Corrective action - Montana Owners Club

swanny · 04-24-2010, 02:56 AM

I would like to hear about those times when the trailers are kind of out of control for one reason or another. I know there is no one action to correct everything, but, I'm sure many folks have been in some scary moments and did the right things. I know it's kind of a border line question. So if no responses come I totally understand. I don't want it to be a he or she said situation.

kevin

NCFischers · 04-24-2010, 03:03 AM

Once or twice when I was driving utility line trucks pulling pole trailers, I found that acceleration helped regain control better than anything else. Remember that every situation is different, though. A cool head and lack of panic is your best defense.

ray fischer · 04-25-2010, 03:03 PM

speedup or gently apply the manual over-ride on the brake control to apply the trailer brakes.

HamRad · 04-25-2010, 03:44 PM

Kevin,
I've never really felt what you're talking about. I guess the closest thing would have been the couple of times I had to do a "quick" stop. I felt the rear end of the truck start to lose contact with the road. Both times we were able to stop short and did not hit anything.

Many years ago we pulled a travel trailer and that was a completely different story. We could not go more than 50 mph or the thing would get completely squirmy. When we got this Monty I really did not know what to expect. We had been told that the 5er would tow completely differently than the TT. We found that out very quickly. The 5er tows like a dream. So far the Monty has proven to be extremely stable.

Good luck and travel safely.
Dennis and Mary Kay

exav8tr · 04-25-2010, 04:27 PM

Kevin, I have had two panic stops and the truck and trailer performed flawlessly. Both ended up straight ahead and I was able to stop in time without hitting anyone. This was without using the lever on the Prodigy, just standing on the brakes. The first time was the OEM standard brakes and the second was the Kodiak Disc Brakes. I have never felt it was out of control, I did get a little (very minor) fishtailing heading to Yellowstone one year, got in a little slush, just slowed down and put truck in 4WD high until we cleared the pass. Having never towed anything before, I think we have been very fortunate, so far.....

tbhd2 · 04-25-2010, 05:29 PM

We were in North Carolina towing a tt with our maxi van going downhill on a curve, gusty winds, not paying attention, looking for a place to spend the night when a cab-over, flat nose, semi passed us and came over the white line and then pulled back out to his lane. The last time I looked in the mirror we were swaying so bad that all I could see was the whole side of the trailer. I tried everything they say to do, putting the trailer brakes on and accelerating at the same time, but it just got worse. I finally just jammed the brakes on as hard as I could because we were going to crash and everything came to a tire lockup stop. Inside of the trailer was a complete mess but we didn't crash. Not recommended but what I did to stop.

swanny · 04-26-2010, 03:34 AM

thanks guys, I was just curious. I have never been out of control or even close for that matter. I have had a panic stop though and everything worked out just fine. I must say it's kind of a bad feeling when you feel yourself being pushed a bit and the car in front of you is getting closer and closer.

thanks

DHenry · 04-26-2010, 03:56 AM

Bakersfield a few years ago, was driving in morning commute traffic, left plenty of space in front of me, traffic was slowing, I was slowing, a lady in a SUV pulled in front of me and took 20' of my stopping space from me, I went into panic mode, stomped on the brakes, Truck and Montana stayed in its lane, hit the horn, the lady pulled to the right and gave me back the 20' I needed to stop, lucky her!! and me.

Waynem · 04-26-2010, 04:28 AM

I pulled a TT ions ago, commercially. It as heavy and had a weight distribution hitch, but not an anti-sway bar. Typical speed as 55 MPH on the open road. As vehciles would come up behind me they would break the draft of the trailer and it would start to serpentine. Scared the heck out of me the first time it did it, and it didn't take long to figure out what to do. In this case it was to slow down. Just taking the foot off the accelerator was, at most times, sufficient to stop the swaying. A secondary effect was that the idiot riding so close would go around me.

If you ask me, I would state that in most instances reducing speed is going to be on the top of the list for any situation. Reducing spped may not be the first thing that is done, but evetually, if it is out of hand, I'll come to a stop. That is the utimate reduction of speed.

mhs4771 · 04-26-2010, 05:20 AM

I had more problems with my first two pop-ups, but neither of them had any sway control. Next two TT had the equalizer with the dual cam sway bay set-up. Never had any real problems with either, if they did start to sway a little, it was to apply the manual brake over-ride just enough to put a little drag on the trailer and it would straighten out. Have only logged about 700 miles on the Monty so far, but it pulls like a dream. Just have to watch out of the idiots that pull into you safety zone ahead of you. That's when I'ver had problems, traffic starts to slow down, so do you, then some yahoo pulls right in front of you and just about stops. Tends to move everything from the rear of the camper towards the front in a hurry.
Caution and a cool head are the main factors.

HamRad · 04-26-2010, 03:15 PM

Swanny,
The trailer "pushing" on the truck was really scary. We were in downtown San Diego at rush hour and it was a mess. Thankfully we stopped a few feet short of anything solid. At the time we were pulling with a PSD 250. Shortly after that we got the PSD 450. We've not had the problem since.

Doug,
Bakersfield just isn't your place to drive! Were these incidents on the same trip that you got the power lines on top of your rig?

Travel safely,
Dennis

Tom S. · 04-27-2010, 02:47 AM

Whether you are pulling a trailer or not, overreacting and/or panic have gotten more people injured or killed than any other single factor. The problem is, until you are put into that scenario, you don't know how you will react. Driving schools can help, but are expensive. Then again, it could be considered cheap insurance.

dpam · 04-27-2010, 04:19 AM

We were coming back from Vegas in December 2003 pulling a 30 ft 5th wheel heading back to Calgary Alberta. We were on our way from Salt Lake City towards Idaho Falls. There was snow in the ditches, but the highway was dry,but there was a strong cross wind. As I was driving something made me look back over my shoulder and I saw the trailer was coming around and we started going down the interstate at 45 degrees. It turns out that we hit "black ice" and because of the strong wind it started to push the 5th wheel sideways. I didn't know what to do, so I slowly steered into the skid and the rear of the truck came around and caught dry pavement and straightened out, and a few seconds later the trailer tires caught the same dry pavement. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, but the scare took 10 yrs off my life. Since that happened I am very cautious about pulling the 5th wheel during winter months.

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