Drive Radio invites you to shift gears as we explore the dynamics of safe towing in our latest episode. John and the team share their personal experiences and lessons learned from years on the road, emphasizing the critical role of safety in preventing accidents. This episode sheds light on improper towing combinations, safety chain techniques, and the often ignored checks that can make a big difference. With summer just around the corner, don’t miss out on this opportunity to educate yourself and optimize your towing setup. Our experts offer step-by-step instructions and highlight the importance of regular maintenance to
SPEAKER 20 :
Being an expert on general automotive knowledge, what would the correct ignition timing be on a 1955 Bel Air Chevrolet with a 327 cubic inch engine and a four-barrel carburetor?
SPEAKER 16 :
It is a trick question. Watch this. A Chevy didn’t make a 327 in 55. The 327 didn’t come out till 62. And it wasn’t offered in the Bel Air with a four-barrel carb till 64. However, in 1964, the correct ignition timing would be four degrees before top dead center.
SPEAKER 11 :
Get ready for another hour of Drive Radio, brought to you by Colorado Select Auto Care Centers. Got a question for the experts? Then give them a call, 303-477-5600. Now it’s time to pop the hood and get our hands dirty. Drive Radio on KLZ 560, The Source.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, we are back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560. I got a great text message, and we were talking about trailers and horses and hobbyists and so on. This is from a texter. Wyoming, I can tell. Real Cowboy is driving an old POS Ram. The hobbyist is driving a brand new loaded up truck with a boomer trailer with living quarters in it. Yes, I would agree with you on that one. 100%. The real guys—and by the way, on the real side, everything’s paid for. On that side, it’s all financed.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I’m going to say depending on what they’re showing or what they’re hauling. Well, that could be, too. Because some of these big horse shows— I mean, there’s big money in that, and there’s, you know, I see that.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, you know, I know some guys that do some cutting and some things like that. And, oh, yeah, they’re styling too. They’re driving some pretty fancy new stuff. But they’re the exception, by the way.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. Yeah, exactly. If you’re hardcore rodeo, stuff like that, yeah, you’re going to be racking up a lot of miles. You’re putting miles on. You’re going to be beating up on things and stuff like that.
SPEAKER 07 :
Either that or you’re doing well enough where you’re buying a new truck, you know, periodically, and that means you’re doing really well if that’s the case.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. Exactly. Exactly.
SPEAKER 07 :
So, yeah, no, thank you, though, for the text message because you’re not far off, by the way. And that was my whole point earlier is there are a lot of folks that get into doing hobby-type things that they now are going to tow. Sure. And this can be true even with, you know, the whole camping thing. And, folks, believe me, where I live and where I drive, you know, I-70 West literally six days a week. And as we get closer and closer to summer, especially now, I’ll start seeing this even this weekend and next. You’ll see guys getting the trailers out. They’re going to drag them out of storage because they don’t keep them at their house because of the HOA. So they’re over in the storage, and they probably can’t even drag them out until next week because they can’t be parked in front of their house more than a week because of the HOA rules. So reality is I’ll start seeing these things get drug out here in the next week or two. And I’m here to tell you, folks, I see it all. Yeah. Every type of tow rig in front of every type of trailer you can imagine. And I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say this. Over half of them are the wrong combo.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
Literally, as I watch what’s going down I-70, going head up the hill, half of what I’m looking at is not the right setup. Somebody told them that, oh, yeah, you’ve got that Volvo wagon. Yeah, we can put this 20-foot camper trailer behind that. No problem. Exactly. We’ll put some extended mirrors on the fender and send you on your way.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 07 :
be all set and i’m i watched that plus a lot of other things and and i’m by the way that combo that i just gave you yes i’ve seen that yeah sure these are things that i literally and and yeah the volvo i’ll just tell you straight up it’s got more enough power to haul that 20 foot trailer yeah no issues whatsoever stop it oh no no it’s not going to stop in fact it’ll haul it up the hill at probably 75 mile an hour if you want to right That’s the other thing I see is these guys will then go up the mountain and they’ll be in the left lane doing 75 thinking that, oh, I can go this fast. And yes, you can, but you shouldn’t be with what you’re hauling.
SPEAKER 05 :
Exactly. Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right. So really quick, a few things on trailer hauling that some of you that are veterans, you’re going to say, OK, yeah, I can turn the radio off for a minute. Well, yes, you probably can. But let’s go through some basics for folks that have never towed before. And there’s just a few things that you need to be doing to make sure that you’re safe when you do things. First things first. Most people put safety chains on the wrong way. And what I mean by that is they get everything hooked up. They get the trailer attached to the ball. They’ve got all that hooked up correctly. And the first thing they do is they take the right chain and they go into the right loop on the truck. They take the left chain. They go to the left side of the ball hitch on the truck. And they say, yep, I’m good to go. My chains are on.
