I'm sorry but Lincolns just aren't work trucks!

On my way to the yard today, I happened upon an interesting scene. I was on the highway and saw traffic on the service road. At the front of it all was a pearl white Lincoln navigator towing an approx. 8x14 dual axle, closed trailer. The tongue of the trailer and whole back end of the truck were sitting on the pavement.
It seems the rear axle tried to change lanes without the SUV and was now underneath the 18 wheeler in the other lane.
Now, I'm not trying to pi$$ anyone off by saying Lincolns can't tow cause I don't know that. What I do know is they cost a lot more to repair. So why not buy an Exploder, ahem sorry Explorer or Expedition for a lot less +cheaper parts?
But, judge not lest ye be judged right? So i drove on and made a mental note to have a look at my own suspension which is only getting softer and softer.
I figured I'd share this and ask the question: have you checked out your rear end lately?
Which reminds me you should probably get checked for prostate cancer while you're at it, don't need your rear dragging you down!

Sad day to see that happen to anyone. I see people hauling unsafely all the time, it worries me, I've seen the damage it can do. The guy- quite honestly- is lucky that the trailer didn't take the Lincoln with it and he rolled it. So +1 on his "good luck" chart for sure.

Point #2: Speaking of Ford Explorer's-- Did you know Uhaul won't even let you rent a 4X8 trailer if you tell them it is to be hooked up to a Ford Explorer- no matter what hitch you have, no matter your towing capacity, no matter if you have a 10,000 lb ball.. they will outright refuse to allow you to haul their trailers with a Ford Explorer UNLESS it is a 2012 or newer now. Apparently the issue can be traced all the way back to the Firestone tire debacle that tarnished the Explorer's good name in the late 1990s. (Learn something new every day dont'cha?)

Same with the civilian Hummer. They're supposed to be tough but I'd be afraid to pull a Harbor Freight trailer - empty.

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Did you know Uhaul won't even let you rent a 4X8 trailer if you tell them it is to be hooked up to a Ford Explorer- no matter what hitch you have, no matter your towing capacity, no matter if you have a 10,000 lb ball.

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Back when I was still hauling RV's for the broker in Elkhart we had a new guy sign on to haul campers with his own truck. This guy was bragging about his truck being all set up to haul. The first day the broker uses you to haul campers from the factory back to our lot.
This guy went to get his first RV and coming down thru the city of Elkhart his truck hit one of those "crossbars" between the sections of road. When the rear of his truck hit it the front of the trailer bounced and popped off his hitch ball and as he slammed on his brakes the trailer slid up under the rear of the truck.

The trailer stopped when the big bottle tanks hit the rear of the bumper and slammed thru the front of the trailer. He basically totaled a brand new camper because he put it on a too small ball. Moral of the story, make sure your hitch ball is the correct size for your trailer.


He ended up being our 1 day employee,,,,lol

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

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Did you know Uhaul won't even let you rent a 4X8 trailer if you tell them it is to be hooked up to a Ford Explorer- no matter what hitch you have, no matter your towing capacity, no matter if you have a 10,000 lb ball.

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Back when I was still hauling RV's for the broker in Elkhart we had a new guy sign on to haul campers with his own truck. This guy was bragging about his truck being all set up to haul. The first day the broker uses you to haul campers from the factory back to our lot.
This guy went to get his first RV and coming down thru the city of Elkhart his truck hit one of those "crossbars" between the sections of road. When the rear of his truck hit it the front of the trailer bounced and popped off his hitch ball and as he slammed on his brakes the trailer slid up under the rear of the truck.

The trailer stopped when the big bottle tanks hit the rear of the bumper and slammed thru the front of the trailer. He basically totaled a brand new camper because he put it on a too small ball. Moral of the story, make sure your hitch ball is the correct size for your trailer.


He ended up being our 1 day employee,,,,lol

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ALWAYS make sure you've got big enough balls... I mean... A big enough Ball... To take on any job!

Sorry i had to LOL

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Originally Posted by sledge42

Sad day to see that happen to anyone. I see people hauling unsafely all the time, it worries me, I've seen the damage it can do. The guy- quite honestly- is lucky that the trailer didn't take the Lincoln with it and he rolled it. So +1 on his "good luck" chart for sure.

Point #2: Speaking of Ford Explorer's-- Did you know Uhaul won't even let you rent a 4X8 trailer if you tell them it is to be hooked up to a Ford Explorer- no matter what hitch you have, no matter your towing capacity, no matter if you have a 10,000 lb ball.. they will outright refuse to allow you to haul their trailers with a Ford Explorer UNLESS it is a 2012 or newer now. Apparently the issue can be traced all the way back to the Firestone tire debacle that tarnished the Explorer's good name in the late 1990s. (Learn something new every day dont'cha?)

