Andy Puts Popular Towing Combinations To the Test!

When you suddenly find yourself in an emergency situation with an accident pending there are two schools of thought on how to survive the situation. Some people feel that if you are driving a big heavy vehicle you stand a better chance of surviving an accident, hence the large number of people that purchase big SUVs for no other reason other than that they feel safer. Statistically however SUVs and most large heavy vehicles are not safer. The theory is they get in more accidents because they are not as good at avoiding the accident in the first place and possibly because people feel invincible in them so they tend to drive them with less care. I tend to think there’s a balance between the two theories. And if you are going to tow something, you’re likely going to be driving a more substantial vehicle. Still it’s nice to know which factors make the biggest difference in extreme handling situations.

Every once in a while we take some trailers and tow vehicles down the road to St. Thomas Dragway. There we set up pylons in a 100-foot slalom and a 50-foot lane change course. We then test several combinations of tow vehicle and trailer, to see what we can learn about their handling dynamics. When you use a controlled environment, as opposed to just the seat of your pants feel, you can learn a lot more about how combinations perform at their limits.

Interestingly, the larger the tow vehicle the more steering input it needs to get around the same obstacle in the lane change. The long trucks feel huge compared to the shorter wheelbase vehicles. The 25-foot wide-body Airstream needed as much steering input as the six-inch narrower 30-foot Surveyor.

So what did we learn? First of all, and it’s no surprise, that the lower the center of gravity the harder you can push a combination. The cars certainly are the easiest to drive quickly at the limits, they stay relatively flat and keep their tires planted firmly on the road at all times.

Freestar...

The Cars...

Crew Cab Trucks...

Tires...

Fifth Wheel Performance...

To Keep In Mind...

(Read the full article in the magazine.)