Towing in the snow

[Cosmo]

About to get good snow here in the east tonight. My trailer has electric brakes car has 4WD. Does anyone have any tips or experience towing on snowy roads should I find myself in that situation? Of course adjust the speed to road conditions. I assume jackknifing and fishtailing on the turns are a risk.

Thanks
Cosmo

[KennethW]

No sudden moves and allow a lot of room for braking.

[lrrowe]

I have had a lot of experience of driving and stopping in the snow growing up in upstate NY. But not with a trailer behind me. Other then heeding the advice of driving very cautiously if you have to be on the road, I would experiment with the brake modulator. I think I would have the trailer brakes come on a little strong at first so when you do brake, the trailer does not try to come around. I would try it on some slippery parking lots at first to experiment.

But if you have not had much experience with driving and braking in the snow, I might better suggest that no matter how inconvenient it is, leave the trailer behind and do not try it. Driving in slippery conditions is not something learned via the text book, but by experience and practice until it becomes second nature. I suggest that many people jump into 4x4's and think they can go anywhere. You know them; they may be the SUV's in the ditch. Please, I am not suggesting you are one of them. But just to be careful.

[lrrowe]

Slow, I cannot find fault with anything you said. If you have the roads almost to yourself or have a very short distance to drive, you might get away with driving very slow. But my experience in congested or higly traveled areas (without a trailer) is that that in highly traveled areas you might open youself up to road rage, harassment or to being highly stressed because of the traffic behind you.

In a extreme emergency, you must do what you have to do, but in a lesser one, you must consider all the perils of driving on snow with a trailer. I probably should recognize that a smaller TD trailer over a larger CT one will make a positive difference.

[ae6black]

On several occasions years ago, I saw a trailer start to fishtail out of control. Never had it happen to me. But knowing where the break lever is on your break controler would probably be a good thing. By hitting that break while tow vehicle was still moving would stop the erratic trailer movement. Hitting the vehicle breaks in such a situation unless there was something in front of you would only exasperate the situation.

Art

[Redneck Teepee]

Out here in sunny California, if chains are required and the trailer you are towing has brakes, it must also be chained up.

[lrrowe]

You do not this and it was without snow.


Things happened so quickly I never thought of playing with the brake module.

[dwgriff1]

I cut down an old chain to fit on my Tear. Never had to use it, but it would have kept it back there where I wanted it!

dave

[lrrowe]

dave, I do not understand what you mean about the chain. Just dense this AM I guess.

[Shadow Catcher]

I would guess tire chains. I run passenger car tires on the tear, rather than ST trailer tires, less stiff and better traction.
Brakes on a trailer are essential and the brake controller can apply those brakes to straighten things out.

[yrock87]

my experience towing unbraked snowmobile trailers (1000 lbs when loaded with 2 machines) with a 2x4 pickup was that driving in the snow with the trailer was generally the same as driving without. you have a slightly higher chance of the back end sliding out when braking or turning. due to the trailer "pushing" you.

really, it comes down to slowing down. I read something this weekend about how the average car tire has a traction coefficient of about 1 on dry pavement. about .7 on wet pavement and about .07 on snow. dropping to like .03 on ice. meaning that you have 33 times more traction on dry pavement than on ice...

Slowing down is the number one piece of advice for snow, and that goes doubly with a trailer.

also, your trailer connection to the TV makes a big difference. that Snowmobile trailer had a hinged tongue, (connection 1) the 2 inch ball (connection 2) and I had a cheap adjustable hitch where the ball is able to slide up and down (connection 3) and then the receiver pin (connection 4). those 4 connection points all provide a little flex/slop when towing. I towed the same trailer with an adjustable hitch and then with the bumper mount. I could travel at highway speeds (70mph) on light snow with the bumper mount. when I used the adjustable hitch with the exact same load, I would get a trailer sway at just over 60mph.

Scared the heck out of me as the first time I accelerated to highway speed with my fancy new adjustable hitch while snowmobiling was on a sweeping curve on the interstate just past the on-ramp. the trailers started to sway as I hit the curve and had to ride it out while negotiating the curve (all on light snow of course). needles to say I slowed down for the rest of the trip...

It's amazing I survived out of my teens...




Cosmo, how did it go? did you take the TD out over the weekend?

[OLDMERC]

It will depend on the weight of the tow vehicle but you probably wont know its there . If its slippery drive as the conditions dictate .

[dwgriff1]

In Oregon, at least, there is a highway sign that says something like "chain required on drag axle."
My truck driver son in law tells me that means that the last axle in the string (doubles or triples for instance) must have a tire chain, if chains are required. The point is to keep the trailer string back there where they belong and not wrapping around your back side. It seemed to me that would work for my tear as well.
So I took an old tire chain and cut it down to fit the 14" tire on my trailer. We pulled our trailer to San Francisco for Thanksgiving a few winters and I was always a bit nervous about pulling the teardrop trailer over Donner.
Never have to use it, but it was there.

dave

[PKCSPT]

Drive appropriate to the road conditions and other drivers. Chain up if in an area required though not a problem here in Minnesota.