Getting Trailer Home in an Emergency

[DT6]

We took our first extended trip this year, which was 5 weeks traveling down from Oregon to NV,CA, and AZ. During the trip I sustained a severe injury while tripping over the gas line at a gas station (I must have stepped over them a 1000 times, but never again!).

Fortunately I was able to manage driving and x-rays on my knee were negative (but I can say it definitely felt like it was fractured), but if it had been a bit worse I would not have been able to drive for several weeks. My wife wants to be able to drive the trailer, but is not comfortable yet it in the city, adverse weather, or a lot of traffic.

If I had not been able to drive, is there a service anywhere that can be hired to drive your rig home? Has anyone ever had to deal with this type of situation before, and if so what did you do?

[Donna D.]

I cringed reading your story. The only way your wife is ever going to feel comfortable towing the trailer is to do it. Do it when it's NOT an emergency. Consider it practice every single time you go out and she drives for a while. IMHO if there are two people using the trailer than there are two people who should know how to do everything that has to do with the trailer and that includes hooking it up to decamping as well as towing. Good luck

[Eggscape]

I don’t know of a service but we do have a few friends that we could fly out and they would drive it home for us if our daughter was unavailable.

However there is nothing my wife can’t do in setup, take down and driving. She is excellent in backing up and probably does it more than me as I am usually the one play with the wheel ramp.

I hope your wife has the opportunity to get comfortable with the trailer in the future.

[Rockhead]

We have Good Sam’s travel assist which will get you and your vehicle/ trailer home safely in case of an emergency

[Chasing Trials]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

I cringed reading your story. The only way your wife is ever going to feel comfortable towing the trailer is to do it. Do it when it's NOT an emergency. Consider it practice every single time you go out and she drives for a while. IMHO if there are two people using the trailer than there are two people who should know how to do everything that has to do with the trailer and that includes hooking it up to decamping as well as towing. Good luck

Yes, this IS what you have to do! Can start in a large parking lot(& Yes SOME backing up!) Get a road cone, & practice backing up to it(hitching). No back up camera? She learns to get out & look, get back in, move a bit, get back out & look, etc. (trick? on judging small movements? Open vehicle door, Look straight down at the ground over edge of door jam, to watch how far.) on out to quiet traffic road, merging, etc. Last highway with the semis.



Way back in the 70s senior in High school, boyfriend's father owned a old 25' wooden schooner. He was NOT allow to take it out, without someone else, capable enough to get back it to shore, if something happen to him. I counted. Strong from total care of my horses. Crazy, but my parents allowed me to go for weekends with him on the boat! You better believed I behaved. My Father was a boat person & understood.

[Selkirk]

A friend of mine works seasonally as a driver for a RV dealer. If the dealer purchases a unit located elsewhere in the country, they will contract him to go out, pick it up, and deliver it back.

If it was an emergency situation (and you didn't have any sort of insurance/auto club coverage / etc), I'd consider reaching out to the nearest RV dealer to see if they could recommend a qualified professional contractor you could hire to drive your rig home.

[Janet H]

There are a number of services out there. If you google: RV transporters you'll get a long list. Still, getting your wife feeling more comfortable towing is a great idea.

I belong to an airstream forum where a member (couple) was camping 2000 miles from home with 2 dogs and he had a fatal heart attack. The wife posted about this the day after asking what to do (she had never towed) and the forum community quickly put together a towing relay mostly in 200 and 300-mile increments and got her rig home. While a transport company would have been a simpler solution, the relay was able to transport her dogs while she stayed behind to wrap up details. Despite a horrific situation, it was heartwarming to watch this unfold.

Several years have passed now and she sold the trailer and truck and purchased a B van and is still camping.

[Viajante]

I had to make an unexpected 1500 mile return home a few years back. I put the trailer in storage and came back a few months later to get it and start another trip. It worked well enough that I've done it a few times since as part of a travel plan.

The thing is you probably don't really need the trailer to get home. The object is to get home, not go camping.

[Zahuta]

The Escape trailers are really very easy to drive yet mishaps happen easily too. We currently have 5 trailers. The biggest is a 44 ft long horse trailer. When we acquired that beast we took it out every Sunday morning to a vacant parking lot and practiced turning, backing, parking and every maneuver we could think of. Often we just drive it all over a big empty lot. Remember to look for overhangs and have a back up camera and/or someone on the ground for when backing up. And use the trick of driving the top of the steering wheel for turning the truck in the direction you wish to back to and using the bottom of the wheel for turning the trailer toward the direction you want to back to.
Beth

[dfandrews]

To add to the spouse-training aspect: The empty parking lot training was we first did, but for refreshers, my wife sometimes takes a stint from gas stop to gas stop, and even occasionally will back the rig into our camping spot (always her choice, so it's occasional!)
-another related point: we routinely do the pre-launch walk around checklist together, so we don't miss anything.

[dfandrews]

Another emergency recovery possibility: reaching out to known groups for experienced help, such as this Forum, or as in our case, church members.


I had two opportunities to participate in that just within the last six months. The first was when a couple we know were broadsided at 50 mph, and rolled and wrecked their tow vehicle. (They miraculously walked-away). That left their 5th wheel 26 ft'er stranded in a camp ground. I called a friend who had an F350 w/5th wheel setup, who then called his employer, arranged time off, then we drove a long way (part of it was thru Texas!) to retrieve their trailer.


The second instance was when a friend agreed to help some of the younger generation in a move, but found out at the last minute the extent of the move. The two of us (we're both retired, so we can do this!) were able to use a trailer for part of the move, then, because the younger gen's had no experience, he drove the largest size U-haul the rest of the way, in January weather, to their final mountain state destination. (What can I say; he's an Idahoan, so snow, ice, inclement weather, mountain passes, whatever: bring it on!!)

