For those planning to buy and haul your cheap Hummer acquired at an auction, take this as a cautionary tale
Dash cam footage shared by Texas resident Stephen White earlier this week (Sept. 25, 2020) shows the scary moment a heavy-duty truck hauling an H1 Hummer on a multi-car trailer slowly tipped over taking a moderately curved turn at highway speeds around Fort Worth, Texas.
Check out the footage for yourself below.
In the video we can see light-traffic moving along on this two-lane Texas freeway. Stephen is following a truck in the fast lane, the truck hauling an H1 Hummer in the opposite lane directly perpendicular to his line of vision a couple of feet away. This safety barrier of space would prove invaluable to White in a couple of seconds.
Mid-turn we can see the Hummer H1, perched in the front of the trailer and on top of the truck’s bed, slowly tip. The Hummer is out of the line of sight of the driver, so he probably only felt his truck lean a little more to the left, something he probably shrugged off.
The Hummer and trailer tips past the point of no return and physics takes over, the trailer fully twisting left, sending the truck, Hummer, and trailer on its side. The Hummer’s roof hits the K-rail, sends the energy back, and flips the truck and trailer a full 180 onto its other side.
There’s a lot of energy at work here.
Commenters were quick to point out the Hummer was, at the very least, strapped properly, not budging an inch despite the dryer tumble it took.
Did he load his trailer correctly?
Proper car trailer loading dictates you place your load as close to the front as possible so, when loads begin to shift, it’s easier to control. Loads should also be placed, keeping in mind center of gravity, keeping the total load as close to the ground as possible.
The Hummer H1 is heavy, weighing in at over 8,000 pounds without passengers.
I’m no expert and hindsight is 20/20 but perhaps he should’ve used a different trailer, one that angles down towards the ground instead of ramping up.
Then again, I’m no towing expert.
Do you have any insight into how he should’ve loaded his Hummer on the trailer? Let me know in the comments below!
