Youtube clip of caravan crash (snaking)

Betsy Og

http://youtu.be/ti61zBLYNY0

This is not to scare anyone but shows what exactly happens. The driver in question was an eejit for continuing to speed along. If they had eased off the gas and dropped down a gear it would probably have been fine. The snake probably came from overtaking the truck (which is filming).

The greatest ad for ATC trailer control I ever saw!!!

Moomat

Betsy Og wrote: »

http://youtu.be/ti61zBLYNY0

This is not to scare anyone but shows what exactly happens. The driver in question was an eejit for continuing to speed along. If they had eased off the gas and dropped down a gear it would probably have been fine. The snake probably came from overtaking the truck (which is filming).

The greatest ad for ATC trailer control I ever saw!!!

Car is going much too fast. I'd imagine the truck is doing around 90km/h max so the car is probably doing 120km/h or so.

SilverBell

Is it wrong, that my sides are sore from laughing after seeing that video??

zambo

Yes.
Yours Zambo.

corktina

I was taught you need the weight forward on the tow bar to avoid snaking. With a car transporter I proved this, trailer was snaking a little so I eased off (as suggested above) and stopped and then eased the car on the transporter forward a little...problem solved.

bbam

I just started pulling a caravan last year and there are so many factors that add into that scenario, but the speed has to be a major contributor there, and the car looks small for the caravan... the tail wagging the dog !

bbam

corktina wrote: »

I was taught you need the weight forward on the tow bar to avoid snaking. With a car transporter I proved this, trailer was snaking a little so I eased off (as suggested above) and stopped and then eased the car on the transporter forward a little...problem solved.

They recommend ~7% of the weight of the caravan as the nose weight, but this often exceeds the nose weight allowed on medium-smaller cars.

moodrater

corktina wrote: »

I was taught you need the weight forward on the tow bar to avoid snaking. With a car transporter I proved this, trailer was snaking a little so I eased off (as suggested above) and stopped and then eased the car on the transporter forward a little...problem solved.

Too much nose weight is just as dangerous reduce traction in the front which of course affects braking and steering, can generate a pendulum motion and break/damage your suspension. Your tow bar will state the maximum nose weight for your car. Back when men were men and bags of cement weighed 50kg people would lift the nose to check the weight. Nowadays you can get a multitude of scales an gauges now or just a bathroom scale for about €5 in argos and a piece of timber to distribute the weight.

Betsy Og

You definitely dont want too much weight in the back such that the hitch wants to lift up. The "rules" are to keep weight low and v close to the axle, keep an eye on noseweight as mentioned. I usually try to get the heaviest items in the car such that there's less "push" potential since the car weighs more than the caravan.

A 4x4 (even a car version, or a rear wheel driver like a Beemer) is probably a good idea as plenty of traction with the noseweight down on the hitch & on the back axel (same principle as a truck cab).

Speed, downhills, crosswinds and trucks are the main issues. I recall doing a big post about 6 months ago on this topic.

_Brian

We were coming back from Wexford with our caravan on Tuesday.

Sitting at a steady 90kph with cruise control.

But a Mondeo saloon towing a decent sized caravan came up on the outside lane passing everything in sight. Probably doing 110 or 120kph and I could see the back of the van "twitching" as he went bye. He seemed to be just on the limit of a snake the whole time. He remained in the outside lane the whole time in view.

Just pure madness taking risks like that when towing.

odds_on

I always thought that the way to overcome a snaking caravan (or trailer) was to accelorate thus making the car take control of the towed. If you brake or slow down, the caravan remains in control.

However, if the combination is going so fast that there is little scope for pulling the caravan out of the snake you have a problem with the results as seen.

_Brian

No standard towing vehicle will have enough BHP to straighten out the rig.

By lifting off the accelerator the caravan will break and so slow the whole problem down.

Anything I've read on the more dedicated caravan sites is to lift off the right foot and loose speed. Keep steering movement minimal as you don't want to add to the momentum.

niloc1951

_Brian wrote: »

We were coming back from Wexford with our caravan on Tuesday.

Sitting at a steady 90kph with cruise control.

But a Mondeo saloon towing a decent sized caravan came up on the outside lane passing everything in sight. Probably doing 110 or 120kph and I could see the back of the van "twitching" as he went bye. He seemed to be just on the limit of a snake the whole time. He remained in the outside lane the whole time in view.

Just pure madness taking risks like that when towing.

80 kph is the speed limit when towing any trailer

The only exception is trucks over 3,500kg GVW on motorways which are allowed 90 kph, not sure if this includes artics though.