Re: Trailer Safety Chains

[Niccolai Murphy <niccolai_m@yahoo.com>]

Sorry, moments are moments and the couple is formed by the tires and
the hitch.  No amount of gut feeling will overcome this fact. I spend
much of my time fighting gut feelings like this in my job where the
environment is somewhat less forgiving and a whole lot more lethal, so
they pay folks like us to be obnoxious and not give in to gut feelings
like this. Eighteen wheelers are eighteen wheelers for other reasons,
like not needing a drive shaft that long and for flexibility. The
'hitch' on an eighteen wheeler is very significantly superior to that
of a gooseneck too.

Like I said I'll drive either and be happy, each has it's pros and
cons. I suspect that if there are numbers to look up you'll find that
there is no significant difference in accident rates though
survivability towing a gooseneck is dubious and most accidents could
most likely blamed on driving style. 

Me? I'm one of those irritating folks who tows at 55 and slows down
real slow for the on and off ramps.




---Joe Long <jlong@mti.net> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 3 Jul 1998 06:42:43 -0700 (PDT), Niccolai Murphy
> <niccolai_m@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> >I won't argue about that the gooseneck doesn't have advantages over
> >the bumper tow either. There's little doubt that it is more resistant
> >against jack knifing than a bumper tow all other factors being equal.
> >Pity the bumper tow guys put so little effort into designing a stable
> >platform.
> 
> You know, it's no accident that the trailers of 18-wheelers mount
> directly above the rear axles of the tractor, very similar to the
> location of goosneck hitches.  Long experience has shown this to be
> the most stable and safe method.
> 
> As far as a gooseneck rolling the tow vehicle, when you consider how
> much shorter the verticle distance is from the axle centerline to the
> ball, compared to the track (distance between the wheels), and that
> the ball&socket does not allow any torque to be trasmitted from the
> trailer to the tow vehicle, any force coming from the trailer is far
> more likely to *slide* the tow vehicle than roll it.  I would venture
> to say that in any accident with a gooseneck where the tow vehicle
> rolled, something other than the trailer caused the rollover.
> 
> -- 
> 
> Joe Long
> jlong@mti.net
> Business Page  http://www.mti.net
> Personal Page  http://www.rnbw.com
> 
> 

==
Nicco Murphy - Poway, San Diego, CA


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