SPEAKER 05 :
Cross them.
SPEAKER 07 :
You’ve got to cross them. Why do you cross them, Ken?
SPEAKER 05 :
So if that ball comes or if that hitch comes off the ball, it lands in the chain.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s a cradle.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s a cradle. It doesn’t dig into the ground and launch you.
SPEAKER 07 :
And you have more control over it if that were to happen when they’re X’d.
SPEAKER 05 :
And it’s going to be more apt to stay with the vehicle in control.
SPEAKER 07 :
And I will tell you that of everything I’ve hauled over all of the years, Uh, more than once I’ve had something happen to where something happened with the ball and it jumped off and it lays right down in that cradle. And those safety chains give you the ability without even damaging anything to get over to the side of the road, get back there, figure out what’s going on. And some of you are saying, well, geez, John, how did that happen? Guys, listen, with all of the things I have hauled throughout all of the years, and sometimes not even being my own trailer, things can happen where the couplers get wore out. Yeah. something happens to where somebody mismarks the – you can’t read what the coupler is, and it’s 2-5-16ths, and you’ve got a 2-inch ball because you’re reading it and you’re thinking, oh, it’s only 2 inches because there’s really no way to measure that unless you read the stampings. I, folks, through all of the years of doing all these different things, I’ve run into pretty much almost probably any scenario you can think of as to why certain things happen. And I will just tell you straight up, if you’ve got those chains crossed – your chances of having anything major happen are very minimized. Let’s just say it that way.
SPEAKER 05 :
And with that, too, a lot of the chains come fairly long.
SPEAKER 07 :
You want them as short as possible without binding.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. You don’t want them to drag, and you don’t want them to bind. I’m glad you said that. That’s a great point.
SPEAKER 07 :
And some of you would say, so how do you do that? twist them more there you go you know just keep twisting them until they go you know it’s it’s three four inches down from the bottom of the ball some of you’re gonna say well i can’t make that chain any shorter if you twist it it gets it gets shorter right exactly yes you can now the other thing too that i’m a big one on and some of the lighter trailers will just have an s hook at the end of that chain i hate that the I do not like those. I like the actual clevises, like what you would actually turn and screw them on to tighten them up. And I like them to be thumb tight. You don’t need to get a wrench and tighten them that way.
SPEAKER 01 :
But I want them closed.
SPEAKER 07 :
I want them tight. And I like using those because there’s no chance of those jumping off. The S-hooks, yeah, there’s probably not much of a chance of those coming off. But I just don’t like the fact that they’re open and they could bend and things could happen.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, because you get a lot of force if that does come off.
SPEAKER 07 :
I want that clevis, which basically makes a chain link. Yes. Those of you that are trying to imagine what I’m talking about over the air, but a clevis that screws, and you can pick them up in any hardware store, and I’m one of those guys that, you know.
SPEAKER 05 :
It looks just like a chain link. It just has a screw.
SPEAKER 07 :
And by the way, they’re really handy with even doing some of the other things that I do with plowing snow and other things. I will keep one or two of those in the back seat. I’ve got two in my toolbox.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I just have them because they come in handy for all sorts of things. Right, exactly, yeah. You never know when you’re going to have to link something together.
SPEAKER 07 :
And that’s what they’re there for. And the ones that thread together are extremely strong. In fact, I don’t know that I’ve— They have weight ratings on them. Yeah, I’ve never seen one come apart.
SPEAKER 05 :
You buy a good quality one, they’re just not going to come apart. They have stainless, they have galvanized, they have all kinds of different ones.
SPEAKER 07 :
And I don’t buy the fancy stainless ones. I buy the galvanized ones.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s what I buy.
SPEAKER 07 :
And they’re a couple, two, three bucks a piece is all. I keep, like Kent, I keep one or two of them in my tool bag or whatever and keep it in the truck at all times. It’s just there if something were to happen. I also keep some bungee cords and things like that in there. That’s another thing that if you get to a point where you just can’t quite make everything work, bungee cords help out immensely.
SPEAKER 05 :
So what I’ve found, and this is recent, since last year anyway, show up and some of my friends is like, oh, grab that Titan strap. I’m like, what is that? I looked at it, and I’m like, that is awesome. It’s a rubber strap. They come in all different lengths and stuff. So what it does is it loops through the buckle, it hooks, and then you just slide a little deal. And they’re rubber or nylon, some type of neoprene, something super strong. And it doesn’t… It doesn’t come off like a bungee cord or something like that. But, yeah, look them up. I’ll do that. They are really awesome. I mean, you can invest a little bit depending on what you’re doing with them, but they don’t break. They don’t do anything.
