Are U Haul Rental Trailers/Companies Safe?

It seems like every time I turn around I read about an accident involving a rented U Haul trailer. The trailer started swaying and the driver didn’t know what to do, the vehicle was under-rated for the loaded trailer weight, the tire came off while traveling down the highway, or the safety chains weren’t connected. It makes one wonder if U Haul trailers and the companies that rent them are safe. Well, recently I had the opportunity to experience the trailer rental process first hand.

I am using U Haul because they are to trailer rentals what Xerox is to copy machines. I personally don’t know what the U Haul corporate office guidelines are for its satellite companies that actually rent trucks and trailers, but my experience renting a trailer wasn’t very good. I’m sure some rental companies are much more professional and knowledgeable than others are, but the company I rented from has no business renting anything.

I won’t say who or where it was that this happened, we’ll just call it small town USA. Their primary business was automotive repair and I am guessing they got in the rental business to make a quick buck. I hope they are better at repairing vehicles than they are at renting trailers.

I don’t want to say anything derogatory about U Haul in general. I am sure that they have requirements for routine care and maintenance of the equipment, like checking trailers in when they arrive at their final destination, or at least I hope they do. You know what I mean, checking lug nuts, tire pressure, brakes, safety chains, and checking for any damage to the trailer. But the big question is, are these maintenance and safety checks actually being conducted by the rental company that rents the trailers? The trailer I rented had a California license plate. That’s a long way to go without having some type of maintenance performed before it’s rented again!

The story begins when I was helping my sister move recently. Most of her belongings were already moved, but there was still a good 6′ X 12′ trailer load left to move. So I took my truck and a few hitches with different drops and ball sizes that I had lying around and headed to the local U Haul rental center. The first indication of trouble was when I ask the guy, who was sent to help hook the trailer up, what size ball it needed. His reply was I think it’s 2 inches. Knowing I could find the information on the coupler I wanted to see how he would handle the situation when I replied that it’s quite important to actually know the right size ball for the trailer. He said he would need to go ask somebody.

Next I slid a hitch into the receiver with a 6 inch drop. The guy helped me lift the trailer tongue and place the coupler on the ball. It was very obvious that the tongue of the trailer was too low, not even close to being level. The rental guy was tightening the coupler to the ball with little or no concern about the ball height. I stopped him and told him we would need to try a different hitch with less of a drop. I replaced the hitch with one that had a 2 inch drop and it was much more level. I don’t think the rental guy had a clue that the hitch ball height and the amount of tongue weight can contribute to poor handling and/or sway if the trailer is not adjusted and loaded properly. At this point I was beginning to understand why there were so many accidents involving U Haul trailers.

We secured the coupler to the ball and connected the safety chains. The rental guy did offer to help check the lights, but that was it. I mentioned earlier that I didn’t know U Hauls procedure concerning maintenance checks, but nothing else was checked when I picked the trailer up. He didn’t even walk around the trailer to identify any damage to the trailer that already existed. I did notice that damaged areas on the trailer had small stickers with an X identifying the damage, so I walked around the trailer looking for any damage not already identified that I might be accused of causing.

Before leaving the next day I thoroughly checked the trailer out to make sure it was safe for the 550 mile trip.

It was obvious to me that my sister could have gone in to rent a trailer with a vehicle under-rated to tow the weight, the wrong size hitch ball, the wrong height and possibly no lights connected and nothing would be said or done about any of it. That’s a scary thought. So if renting a trailer is in your future do your homework ahead of time, just in case your rental guy isn’t quite up to speed on trailer towing topics.

Watch a short video clip on Towing Safety


Happy RV Learning,

Mark Polk
RV Education 101
RV University
RV Orientation
Go for the RV Gold
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RV Consumer

Optimum Trailer Braking

If there is one phrase I advocate it would be “you get what you pay for”. This phrase always holds true, regardless of what you are purchasing. If you are going to buy a product intended to perform a specific job it only makes sense to pay a little extra and get one that does the job flawlessly.


