Towing: A Safe Remedy To Insufficient Hauling Space

By Author: Isabella Pospisil
Total Articles: 3
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Towing is an effective technique in transporting heavy objects, especially when a vehicle runs out of hauling space. This is done by pulling or drawing a motorized or non-motorized trailer carrying the object to be moved using a coupling like chain, line, and bar. Although towing is performed on land, it may also be performed in water using any form of waterborne vessels or by human force.

The most common vehicles used for towing trailers with load include pickups, vans, sports utility vehicles (SUVs), and minivans. These vehicles may or may not be equipped with an anchor where coupling is affixed. Each of the mentioned vehicles has a certain towing capacity that limits the weight of objects to be towed, not to mention the traction efficiency of the trailer. In addition, the design of the trailer depends on the kind of object it is designed to carry for towing.

Various considerations apply to safely tow a trailer or caravan with load. The condition of the coupling between the trailer and the tow vehicle, more commonly known as tongue weight (the trailer’s weight when pressing down the hitch of the tow vehicle), ...
... is a vital factor that influences the trailer’s stability once the vehicle starts moving. Inadequate tongue weight may cause the trailer to sway from side to side or to totally detach from the tow vehicle.

Towing efficiency may also be affected by the position of the load on the trailer. If the weight is not evenly distributed on the trailer bed, chances are the tow vehicle might find trouble pulling the trailer at an optimum speed. When making critical turns, the trailer may roll over into the direction where much of the load is placed.

The towing capacity of a vehicle may vary depending on the trailer features or on the manner of assembly. Moving to industrialized states like Utah may require using a tow vehicle with braked towing capacity. This type of towing capacity is characterized by a tow vehicle with a trailer that has its own brake, which a driver can operate from the tow vehicle through a tow cable. Towing Utah trailers with their own brakes involves much greater capacity.

Trailers with unbraked towing capacity have lower capacity than trailers with braked towing capacity as the former are not equipped with brakes, making them move as speedily as the tow vehicle. Most vehicles used for towing Utah cargos are designed with a tow hitch, a metallic bar attached to the chassis for towing purposes.

Read more about Utah towing on howstuffworks.com. This website provides more in-depth explanation on how towing works, particularly the specific restrictions involved for safe towing.