Koi-Kid
Member
When’s the last time you were out with your Escape on the first day of your trip and your only 221 miles from home and hear this horrific noise and you get a little vibration in the tow vehicle? You look at your side view mirror and see a car seeming to do a 360 deg turn around the back of your trailer.
Is that what’s bothering you Bunky??
A little over a week ago that’s what was bothering us and me saying WTH just happened?
We were on HY-81 / I-35 going through Waco TX at about 1:30 pm on the 4 lane highway & we were in the second to the right lane and moving at 65mph. That’s when this car got 90 degrees to our Escape and hit us Broadside at the axles! I got the Escape stopped quickly and was very worried about getting in a pile up of vehicles behind us & shutting down the interstate. You say, well why didn’t I pull off the interstate at that point? I could tell there was something very definitely wrong already!
Once it was safe to exit the vehicle it was easy to see the first issue of having no wheels or tires on the passenger side of the trailer anymore! The force had ripped the rims off the hubs through the lug nuts! Another WTH was said and checked the other driver was OK and he had already called 911. In a few minutes the policeman and fire Ems was there. Luckily no one was hurt, but our spirits were lowered several notches for the day. My concern and the fireman were to get the trailer off the interstate safely. The Fire dept called another engine out to help block the 2 lanes of traffic off as well as the side of the road. I got the spare tire off and dug my small floor jack out of the truck to jack it up. The Fire dept got their airbag out to jack it up as well & I politely said heck no, they were going to jack it at the stabilizer jack! I did let them put it there to follow me up just for safety reasons considering where we were located at.
Was able to get the spare on with the 3 remaining studs on the drum to get the trailer off the highway and into a parking lot at BYU stadium right off the exit about 300’ ahead. Once the police finished talking to us and the roll-off wrecker was there and we had picked up & secured everything inside the escape we were ready to load it on the wrecker for its 220-mile trip back to an RV repair shop close to us. Once we opened the door and saw all drawers out of the cabinets and their contents thrown all over the inside as well as the medicine chest contents and one overhead on the passenger side with its contents mixed with the rest all over the floor.
Have been working with his insurance company for the last several days (thank goodness he is or was insured!) It did minimal fiberglass damage to the trailer, mainly from the front wheel well area with a crack on the bottom side almost to the hot water tank. Did a little where the tires on the passenger side rubbed as they hit the wheel well.
Shop estimate is almost $10,000 to repair, seems both axial, wheels & tires took 85% of the damage, I was worried the frame would be bent but seems to have survived it well. Lost the black & gray valves and dump connection and the hot water cover door got bent up.
Where his front bumper hit the wheel & tire it melted a imprint of the wheel into his plastic bumper, point of impact with no doubt. Some pictures to follow.
We followed the wrecker to the repair site and put the trailer in the fenced repair shops facility after dark. So, this was maybe the most eventful camping trip we have ever taken and didn’t even get to camp!
Is that what’s bothering you Bunky??
A little over a week ago that’s what was bothering us and me saying WTH just happened?
We were on HY-81 / I-35 going through Waco TX at about 1:30 pm on the 4 lane highway & we were in the second to the right lane and moving at 65mph. That’s when this car got 90 degrees to our Escape and hit us Broadside at the axles! I got the Escape stopped quickly and was very worried about getting in a pile up of vehicles behind us & shutting down the interstate. You say, well why didn’t I pull off the interstate at that point? I could tell there was something very definitely wrong already!
Once it was safe to exit the vehicle it was easy to see the first issue of having no wheels or tires on the passenger side of the trailer anymore! The force had ripped the rims off the hubs through the lug nuts! Another WTH was said and checked the other driver was OK and he had already called 911. In a few minutes the policeman and fire Ems was there. Luckily no one was hurt, but our spirits were lowered several notches for the day. My concern and the fireman were to get the trailer off the interstate safely. The Fire dept called another engine out to help block the 2 lanes of traffic off as well as the side of the road. I got the spare tire off and dug my small floor jack out of the truck to jack it up. The Fire dept got their airbag out to jack it up as well & I politely said heck no, they were going to jack it at the stabilizer jack! I did let them put it there to follow me up just for safety reasons considering where we were located at.
Was able to get the spare on with the 3 remaining studs on the drum to get the trailer off the highway and into a parking lot at BYU stadium right off the exit about 300’ ahead. Once the police finished talking to us and the roll-off wrecker was there and we had picked up & secured everything inside the escape we were ready to load it on the wrecker for its 220-mile trip back to an RV repair shop close to us. Once we opened the door and saw all drawers out of the cabinets and their contents thrown all over the inside as well as the medicine chest contents and one overhead on the passenger side with its contents mixed with the rest all over the floor.
Have been working with his insurance company for the last several days (thank goodness he is or was insured!) It did minimal fiberglass damage to the trailer, mainly from the front wheel well area with a crack on the bottom side almost to the hot water tank. Did a little where the tires on the passenger side rubbed as they hit the wheel well.
Shop estimate is almost $10,000 to repair, seems both axial, wheels & tires took 85% of the damage, I was worried the frame would be bent but seems to have survived it well. Lost the black & gray valves and dump connection and the hot water cover door got bent up.
Where his front bumper hit the wheel & tire it melted a imprint of the wheel into his plastic bumper, point of impact with no doubt. Some pictures to follow.
We followed the wrecker to the repair site and put the trailer in the fenced repair shops facility after dark. So, this was maybe the most eventful camping trip we have ever taken and didn’t even get to camp!