Bob, I can't tell whether you're questioning my sanity or confessing to having a similar experience. Obviously you can get yourself in a world of trouble very quickly. But we had 350 miles with a barely controllable trailer to try every possible technique and, once the swings passed a certain point, the only thing that worked was to ease on the accelerator. That meant topping the hills quite slowly, keeping a sharp eye for trucks to avoid being overtaken on the downhills, and not using this technique if a lot of downhill remained ahead (the alternative being trundling down the hill much slower than prevailing traffic, which caused other problems, including being overtaken much more often. I should have been more careful in relating the story.

Plus because the trailer was so unstable, all of the excitement began at slower speeds than usual, giving us a little more time to react.

Yeah, it was exciting at times. Kind of like when I was easing down a hill in the snow many years ago and the rear end of my small, rear-wheel-drive car swung out. I wasn't on the brakes but the deceleration from holding it in a lower gear was enough to trigger the skid. I steered into it but that didn't help a bit, even at full lock. I had to gently feather the throttle to straighten it out, at which point I was moving downhill a LOT faster. Fortunately I was almost at the bottom and was able to steer straight and slow it down safely on level ground.

We should have just stopped and redistributed the load that day. Not to be repeated. I will say that some years later, a crew member driving my trailer home was overtaken by a big rig while going downhill on the freeway. When the trailer started oscillating, she didn't hit the brakes but just got off the throttle. That was enough to exacerbate the swings and she ended up jack knifing and sliding off the road, fortunately with no injury and very minor damage.

I'm not sure this posting is going to sound any less crazy than my first one. But, hey, it works for me, although my Cobra trailer with the right tire pressures is hardly felt behind my full-size van.

Chip Bearden