Towing in RWD - advice please!

I live in SoCal and drive up to Mammoth every month to participate in an adaptive ski program, of which I’ve been a member for two seasons now. I volunteered to tow our equipment trailer this season and have been blessed to encounter fair conditions every time I’ve had to tow the trailer up to main lodge. Although I’m a decent driver with fwd in snow/icy conditions, I’ll admit that I have no business towing anything in a snow storm.

I drove a rwd truck with chains when there was a bit of fresh snow during our March trip. We did just fine but I hope I wasn’t being ignorant to how dangerous it could have been. Is there anything the community can share with me to make towing safer for my passengers and those that share the road? Thanks!

Pop a Xanax and drink whiskey the entire drive report back

Its 24 kms to the local ski hill on a dirt road and so longtime ski bro told me when he was kid back in the early days 50-60 years ago no body had trucks with 4x4 and road maintenance only plowed once a week


but no 4x4 in this day and age turn in your man-card eh

Towing my camper in a snowstorm is some of the most terrifying driving I've done. When the camper started sliding around as I descended from the Eisenhower Tunnel, hoo boy. I have no advice, except maybe to wear some Depends if it is snowy/icy.

^^^^ This is one of the worst situations you'll encounter^^^

When the vehicle has traction and is slowing on a downhill and the trailer begins to slide. The trailer can pivot around the hitch and as it does it can pull the back of the vehicle around. Now everything is sliding sideways down the road.

The only way that I know to combat this is leave A LOT of additional room in front of you. Letting off the brakes or even a touch of gas can get the trailer straight again, but you need the room to do it.

Mount a hitch on the front and tow in reverse. Now you’re fwd, problem solved


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Originally Posted by powdork

Mount a hitch on the front and tow in reverse. Now you’re fwd, problem solved


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Can’t believe OP didn’t think of this! What an idiot!

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Originally Posted by XtrPickels

^^^^ This is one of the worst situations you'll encounter^^^ When the vehicle has traction and is slowing on a downhill and the trailer begins to slide. The trailer can pivot around the hitch and as it does it can pull the back of the vehicle around. Now everything is sliding sideways down the road. The only way that I know to combat this is leave A LOT of additional room in front of you. Letting off the brakes or even a touch of gas can get the trailer straight again, but you need the room to do it.

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luckily for me the trailer is not nearly as heavy as the car, so it kinda snapped back into position. But yeah, leave lots of space. And consider things like weight of vehicle vs weight of trailer (and not just towing capacity of vehicle).

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Originally Posted by east or bust

Can’t believe OP didn’t think of this! What an idiot!

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It's the kind of sage advice he couldn't have gotten by posting in tech talk.

What are you towing with? Towing capacity? How heavy is the trailer? Does the trailer have brakes? Lots of things you can do to make it "safer."

I got around Alaska in a RWD truck for a decade, not ideal but you can make that work obviously with weight in the bed, good tires, and chains if it gets real bad. If anything the tongue weight would help with traction on the drive axle.

Depending on the weight of the trailer my biggest worry would be the trailer sliding out when going downhill, especially in a turn. Studs could help if you can find studded tires with a high enough load rating, chains on one of the trailer axles would help if studs aren't an option. Either way, give yourself plenty of space and avoid braking in a curve if you can.

Better tires and trailer brakes used very judiciously.

You can put a chain on one or both trailer tires.

Cable chains on both trailer tires. As long as they have more traction than the truck the trailer will remain straight when braking. If you don't have abs and the brakes are too aggressive and they lock up on the trailer you have to pump the brakes old school style. Always look in your mirrors while you brake so you can see if the trailer is drifting. Letting off the brakes momentarily will bring the trailer back in line

Before all the camera's and stability control were installed in equipment I operated, I was able to enjoy doing some slow speed power drifts while pulling a trailer. If anything the trailer sort of stabilizes the drift and it is good clean fun, much easier to control than most would suspect... but I would not recommend doing this as a rookie snow driver with a club trailer. As with anything though, practice makes perfect. The principals of sliding and steering into the skid are exactly the same with or without a trailer(until things go off the rails, then the trailer amplifies your mistake and you are good and f...d fast.)