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Made a ton of money with a 99 explorer. made several dozen trips with a16 ft trailer. usually 2-3 tons gross at a time.

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far as vehicle maintenance goes, I'd guess shocks are the least likely part of any vehicle(on an average and as a rule) to be replaced before an absolute failure occurs ; )

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Originally Posted by sledge42

Sad day to see that happen to anyone. I see people hauling unsafely all the time, it worries me, I've seen the damage it can do. The guy- quite honestly- is lucky that the trailer didn't take the Lincoln with it and he rolled it. So +1 on his "good luck" chart for sure.

Point #2: Speaking of Ford Explorer's-- Did you know Uhaul won't even let you rent a 4X8 trailer if you tell them it is to be hooked up to a Ford Explorer- no matter what hitch you have, no matter your towing capacity, no matter if you have a 10,000 lb ball.. they will outright refuse to allow you to haul their trailers with a Ford Explorer UNLESS it is a 2012 or newer now. Apparently the issue can be traced all the way back to the Firestone tire debacle that tarnished the Explorer's good name in the late 1990s. (Learn something new every day dont'cha?)

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There are always 2 sides to a story, I have no doubt that UHaul will not rent you a trailer if it is being towed by an explorer.
The issue that I have as a mechanic is that when a vehicle is designed the auto manufactures and the tire manufactures need to be on the same page when it comes to the two products coming together. Firestone and all tire manufactures put on the tire minimum and maximum inflation pressures on the tire. Auto manufactures place a sticker on the door jamb indicating the inflation pressures, Fords recommended tire pressure for the explorers in question were lower than what firestone recommends for their tires, ford wanted a smoother ride and the easiest way to do that was to lower the tire pressures to an unsafe level. If you constantly run your tires with low pressure you build up a lot of heat and the tires will blow. There were several explorers that had tire blowouts that were not running firestone tires. I don't care what inflation pressure my vehicle says, I always go by the tire manufactures recommendations and set them on the higher side of that recommendation.
Low pressure = higher resistance , higher pressure = lower resistance, you can raise your fuel economy by a little with a higher inflation pressure, but don't go over the tire manufactures recommended pressure.

Ford = bad
Firestone = good, lol

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Originally Posted by brandon

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Originally Posted by sledge42

Sad day to see that happen to anyone. I see people hauling unsafely all the time, it worries me, I've seen the damage it can do. The guy- quite honestly- is lucky that the trailer didn't take the Lincoln with it and he rolled it. So +1 on his "good luck" chart for sure.

Point #2: Speaking of Ford Explorer's-- Did you know Uhaul won't even let you rent a 4X8 trailer if you tell them it is to be hooked up to a Ford Explorer- no matter what hitch you have, no matter your towing capacity, no matter if you have a 10,000 lb ball.. they will outright refuse to allow you to haul their trailers with a Ford Explorer UNLESS it is a 2012 or newer now. Apparently the issue can be traced all the way back to the Firestone tire debacle that tarnished the Explorer's good name in the late 1990s. (Learn something new every day dont'cha?)

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There are always 2 sides to a story, I have no doubt that UHaul will not rent you a trailer if it is being towed by an explorer.
The issue that I have as a mechanic is that when a vehicle is designed the auto manufactures and the tire manufactures need to be on the same page when it comes to the two products coming together. Firestone and all tire manufactures put on the tire minimum and maximum inflation pressures on the tire. Auto manufactures place a sticker on the door jamb indicating the inflation pressures, Fords recommended tire pressure for the explorers in question were lower than what firestone recommends for their tires, ford wanted a smoother ride and the easiest way to do that was to lower the tire pressures to an unsafe level. If you constantly run your tires with low pressure you build up a lot of heat and the tires will blow. There were several explorers that had tire blowouts that were not running firestone tires. I don't care what inflation pressure my vehicle says, I always go by the tire manufactures recommendations and set them on the higher side of that recommendation.
Low pressure = higher resistance , higher pressure = lower resistance, you can raise your fuel economy by a little with a higher inflation pressure, but don't go over the tire manufactures recommended pressure.

Ford = bad
Firestone = good, lol

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Totally agree. I see it all the time and never follow the sticker on the door jam. Only use as a guideline. I normally go by the pressure on the tire. Like say its an LT tire and not a Passanger tire, they will want a max of 60-80psi. Well if its going on a truck that wants 40psi on the door jam, which one are you gonna listen to? 40psi with a load would be waaay under inflated.

