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Thread: Safe towing and sway control

  1. #1
    DiscoMick Guest

    Safe towing and sway control

    I've discovered Robert Pepper's YouTube videos on safe towing and sway control and thought I would recommend them to anyone who hasn't seen them.
    I'm fairly experienced, but I still learned things, particularly about why certain practices are good or bad.
    Experienced truckers would probably already know this stuff, but the rest of us might not. It could save our lives.
    He has several videos, including horrifying dashcam footage of several incidents of swaying caravans causing vehicles to roll.
    One thing he demonstrates is that a swaying caravan is covering a greater distance and going faster than the tow vehicle.
    This is why it is important to brake the trailer, not the tow car, so the trailer slows to the same speed as the vehicle.
    To do this, set the vehicle's trailer brake controller so a tap on the brake pedal causes the trailer's brakes to come on harder than the vehicle's brakes. This pulls the trailer in behind the vehicle.
    Another advantage is when descending a steep slope a light touch on the vehicle's brakes will cause the trailer to slow the vehicle. It this is not done the trailer can push the vehicle off the road on a corner. Glad to say we already have this right on our Defender.
    Electronic trailer sway systems also do this by braking one or both brakes.
    Pepper also has good stuff on safe loading of a vehicle and trailer to make it stable and avoid swaying.
    He rejects the idea a two tonne vehicle can safely tow up to 3500kg and prefers the European approach the trailer should not be heavier than the vehicle.
    He shows a model which uses a rolling road to demonstrate the effect of moving weights around on trailer sway. Very effective.
    Anyway there is a lot more. Thoroughly interesting. Robert Pepper on YouTube.

  2. #2
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    Good info for new players Mick.

    It’s amazing how many get it so wrong. When it does, it can get very ugly very quickly.

  3. #3
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    Safe towing and sway control

    John Cadogan recently had a vid on the same subject - good content if you can put up with his abrasive presentation style. He’s best when he “forgets” and slips out of character.
    LROCV member #131
    1999 build D2 TD5 Auto, Mantec snorkel, 2" LRA spring lift, ARB on board air, Ashcroft ATB, CMM air ram CDL shifter, swag & gold pans ....

  4. #4
    DiscoMick Guest
    I found Pepper's explanations of the reasons behind some of the good practices very informative, even if I already knew some of it.
    His use of the rolling road model to demonstrate how to load a trailer to avoid sway was particularly good.
    I know from personal experience that his advice about setting trailer brake controllers to brake the trailer harder than the tow vehicle is really important.
    In theory, a driver could operate the controller to manually brake the trailer. However, in practice you only have about 4 seconds to stop trailer sway going out of control.
    Most drivers will instinctively hit the vehicle's brake pedal, not think to operate the brake controller.
    If the controller is set so a light touch on the brake pedal causes the trailer to brake harder than the tow vehicle, that could stop most trailer swaying from going out of control.
    It's taken a couple of practice attempts on a quiet road to get our Tekonsha trailer controller set where I'm happy with it.

    Another interesting suggestion of Pepper's is that when towing to set the rear tyre pressures about 4psi above the recommended pressure on the tag on the driver's door.
    I suppose that could work with some vehicles, particularly with low profile tyres.
    However, our Defender already runs with a high recommended rear tyre pressure of about 46psi and high profile tyres. I find going above 48 makes the ride too hard. Going below 40 causes too much tyre deflection. We also have rear airbags to keep the vehicle level.
    So each case is different.

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