Towing Over the Capacity of the Vehicle

This comes up every week... I don't know the whole story, but the judge seem to know about weights and capacities...

http://www.silive.com/southshore/index.ssf/2017/09/driver_mulling_plea_offer_in_f.html

 

Do you think this will open anyone's eyes? I am on the road 200 to 500 miles everyday and it never ceases to amaze me at what people think they can tow. Dumbest thing was a 5th wheel attached to the trunk lid of an Impala.

 

No it won't change anything air savage... It just seems like many new owners think they bought a tow vehicle rather than a compact truck. These trucks do great with smaller loads and smaller trailers. I've towed boats, enclosed trailers, open trailers and campers all over the eastern US for 12 years... It always blows my mind when I see what people are pulling.

 

The tow vehicle was a Tundra. I don't think is an issue of over the vehicle limit, the boat was 1,000+ lbs over the weight limit for the trailer and he didn't have the trailer secured with safety chains and wasn't set up for trailer brakes.

Can't fix stupid.

 

Where did the article state the tow vehicle was a Tundra? I read Toyota SUV in the link.

 

Click on ther photo gallery in the article.

Cyclists injured on Hylan Blvd.
Police investigate the scene at Hylan Boulevard and Bay Terrace, where sources say a boat detached from the back of a pickup truck and struck two women riding bicycles, seriously injuring them. (Staten Island Advance/Ryan Lavis)

 

Didn't see that part... Lots of boats up here on Erie that move twice a year on homemade "cradles" and "storage trailers". Tundra should have been plenty.

 

Thank you for the clarification

 

^I thought that was the vehicle in question at first too, but it strikes me as odd how someone is casually sitting in the drivers seat in that picture. With tape everywhere and officers conducting an investigation, I highly doubt the driver would be allowed to chill there. That and the article states it was a 2015 model, which that Tundra is not (it looks to be the previous generation which ended in 2013 I believe).

 

The article lists the Toyota SUV had a to rating limited to 3000lbs, the boat was 4000lbs. I don't think any Tundra is rated that low even without a factory installed tow package?

 

No cargo box on that car's roof rack... you could have gotten more out of her!

 

Back when I worked the street I had this conversation roughly a hundred billion times a year.

Victim "Someone stole my car"

Me "Where where your keys?"

V " I keep them in the ignition, been doing it for years and never had a problem"

Me "Well, you can't say that anymore"

Point being 1. For F's sake how lazy are you that carrying your keys into the house is that hard to do? And even if you're really going to be that lazy your so lazy you won't even take them out of the ignition, in your unlocked car.

People's towing recommendations seem to follow the same line of thought. "I've been doing this for years, never had a problem." And that works just fine until one day, problem, and now you're all upset by your own doings and complaining about how much it's going to cost to get your truck out of the ditch and back on it's wheels, plus fix the twisted frame, trashed trailer etc.

Towing even a light trailer completely changes what your vehicle does and how and when and why. I don't understand why it's treated as a non-issue, especially when you're talking about weight and trailer length etc. Physics is physics, a lever is a lever and torque is torque. It doesn't change just because you want it to.



If Glock put a label on the side of the slide saying "Warning, don't suck start" odds are someone would still chime up "I've been suck starting my pistol for years, never had a problem..."

 

Hands down the best post I've read on TW, this can't be stressed enough. Such narrow minded thinking has no place in modern society.

 

Just a clarification: the article said that the trailer was rated for 3000lbs, not the vehicle.