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Originally Posted by sledge42

Sad day to see that happen to anyone. I see people hauling unsafely all the time, it worries me, I've seen the damage it can do. The guy- quite honestly- is lucky that the trailer didn't take the Lincoln with it and he rolled it. So +1 on his "good luck" chart for sure.

Point #2: Speaking of Ford Explorer's-- Did you know Uhaul won't even let you rent a 4X8 trailer if you tell them it is to be hooked up to a Ford Explorer- no matter what hitch you have, no matter your towing capacity, no matter if you have a 10,000 lb ball.. they will outright refuse to allow you to haul their trailers with a Ford Explorer UNLESS it is a 2012 or newer now. Apparently the issue can be traced all the way back to the Firestone tire debacle that tarnished the Explorer's good name in the late 1990s. (Learn something new every day dont'cha?)

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It just wouldn't be SMF if I didn't learn something new everyday.
And I'm not to sure if I was clear about this but it was the rear axle of the truck that was MIA which makes it all the more devastating. But as you said he's very lucky but the truck and bigrig were pointing the right way and seemed to have come to a somewhat controlled stop.

Russell, that's pretty impressive towing a car hauler with an explorer. I was wondering though, A: was that a legal set up and B: what were hills and stopping like?
The reason I ask is my brother is about to but a 4x4 canyon and I want to get into scrapping cars. I know they're very different vehicles but it would be good to know how well a small truck handles such a big trailer. I'd do it with my truck but it's a little 4cyl 91 Nissan hardbody and even the thought of using a dolly makes me uneasy.just because today I saw a Suzuki sx4 pullin a lotus Elise on a single axle flat bed doesn't mean I'm about to try it or anything similar.

And bear I'm not worried about my shocks for one they're only a year old. What I'm concerned about is my leaf springs, if one of my main leaves let go I can't imagine it would be a good experience.

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Originally Posted by JapScrap

And bear I'm not worried about my shocks for one they're only a year old. What I'm concerned about is my leaf sprigs, if one of my main leaves let to I can't imagine it would be a good experience.

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hmmm, not sure how i got the shocks in there ; )

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Originally Posted by jord0690

Totally agree. I see it all the time and never follow the sticker on the door jam. Only use as a guideline. I normally go by the pressure on the tire. Like say its an LT tire and not a Passanger tire, they will want a max of 60-80psi. Well if its going on a truck that wants 40psi on the door jam, which one are you gonna listen to? 40psi with a load would be waaay under inflated.

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also depends on tire load range, if you put 80 psi in a standard load range tire, or a 4 ply, it doesn't help a bit just wears the center of the tire out, over time. I run 10 ply, load range E, on my pickup and 8 ply on my car trailers, more ply is better less flats and far less suspectible to rock breaks. And I run Firestone trans force at's on my pickup, by far the best wearing tire I've found, I've pulled off many of them with 50k plus That still werent bald yet.

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Russell, that's pretty impressive towing a car hauler with an explorer. I was wondering though, A: was that a legal set up and B: what were hills and stopping like?
The reason I ask is my brother is about to but a 4x4 canyon and I want to get into scrapping cars. I know they're very different vehicles but it would be good to know how well a small truck handles such a big trailer. I'd do it with my truck but it's a little 4cyl 91 Nissan hardbody and even the thought of using a dolly makes me uneasy.just because today I saw a Suzuki sx4 pullin a lotus Elise on a single axle flat bed doesn't mean I'm about to try it or anything similar.

And bear I'm not worried about my shocks for one they're only a year old. What I'm concerned about is my leaf sprigs, if one of my main leaves let to I can't imagine it would be a good experience.

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As far as i know it is legal. I dont use that set up anymore. Stopping is a little hairy. I am also a tractor trailer driver so i am commercially licensed, i do know if your trailer gross weight is under 5 ton you dont need a cdl a. I know you cannot have more than 4 ton per axle, usaully. Whether or not a vehicke should be towing it is in question. I think as long as your load is secure and your not over weight youre fine. Then again youre always subject to what a cop says is or isnt ok. Most federal/state laws are open to interpretation by the officer pulling u over.

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Originally Posted by JapScrap

what were hills and stopping like? .

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Have Electric brakes on the trailer
Adjust up as the weight on the trailer goes up

Only time I do Surge Brakes is when I rent a UHaul

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I think as long as your load is secure and your not over weight youre fine. Then again youre always subject to what a cop says is or isnt ok. Most federal/state laws are open to interpretation by the officer pulling u over.

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And then there is the exception,,, ;)

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