First time towing - success

[GregBC]

...whether that success was by luck or skill, we may never know!

So I'm a retired nuke and still work in the marine industry and if you were going to line up some Swiss cheese holes for an incident, here are a few:
- borrowing friends newish trailer
- wife is driving solo on the first trip
- I've only watched a few vids but otherwise don't have experience either
- hitch setup for a Gen13 Raptor
- trailer hooked up on a slanted driveway (not sure who has "level roads" but I swear they don't exist on this island!)
- first tow included boarding a fully packed ferry then driving thru a city and into a busy horse show

Annnnnd ... she got it done! Then I got it done coming the other way! Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, lol, tho I don't recommend the above as initial conditions for a first tow.

I did get clip-on towing mirrors (they worked so-so) and the owner and I adjusted the WDH a bit but it still wasn't completely level and when I drove it, I felt a noticeable bob when going over bumps, telling me it wasn't well balanced. I had a few 100lbs in the bed and the route was slow and low-traffic so I kept speeds reasonable.

Overall the truck handled it well. Tow mode and the engine braking was great. Everything connected well tho I should have played with the camera modes more. I did try to reverse but it was a downhill, curved driveway with a rock wall along the outside. I gave it one shot and let the owner finish it, lol! My bank account fears overrode my pride this time!

Good to get a first try done without incident; look forward to some more in the future.

Sponsored

 

[FaaWrenchBndr]

Well done Sir

 

[Chappy133]

Luck counts! BC Ferries! Need to get back to Vancouver Island again sometime.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

...whether that success was by luck or skill, we may never know!

So I'm a retired nuke and still work in the marine industry and if you were going to line up some Swiss cheese holes for an incident, here are a few:
- borrowing friends newish trailer
- wife is driving solo on the first trip
- I've only watched a few vids but otherwise don't have experience either
- hitch setup for a Gen13 Raptor
- trailer hooked up on a slanted driveway (not sure who has "level roads" but I swear they don't exist on this island!)
- first tow included boarding a fully packed ferry then driving thru a city and into a busy horse show

Annnnnd ... she got it done! Then I got it done coming the other way! Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, lol, tho I don't recommend the above as initial conditions for a first tow.

I did get clip-on towing mirrors (they worked so-so) and the owner and I adjusted the WDH a bit but it still wasn't completely level and when I drove it, I felt a noticeable bob when going over bumps, telling me it wasn't well balanced. I had a few 100lbs in the bed and the route was slow and low-traffic so I kept speeds reasonable.

Overall the truck handled it well. Tow mode and the engine braking was great. Everything connected well tho I should have played with the camera modes more. I did try to reverse but it was a downhill, curved driveway with a rock wall along the outside. I gave it one shot and let the owner finish it, lol! My bank account fears overrode my pride this time!

Good to get a first try done without incident; look forward to some more in the future.

Great job! We're glad you're enjoying the toeing capabilities of your awesome truck!

 

[powerboatr]

That's 3 points and a gold ✨️
A ferry with a camper in tow
Ferries give me the Willie's, some deck hand always tries to park us to close to non moveable objects or parks a vehicle tight to me

 

[GregBC]

Ferries give me the Willie's, some deck hand always tries to park us to close to non moveable objects or parks a vehicle tight to me

Oh yeah that happened to us (when driving just the truck)! The deckhand was directing us to move back and we watched him instead of the mirrors and ended up hitting another car! Fortunately BC Ferries came good and covered the expenses (very minor to the truck) and gave us some passes.
Sometimes their hand signals are quite unclear and I have to lean out the window to ask exactly what do they want me to do, lol.

 

[NMMIKE]

Sounds like U did great for the first time! The "Bob" U felt was probably "porpoising " and U r right that it wasn't "balanced",,, probably need some more adjustment of hitch height and / or adjustment of WDH bar tension. We like how our 24 F150 3.5 eB tows,,,, added the trans temp gauge to the display and we lock out tranny for 9 & 10 most of the time.

 

[GregBC]

Haha, thanks!
Yeah I know the hitch height wasn't right. It was set for our friends 2018 Raptor plus we weren't able to empty the tanks before leaving, putting all that weight behind the wheels. I was glad we had some more weight in the bed, at least!

 

[PaulGrun]

That's 3 points and a gold ✨️
A ferry with a camper in tow
Ferries give me the Willie's, some deck hand always tries to park us to close to non moveable objects or parks a vehicle tight to me

More than once I've been asked to back my trailer onto a ferry...sounds intimidating but not really a problem if you take it slow. They usually offer to do it for me, but I have no problem doing it. One time it involved the ramp doing a 90deg turn. That was my '94 GMC with a 5 speed manual. The worst was backing a short teardrop trailer up the ramp. It's so short that it's very twitching, requiring a very gentle hand on the wheel and lots of pulling forward to get it back in line. Still, not nearly as hard as it seems.
I've found the ferry crews to be excellent. One time they had me parking within a couple of inches of a post so they could position the trailer wheels right over a tie down point.
Fun times.
I commend the OP for taking the bull by the horns and refusing to let the trailer intimidate him, or his wife. The first time is always the hardest. Bravo!

 

[GregBC]

Thankfully the ferries here are drive-thru, so no backing required (unless there's a mistake and they want to reposition you).

Thanks, we're glad we tried it (tho the ferry ticket was pricey!)

 

[NavyChief]

What’s the rack you have over the soft topper?

 

[GregBC]

What’s the rack you have over the soft topper?

It's an Adarac by Agricover. I used the steel rails (that bolt to the bed) with the aluminum vertical uprights. And had to add some shims under the Softopper rail to get above the rail bolts. I have another thread on the setup or shoot another note if you want more details.

 

[Aron]

- trailer hooked up on a slanted driveway (not sure who has "level roads" but I swear they don't exist on this island!)

One way that you might be able to solve this is to find a big open parking lot. Even if the lot isn’t level overall, it’ll be level in some orientation, even if you’re leaning hard in the other direction. Just bring a level with you to find the exact orientation where you need to line up, even if you’re parked across a dozen parking spaces and leaning hard to one side. Eyeball your setup at home to try to get it close, then make any necessary adjustments while you’re sitting in the “level” spot in the parking area. You probably only need to worry about being level front to back, but if you are concerned that you need to check level left-to-right (if the trailer is heavily weighted to one side, for instance), then you can always repark 90 degrees from your front-to-back check and shift weight around to get it level.

 

[GregBC]

Thanks! I considered that but we knew it was a pretty short, low ish-speed trip and decided it was relatively low-risk. But yeah if we were going further afield, I would have definitely pulled into a level parking lot to adjust. The hitch was also setup for my friends Gen13 Raptor, so I'm sure that put things off a little bit from the get-go. I'd have re-set the hitch if we were going on a longer trip or knew we'd be going faster.

Sponsored