity their trucks have. You'll see pickups towing anything and everything in commercials. One recent ad shows a truck sliding out of the back of a plane moving down a runway and stopping the plane with its brakes. Problem is that each manufacturer has pretty much been able to set their own tow limits for their trucks, all with an eye on getting an edge over the competition. Well, someone may finally be doing something about that and setting a standard for towing capacity. As reported on Straightline, the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) has labeled it as standard 'J-2807 - Performance Requirements for Determining Tow Vehicle Gross Combination Weight Ratings and Trailer Weight Ratings.' While this should clear up some things and allow consumers to make more educated choices about which truck they want or need, it will take some of the fun out of truck commercials once it's clear that one truck actually does have the highest towing capacity. I was kind of looking forward to seeing a pickup reversing continental drift! Gotta love my truck Read more at Straightline
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