I am bumping this thread for tow bar safety. While towing a new M35A2 home yesterday with a M35A2C, I had a nasty jack knife situation. About 10 minutes south of Jacksonville on I-95 a rain storm started up and traffic started to slow ahead of me quickly. I was doing about 45mph and I touched the brakes to start my slow down when my towing truck started to jack knife from the forward momentum of the towed vehicle. Just like the PDF in post 1 talks about.....
I had to get off the road as I knew at that pointing stopping before I met the traffic ahead of me was not going to happen. To prevent further catastrophe, I gave her a little throttle to even back out and eased on to the shoulder.
When my towing vehicle came to rest, the towed vehicle continued to push the rear of my truck down a muddy embankment. At this point my towing truck was side ways pushed up against a light pole and the towed truck was jammed under the bed of the towing truck.
Fortunately the light pole kept me from rolling over and the only major damage to the towing truck is the passenger side fender where it met the pole. A few other scrapes and I need a new mud flap but nothing major. The towed truck didn't fair so well. It will need new fenders, a hood, radiator guard, and a bumper.
I had chains and a tow bar secured properly for this endeavor, but all the planning in the world did not prepare me for the events on Tuesday.
Luckily a third deuce was behind me being drive by chill63. With some maneuvering we were able to detach the destroyed tow bar remnants and pull the towed M35 from under my M35A2C. Once the trucks were separated and reset, we were able to to proceed toward home minus one truck. I have to go back on Friday and drive it home.
The moral of this story is to respect the power and weight of these vehicles. I've towed my share of trucks around Florida using my tow bar and never had a similar situation. However, all it takes is one time to make me think twice about how to avoid a situation like this in the future.
I am thankful to be alive and in one piece. I am also thankful no-one was harmed.