SPEAKER 07 :
The other thing for a lot of you listening where maybe you’re just going out for the first time and you’ve bought a camper or – You bought a used camper even. Other things I’m big on is how is everything mounted? In other words, you’ve got propane tanks potentially that are mounted on there. Are all your mounts good? Do you have any bolts that have rusted off? How are your tanks? Are they on there good and solid? Are your tanks off as you’re traveling? You don’t want them on.
SPEAKER 05 :
Make sure the valves are off. Make sure all your appliances are off. Your main power is disconnected.
SPEAKER 07 :
Correct. Now, one other thing, Jeff, I’ll take you. I’m going to give you plenty of time. I’ll come right back after the break and take you so we’ve got plenty of time that way. One other thing, too, the majority of your larger trailers where they’ve got electric brakes on them, they will have an emergency breakaway switch with a battery that takes over and operates the trailer brakes because they’re all working electronically. The way a trailer brake works is there’s a brake drum. They’re all drum brakes. It’s the only way these will work. and they’ve got a magnetic puck that rides on the backside of the drum. And what happens is when it’s energized with electricity, the more voltage, the more magnetic it becomes because it’s an electric magnet, and a little bit of voltage, it drags just a little bit and applies the brakes slightly because the way it works is it twists around and it applies the drum brakes. So it’s… It’s a really easy concept. Very, very straightforward. They’ve been working that way for eons, now decades. The more voltage that gets applied, the harder that magnet becomes, or the more lively, I guess you could say, it becomes, and it sticks more, and it drags the brakes in more, engages them more, and so on. So what happens is… The way the breakaway switches work with its own battery on there, because if something were to happen and that trailer comes unhooked from the truck and you no longer have power from the truck to the brakes, that little battery powers things up. There’s a breakaway switch. It applies full power to the trailer. It’s going to stop and off you go. You want to test that battery to make sure, in fact, and the way you do that is pull the breakaway switch out. that should be then in and have to have the truck unplug you have to have the trailer unplugged from the truck pull that switch and then try to pull forward with the trailer if you can pull forward with no resistance that battery is no good right or something’s something’s not right yeah If you pull that and you try to pull forward and the trailer doesn’t move or you’re skidding the tires, you know things are good. That’s one quick way for those of you that are going to go out this year with even a trailer from last year to check to make sure. You can always check it with a meter, but this is the easiest way to do it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER 07 :
Not everybody’s got a DVOM to check things with, so this is a really easy way. Just don’t plug the trailer into the truck. Have everything all hooked up. Have your safety chains and everything on. Pull the breakaway switch, and that trailer should not move more than a foot.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
If it moves more than that, you’ve got a problem.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. It’s got to rotate the brakes into the bind. And it applies.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s why I say it might move a foot, but it’s not going to go much further than that. So that’s a really easy way to check to make sure that breakaway switch mechanism is working properly. All right. Jeff and Golden, hang tight. We’ll come right back. We’ve got a couple lines open. 303-477-5600. Drive Radio KLZ.
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SPEAKER 04 :
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SPEAKER 07 :
All right, we are back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Jeff and Golden, go ahead, sir. Hello, how are you doing? I’m great. How are you?
SPEAKER 08 :
Good, good, good.
SPEAKER 09 :
So, yeah, the one I have is kind of a pet peeve, and it’s kind of an interesting one, I guess, just from my perspective. Being a motorcyclist, and I did do a tremendous amount in Southern California, the motorcycling in between cars, and when a guy… is sitting in traffic or whatever, and here in Denver it’s a really tough one because now it’s the way we do it now, so they’re still, you know, guys are trying to learn. But when they won’t give the right of way to a motorcycle, you know what I mean? If you’re that motorcyclist and you’re trying to get up, and I know a lot of people are going to crucify me on that one, but it is annoying as all get up when you’re – when you’re trying to get between cars or whatever with your motorcycle.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, yeah, and just really quick for everybody listening, the way the laws in Colorado are supposed to work, and this is where I think, Jeff, even the motorcyclists need some training or some instruction on this, because if traffic is moving in Colorado, we don’t have lane splitting. So the only time you’re allowed to go between cars in Colorado is, I believe, if the cars are going less than 10 miles an hour. Then you can split in between them on a motorcycle. Yes, the cars need to give room. And it’s my complaint, Jeff, on the motorcyclists are a lot of guys cheat. They don’t do that. Traffic will be moving at 50 instead of 60 or 65, and they’re still splitting the lane. And no, that’s not what it’s supposed to be.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, the term is lane filter.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, that’s correct. You know what I mean? And that kind of does imply slower. You know what I mean? It’s a filter through, not a.
