Friday was a sad day RIP Avalanche

[intheburbs]

"Nowhere near a novice," but you don't know that putting tension on the hitch, either by hitting the gas or manually applying the trailer brakes, will get you out of a bad sway? I guess it can be called an expensive lesson learned.

Regards to sway and calculating tongue weight - there are ways to weigh your trailer tongue using a lever and a bathroom scale. Google it.
I prefer to weigh on an actual truck scale. Costs $10, and gives great peace of mind. You drive on the scale fully loaded with your trailer, then unhitch, and drive onto the scale again with just your tow vehicle. Then do some easy math to calculate your weights:

The row headings, from top to bottom are:
Steer Axle
Drive Axle
Trailer Axle
Gross Weight

To calculate my tongue weight, I take the sum of the drive and steer axle weights (which is my gross vehicle weight), and subtract the unhitched GVW from the hitched GVW. In this case it would be:

(3220+5620)-(3740+3980) = 1120 lbs

The weight of the trailer is the difference between the two gross weights:

16340-7720 = 8620

To check/confim my trailer is properly loaded/balanced, I divide the two:

1120/8620 = 12.99%

Tongue weight should be between 10-15% of total trailer weight, 13% is just about ideal.

Here's the rig that was weighed:

 

[PG01]

That is a dick thing to say.... op never said he didn't know.....things happened fast.... guy just wrecked his truck and trailer....he is ok most important...as i said many people panic....

 

[intheburbs]

I almost got taken out by a driver that couldn't control their trailer. Was on a 4-lane highway, I-75 here in metro Detroit, no wind, and a Ram pickup pulling a TT started to death sway. The Ram took out two vehicles before recovering. One vehicle was pushed off the road and rolled. I pulled over and helped the occupants until Fire/EMTs arrived. There was a little girl, about 5 years old, hanging upside down in her car seat. She was petrified.

I also saw the video of the rig mentioned above in NJ - forget if it was the GSP or the Turnpike.

Fortuntately, the OP didn't take anyone out when he laid his rig down. It could have been a lot worse. I won't apologize for calling it as I see it.

 

[Gurrzt]

Glad you and your family are ok, did the airbags deploy? if so, the insurance company will consider it totaled.

 

[NeverSatisfied]

"Since you're still alive let me take time to explain how you f'd up instead of being glad that you did what you could to not take anyone else out. Oh and also be happy that you and your wife are okay." Seriously some people these days.

In all seriousness tho, glad you and the wife are okay and nobody else was harmed as well. Like you said truck and trailer can be replaced but someone's life can't.

 

[NachoTahoe]

That is a dick thing to say.... op never said he didn't know.....things happened fast.... guy just wrecked his truck and trailer....he is ok most important...as i said many people panic....

its not a dick thing to say. OP didnt do what he was supposed to do in that exact second he should have... (accelerate and hit trailer brakes) thus he doesnt understand how he did put peoples lives at risk. Pulling over to an exit took thousands of feet.... he could have fixed it in hundreds of feet.

"I did not apply the trailer brake manually and do regret that. It all happened in a manner of seconds and traffic was heavy. I just wanted to get over to the exit/shoulder and not take out an innocent family."

Lets put this in perspective.... your vehicle brakes fail and your gonna slam it into the car ahead of you.... do you throw the vehicle into the park position because thats the fastest thing you can think of or do you use the emergency brake that is on the car? Just because you dont normally use the brake.... doesnt mean it doesnt have a purpose. OP will use that trailer brake next time.... Maybe the OP should rename the "manual trailer brake" to "emergency anti-sway"

 

[NachoTahoe]

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[Tonyrodz]

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That's messed up! Hopefully no one got hurt. I can't believe those other cars just drove right by.

 

[63Blackseries]

So I am planning to buy a rv trailer in the near future, I am guessing the only way to prevent this is to watch your speed and balance the weight out? Or is this a trailer design flaw or drivers fault? I have towed enclosed trailers and flat deck trailers with a tractor on it and haven't had any problems with my Avalanche.

 

[W8TVI]

So I am planning to buy a rv trailer in the near future, I am guessing the only way to prevent this is to watch your speed and balance the weight out? Or is this a trailer design flaw or drivers fault? I have towed enclosed trailers and flat deck trailers with a tractor on it and haven't had any problems with my Avalanche.

It was the drivers fault.
They didn't load the trailer properly, and they probably didn't have anti-sway bars.
There is a lot of air being pushed off to the side of the front of that semi tractor. That air pushing sideways on the trailer is probably what started the sway.

My family got a 30' TT and pulled it behind a '91 1500 Suburban with the towing package. First trip we took with it, we only had the load levelers (it helps "distribute" weight to the front axle of the truck, or so I'm told). Every time a big rig passed us, you could feel it push on the back of the trailer, then the front of the trailer, then on the Suburban.

The next trip, we had the anti-sway bars, too.
With those, every time we were passed (or passed, for that matter) a big rig, the whole TT + Suburban combo was pushed to the side a a whole unit, instead of it trying to pivot in the middle, depending on where the semi was in its pass.

If I tow a big trailer with my Yukon XL, I will be using load levelers and the anti-sways for sure.