Let’s apply “you get what you pay for” to an important topic like towing a trailer. For the sake of an example let’s say you (the RV consumer) purchase a 6,000 pound travel trailer to tow behind your ½ ton truck. The brakes on the truck are designed to stop the truck, but not an additional 6,000 pounds behind the truck. You are aware that you need to purchase an electronic trailer brake controller to supply power from the tow vehicle to the trailer’s electric brakes. You soon discover there are lots of different choices when it comes to electric brake controllers, and they come in a wide price range too. Do you purchase the $50 time based model and hope it works effectively? Stopping a 6,000 pound trailer is not something you should take lightly. It is a safety issue for you, your loved ones and everybody else traveling on the same road as you.

This is where the phrase “you get what you pay for” really matters. You have the choice to purchase a less expensive, very basic, time delayed electric brake controller and save a few bucks, or you can spend more and get a network based controller that plugs into the On Board Diagnostic II (OBD II) connector in the truck cab and gathers data from the tow vehicle to effectively manage the trailer brakes. The less expensive model sends a pre-determined amount of power to the trailer brakes every time you step on the brake pedal. What if the pre-determined amount of power isn’t enough for the current conditions? The more expensive model is a network based controller. This DirecLink network based controller can observe the engine, transmission and vehicle speed and then analyze all of the data to determine the proper level of trailer braking required to safely stop the trailer, based on all of the current conditions. It links with your vehicle’s computer network and uses multiple data parameters in a proprietary way to create amazingly proportional trailer braking. For safety, reliability, performance and longevity there is no question you should go with the better network based controller.

Getting a high quality brake controller is a smart decision, but the only way to achieve optimum braking performance from the controller is to ensure that it is properly installed. If you use scotch-locks to make wire connections, rather than the correct type of sealed wire connectors, the more expensive brake controller might not work any better than the $50 model. The same is true if you use the wrong gauge wire over a certain distance, resulting in a drop in voltage and less efficient braking.

For optimum trailer brakes everything in the brake system must be in good working order.

In addition to proper installation of the network based brake controller it is extremely important that you perform routine maintenance on the remainder of the trailer brake system. This includes but is not limited to a 3,000 mile, or annual inspection of the trailer brake and bearing components. If you don’t feel comfortable performing this type of maintenance yourself you should have an authorized RV service center do it for you.

All too often a trailer sits for periods of time not being used, and in many cases this non-use is for extended periods of time. When it’s time to use the trailer we tend to just hook it up and drive off without really considering what may have gone wrong while it sat in storage. It’s common for a battery to discharge, for tires to be dangerously low on air, and the trailer plug contacts to get dirty and corroded. If the trailer brakes don’t work properly because of a bad contact in the plug, or a tire fails because of under inflation it puts us and others in harm’s way.

To help prevent these types of things from happening I want to include a simple pre-trip trailer checklist you can follow to make sure your trailer is ready to hit the road.

After properly hitching the trailer (i.e. WDH adjustments, sway control, safety chains) to the vehicle make the following checks:

■Inspect the trailer plug and vehicle receptacle contacts for dirt, debris and corrosion. Clean the plug and contacts as required, ensuring a proper connection. Plug the cord in and test all of the trailer lights.

■Connect the trailer break-away lanyard to a secure connection on the tow vehicle.

■Test the operation of the trailer brakes. Remove any wheel chocks. Pull the trailer forward slightly and press the brake pedal to verify the trailer brakes are engaging. Test the brake controller manual override for proper operation.

■Check all tires for abnormal wear and any weather cracking/checking. If any cracks in the tire sidewalls are deeper than 1/32” have the tire inspected by a professional before towing the trailer.

■Check and adjust tire pressure in accordance with the federal certification label on the trailer or using the tire manufacturer load and inflation tables.

■Check the condition of the battery. Check the water level in each cell and add distilled water as required. Check the battery state of charge with a multimeter or battery hydrometer. If you don’t feel comfortable working on or around lead acid battery’s have battery maintenance performed by an authorized service center.

■Every 3,000 miles, or annually, schedule a trailer brake and wheel bearing inspection.

For more great checklists check out our bestselling Checklists for RVers e-book with over 90 pages of checklists on all aspects of RVing.

