Other Be careful what yer tow

Just found this. Too tall and probably too heavy. When it starts to snake like this the only thing yer can do is ease oft the power to reduce speed a bit and hope it stops. Taking yer feet oft the pedals fully or breaking while it's doing this will probably make things worser. If it hadn't of happened and the truck overtook, then something else would have gone wrong with the wind oft the truck knocking the trailer/van about.

Content warning. Freelander being hurt int video below.

Scary stuff But, as you say, too high and heavy for the vehicle - had a stock trailer on a 90 years ago with some lively animules in, start that shenanigans once - and as you also say, ease orft slowly and wait for the train to stabilise....

Or it gets messy shame about the FL too - looked nice and straight before the roof got caved in .

Bugger - he should have asked on LZ if it was OK to tow that first

Hippo said:

Just found this. Too tall and probably too heavy. When it starts to snake like this the only thing yer can do is ease oft the power to reduce speed a bit and hope it stops. Taking yer feet oft the pedals fully or breaking while it's doing this will probably make things worser. If it hadn't of happened and the truck overtook, then something else would have gone wrong with the wind oft the truck knocking the trailer/van about.

Content warning. Freelander being hurt int video below.

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that's dramatic!

The FL1 should be OK with that load, although not on that trailer and not loaded like that. The load wasn't correctly secured to the trailer bed either, which is a no no. I suspect no attention was made to correct the download on the tow hitch and no stabilizer was fitted. The trailer should have been rated for the load and be of a suitable width to give the necessary stability with a load of that hight. I suspect speed was also an issue, propagating the instability in the first place.

I wouldn't mind the air flow being pushed around by that lorry overtaking it kicked off the snaking.

I assume three things here, the dash cam was taken from the windscreen of a Defender with a 2" lift kit, they were yer typical Freelanderer owners, and it is unlikely the insurance will cough up after seeing that video?

doriz said:

I assume three things here, the dash cam was taken from the windscreen of a Defender with a 2" lift kit, they were yer typical Freelanderer owners, and it is unlikely the insurance will cough up after seeing that video?

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Correct on the last comment. Miles out on the first 2.

you can see it on you tube

I've just wtached it... He will have been significantly over weight I think - That trailer looks like an Ifor which would be around 800-900 Kg and the van probably another 1600-1800Kg? However a correctly loaded and configured trailer should be okay even if overweight. He seems to make no attempt to control to snake, so I guess its not an experienced driver. In that configuration I would expect it to be too nose heavy but that's not necessarily a bad thing. A trailer puncture could have caused this.

I know it's controversial so I am not recommending this but when a snake starts, I apply extra power - but just enough to get the car towing the trailer rather than the trailer pushing the car, not enough to increase the speed, that usually sorts it.

Hippo said:

Just found this. Too tall and probably too heavy. When it starts to snake like this the only thing yer can do is ease oft the power to reduce speed a bit and hope it stops. Taking yer feet oft the pedals fully or breaking while it's doing this will probably make things worser. If it hadn't of happened and the truck overtook, then something else would have gone wrong with the wind oft the truck knocking the trailer/van about.

Content warning. Freelander being hurt int video below.

Click to expand...

Wrong you should accelerate if it starts to snake then when settled down ease off fffs don’t brake or back off cuz that happens

Now he's going to need a 110 Defender to tow them all away.

mikescuba said:

Now he's going to need a 110 Defender to tow them all away.

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Think a road sweeper would be better

Broke Again said:

Wrong you should accelerate if it starts to snake then when settled down ease off fffs don’t brake or back off cuz that happens

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rubbish

Hippo said:

rubbish

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I’d suggest you look further into it then if you think that I’ve done quite a bit of towing as a class 1 driver , ask other hgv drivers on near and they will confirm what I’m saying tannaton has said the same as me too

Broke Again said:

I’d suggest you look further into it then if you think that I’ve done quite a bit of towing as a class 1 driver , ask other hgv drivers on near and they will confirm what I’m saying tannaton has said the same as me too

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Don't be so silly. Driving a heavy articulated truck with the trailer wheels at the rear of a long trailer has no comparison to a light weight Freelander 1 towing a trailer with a heavy van loaded on it which is high in the air with the trailer wheels in the middle of the trailer. If you had the eggsperience you suggest you wouldn't make such silly comments or comparison. I won't respond to you on this topic again.

Hippo said:

Don't be so silly. Driving a heavy articulated truck with the trailer wheels at the rear of a long trailer has no comparison to a light weight Freelander 1 towing a trailer with a heavy van loaded on it which is high in the air with the trailer wheels in the middle of the trailer. If you had the eggsperience you suggest you wouldn't make such silly comments or comparison. I won't respond to you on this topic again.

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You need to accelerate let’s see what every one else thinks

If there's a snake, like in the video, then accelerating ISN'T the way to control it, regardless of what Clarkson said. If there's a snake in a centre articulating vehicle, then slowing down slowly and smoothly is the only way. The reason for the snake is due to a natural oscillation of the vehicle train, caused by suspension compression/extension. Speeding up simply increases the energy available to compress the suspension, making the oscillations worse.
Slowing down gradually will reduce the energy available, so lessening the oscillations. Once back under control, the driver then stays under the speed needed to restart the oscillations again.

The combined weight of the trailer and van on it vastly exceeds the Freelander, bad.

I came across a freelander towing a D3 on a trailer that looked extremely overloaded a while back, was going quickly enough that I couldn’t pass it as quickly as I’d have liked to in the D1. Looked Scary!