SPEAKER 07 :
a split like i’m doing 150 and you’re only doing 80 you know what i mean right now that’s yeah that and i’ve had some of those guys i’ve actually had a guy on my way home last night that did exactly what you just said i was doing yeah i probably shouldn’t say i’m in the left hov lane clipping along let’s just say that i’m not going to give you the speed limit at least i’m doing the speed limit jeff wink wink and this guy comes flying by me on the right and i hardly even saw him yeah
SPEAKER 09 :
From where I’m standing right here in Golden, I have a very good earshot of, like, I-70 going up. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER 06 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 09 :
And you can, I mean, they ought to come up with an app where you could hear the sound and you can predict the speed of the vehicle.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. Right. Exactly. That’s a three-mile section. It should have taken, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah. Sounds like, yeah, it’s like Indianapolis is going on up there. I hear you. So, hey, a great tip on the safety brake on the trailer. That’s a good one.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and by the way, some of that I’ve learned because if you’re running a commercial operation and you have commercial trailers, that’s exactly what they do when you run into the side checks, you know, the mobile checks that the State Patrol and even cities will run at times, Jeff. That’s exactly how they check your trailers if you’re a commercial operator. They unplug it, they pull the switch, and they tell the driver to pull forward. And if it don’t stop, you’re going to get a ticket.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, right, exactly. That’s a good one. I’ll tell you right now, I have a story here. This is, you know, I mean, and I’m sure there’s a lot of, there’s, you know, repo guys listening or tow truck guys listening. This is, I think, towing, now when you’re towing another car, that’s a whole other level of towing that people, that you can get yourself in a pickle with. And I just did. I do the race cars, right? I tow around front-wheel drive race cars all over the country.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
And I’ve towed a car, you know, thousands of times, and you get complacent. And I just had a horrendous accident, near accident. Nothing happened bad, but, I mean, I was on… I’m on the risk of incriminating myself right now, right?
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s all right. No one knows who you are. Only me.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, right. Exactly. Totally. But, no, on I-70, okay, we’re going. I was taking the race car to go get… some muffler work done, and I’m at I-70 just before Sheridan, okay, going east. And I look in, and I’m towing my yellow race car, and I have a little single-axle aluminum tilt trailer, okay. I look back in my rearview mirror, and the car was, you know, we’re doing 65 mile an hour, but I was like, oh, who’s the guy in the yellow Chevrolet Cavalier race car behind me, you know? You know, with nobody driving it. And I’m like, oh, you know, I had that moment of like, oh, my God. You know, here we go. This is going to get bad. And there was a semi truck that’s seen it happen. He slowed down traffic. People kind of saw what happened. And the thing keeps going. And I start tracking it, you know, like ahead of me. Maybe I could scoop it up type deal. And it kind of lightly brushes the inside median. And then it does come back all the way. And then very slowly. softly and then it comes to the the right side median just before the exit of of uh harlem there sheridan harlem right there and it came just and i kind of tracked it and it did it came to a stop wow you know what i mean yeah right so what so what i mean what what how did it come off what happened jeff what broke exactly right so i jump in the thing and i and i started and i didn’t want to start right you know sitting there hug on it wouldn’t start i’m in trail it fired up i boom and the trailer it might pitched up and everything Boom, drive it back on there. I remember how I strapped it. I got it strapped down, boom, off, and off I went, and I was okay. You know what I mean? I got off the road and was okay. But, yes, so what had happened, what I had done is we have, like, safety chains and certain things that we have built onto the race car.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right.
SPEAKER 09 :
right that we use just to tow their mandatory imca to you know to make it it has to so they can tow you off the track and i’ve got into the habit over the years of using those strap to those and go you know what i mean okay and one of those failed on me one of my little rigged up deals exactly so i have changed exactly so i and one thing that this did for me and i did i so after the you know anytime something like that happens right you No, you do. You better up your game on whatever you just did. And so I went and full-on invested, and I did. These are those diamond, that purple diamond weave tire strap down. You know, it’s where they’re just individually strapped the tires down. So there’s four. I only got two right now, but I’m going to have four. So all four tires… will be ratchet-strapped down from now on. So I could jump my trailer with the car on there. I don’t care what it is. It’ll never, ever come off again.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s staying on the trailer.
SPEAKER 09 :
And obviously, I left my pin. I didn’t do my catch pit to allow that thing to tip. That was just a dumb move on me. Like, I just… There’s a little pin there that you’ve got to flip so that thing doesn’t tip. So when I left the tip… pin, unactivated or whatever, and then she rolled backwards, it was off, and off she went.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow, you’re so lucky.
SPEAKER 05 :
You are living right, Jeff. You’re lucky you said, oh, my God, who is that?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, you are living right. I mean, I would just like to see how big your eyes got. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER 09 :
I feel like Chevy Chase, you know what I mean? Yeah, what is that?
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, that is a story and a half, Jeff. Holy cow. Yeah, that could have ended so much worse. Oh, man.