Keep your speeds down and a leep large following distance. Let traffic keep filling in in front of you.

If you are from LA and feel yourself unqualified, listen to your gut. Being terrified on the road during too dicey of a situation really, really sucks. No matter how competent someone, too dicey will happen.

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@snowdog, the right or the left?

Either one. You're just adding some extra traction to the trailer tires.

Does the trailer and equipment get used any other time during that month or only at Mammoth? Work out a deal with Mammoth to leave the trailer there and lock it up?

Does the trailer even have brakes? If it is a smallish enclosed utilty trailer it may not have brakes so chains might help but not much.

@Danno It is extremely terrifying! I didn’t mention this in my original post because I was embarrassed but I did have an incident that scared me half to death. Please excuse me for not sharing this lol. The non-profit gives volunteer instructors a free-ski day for the first day of the three-day trip. I’ll typically drive through the night, pick up the trailer at Hot Creek Airport, and drop it off at the condos we rent for the weekend. Mammoth had just snowed 4-7 inches the night before I rolled into town and I was feeling pretty intimidated having never towed in storm conditions. I was definitely more cautious than I already am. Anyways, we were pulling up to the condos and the area leading up to the parking lot is always very slick and steep! I can typically make it up to the lot with no issues as long as I keep a steady consistent speed, even when it’s very slick and I happen to be towing. This time was very different. As I was climbing up that road, another car came down as I was 1/3 to 1/2 up the road. Unfortunately, they took up at least half of the road coming as they made the turn onto the road. I had to pump the brakes to avoid potentially hitting them and in return I lost a majority of the speed coming up. I really had no choice but to continue climbing up the road but I knew I was screwed and prepared for the worst. When my front tires hit the very top of the road, I lost all traction and slowly started to roll backwards until traction gave out all at once. The trailer started rolling towards the bend in the road and the guard rail that keeps anyone from falling onto the Main Street/ sidewalk. Nothing was going on in my head except trying to correct the trailer to follow that bend in the road and I thankfully did with no accident. I was no more than a yard away from the railing when the trailer finally stopped. I felt like such a dumbass for that because I put my entire group of friends and sibling, that I had convinced to come out and volunteer with me, in danger. Damn, long story but that’s why I really want to know if there was anything else I could have done besides not being an idiot from SoCal.

To avoid that? Avoid pulling a trailer up a road like that, ha.

If that can't be avoided, and a car coming down will fuck you up, have a spotter?

I don't think you did anything wrong other than not account for the fact of a car coming down. In icy conditions, those cars are going to avoid the side of the road too. And not be in great control and not fully able to give you a wide berth.

Dannos spot on. Half of all driving but especially towing is recognizing and avoiding potential clusterfucks. The other half is knowing how to get out of a clusterfuck before something bad happens. If you don't have to go up a steep narrow blind hill in low traction conditions, don't. If you do, think again. If you really, really do need to, get people to help control traffic. You're volunteering for everyone's benefit, it's your vehicle, your insurance, and your driving record at risk. Ask other people to help. Directing traffic, yelling at southern Californians, generally causing a scene at the condo complex while homie rallies the trailer up the driveway in the snow- who wouldn't be stoked to do that?!

After all, tire chains were invented for a reason, so why not think about various emergency options that may arise before a trip?

We do not allow camper trailers to come up to the ski hill if there is any snow on the road or there is a forecast for snow. Period. If you were to attempt to come up towing a trailer and you couldn't make the switchback you would very likely block the road and potentially prevent the ski area from operating that day. Not only would you make our non-profit very un-profitable that day. You would have a great many skiers very mad at you. Taking responsibility for your actions (like not trying to pull a trailer with RWD up a snowy steep road) separates us from the primates.

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Originally Posted by garyfromterrace

We do not allow camper trailers to come up to the ski hill if there is any snow on the road or there is a forecast for snow. Period. If you were to attempt to come up towing a trailer and you couldn't make the switchback you would very likely block the road and potentially prevent the ski area from operating that day. Not only would you make our non-profit very un-profitable that day. You would have a great many skiers very mad at you. Taking responsibility for your actions (like not trying to pull a trailer with RWD up a snowy steep road) separates us from the primates.

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