Re: 55 Patrician dimensions

Posted by Sloride75 On 2013/10/29 19:37:23

I've made reservations online for U-haul, and the drop-down menu didn't have a 1949 Packard available. So I think I simply selected Studebaker, and the U-haul clerk didn't care or know the difference anyway.

That was towing it from KY to FL, and it towed just fine at normal highway speeds.

On the move from FL to VA, I found that renting a trailer from Budget would save me a couple of bucks. I figured the trailers were the same anyway. Boy was I wrong. Accelerating smoothly on the on-ramp the car started to sway, and eventually the trailer was across and in to three lanes. The car was rocking on the trailer so bad that the door sides were bouncing off the trailer fenders. It would not surprise me if the trailer's tires came off the ground. This was in an Expedition, loaded with the wife and three kids. One of the scariest events of my life. I managed to regain control, but had to drive all the way to VA doing not a tick over 55.

So the moral of the story is, not all of the rental trailers are the same. Budget's design is shorter than the particular U-haul trailer I had previously used. There was no way to adjust the car on the trailer, fore to aft, and the tongue weight was wrong. Please try to make a dry run at highway speeds before you head out on a trip.