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Know your weight limits
- Make sure your trailer and whatever you’re hauling fall within the towing or hauling capacities of your vehicle. Check the owner’s manual to find the trailer types that your vehicle can haul and the maximum weight it can pull. Use the right trailer hitch and make sure it is hitched correctly.
- Make sure that the truck and trailer combination you have does not qualify as a commercial vehicle or one needing a commercial drivers license. The laws are different for a truck/trailer combination than they are for a straight truck.
- If your trailer fishtails, back off the gas and see if it stops. If it continues when you accelerate again, check to see how the weight is distributed on the trailer. It may not be distributed evenly from side to side, or else it’s too far back to place sufficient load on the hitch ball.
- Try to carry 5-10 percent of the trailer load on the hitch. Redistribute the load as necessary before continuing.
- Connect the brake and signal lights. Double check to make sure the trailer’s brakes, turn signals and tail lights are synchronized with the tow vehicle.
- In addition to staying within weight limits, be sure the tires are in good condition and properly inflated.
- When towing, you’re operating a vehicle combination that’s longer and heavier than normal. Be sure to adjust your driving practices accordingly.
- When towing, you have more momentum than you would without a trailer. Remember that stopping requires more time and distance. Avoid tailgating and pay attention to what’s happening a little farther down the road than you normally would.
- Once you’re on the road, frequently check your mirrors to make sure everything looks good back there.
- All trailers should have safety chains that hook up to the hitch.
- When unhooking the trailer from the tow vehicle, place wheel chocks (sturdy, wedge-shaped blocks) in front of and behind the trailer’s tires to ensure the trailer doesn’t roll away when it is released from the tow vehicle.
- Because your trailer’s wheels will end up closer to the inside of a turn than the wheels of your tow vehicle, the trailer tires are more likely to hit or ride up over curbs. Safe towing requires that the driver take constant care to give a wider berth than usual around any corner.
- Make sure whatever load you are carrying is secured. Acquaint yourself with the laws governing tie downs for specific types of loads and equipment. Purchase tie downs with sufficient weight rating for the items you are hauling.