Happy RV Learning,

Mark Polk
RV Education 101
RV University
RV Orientation
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2010 Update, Let's Talk 1/2 Ton Trucks

Back in 2007, when the 2008 year model ½ ton trucks were being introduced, I wrote an article about the tow ratings Ford was advertising at the time. To sum the article up, Ford advertised that its F-150 was capable of towing 11,000 pounds. Now, for someone with some experience towing trailers I found this claim difficult to believe.

After some research I discovered that in 2004, 2005 and 2006 the highest tow rating for an F-150 was 9,900 pounds. In August of 2006 Ford announced the 2007 F-150 was capable of towing 10,500, and in January 2007 the tow capacity was increased to 11,000 pounds. According to the commercial the only difference between these trucks, to justify this increase, was a fully boxed frame.

I also found it interesting that this new, higher tow rating came out shortly after Toyota advertised a tow rating of 10,800 for its ½ ton Tundra. At the time I used a simple formula in an effort to verify the advertised tow ratings. If you take the Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) minus the vehicle curb weight (the actual weight of the truck, less passengers and cargo) we know roughly how much weight the truck can tow.

Note: In my example I used the curb weight listed by the vehicle manufacturer at the time.

The Toyota Tundra had a GCWR of 16,000 pounds, minus the curb weight of 5,200 = 10,800 pounds, which was the advertised tow rating of the Tundra at the time. The Ford F-150 had a new GCWR of 15,800 minus the curb weight of 5,125 = 10,675 pounds, which is 325 pounds less than the advertised 11,000 pound tow rating at the time. Things didn’t add up! And I didn’t understand how the truck’s GCWR increased from 15,300 to 15,800 pounds with little or no changes to the truck. Even with the higher GCWR the truck could not tow 11,000 pounds, at least not mathematically.

I have owned Dodge trucks for many years, and because I tow trailers quite often my last two Dodge trucks have been ¾ ton models. Both trucks were short wheelbase, 4-wheel drive, 5.7 liter, 2500 series trucks with 8,800 pound tow ratings. The last travel trailer I owned weighed in at 7,300 pounds when it was loaded, and although my ¾ ton truck could tow it I wasn’t always comfortable with the way it performed. So naturally when a ½ truck was advertised with a 1-ton plus higher rating than my ¾ ton truck it raised a red flag in my mind.

At the conclusion of my first article I asked, “At this rate what will happen with tow ratings by 2010?” Well the 2010 models are coming out, so let’s take a look at what’s happening with ½ ton truck tow ratings.
You can read my first article in its entirety.

I should probably begin this article when Edmunds Inside Line conducted a 2009 Full-Size Pickup Truck Comparison Test (Chevy Silverado vs. Dodge Ram vs. Ford F-150 vs. Toyota Tundra).

Of course the area of the testing I was most concerned about for this article was the tow test.

The following are excerpts from Edmunds website:

1) We added another task to our tow-test regimen this time. We always test trucks against their claimed capacity, ballasting each rig to a similar percentage of its particular Gross Combination Weight Rating (GCWR). But this produces different trailer weights for each combatant, and it confuses some readers. So we added a second test: a fixed-weight face-off in which each truck pulled an identical trailer up our test mountain.

2) And let’s not forget the trailers these trucks pulled. Our Fleetwood Prowler 230 RKS is a 29-foot camper that weighs 6,280 pounds with dry tanks. We also had a Fleetwood Backpack 210 FQ, a 3,880-pound unit that’s around 23 feet long. All the trucks pulled the heavier Prowler (ballasted to an even 6,500 pounds) in the fixed-weight test. Afterwards, trailers and ballast were manipulated to burden each truck to 80 percent of its GCWR.

