I don’t let people smoke in any of my vehicles…PERIOD…This included my Parents and Brother and Sister, and wife’s Parents, Friends.
Go to any stop-light in any city and look the ground and you’ll see cig butts. I also hate people who smoke cigars on the golf course. A large number of them don’t dispose of their cigars or ashes properly…disgusting
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There was a huge forest fire in CA some 20 years ago started by a smoker who threw their cig but out the window. They caught the person and he basically said he never used the ashtray. My dad used the ashtray until it got full…lol
My Highlander didn’t come with an ashtray. My 4runner came with an option for an ashtray. I bought if off the lot so it came with it. I used the space for my toll tokens.
“And cup holders…enough cup holders to store enough drinks to get a crew of pirates drunk.”
Funny! Now if we bring back pay toilets, there is an industry that will flourish!
Are cigarettes made to extinguish so that littering slobs do not cause fires?
Heard an ad on the radio aboutrailer hitch safety chains touching pavement and producing fire-causing sparks.
Is there a correct way (other than off the ground)?
Even those who know the proper way often hook them up when the vehicle and trailer are unloaded. Then they don’t check them again after everything is loaded and the hitch is sitting lower to the ground.
Another problem is there is more than one “right” way to do it.
I was taught to cross the chains so they will catch the hitch if it were to come loose, but that can limit your ability to make tight turns, stretching the chain to its limit if the trailer starts to jackknife.
Another issue is deciding how to shorten the chains so they don’t drag. Twisting them is one way. Another way is to run the extra slack around the chain’s mounting points until you can lock the end in place.
If there was one simple right way to do it, things might be a lot simpler. Sometimes the hitch is sitting so low there is no way to keep the chains off the ground.
That is the proper way if you need to make tight turns you have the wrong set up you need something like a fifth wheel as far as a jackknife you try to avoid that situation as it can be to late to prevent an accident as far as your other questions same answer wrong set up and should be avoided.
I have a third choice in your scenario if I tow anything I use my full size PU I would not even think about moving a vehicle like that now a days you either need a SUV or PU to pull a trailer most cars are to small and lightweight to pull a trailer I have not seen any cars since the late 70’s or early 80’s that are big enough for towing. I have seen to many people towing with a vehicle that is way to little and lightweight for what they are towing.
Interesting though in the UK, especially on a weekend or holiday, you’ll see all kinds of little cars pulling camping trailers and they seem to do just fine. I used to pull a 2000# camper with just a full sized FWD through snow, ice, rain, flat and mountains with no trouble what so ever. Stopping, starting, handling. I’ve seen the U Haul vids and an improperly loaded even 4X8 will cause a dangerous fish tail.
To me there are two kinds of people who tow those who know what they are doing they match the weight of the tow vehicle with what they are towing and learn how to drive a towed combination before they get on the road and then there are the ones who never towed anything before hook up and go then there are people who never drove anything bigger than a midsize car jumping into a big rental truck and taking off with no instruction.
The chains can’t be too loose or too tight. I have a camper that has very long chains. I need the long chains if I tow with the hitch that’s also a bike carrier. This hitch puts the ball about 2’ away from the back of truck. If I use the other/normal hitch the ball is only about 6" away from back of truck. When I use the normal hitch I then cross the chains and also twist them (but not too much).
UK campers are different than ours. If you look at pictures you’ll notice that their wheels are much closer to the center of gravity. This takes weight off of the tongue, which means smaller cars can pull them, but also means they’re less stable at high speed. That doesn’t matter as much if you’re tooling around the back country former ox cart roads because you aren’t going to get up to highway speeds anyway. And even if you do go on a highway, there tend to be strict speed limits when you’re pulling a trailer (which does admittedly tend to infuriate other drivers when someone’s pulling a camper at 50mph on a 70mph highway).
Ours shift the wheels farther back for greater stability at speed, but the consequence is that there’s more weight pushing down on the rear of the car, which necessitates a beefier vehicle. Personally I’d rather have the euro-style camper, but I think it’s suboptimal to go full speed when you’re pulling anyway. You can practically watch the gas gauge drop in real time if you tow at 70.
Camping trailers have grown a lot in the last sixty years.
We had a trailer like this, no problem pulling with an Impala, 327, Powergilde, and fairly simple, non-weight distributing hitch. Not so today, most people want huge trailers with slide outs, entertainment centers, and showers, AKA ‘glamping’.
