Based on the humorous responses I received to an earlier towing-related string, I thought it would be great if we collect everyone's funny or unusual towing mishap stories, fact or fiction or both. Please share your experience with us! Or if you have a "friend" who embarrassed himself, tell us about it! Or if you heard a good one from a friend of a friend who read it in a newspaper, please, share it with us!

 

Actually, this thread probably should be under the Towing message board (maybe Ken would move it?). Here is my funny (or stupid) towing story. I worked for a city forestry department and often was given a Ford F350 dump truck and a Ford 300 I6 powered wood chipper. We'd just raise the dump bed enough to catch the chips. Anyway, one day I hauled that chipper several miles through town with the pintle hook WIDE OPEN and the safety chains NOT CONNECTED! It's only by the grace of God (and a decent tongue weight) that the chipper didn't nose up and come off that hook. Whew!

 

I constantly informed a contractor friend that he was overworking his equipment. He had a 97 F150 that he installed air bags on, trying to make it "work" like a F350. One day he picked up a load of dirt for a job in his dump trailer, and pumped up the bags to handle the load. Upon arriving at the job, he started to dump the overloaded trailer. Half way up, the trailer tongue bent in half and the trucks frame folded at the point the air bags were mounted. He now owns an F350!!

Moral of this story: NEVER exceed the GVW of your truck or trailer!!

Nathan

 

Hint taken... moved to towing. :-)

Ken Payne
Ford Truck Enthusiasts Admin

 

I don't know if this qualifies, but I bought some parts off this guy, and heres his list of some funny things people say as he's towing them in. http://gillys.com/accident.htm
Kenny

 

Twenty years ago the wife and I were pulling a 22' travel trailer with a '74 F250 Ranger XLT. On our way back from Sequoia National Park we stopped in a little place called Lemoncove to fill up with gas. I pulled up to the pumps at a little Chevron station that had that art deco looking type of archetecture popular in the '30's. As I drove away from the pump after fueling, I felt a little tug. I stopped and got out to have a look. The roof over the pump island wasn't high enough for the air conditioner on the roof of the trailer to pass under. The air conditioner was ripped clean off!

 

I was towing a motorcycle trailer with 5 dirt bikes on it after a hard day of riding. After we got on the overpass to get to the highway the truck started to drive normally on the way down. Thats when I saw the trailer rolling down to me on the tounge wheel skidding it's way along the side of the bridge in my rearview morror. The only thing I could think of was to stop the truck and let the trailer slam into me. It dented the bumper pretty badly and tore off the little wheel. In hind sight I guess I could have gradually slowed down and just let the trailer kiss the truck before I stopped. Or even remembered to lock the tounge to the ball.

 

Well when we we're moving to Texas from California, we used an '86 Bronco II to tow alot of our stuff. On the trailer we were towing, we had a '66 Fastback Mustang, a huge table,complete set of chairs, and some other monsterously huge piece of furniture. (I forgot what you call it) Well it's bad to go 1 full ton over the vehicle's maximum, but when you go over what the trailer is rated for.... well it get's interesting. It just so happens that we we're following a fuel truck doing about 65. Well as luck would have it, the fuel truck a head of us was puking out fuel... the Bronco started to fish tail. (BADLY!) I saw my father crank the wheel to it's stops several times trying to keep it on the road, but to no avail. :-) The best thing we could do was "attempt" to hit a small sandy ditch on the side of the road. When the huge dust cloud had finally settled, the Bronco was almost completely on it's side, with the Mustang, and trailer wrapped all the way around on the passenger side with the ball still connected. The coolest part of the story though is how the little truck held up! There was almost NO body damage, and the engine was still running. We could have probably pulled ourselves and the trailer out of the ditch in four wheel low, but the two right side tires had rolled off the rim.

Wow! It's been years since I told that story...

Chris
1982 F100 Flareside
300HD I-6
SROD 4speed
Blue & Silver

 

Living in South Texas we used to do whatever we could for a bit of extra cash during the winter.

I would hot-shot pipe, fittings, and all kinds of other junk to drill sites and made decent cash doing it. A friend turned me on to hauling bucking bulls north to trade for bucking horses. So I started to do that and was making great money for about two years off and on whenever I had free time and he had a load to go.

