Proper trailer
setup and maintenance are the keys to a successful tow trip. So
before you head out to the road, make sure your truck and trailer are
roadworthy. Where did I learn to tow a trailer? Or how to set one up? I learned
the hard way, by towing a succession of second-hand rigs with whatever I had
that had the power to pull. Some of these truck and trailer setups were really
evil-handling beasts, and I was lucky to bring them (and myself) home in one
piece.

Don’t confuse driving your car or truck with towing a trailer.
The skill set overlaps only slightly. Everything takes longer when you are
towing–speeding up, slowing down and cornering. Remember, you’ve got a second
center of mass 10 or 20 ft behind you, and it’s easy for the tail wag the dog.
Aside from just physically getting the trailer hitched to the truck, here’s a
list of a few things to watch. We sure needed them for the heavy lifting during
our exclusive comparison test
pitting the new Ford F-150 and
Dodge
Ram against the competition.

1. Proper Tongue Weight
Set
tongue weight to 10 to 15 percent of the trailer’s total weight for good
stability. If the tow vehicle doesn’t have enough rear suspension spring rate to
accept this, get an equalizing hitch. The equalizing hitch will transfer some of
the tongue weight forward to the front axle.

2. Safety Chains
Cross the
safety chains under the hitch side-to-side, in an X pattern. If, for whatever
reason, the hitch comes adrift, the trailer tongue will drop onto the chains
instead of onto the ground. And that will maximize your control and minimize the
damage to you and your rig. Bonus: With the chains crossed, you can turn in a
tighter circle without them binding.

3. Tire Pressure
Check the
tire pressures often. Run the tires at their maximum recommended pressure.
They’ll run cooler, and you’ll consume less gas to boot.

4. Inspection
Every time you
pull over and stop on a long tow mission, do a walk-around inspection of the
hitch, wiring and tires. Be sure the trailer harness connector and breakaway
cable are still connected. Check the nut on the bottom of the hitch ball, and
make sure that the hitch pin and its hairpin are still holding the drawbar on.
You can probably skip checking the tire pressures at every pull-over, but a good
thump of all four tires will let you know if one is low just by the sound. Now
check the tire and brake drum and wheel-bearing temperatures. A noncontact
infrared thermometer gun is cool, and will keep your hands clean, but just using
the palm of your hand is fine. If one tire or bearing is noticeably hotter,
you’ve got a problem.

5. Load
Check
No matter how tight you make the tiedowns for the load,
they’ll loosen up as the suspension jiggles everything. Stop after 10 miles and
retighten, even if that means opening the door and crawling into an enclosed
trailer.

6. Gas
Saver
Save fuel towing your RV trailer by dumping grey-,
black-, and freshwater tanks before leaving on a trip, or before returning. Fill
the freshwater tanks at or near your destination.

7. Time Smart
Save a bunch of
walking back and forth between the cab and trailer when hooking up. Connect the
trailer plug, then turn on the parking lamps and the four-way flashers. Now all
you need to do is walk to the back of the trailer once to see if the running
lamps are on and the brake/turn-signal lamps are working.

8. Brakes
As you start your
tow trip, check electric brake function as soon as you can by sliding the brake
controller lever over an inch or so. You should be able to feel the trailer
brakes actuate. I check to make sure all the trailer brake shoes are working by
holding the brakes on partway on for 10 seconds or so, and then pulling over and
checking that they are all heating equally up with my IR thermometer.

9. Bearing
Life
Pack trailer bearings with the best synthetic
wheel-bearing grease you can find, and do it annually. That goes double for boat
trailers that are regularly immersed, and double double for trailers that see a
lot of saltwater.

10. Battery
Charge
Trailers with electrical-operated brakes have a
breakaway switch and a small 12-volt battery to actuate the trailer brakes if
the hitch accidentally comes apart. Check the state of charge of that battery
regularly. Many trailers have no provision for charging this battery, so it has
to be charged manually. I add a diode to charge it from the trailer’s plus
12-volt circuit. Got a smaller trailer with no courtesy lights or 12-volt
wiring? Run the diode from the brake-light circuit. It’ll charge the battery a
little every time you touch the brakes.