SPEAKER 09 :
It could have been terrible. The car didn’t even take that much damage, barely anything. I mean, the thing’s built to hit walls anyway, so it was kind of, you know.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. Oh, my word. Wow. Yeah, that’s like one of those nightmares you don’t ever want to see happen. Right. Never. And luckily for you, one of the few times probably everybody there was paying attention.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, right. Exactly.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, I got real lucky with the crowd, I think, that was on the track.
SPEAKER 07 :
You had a situation where you had all the right drivers in all the right places at all the right time and moment in time that they were all paying attention.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah. Wow. They saw exactly what was happening and Yep.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, so a dumb question. Steering wheel locks on it? Did it just keep going straight? Did it turn? How did that work?
SPEAKER 09 :
I don’t know. I don’t think there’s any steering wheel locks on it. I’m not sure those are off. I’m pretty sure. So, yeah, I don’t think on that one.
SPEAKER 07 :
So it was just freewheeling.
SPEAKER 05 :
Luckily, the alignment was good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 07 :
And the crown of the road just drifted it over to the right a little bit, and there you go.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah. Yep, and it did. It literally came to just a stop, and I… I remember not wanting to start right away, and I was like, you know, don’t break down now. Let me get off of this.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow. Yeah. Well, and as a side note, and you can take this advice or not, I am one where I feel like if you’re hauling anything that is that, even though it’s not a heavy, heavy car, I hate single axle trailers for that kind of stuff. I would have a dual axle trailer.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s just me. Yeah. For the sway.
SPEAKER 07 :
I mean, not because of what you went through, but just the overall stability of things. I like double axles.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
Now, most people do. I just haven’t, yeah, I just had an enclosed, you know, double axle or whatever that I just sold it to. I’m just going to go on my, just because I’m using a lighter vehicle.
SPEAKER 07 :
Sure. I hear you. Well, that’s a good story, Jeff. I mean, it really is. And that’s a great example of even all of us that are veterans, stuff can still happen. Check and double check.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 09 :
On vehicles, you just always have to… Right? It’s on the braking. That’s what a lot of people got to realize, too. Like, you can strap something down, but you got to realize when you hit the brakes on something really fast, that’s where you’re getting all that force. So you have to hold… the car a lot going both directions. Right. You know what I mean? So a car has got to be strapped, you know, for the pull, for the, you know, going uphill, too, and the sharp downhill. People forget that.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep, you’re correct. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 09 :
I hope there’s a tow truck. I’m sure tow truck guys could call in with some awesome stories.
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, I am sure.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
I am sure. Absolutely. Although I will say of late, I watched some of those guys and just – Speaking of pet peeves, since you brought that up, Jeff, you tow truck drivers that are listening to me, please turn off your dang emergency lights once the emergency is over. The law does not allow you to run down the road with your lights on just because you’re too lazy to actually run the wires and the taillights to the back of the car you’re towing. It quit being stinking lazy and turn your emergencies on and then drive down the road because you’ve got that car hooked in the back because you didn’t feel like stretching those wires out and actually putting the taillights on the car. And that is you talk about a pet peeve of mine, Jeff. It is stinking lazy tow truck drivers because because here’s what happens. The reason why I say that’s such a big deal. The minute that guy’s lights are on, everybody watches that guy, slows down, he becomes the center of attention, and it’s a traffic clogger. That’s why I hate it. Yeah, yeah. Some of the guys do, for sure. You can tell. Yep, they’re lazy.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yep. They like being the center. Yeah, a lot of that today is almost like, oh, you know, look out.
SPEAKER 07 :
To me, some of it is either they’re totally forgetful because they forgot to turn them off once the emergency was over and they got everything loaded and they’re heading out, or it’s an ego thing, one of the two. Look at me. I’m on a tow truck. Well, good for you. Turn the lights off.
SPEAKER 1 :
100%.
SPEAKER 07 :
Anyways, thanks, Jeff. Appreciate you, man.
