When I was towing my car a couple of years ago I got into a snake (because the car was on the trailer backwards) and it probably the most scarey thing I've ever experienced It was on an A road and happened at 50 mph for no reason so I pointed it down the white line (no traffic) and took my feet off of everything and just tried to hold it straight and wait for it to slow itself down.

 

Weight rearward on a trailer is the most unstable situation you can get.

 

Lee, when snaking do you accellerate to pull out of it or slow down to slow the snake down? My instincts would say to speed up.

 

I know that now At the time it only had half an engine and most of the parts were in the boot but it still made it very unstable. I didn't know much about towing at the time but I'd never do that again and I'm always shocked when I see so many people towing cars backwards.

 

If you speed up then you can stand even more chance of losing it although you could possibly pull out of it. I saw a test on top gear/5th gear or something like that and they tried braking, accellerating & doing nothing and doing nothing proved to be the safest. Luckily I remembered that All I can remember is my mate keeping on telling me "you're losing it" I fecking knew that

 

Paul is right.

Don't do anything quickly, come off the power slowly and dip the clutch. Try and keep the car straight using the smallest steering input possible and do any steering movements slowly.

It's in this situation where a good stabiliser is worth it's weight in gold, as long as you are smooth with the car the stabiliser will damp out the swaying of the trailer.

Lee

 

No, no - we were looking to hire that but we couldn't get a car to pull it. Instead we realised that we can club together and actually buy a van that will do us several years so thats what we did. I just went an picked it up and drove it 10 miles back to the house. It was all quite easy really, just needed a bit of forward planning (i.e. looking ahead on the road) and slow, smooth inputs. It felt weird the way the van tugged away at the car but I soon got used to it and the set up was very stable.

For the drive tommorrow we'll have no luggage in the car and just a tent (big one) in the van and I loaded it on the floor over the axle. I must confess I shat it a little when the van was hooked up and I saw how long the whole package is

We're not tourning or anything so it'll be one trip up and possibly a trip down if we choose not to store the van up there all year round. My dad owns the croft with a few statics on it so the van will be pitched up there and used as our poker room and cafe We'll be taking on the A9 early tommorrow so if any scoobys overtake I expect to hear those d/v's sounding off as you pass Our number plate is quite appropriate for a MY95 saab 9000CD

Cheers for the advice all

 

Have you remembered to fit an extension mirror? Very handy if you need to pull out to overtake anything on the m-way.

 

To add to that you need both sides, when you pass you need to know you are clear to pull back in. Most truckers will flash you back in as it's hard to judge the length.

Lee

 

Just wait til your first juggernaut comes steaming past you onthe mway

Nearly followed through when it happened to me

 

If you ensure that the centre of gravity of the caravan is forward of its own axle(s) then it will be stable and you will not experience the dreaded swaying which is horrifically dangerous. It does not have to be very nose heavy but never tail heavy in any way.

Les

 

Do slow others down.
Don't pull over to let others past.
Do drive over cliffs.
Do drive someone where, live in a small box and think you are having fun.

Oh the joys of alcohol!
Each to their own, you sad git!


(only joking!)

 

Well it all went swimmingly I have to say that the journey was totally trouble free and the van never did anything than exactly follow the line of the car. I even kept up a good pace of around 60mph and sometimes even a little more . Only a slight suction when passing lorries but not enough to cause any concern. The van is now nicely sited up north ready for our holiday and I'm bloody shattered after being battered by west-scottish weather whilst trying to clear a field that resembled the amazon jungle!

Wished I'd had my pug for the pull so I could have horsed up some of the bigger hills. The 2.0 Saab 9000 struggled a little.

Cheers for the advice

 

Good to hear it all went well.

Modern vans with Alko style chassis, suspension and sloping fronts do tow nice.
Early box shape vans with steel chassis and coil springs/ leaf springs were a nighmare.

Cheers
Lee