Hootchi Cootchi Trailer

[ENTRAIL]

Here is my story.... I own a M101A3 in excellent condition, it is pulled by a Jeep Wrangler. The Jeep and the trailer line up perfectly with each other. The other day I went to get some trees weighing in at about 250 to 300 lbs each, bought 5 of them. On the way there at speeds up to 75mph the trailer pulled very good. Loaded up the 5 trees with 2 trees in front, 2 trees behind them and one over the axle. On the way home the trailer pulled very good until I exceeded speeds over 50mph, then the trailer started swaying very badly and could only proceed at speeds under 50mph. What did I do wrong?

 

[Nonotagain]

Where was the load in relation to the axle? If behind the axle, the trailer didn't have any tongue weight.

No tongue weight will "wag" a trailer and your Jeep rather well.

If the load was spread out or in front of the axle, I've got no clue.

 

[RealCavDog]

When I was hauling MANY pallet loads of bottled water after the Tornado, I found that even centered over the axle, and I do mean centered well enough to balance it loaded, it got pretty wiggly !

Started loading it a bit forward, and putting any extra loose cases to the front, and it pulled great !

Tongue weight made my truck take notice, I can only imagine a short wheelbase Jeep wiggle !

 

[RodUSMC1962]

Why do so many people have to go so fast, especally when pulling a trailer? Safety should always be first!

 

[supermechanic]

"Why do so many people have to go so fast, especally when pulling a trailer?"
Traveling at 50 mph, when the average speed of the traffic is 25 mph faster , you become a 'rolling roadblock'.
Slow travel on a limited access highway is dangerous.
A few times my drivers have been ticketed for obstructing the flow of traffic.
'You gotta go with the flow'.

 

[RodUSMC1962]

I didn`t say 50mpr, the post said 75mph, there has to be a happy medium.

 

[Goose2448]

I would have loaded everything as far front as possible. And when it starts to sway, foot off the gas, both hands on the wheel, and hold for a straight line until it stops. All bumper pulls I have pulled have had a sway at some point. I always pull where I feel safe, or as fast as the truck can go, which is about 65 with my work truck. A trailer without electric brakes should have some downward lean in the front, but not too much. You are going to need to find where that is. Try putting some sand bags in it and move them around and see how it looks and feels. That should help with placement of other objects in the trailer.

 

[Recovry4x4]

The M101A3 is a little too close to balanced. 10% of total weight is supposed to be on the tongue. I shoot for a little more. I have a complete HMMWV spare (with heavy arse runflat) strapped on the tongue of my trailer just to make sure. When I went to the FL Rally I took my Turf II cart with me. They are kinda arse heavy and I could tell it above 60.

 

[86m1028]

You might also check tire pressures.

 

[Blood_of_Tyrants]

I agree with the others. Your trailer needed more weight on the tongue. A trailer has to be tongue heavy or it will be unstable and will sway wildly.

 

[plym49]

I tow an M416 with my old Wrangler, and it likes a good amount of tongue weight. 10% is a minimum. If you had 2 trees forward, 2 trees rear and one centered, you were probably light on tongue weight. Those trees then wiggled around some, and it got worse. The scary thing about a badly fishtailing trailer is that you need to accelerate to get it to stop fishtailing, and then coast down slowly. If you try to slow down quickly, you risk jackknifing. Needless to say, depending on traffic conditions, things can get quite exciting.

 

[islandguydon]

When pulling any load the tung weight is important. Always pull an even level trailer with most of the weight in front of the Axel. Thats my rule of thumb.

 

[aaron379]

Should have loaded 2-2-1 for tongue weight.... Basically it was picking the back end of your vehicle up!!!!!

 

[DeucesWild11]

I originally clicked on this thread thinking I would see a M101 or M105 trailer tailgating with a Keg or two on the back and a bunch of college girls draped all over it.. No it was just a load adjustment issue.. argghh. Thanks!

I have nothing useful to add except that I agree with the other posts about the importance of the tongue..

 

[aaron379]

I originally clicked on this thread thinking I would see a M101 or M105 trailer tailgating with a Keg or two on the back and a bunch of college girls draped all over it.. No it was just a load adjustment issue.. argghh. Thanks!

I have nothing useful to add except that I agree with the other posts about the importance of the tongue..

Agree.... I too thought the title was misleading after reading

 

[quickfarms]

Tongue weight or possibly tire pressure

 

[busbart]

as said before, wrong loaded...

it needed more weight on the tongue.

But did you know, that that trailer is designed to be tongue heavy?

go sit aside, and have a good look! and you will see that the wheel well is off center towards the front, and there is also the boom with the lunette...

that's all done to prevent being too light at the tongue.

 

[ENTRAIL]

OK guys, thanks for the response. The trees were loaded towards the front, with hardly nothing behind the axle. I will look at putting a slight downward slope on the tongue, but what about tire pressure, do I fill it at the tire recommendations or just trial and error?

 

[nk14zp]

No stripper pole pics! I'm bummed.

 

[quickfarms]

Equal tire pressure is important

The tire pressure should be stenciled on the side of the trailer