Anyone's trailer ever had a blow-out on the motorway??

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smirnoff_ice

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Was watching Traffic Cops the other night and it got me thinking!
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A fairly new 4X4 was towing a caravan. Caravan had a blow-out and started weaving. Car & caravan ended up rolling 3 times down the motorway.

Now i'm really worried about what would happen if a trailer had a blow-out.
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Anyone ever had one??
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Reassure me please!!
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Haven't had it happen in a trailer (so far-touch wood) but I was in a friend's lorry travelling to Milton Keynes and it had a blow out on the M25.

The driver managed to wrestle with the steering wheel and get the lorry onto the hard shoulder but we left debris all over the road and the police had to shut the M25 to clear it! The horses fortunately were angels and stood there for a couple of hours while we waiting for someone to come change the tyre which they did at the side of the road!
 
I saw traffic cops and have actually had a blow out on my trailer. I had just bought a new horse and was trailering her home when on the motorway one of the tyres on her side (typical!) exploded!

We were in the slow lane and only doing about 45-50mph as we were going up a hill but the trailer swerved but didnt deviate too much, there was just a loud noise and the car felt wobbly. We slowed down and pulled over onto the hard shoulder and changed the tyre (having to stand new horse on the side of the motorway in the pouring rain whilst the tyre was changed!!

It was scary as a horse was involved and also because i didnt know the horse at all, so didnt know how she would react but it was certainly less dramatic than the one on traffic cops!!

I think as long as you are doing a sensible speed you will be fine, besides trailers (with horses in) will probably be heavier than a caravan.

Hope that puts your mind at rest!
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[ QUOTE ]

Hope that puts your mind at rest!
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[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, thank you!
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Although we do usually travel faster than that on the m'way (about 55 mph).
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Shall be telling daddy to go slower now me thinks!
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We had the blow out on our flat bed trailer, with 80 bales of hay on the back, just before Christmas 2006. Unfortunatley although we were only doing 45mph, we couldn't stop the inevitable - the Landrover and Trailer turned over onto its side. We stopped the traffic on the A3 near Liss for over 2 hours.

My lashing of the hay was impressive though - we only lost 1 bale and the rest stayed in place when they turned it back right again. My OH was driving and I was in the passenger seat. We both had seatbelts on and I was extremely grateful for this as the glass window and my head were only a few inches away from the tarmac of the A3 as we slid along, my OH would have crushed me and probably broken the glass too as he was hanging from his seatbelt above me.

My beautiful Landrover, that was immaculate having owned it for 10 years and from almost new, had to be rebuilt as their offer wasn't enough to buy a replacement.

Fortunatley we both got out with only minor injuries.

We sold our horse trailer (now have a lorry) and although I now occaisionally tow with a trailer, I will NEVER tow out of choice with a horse in the back, I check the tyres for everything including bulges, pressure, stones and wear before I go anywere and always have, although this was caused by something that we picked up on the inside of the tyre somewhere on our journey. Speed is not always the cause, the road had ruts in too which in turn caused part of the problem.

It could have been worse, part of our journey to follow was on the M25!

Someone else who was at our yard at the time had a detachable tow bar which came off their car (can't remember what it was, but the towhitch was faulty) and the trailer detached and ran into the hedge complete with horse - the horse was only bruised fortunatley.

Maintenance of the trailer and a car "man enough" to tow it is the main things, plus making sure its hitched on properly. However a little bit of luck always help - ours had just run out. Usually these things are very rare.
 
In most cases blow out's of tyres on horse trailers and horseboxes are caused by a faulty tyre rather than a puncture.

Because the tyres on horse trailers and horseboxes are used less frequently they deteriorate more rapidly as a result of standing in the sun light. The ultra violet rays generated by sun light accelerates the deterioration of the tyres. They need to be changed at least every 4 years for this reason.
 
i've not had a blowout but a total flat on the motorway , not very nice , needless to say you can't really pull on the hard shoulder & change the whel with a horse in , or unload the horse

luckliy we were not far from a junction & got off , by the time we found somewhere safe to unload the tyre was in tatters! luckily the wheel was ok , as was my precious ned , certainly had my heart thumping though!!
 
2yrs ago a wheel on my friends' trailer sheared off on the M3. We only stopped because the driver in the van behind hooted and flashed madly at us as we didn't see or feel a thing.

We limped off the motorway and parked in the entrance to an army base.

We ended up driving at 5 miles per hour on local roads into Surrey where friends' husband had managed to borrow a lorry off one of our friends and collected the horse. We then drove home.

The reason for that was that the tow bar on the 4x4 was set too high and was putting too much strain on the back axle of the trailer.

Not funny!
 
I had a blow out on my trailer the other week. Tyre was totally shredded and I ddin't even notice it happening (my horse was in it). Was told by the recovery people, who came to change it ( when I got to my destination and someonee pointed it out!) that because it is twin axle (4 wheels) the blow out doesn't really affect the trailer's way of going, so it doesn't chuck the trailer/horse all over the place.
 
For anyone with a trailer...possibly even a lorry...I recommend buying something called a Trailer Aid. It is a jack that you drive your trailer onto so that you can change the tyre without unloading the horses. It is like a cradle for your still good tyre (on the other axle from the flat one) that lifts the trailer just enough to change the flat. Much safer than having to stand the horses on the roadside which isn't even possible if you are hauling alone!
 
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