[Suregrip391]

I’ve often thought about this, being a 5.0 owner, if something happened to your truck or trailer and you needed the trailer transported on a flatbed (seems all towing companies have these, not all have specialized equipment such as 5th wheel adapters or hitches, etc) has anyone ever tried to mount some wheels on the front landing gear to aid in loading on a flatbed? Something like this? https://www.crofttrailer.com/tjwk20-...wivel-feature/

[Rossue]

Originally Posted by dfandrews

Another emergency recovery possibility: reaching out to known groups for experienced help, such as this Forum, or as in our case, church members.


I had two opportunities to participate in that just within the last six months. The first was when a couple we know were broadsided at 50 mph, and rolled and wrecked their tow vehicle. (They miraculously walked-away). That left their 5th wheel 26 ft'er stranded in a camp ground. I called a friend who had an F350 w/5th wheel setup, who then called his employer, arranged time off, then we drove a long way (part of it was thru Texas!) to retrieve their trailer.


The second instance was when a friend agreed to help some of the younger generation in a move, but found out at the last minute the extent of the move. The two of us (we're both retired, so we can do this!) were able to use a trailer for part of the move, then, because the younger gen's had no experience, he drove the largest size U-haul the rest of the way, in January weather, to their final mountain state destination. (What can I say; he's an Idahoan, so snow, ice, inclement weather, mountain passes, whatever: bring it on!!)

That's awesome & not something too many people could or would do.

[Centex]

Originally Posted by Suregrip391

I’ve often thought about this, being a 5.0 owner .... has anyone ever tried to mount some wheels on the front landing gear to aid in loading on a flatbed?...

FYI, here's a zoom / crop pic of the wheels used by ETI's transporter to unload my 5.0 at the delivery hub; basically a bit larger diameter version of the wheels / casters that slip over the end of a tongue jack. In this pic the trailer has just been rolled-off the tilt-bed 'wrecker' truck (using the wrecker's winch cable).

It looked a bit 'tenuous' to me at first glance, but of course all worked perfectly fine, the ETI contract transporter was very experienced with the rigging and process. He told me the same type tilt-bed wrecker was used to load the trailer on his flat-bed transporter at Chilliwack.

Note that during transport the jacks had the normal flat pads, these were R&R only for loading and unloading by lifting one jack at a time to swap the pads for wheels and vice-versa.

[Suregrip391]

I’d like to find some wheels that are heavy duty enough and start carrying them. We already had one instance these would have come in handy! The ones in my link above are rated at 600 pounds so 1200 for the pair might be light for the weight?

[nepaweb]

I wouldn't be surprised if the transport company just fabricated these adapters to use on the trailer jacks. They look like a piece of metal tubing used as a sleeve over the jack, then a base plate welded to the tube. A heavy duty caster wheel is then bolted to the base plate.
Any decent welding shop should be able to make up a set of these fairly easily.

[Centex]

Originally Posted by nepaweb

I wouldn't be surprised if the transport company just fabricated these adapters to use on the trailer jacks. They look like a piece of metal tubing used as a sleeve over the jack, then a base plate welded to the tube. A heavy duty caster wheel is then bolted to the base plate.
Any decent welding shop should be able to make up a set of these fairly easily.

FWIW I agree with this, it fits my observation when mine was being unloaded.

Originally Posted by Suregrip391

I’d like to find some wheels that are heavy duty enough and start carrying them. We already had one instance these would have come in handy! The ones in my link above are rated at 600 pounds so 1200 for the pair might be light for the weight?

While those might work they look mighty bulky and heavy for 'emergency kit' carry. IMO if you feel the need @nepaweb is on the right track. Here's an example of casters rated for over 1000#, doubtless there are many others to be found

https://www.northerntool.com/search?...rce=google_PPC

Have Fun!

[DanandDaphne]

These are for a jack on a bumper pull trailer. I think they would also work on the 5.0 front jacks since my understanding is that the jacks in a 5.0 are the same thing.

https://www.harborfreight.com/traile...191f38c6d9ad13

There are more expensive ones but I don't know if they are any better or not but they look the same.

https://www.amazon.com/Bulldog-50024...49609983&psc=1

[LIJ Michael]

We had this happen to us 4-5 years ago. The last night at Scamp Camp at Sebring, FL. we had everything broken down for loading the next morning. I was taking the dogs out for their bedtime walk when it happened. I had the first one out and was securing him to the picnic table so I can go get the other one. I really don't know what happened but I do remember I was falling on my back and prevented my head from slapping the ground. I looked at my left hand/wrist and commenting that what I was seeing was not good, my hand was offset from the wrist. We spent the night in the closest ER, and at 5AM I walked out sporting a cast on said wrist. My wife had never towed the Scamp 5th wheel so she got her crash course rather quickly. Never under estimate what you can do when it becomes a have to, my wife was fantastic and only had one oops moment which gave her even more confidence she could do this.

[ebike1]

If there are 2 of you, definitely make sure both of you can do "everything" especially towing. When my husband was sick, I learned how to do almost all of the towing. It was challenging as he was a professional driver. For most couples that use their trailer, there are plenty of opportunities to trade off towing.

Today, I am so glad we did. Now I have to tow solo. I have FMCA rescue service I cannot remember the exact name but, they will get your vehicle or trailer home in an emergency. It helps me so that I know even if I am thousands of miles from home, there is a way if I would need it. I think it is included in membership? Like I said, it helps me sleep at night. Do I have a few other options/people I can call ? Yes, I have those as well.