3) 4th Place: 2009 Ford F-150 Lariat SuperCrew 4×4
Perhaps it’s optimized for towing, we theorized. A mere 6,500-pound trailer should be a minor annoyance for a truck with an 11,200-pound tow rating, right? Well, it didn’t work out that way. Simply put, the Ford got beaten on our 11.5-mile test grade, coming in dead last by 27 seconds in a test that should have stressed it least. It was the only truck to drop below 50 mph, sagging to 47.8 mph at one point, and it spent the most time at wide-open throttle. None of this should be a surprise. Physics suggests that a tepid 5.4-liter V8 that makes 310 hp (in the heaviest truck, no less) should not be able to out-tow others that boast 380 hp and up. Physics is right. Furthermore, the 3.73:1 axle ratio that’s needed to generate the advertised tow rating drastically affects every day fuel economy. Our unburdened F-150 achieved 12.6 mpg, well below the window sticker ratings of 14 mpg city and 18 mpg highway (which were achieved with the standard 3.55:1 ratio).This 2009 Ford F-150 is a nice truck in many ways, but it’s clearly time for a new engine. The 5.4-liter V8 is simply being asked to do too much.

Read the entire Tow Test Comparison here.

I find it interesting that the Ford truck came in last place in the tow test despite boasting the highest tow capacity of the four trucks tested. I also find it interesting that the Ford had the lowest horsepower and torque ratings, but claimed to have the highest tow rating.

If the ½ Ford, rated to tow 11,200 pounds, finished last in all of the tow test categories while towing a 6,500 pound trailer what would the results be when you add 4,700 more pounds to the trailer? I personally think this tow rating is inflated beyond a weight that is safe for the average consumer to ever consider towing, with any ½ ton truck. If you advertise an 11,200 pound tow rating somebody is going to put it to the test and just thinking about it makes me nervous.

Edmunds summed it up like this: Those Ford and Dodge tow ratings never made sense to us on paper, chiefly because the Ram’s 5.7-liter V8 makes 390 horsepower and 407 lb-ft of torque, while the F-150’s 5.4-liter aging mill makes but 310 horses and 365 lb-ft of torque.

Now let’s take a look at what 2010 has to offer for ½ ton truck tow ratings:

I was a little disappointed to see that the 2010 Dodge Ram 1500 tow rating was bumped up 1,500 pounds over the 2009 model with no real changes to the truck itself. The new Gross Combined Weight Rating of 15,500 pounds increases the Ram’s tow rating to 9,100. Of course the truck must be configured properly to achieve this tow rating. According to Edmunds some of the reason for the increase is because the Ram easily outperformed other trucks with much higher tow ratings when Edmunds conducted its 4-way truck comparison test.

Now the ½ ton Ram has a higher tow rating than my ¾ ton Ram. I don’t necessarily agree with this new updated capacity, but I will say 9,100 pounds is more believable than Ford’s advertised 11,200 pound rating.
Speaking of Ford, what does 2010 have in store for Ford ½ ton tow ratings? Whereas only one ½ ton model of 56 configurations available in 2008 claimed to be capable of safely towing 11,000 pounds; in 2010 Ford has ten ½ ton models with ratings of 11,000 pounds or more.

I personally disagree when a manufacturer claims that its ½ ton version of a truck with a 5.4L engine and 3.73 axle ratio can safely tow a 5 ½ ton trailer down the road. The 2010 model engine is 310 horsepower @ 5,000 RPMs and produces 390 lbs.-ft. of torque at 3,500 RPMs. The only time you will achieve this peak horsepower rating is when the truck is running at 5,000 RPM’s.

The formula used to convert torque to horsepower is to multiply torque by RPM / 5,252. If the engine produces 390 lbs.-ft. of torque @ 3,500 RPM this translates to about 260 HP, but how often do you drive at 3,500 RPMs? I couldn’t find any charts depicting the torque curve for this 5.4L Ford engine, but in reality at a lower RPM range it will be towing 11,000 pounds at much lower torque and horsepower ratings.

Tow ratings, weight terminology and vehicle ratings have always been difficult to sift through and understand. In my opinion to use the strategy of inflating ½ ton truck tow ratings, to 5 1/2 tons, in an effort to sell trucks is an injustice to the consumer. The consumer needs to be properly educated to safely tow heavy trailers, not misled by vehicle manufacturers.

Towing 11,000 pounds is better left to the larger, beefier ¾ ton and 1 ton trucks that manufacturers build. I just don’t get why they see it necessary to burden their ½ ton trucks with these kinds of hefty tow ratings.