SPEAKER 09 :
Good afternoon, folks.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, take care. We’ll be right back, guys. Don’t go anywhere. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 07 :
All right, we are back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Myself, Ken Rackley, Tune Tech Automotive. Larry Unger, of course, answering phones for us today. Charlie Grimes is our engineer, and we have lines open. 303-477-5600. 303-477-5600. And our text line, 307. Now, somebody also said, just tuned in, did we cover trailer bearings and brake service? If it comes off at highway speeds and brakes are not all equal, it can careen into the dish. Yes, thank you, by the way. No, we have not covered that, so let’s do that. We can do that right now. So, yes, yes. This time of the year, you’re going to be rolling that trailer out. You may have only had it out a few times last year. Now, what I would say is you kind of know the miles that you put on the trailer and all that last year. I am one where I’m still one to say you should be servicing those at least annually. So you’re dragging that thing out, and maybe you did a lot with it last year, maybe you did a little bit with it last year, but it still sat all winter long. And most likely it was in storage all winter long. You probably didn’t have control over it. And what I mean by that is, yes, I am still one like this particular texture is saying where I would pull a wheel. I would be pulling it. Look, at least checking wheel bearings. Do you need to repack them or not? I would at least be pulling the cap off, pulling the nut. I’d pull it off, look at it, determine.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 07 :
You got any issues at all? At least do some adjustments, repack them, do whatever you need to do. Make sure they’re all adjusted. Now, to his point as well, and I don’t know if this is his or her, but I’m assuming it’s a hymn. I would also be making sure that your brakes are adjusted properly so that they are both working equally from right to left to this texture’s point. If something were to happen and that emergency gets hit, is it going to go straight down the road or is it going to pull left, right? Yes, I would be really double checking that besides the fact it makes a tow easier when they’re adjusted like they’re supposed to. And these are things, by the way, that if you’re not able to do a trailer service yourself, there are folk around town. Our shops don’t do this. I’ll just tell you straight up. I don’t think I’ve got a single shop right now where I’ve got one that’s maybe working on doing some trailer service, but currently we don’t have anybody in our network that does trailer service. So you have to find somebody that you know locally that can do some of the work on this because if it’s not something you can do yourself, you’ll need somebody to do this. Adjusting the brakes, it’s not a big deal. No different than what they used to be back in the day with drum brakes, but they still need to be adjusted. They need to be checked. You need to make sure that both magnets are… are operating and working and there’s ways to do that. And I’m not gonna get into all the details of that if you’re a do-it-yourselfer, you typically know how to do that. But if not, you can even send me a text message or an email and I can kinda walk you through that. But yes, you need to make sure that A, not only are the brakes working properly, Your wheel bearings and everything are all dialed in, and that’s on if you’ve got a tandem axle trailer. You’re only going to have brakes on one axle. Typically, they’re not on. There are some that have four. Typically, though, most trailers are going to have two brakes, one on each side, one axle. rarely do you get a four-brake system. Now, heavier trailers, horse trailers, things like that, you’ll find those with four brakes, and same thing applies. Still got to make sure that those are all working like they’re supposed to. Your heavier trailers, that’s what I should have said. Your heavier GVWR trailers will have four brakes. typically your lighter, even, truthfully, even some of your enclosed trailers that are hauling cars and so on, typically you’re only going to find one axle that has brakes on it. You’re typically not going to find those with four brakes. It varies from trailer to trailer. And to my knowledge, somebody can correct me on this, I don’t think there’s a standard for that. But maybe there’s a weight rating on the trailer where they make you do four, you know, two axles with brakes versus one. But that one, I don’t know. That’s kind of beyond – I’ve never really paid any attention to that. I’ve just always looked underneath, and is there wires running to both axles or just one?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and it’s funny because – I’ve only been under my two tandem axle trailers, and they’re all four. They’re all four-braked.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep. Yeah. Okay. So, again, it’ll vary. And, again, the way to tell is do you have wires running into the backing plate of that particular axle on your trailer? If there’s wires running in it, it’s got brakes. Yeah. If there’s no wires running into it, it doesn’t have brakes. The other thing that this texter said, and you’re right on the money, tires. That’s been sitting all year. Some of you let those sit open. I highly recommend, by the way, that if you’ve got a trailer that you let sit for a good portion of the year, they’re cheap. You can buy them on typically Amazon. Napa probably even sells them. Buy a tire cover. They make them special for trailers that keep the UV rays off, and it’ll make those tires last way longer than they would otherwise. Typically, trailer tires get weather checked before they’re ever worn out.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. I had one tire blow apart just sitting there. The trailer hadn’t been used for four months. They will dry rot and wear out. Exactly, and it just blew apart.
SPEAKER 07 :
And you can look at those and think, well, this thing’s fairly new. Well, first of all, how old are they? Have they been sitting in the sun? And here’s kind of my rule of thumb. If they’ve been sitting in the sun constant and they’re five years of age or older, put new ones on. Put them on. Don’t dink around. Just put tires on and be done with it. I will say this. If you keep that thing nice and shaded and you keep those tires in good shape, in fact, even treat them occasionally, you put the covers on them, yeah, you can get more than five years out of those tires because you won’t wear them out on the tread, especially if it’s a trailer that you don’t use a ton. But really check those tires and make sure that they’re good because, yes, indeed, that can be one of the fail points on a trailer. And I would also suggest, and a lot of trailers will not come with this, do you have a spare tire? If you’re going anywhere out of town, you’re going to go cross country. You’re going to go all the way up in the mountains. You’re going to head east out to the plains. Do you have a spare? Believe it or not, a lot of campers and even a lot of car trailers, et cetera, they will not come with a spare. It’s something that you typically have to go find on your own and make sure that you’ve got a spare for it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right, and they sell brackets and stuff like that to attach them to however different ways. However you want to do it. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER 07 :
Sometimes you’re going to throw it in the back of the truck. You’re going to throw it inside the camper itself. Point being, have a spare.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right, exactly.