One winter in the mid eighties I had a 32' slab sided stock trailer on and was hauling north through the snow. I wasn't making much time as I was only going about 35 mph but the commercial truck in front of me was easy to see in the snow and we chatted it up on the CB and I was in no hurry to pass him and trek on into the darkness. We hadn't seen another person for the last two hours and the weather was getting worse.

The snow was turning to sleet and the highway to ice. I had just switched to the front fuel tank when I looked back in the right rear mirror and got confused. I didn't see anything behind me. The lights from the side of the trailer were always there to remind me that the bulls were still back there. The first thing I thought was that the trailer light plug had somehow pulled loose which now wouldn't make sence as the brakes would have locked up if it happened. But when your brain is frozen and you get the wrong picture in the mirror all of that doesn't come to you right away.

About two seconds later after the glance in the mirror the CB lit up with the most horrible thing I ever heard. My trailer was swinging all the way out into the oncoming lane he announced! Sure enough I looked over my left shoulder to see the rear end of the trailer jack-knifing and passing me as I was going down the highway. I have never felt that sick and scared before in my life.

All I could think of was how it was gonna hurt bad when it was all over but the truck driver in front of me yelled to me on his CB to gun it and get ahead of it. As soon as he said it I did what he ordered and I started to gain a lead on the trailer. He started to calm down and told me to get ready for the whip when it tries to go back the other way and he was right. It scared me more than anything cause I knew it was coming. I thought it was going to rip the bed right off the truck. I finally got it all straightened out and we just kept going down the road.

I don't have a clue myself but over coffee about a hundred miles later he figured that the whole deal took almost a miles to get sorted out and the only damage were a trailer full of nervous bulls and a small barely noticeable dent in my bed toolbox.

I got my load delivered alive and picked up the horses, headed home and never hauled for that guy again.

If you were there then I still say thanks and I probably owe you my life for your quick thinking and at least another breakfast.

Well that is my towing story. I have more but they don't involve me perosnally but interesting all the same. Maybe if I get time I will share a few more.

Tripp

 

This isn't so much funny as absolutely unbelievable... Last spring we were headed from Boulder,CO to Waco,TX for spring training. The trailer is a 40' foot long bumper hitch that weighs 7,000lbs empty and about 12,000lbs full. At this point we were using a 1986 Chevy silverado 1-ton crewcab dually with the old 454 big block through a 3-speed auto tranny. It was 9pm and we were 35 miles west of Salina,KS. I was asleep and one of my partners was driving when all of the sudden it sounded like a gunshot and a bullet ricocheting around under the hood. The brakes went out and we coasted to the shoulder over the next mile using the e-brake. We opened up the hood and the were belts everywhere(main belt and two v-belts) we called a tow truck and he towed us at 35mph to Salina. We pulled into a gas station and got out a couple of big flashlights to figure out what was broken.(11pm)we found the crank flywheel ripped off the harmonic damper on the crank had lodged in between the radiator and the frame rails, but not before it had gone through two fan blades, the hydro boost brake line and the fan housing. we tried all day saturday and sunday to fix it but we ended up without a pot to **** in or a window to throw it out of.We were just about to go get the hotel room for another night when a Dodge 3500 deisel dually pulled up with texas tags. (He had an F350 Crewcab PSD dually on order)he was helping a lady fix her flat tire on his way to North Platte,NE I told him we'd pay him gas, meals, and mileage to tow us to Waco, and we'd double it if he came back and towed us back at the end of the week. Sure enough we made it to Waco-and back, all because of the kindest texan I know. So, Ken Smith of Texarkana, if ever get wind of this, you're the greatest there is.. and you're also the reason I now own a 2000 F250 supercab PSD w/CB tow&camper package, dynaflow custom exhaust,K&N filter, lights, Rhino bar, bedliner, and the second nastiest Ford between here and Texarkana

 

Wow! What a story!
I've had similar ocasion to be on the receiving end of 'Tejas' hospitality. They are some of the most generous people I have ever had the privilage of meeting.
Long live the Republic of Tejas!

 

OK Heres a funny one, not too long ago we got a call from the highway patrol to tow a truck that was towing a 5th wheel trailer, When we got there we found a 1999 Ford F150 towing a 30 ft 3 axle trailer with the rear axle completely gone. Get this and she had just bought the truck one week before, and thought that Ford should warrently this out. The trailer wieght was about 18,000 pounds and yes it was an F150.

