Thoughts and Blessings...

[crispyboy]

Glad everyone is ok - hope you step back up on the horse and get another trailer and the tow vehicle you desire.
I think we can speculate all day on how and why this happened but to me it was probably just the "perfect storm" that happened where the forces of the wind from the semi-truck were just too much for the hitch and tow vehicle to overcome. 99.5% of the time this combination would have been just fine.
I was noticing on my last trip in October that a box truck with a 20' long box was about the worst offender when it came to feeling the push of the wind. The bigger trucks have never given me that much issue.

[safari 28]

Andrew from Inland, this is your of expertise. Missed a visit, poor business conditions forced me to have thanksgiving in a KOA in Amarillo. Help all of us understand what happened to the dual cam or WHATEVER to spill a streamer and its substantial beast??? YOU ARE THE SOURCE FOR THIS ONE.

[Airstream01]

At what point were the TV brakes applied? I do not believe this was the correct course of action, especially on a downhill slope and with what appears were out of adjustment trailer brakes. If the trailer was already swaying, this likely compounded the problem, and coupled with (imo) too little TV for too much 'Stream, the situation quickly became unrecoverable.

While an 85-90mph semi sounds fast, in reality he only passed them with a 25-30mph speed difference. I do not believe the semi was the sole cause of the accident, though it likely contributed to it.

Of course hind sight is always 20/20 and any Tom, Dick or Harry can armchair quarterback this tragedy--I'm just trying to help anybody else from getting into the same predicament, myself included.

[RichHog]

Spent a night there, not a very impressive spot but it's right off the freeway. We moved to the local State Park where there were trees and we weren't surrounded by large SOB tralers

[Foiled Again]

This thread plus Loudruff's endorsement (professional truck driver) has pushed me into deciding what my Christmas present will be.

I too have been passed many times by big fast semi's and never felt in any danger of losing control of my rig. Of course I've always been "over trucked" 3/4 ton vehicles towing a 25 FB.

I'm not the most experienced tower out there, but I'm a BIG believer in going down hill SLOWLY, especially on steep grades. Do any of you remember an old movie "The Pride and the Passion" starring Cary Grant and Sophia Loren? They were dragging this massive cannon all over Spain to fight Napoleon's army... And they lost control of it going downhill because it accellerated - they didn't have enough men to hold it back.) A towed vehicle is without its brakes on will naturally accelerate - I'd rather have it tugging at 45 or 50 mph than at 65 or more.

It just seems logical that if you're going down hill at 45 mph and some fool comes screaming past you at 75 or 80 - you might actually have less effect from the bow wave and the subsequent vacuum - because he's past you so fast that push of the bow wave is immediately offset by the following vacuum. The less relative difference in speeds means there is more time side by side and the effects can be greater.

Also any bad towing experience is LESS bad at slow speeds. I'd rather try to fight a bad sway at 45 or 50 than at higher speed. There are only a few scary as 9% grades in Virginia, but when I'm on those roads I HUG the outside edge of the right lane. Give the A******* plenty of room.

Paula

[Mikethefixit]

Well I am glad you are recovering nicely from your injuries. It is a terrible thing that has happened. Truck and Trailer can be replaced, you cannot.
However being a retired over the road trucker of 45 years, I can not believe this was caused by that big rig passing you at 20 to 25 mph faster than you were traveling. I did have one of those longlegged trucks and yes they can go that fast , I have seen a 100 but was never comfortable with it. My personal opinion is that maybe this was the start but not the underlying cause of the roll over.
It is also my belief that all the $3k hitches in the country would not have prevented this tragedy.
So glad you are on the mend.
Roger

[RavenDog]

I know it's difficult to judge but would a larger TV have saved this crash? A hensley or propride? A smaller trailer?

In a situation like this one, is one better off being in a large TV (F250) with the large trailer, in a (F150) with a 25' to 28' trailer, an (F150) with a 23' trailer, or does it not matter the size of the TV and trailer as long as they are comparable?

In general, is a larger or smaller trailer more susceptible to the wind of a passing semi, in conjunction with the size of the TV?

And two, would a significantly oversized TV (F250) with say a 23' or smaller trailer be less prone to control loss than say with an (F150) with a 28' trailer?

Would it be safe to assume that control loss would be more significant with a one-wheel (i.e. Bambi) and less significant with a two-wheel 28' or a three-wheel 34' trailer?

(I'm using Fords in the scenarios only because they are easiest to compare and demonstrate situations.)