SPEAKER 07 :
And truthfully, they’ve gotten cheap enough and light enough. Just throw a floor jack in as well.
SPEAKER 05 :
right they’re cheap enough now just throw a floor jack you know with a tandem axle i mean if you know what you’re doing you know a block of wood you know i mean i you can do that usually the way we do it right you can do that as well but but again honestly they’ve gotten cheap enough right exactly
SPEAKER 07 :
It used to be that they were really expensive. You can buy some of the smaller, and they’re steel, but they’re not super heavy. You can buy some of the smaller, you know, one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half ton jacks, which is more than enough to do a trailer.
SPEAKER 05 :
Sure.
SPEAKER 07 :
And even then, instead of even trying to mess with a block of wood and all that, just get the jack out and jack it up and be done with it. They’re not that big a deal.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right, exactly. And they’re cheap. Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
Literally, this is a Harbor Freight kind of a thing, where you can literally just go Harbor Freight, buy one of their cheap jacks, and call it good.
SPEAKER 05 :
Because you don’t have any suspension on a trailer. So you get under there, you put three pumps on it, it’s off the ground. Correct. And you put the same size tire on there. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 07 :
So you’re ready to roll. All right, Gary in Denver, go ahead.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, hi, John. Hey, Gary, how are you? Good. I know this is an auto show, and it is kind of an auto question, but it’s also an investment question. Sure. you know, with the tariffs, the objective is to bring manufacturing back to America, and I was thinking one of the opportunities would be American automotive parts.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 08 :
That, you know, auto manufacturers need in order to build an American automobile.
SPEAKER 07 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 08 :
And I’m wondering, you know, setting up an automobile manufacturing is going to take a while, but I’m thinking, are you aware of any companies that build American auto parts that are at low capacity right now but could ramp up very quickly to meet the demand?
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s a great question. And, you know, and for example, Gary, there are quite a few auto parts that are actually built here in North America now. In some cases, it could be Canada. Some cases, it could be Mexico. Some cases, it’s here inside the U.S. We, believe it or not, do build quite a few auto parts here. And I mean, everything from Suspension components to brake pads and rotors and things along those lines to tires. In fact, the majority of tires actually that we use in North America actually come from the United States of America. We have a lot of tire plants in America. There’s huge misconceptions on that. Most people think that tires come naturally. out of country they do not they come from here uh shock absorbers things along those lines we’ve got plants here in america that build a lot of those things already i will tell you gary in most cases this is my opinion i’ll get ken’s thought on this we already build a ton of parts here in america it’s a matter of them continually sourcing from here selling those parts and not allowing the cheap you know counterfeits even that are out there to come into america and supplant some of those brands right exactly
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, so what I’m getting at is maybe they’re being supplanted now because these cheap parts are coming in, but when that supply gets cut off, what company will be able to quickly ramp up their manufacturing to meet the increased demand?
SPEAKER 07 :
I would go as far as to say, and I don’t know this for a fact, I would have to double-check with probably Napa and even some of their vendors and so on, but I would venture to guess, Gary, all of them could. I highly doubt that any of them don’t have the ability to up their production, providing they’ve got more ability to sell that product. I guarantee you they could all up production overnight.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, and with the power of AI, I’ll be able to quickly identify those companies.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, and again, we have a lot more of that in this country than most people will want to admit. Now, I will say that there are sensors and rotating electrical and things like that that come from all over the world. I mean, literally the UK, Germany, Taiwan, Japan, China. I mean, that’s a whole different world, although… There are rotating electrical parts made here in America as well. Again, what’s happened in the auto parts world, unfortunately, because we allowed it. And I say we. We as an industry allowed it. We had Chinese companies coming into a lot of our trade shows, copying a lot of the parts that were already being made.
SPEAKER 05 :
Stolen technology.
SPEAKER 07 :
They steal the technology. They build quote-unquote counterfeit parts, flood the market with it, and then we wonder where we’re at today. Reverse engineering. It’s our own fault. Yeah. All right. Thank you, John. You’re very welcome, Gary. And it was a great question, by the way, so thank you for that. Mike, hang tight. We’ll come right back to you. Don’t go anywhere. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 10 :
Not too bad. You were talking about towing, and people need to realize that when you’re towing something, it starts to whip if something happens. That’s right.
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 10 :
And if you’ve got critters in the back, it’s even worse.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep. You’re right. It just compounds itself, as you know.
