Trailer brakes firmly applied at onset of oscillation "can" dampen them enough to make an immediate stop and save further damage..... in some instances.
As this excellent video shows, the amplitude of the initial oscillation strongly impacts both the frequency and amplitude of the out of balance and how it is translated to the rear of the tow vehicle. Trailer rule #1: Load carefully, drive slowly, avoid sudden direction changes. On Sat, Apr 21, 2018 at 5:03 PM, Mitch Haley via Mercedes < mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > Nice video. > I'm bookmarking it. > It appears that a large disturbance gains rapidly in amplitude, but a > smaller (but still pretty serious) one still self-damps at the test speed > shown. > I'm still thinking that if it starts from going too fast in a straight > line you should usually be able to stop it just by slowing down. But > perhaps if it starts by sudden swerving or changing lanes, you might induce > enough sway to not be able to get out of it by simply removing energy from > the entire system by slowing down? > Mitch. > > On April 21, 2018 at 7:53 PM Karl Wittnebel via Mercedes < > mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > > > > > It is in unstable equilibrium. Unloading the tongue creates a positive > > feedback loop so any perturbation is amplified. Not always anything to be > > done about these once they begin. > > > > https://youtu.be/4jk9H5AB4lM > > > > On Sat, Apr 21, 2018, 4:44 PM Kaleb C. Striplin via Mercedes < > > mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > > > > If the dude would have simply let off the gas and slowed down a little > he > > > would have got it under control. He seemed to have just continued to > try > > > and gain speed all the while it started fish tailing worse. > > > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > > > > > > On Apr 21, 2018, at 6:36 PM, Mitch Haley via Mercedes < > > > mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > It also takes the stupidity to accelerate instead of slowing when the > > > shimmy starts, doesn't it? > > > > Or does it sometimes just hit you hard and fast without prior > warning? > > > > Mitch. > > > > > > > >> On April 21, 2018 at 7:29 PM G Mann via Mercedes < > mercedes@okiebenz.com> > > > wrote: > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> Loading the car with engine aft of the trailer axles [or axle] set > it > > > all > > > >> in motion even before the guy pulled on to the highway. > > > >> > > > >> Tongue weight and center of gravity is critical to successful > trailer > > > work. > > > >> > > > >> Hope the guy survived and hope no one else was injured. All it > takes is > > > a > > > >> simple violation of the laws of physics and suddenly, you are Darwin > > > Award > > > >> material. > > > > > > > > _______________________________________ > > > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > > > > > > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > > > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________ > > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > > > > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > > > > > _______________________________________ > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
