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Safe Towing Research Paper

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A proper towing setup is very important to safe towing. So before you head out on the road, make sure your truck is properly equipped, and know the necessary information before you try to use your pickup truck to tow.

Payload rating and gross vehicle weight rating are extremely important to consider.
Your truck's gross weight rating is how much it weighs without any cargo. A pickup’s payload rating is how heavy the cargo you place in the bed before the back end starts to lean too close to the rear tires. Weight distribution is also important to be aware of and is important in gauging the safety of the load.
If you have too much tongue weight in relation to your gross trailer weight, it could cause the hitch of the trailer and the rear axle of your truck to dip, and the front of the trailer will go toward the ground, which in turn brings the front of the truck off of the road. If your truck dips too far, such as in circumstances when you need to brake suddenly, you could easily lose all braking traction and steering control of the tires on your front axle, which could potentially lead to disaster. …show more content…

When you have a tow hitch connected to the rear of your truck there will normally be some electrical fittings connected, which, when plugged into your connected trailer will show other drivers when you're turning or braking via the lights connected to any legal trailer. Not plugging these in could prove to be quite dangerous, and it's a common mistake for a driver to forget to plug in the signal wiring.
Using your safety chains effectively minimizes possible damage from unhitching.
Crossing the safety chains under the hitch will make it so that if the hitch disengages, the trailer tongue will fall onto the safety chains rather than the road. Which will maximize your control and reduce the possible harm to you and your vehicle, you will also be able to turn in a tighter circle without the chains

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