She said the dealer that she bought it at told her that she could tow a trailer. dont think she told them a 3 axle 5th wheel. Anyhow ford made her pay for a new rear end.

Dave
http://a2ztowing.homestead.com/a2ztowing.html

 

It's snowing here...nothing to do so here goes another one....
Coincidentally these stories all involve Chevys biting the bullet

Three years ago(I was 19) we were pulling the same trailer I mentioned earlier with a 97 1/2 ton suburban (I know- I was asking for it) from Boulder ,CO to Palo Alto,CA. We had been on the road for 18 straight hours. We hit snow in WY, rain in salt lake, and sunset on the salt flats. It was about 9-10pm and we were coming up a hill 60 miles east of Reno when the enginr revved and we stopped. One of the smarter people in the truck said,"well there are no warning lights on the dash so we should be fine..." I walked back up the road to see if we had dropped anything on the road and I could see exactly where we broke down by following the trail of tranny fluid. We still had all our parts(minus a tranny) so two of the guys stuck their thumbs out and got picked up by some very nice people who spoke no english. The got off at the next town and called Anderson Towing out of Sparks, NV they told them we had a 50' trailer and a truck with no tranny. The anderson guys thought that it was a full rig so the truck that showed up with our two guys was a peterbilt wrecker with sleeper cab. He towed us to Reno and we dropped off the truck and trailer at the tow yard(also Reno's police impound lot) and he dropped us off at the nearest hotel/casino. I was only 19 so I couldn't even have any fun. The next day we towed the 'burban over to the chevy dealership and they found a replacement tranny in stock at the warehouse across the street- but they weren't open on Saturdays. So I got a ride over to the penske truck rental office and rented a GMC 2500 regular cab long box truck with a tow hitch. I got back to the Chevy dealership to pick the three other drivers up and found out that the hitch was locked on. After one of the mechanics ground the lock off, we went back to the impound yard and hooked up the trailer. we got the 6-pin trailer lights to work with a slot4 truck plug with a little duct tape and a pocket knife. We left Reno at 5pm to go up and over donner pass sitting 4 across with no trailer brakes. We got in to Palo Alto, CA at 10pm, 37 hours after we left Boulder. Yet another reason why i own a FORD.

 

I have pretty good luck with towing usually (unless you count crushing the 2 smallest toes on my right foot and ruining a perfecetly good pair of Timberlands kicking the hitch pole down onto the ball on a 32 foot goose neck yesterday, oops)
This guy has God on his side obviously. About a week ago I was following some fellow in a 1/2 ton pick-up that was towing about a 30 foot gooseneck trailer with a tractor on it through town. I noticed that he was hitched rather far up and looked like high also. as I pulled up beside him I noticed that he had a 2 5/16" 5th wheel ball welded to the top of his steel cross bed toolbox! I have no Idea what was holding that whole mess together but I did not follow him anymore. lol. I hope toGod that a cop finds this guy before he has a wreck and gets someone killed. Must be one good toolbox.

Brad Godkin
1986 F350 CC/SRW
6.9liter/C6

 

When I was younger and dumber I was helping my friend move from NE. to SD. He had an old Mercedes that didn't run and needed to get it moved. So I borrowed a heavy duty steel equip. trailer from a friend and hooked it up to my 70 Chevy 4x4 pu. Well the trailer had one of those ball couplers with a threaded rod and a big wing nut to clamp to the ball. The trip up went fine and my wife and I delivered the car and spent the night. The next morning I was checking the trailer and noticed the wing nut had loosened just slightly so I got out my hammer and really tightened it up good!!! We headed back and got almost to Council Bluffs IA. when I hit a little dip in the Freeway and the trailer came off the truck and was being held on by just the safety chains. The thing was swaying across both lanes of the freeway and my first inclination was to brake, when I did the tongue came under the truck and hit my right rear tire locking it up. This pushed the truck to the side of the road where I somehow got it stopped. I hadn't been stopped for more than 5 min. when who should show up but an Ia. state trooper who happened to be a camping nut and "towing expert" he discovered that I had tightened that wing nut so tight, that when I would turn it backed the nut off the bottom of my ball, and after the nut had dropped off the ball pulled out of the bumper. The next hour was spent waiting for another friend to bring a new ball and listening to "trailer trooper" lecture me about proper ball lubrication, trailer safety, trailer brakes, tongue weight, ETC. But you know 20 years later I still remember and think safety 1st when towing!