pnmhos
Oswego, Illinois
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Joined: 08/02/2007
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Follow up on Crash
A quote from the article:
"It's been determined the weight of the trailer did cause the crash," State Trooper O.J. Lilly said Monday, adding it was a "terrible and tragic" accident.
Those two surviving kids are in our prayers.
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Hornet28BHDS
Parker, PA
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That's terrible!
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Life is short, why not spend it in an RV!
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Bearnkat
Fort Worth, Texas
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A senseless tragedy that could have been avoided. It's so sad, three dead and two children without parents.
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Rollincool
Always Rollin
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 GOD be with them all.
Especially the surviving girls. They will have it the hardest.
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Capt Skup
Southern Maryland/Nantucket
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8,000lbs empty 35 feet in length, towed by a short wheelbase mid-size Durango SUV. Not to lay blame anywhere, but I have to wonder if the person who sold them the trailer warned them their tow vehicle may be overwhelmed by the length and weight of the trailer. So sad.
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EnglishBulldog
Maryland
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You know this story made me do some research. (Please correct me if I'm wrong). The max towing weight for a Durango is between 8700 - 8900 lbs depending on the set-up. If the TT weight was 8k empty...isn't that extremly close to the vehicles limit?
Please understand I have two sons that mean the world to me and this story has rattled my confidence about pulling a 34' TT with my Silverado. I've realized this recreation is a lot of lessons learned and trail by error. I hope this story saves us all from making the same mistake.
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outdoorsman2007
In the Woods - Somewhere!
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Capt Skup wrote:8,000lbs empty 35 feet in length, towed by a short wheelbase mid-size Durango SUV. Not to lay blame anywhere, but I have to wonder if the person who sold them the trailer warned them their tow vehicle may be overwhelmed by the length and weight of the trailer. So sad.
Very terrible. May God be with all those affected.
I have to agree with you Skup. I'm sure weight played a large part, but a short wheel base, light tow vehicle didn't help.
We as owners are responsible for what we buy and tow with but RV sales carry some of this responsiblity as well - in my humble opinion.
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Sea Dog
Ontario Can.
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I was the OP on the original thread.
Yesterday, my wife was talking with a neighbor of one of the other two couples who were traveling with and witnessed the accident.
Apparently, the group was nearing the CG where they intended to overnight.
As the victim knew the way to the CG, he sped up and was attempting to get in front so that he could lead the group.
Apparently they were on a downhill grade of around four percent.
The story is that the trailer started to sway and as can happen, overwhelmed the tow vehicle and took them across the median.
As I said, this is second or third hand info.
Life is short,Death is long,
Take a vacation.
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wayne_tw
South Dakota/Georgia
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It is not only the weight of the vehicle, but the dynamic forces the trailer exerts upon the tow vehicle. 8000 lbs. of concrete properly loaded onto an adequate flat bed trailer will tow, stop, and handle dramatically differently than that same weight dispersed into a travel trailer of the same length as the flatbed hauling the concrete. Those dynamic forces are often not considered in the "Can I tow this trailer with my truck?" questions. WEIGHT IS ONLY ONE COMPONENT IN SAFE TOWING CALCULATIONS.
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rcchallenger
La Mirada, California
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Very sad. God bless the family and help them through the struggles to come.
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