I am a product of the sixties and very well understand vehicle manufacturers competing for the consumers business. Chevy and Ford had 427 engines, so Dodge came out with a 426 HEMI to stay competitive. Forty some years later Toyota comes out with a ½ ton truck they claim can tow 10,800 pounds and overnight a ½ ton Ford can miraculously tow 11,000 pounds. The ½ ton Dodge, with a lower tow rating, beats the Ford up in a comparison test, so Dodge increases its rating by 1,500 pounds. Come on guys!

The muscle car era is over and today’s more sophisticated buyer wants the truth. One of these manufacturers should stop being so competitive to be number one in every category and try the honest approach for once. Advertise that your ½ ton truck lineup can safely and efficiently tow a 6 or 7 thousand pound trailer and advise the consumer to look into your ¾ ton and 1 ton lineup if they are towing more weight than that. You might be surprised at how receptive the trailer towing buyer is to this honest approach.

For more in depth information on trailer towing check out our Trailer Towing, Weights, Hitchwork & Backing DVD

Happy & Safe Towing

Mark Polk

RV Education 101

RV University

Are Towing Laws Outdated?

I have always been an advocate for towing safety, whether it’s towing a trailer or towing a vehicle behind a motorhome. One of the most controversial topics I have run into is whether vehicles being towed behind motorhomes need to have a supplemental braking system. My argument is if the state that you reside in has laws requiring a trailer over a certain weight to have brakes; this would also apply to a vehicle being towed behind a motorhome. Another argument is that many state towing laws are antiquated and need to be updated. When some of these laws were written people weren’t towing vehicles behind motorhomes.

The brakes on a motorhome are designed by the vehicle manufacturer to stop the weight of that particular vehicle, not the additional weight being towed behind it. This additional weight adds a substantial increase to the distance required to stop safely. And, even if the motorhome is capable of stopping the vehicle the added stress from the force on the tow bar and hitch, when the vehicle doesn’t have brakes, can result in damage to the tow bar or separation from the hitch. Some motor home chassis warranties are voided if you tow over a certain amount without a supplemental braking system.

I’ll go even one step further. I am not a big fan of the Federal government regulating things that individual states should have control over, but when it comes to trailer towing laws I do believe the laws should be the same for every state. Trailers need safety chains, lights, proper hitchwork and if it weighs over a certain amount it needs brakes, period! It makes no sense that a trailer would need brakes in one state but not in another state. Why do we need 50 different sets of guidelines and laws regulating the operation of a trailer?

After analyzing a five year history of data collected through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations General Estimates System I discovered that on average there were 68,358 accidents involving passenger vehicles towing trailers per year. The average fatalities from accidents involving trailers are 446 per year. The average numbers of injuries from these accidents are 24,506 per year and the average instances of property damage resulting from these accidents are 43,405 per year. To me this is unacceptable.

It would be my guess that the majority of these trailer related accidents involve smaller utility trailers that the average homeowner might have, trailers used in construction and other businesses, horse trailers and of course boat and RV trailers too. The bottom line is there is no excuse for these kinds of statistics. I see unsafe trailers on the road all the time, but the way I see it is in most cases it is a lack of education or understanding of what is involved to safely and properly tow a trailer, regardless of the size or type trailer it is.

I think a good start to educating the consumer would be to standardize the laws and regulations regarding the operation of all trailers and vehicles being towed. It would simplify the process and answer questions that people have like:

1) What is required to be on the trailer i.e., safety chains, lights, break-away switch (with a charged battery)?2) How much can a trailer/vehicle weigh before it needs brakes?3) What type of hitchwork do I need?

Half of the battle to safe towing is using the proper equipment. The other half is enforcement. Law enforcement officers need to be trained on what the laws and requirements are for safe trailer towing and then enforce the laws.

There is no reason for over 68,000 accidents and over 440 deaths a year involving vehicles towing trailers.

That’s how I see it, how about you?

For proper trailer towing procedures check out our trailer towing DVD

Watch the video for information on safe towing procedures.

Happy & Safe Travels,

Mark J. Polk

RV Education 101

RV University

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