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Old March 25th 15, 10:35 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Bruce Hoult
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Posts: 961
Default Car/Truck to pull glider trailer

On Wednesday, March 25, 2015 at 7:00:06 PM UTC+13, George Haeh wrote:
Subaru Forester fine for single seaters.
But I wrote off my 2004 with a trailer
jackknife pulling a Puch.

Hadn't yet read "If the combination starts
to sway, hold the wheel straight and
brake..."

I've seen a DG-1000 giving a pickup a
hard time. Traffic was scared to pass it
as the trailer was weaving.


With a relatively light tow vehicle you do have to do things right. Maximum permitted pressures all round in car and trailer tyres. Make sure the trailer weight balance is good.

The only combination that has given the Subaru any trouble at all was a Grob twin in a massively heavy and un-aerodynamic rectangular steel and corrugated iron trailer. It was too unstable to tow at more than 85 - 90 km/h, and I got pretty good at stopping the weaving -- watch the mirror and when you see the trailer go right (for example) give a little quick jerk of the steering wheel to the left and then straight again, to get the car lined up straight with the trailer. Then *gently* turn back the other way before you go out of your lane. Extremely effective once you practice a bit.

I towed that Grob to another club for them to borrow/evaluate for a couple of weeks. One of their members towed it back with a large SUV (Bighorn?) and complained that it was diabolical.