SPEAKER 05 :
Or anything liquid. Yeah, that’s too worse.
SPEAKER 10 :
Somebody mentioned ties. Have you seen the, I call them bread ties, the plastic bread ties?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes, I have. They work really well.
SPEAKER 10 :
I have. I usually end up taking some with me on my bike trips just to have them because I dropped the bike one time and I needed something to hold the saddlebag on, and I had to run to Home Depot to get some. Pet peeves is the 18-wheelers that won’t stay in the right lane.
SPEAKER 07 :
I know. Me too.
SPEAKER 10 :
I mean, I just came back from South Carolina, and when there’s four or five trucks, one truck’s trying to pass. It takes 10, 15 miles for them to pass every one of them. It’s like, just get over and let it.
SPEAKER 07 :
I know. That is still one of my largest. Even in town, Mike, it is the largest clogger of traffic, if you ask me, period. And I’ve heard all the arguments from the truckers that, you know, we need to be able to do that and blah, blah, blah. And I’m sorry, I just don’t buy it. Get out of the way. Get over those other lanes.
SPEAKER 10 :
If you get into Tennessee, they tell you, stay out of the left lane, especially on the grades.
SPEAKER 07 :
Interesting.
SPEAKER 10 :
You were talking about tow drivers leaving their lights on.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 10 :
County and city workers, too.
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, same thing.
SPEAKER 10 :
Thank you. They’re not doing anything, and they’ve got their lights going. It’s like, You want to get out and beat the snot out of them.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s like they’re not supposed to be able to do that. That’s the other thing. I don’t know why they don’t get pulled over. That’s my biggest complaint is why are you guys not getting pulled over for this?
SPEAKER 10 :
Oh, yeah. And there again, but the police department at night have their humongous off-road lights on. When you’re on a two lane, you’re blinded because they’ve got somebody pulled over.
SPEAKER 07 :
Which I hate also. It’s like, come on, guys. Really, you’re blinding everybody coming at you, making yourself more vulnerable for another accident. There’s got to be a better way to do that. I mean, you talk about an invention, Mike. There’s got to be somebody out there that could be more directive in how that light actually works. I realize we’re trying to keep officers safe and make sure that it’s well lit for them and so on. But you’re blinding everybody else coming at you.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, and a lot of them are addressing the vehicle on the passenger side. So if you just had a spotlight on the passenger side as you went.
SPEAKER 07 :
And the way those are now made where there’s remote control and the ability for those lights to be mounted in all sorts of places where you don’t even have to go through the pillar like they used to, the ability of remote lights that officers could use in that manner, I’ve got to believe we’ve got better ways to do that so you’re not blinding all the oncoming traffic, Mike.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah. My question is, I have an 06 RAV4. I came home Tuesday from South Carolina. Okay. And I had water in the passenger side of my front seat.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 10 :
And I think I got it all dried out. I’m going to open up the car again now today, but who might be able to track that down?
SPEAKER 07 :
Has it got a sunroof in it?
SPEAKER 10 :
No.
SPEAKER 07 :
There’s no sunroof. Nope. You, honestly, you’re the best one to try to track it of anybody, and the way to do that is you take a garden hose, and you really just start soaking, get somebody to sit inside, and you start soaking as many places that you think water could possibly be coming in up high, because there’s no way the seat gets wet unless it’s coming in from up high. Has it ever had a windshield put in it? Yes. Okay. I would check the top of the windshield very closely.
SPEAKER 10 :
This isn’t hitting the seat. This is the floorboard.
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, it’s hitting the floorboard. Okay. Next thing to do, double check to make sure that your AC vent coming out of the air box is open as well because you can build up a ton of water, especially on a long trip like you took. If that vent is not venting, if that drain is not clear is what I mean to say, you’ll do exactly what you just said.
SPEAKER 10 :
No, no, no. I came across on a motorcycle.
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, not the car. Okay, gotcha. Sorry, my bad. My bad.
SPEAKER 10 :
The car was sitting here in my driveway.
SPEAKER 07 :
And then it was wet when you got here? Yes. Okay, then yes. And I would use the garden hose method then on that, because you’ve got a leak somewhere.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, well, Tuesday, Wednesday it was still raining a little bit, and I’m in there trying to dry everything up, and I could see it coming down, and it’s just…
SPEAKER 07 :
And that’s one where you literally, in fact, open the hood, have somebody take that water and just really pour it all across the front of the windshield, down by the doors, across the lower sill of the windshield itself, and just see if you can hear. And typically, if you’ve got a leak, you’ll hear even the leak. Have it be really quiet inside. You can typically hear it, but you’ll also feel and see where the water’s coming from. You can do this as easily as a shop can, Mike, because they’re going to do the same thing, only they’re going to charge you for two people doing this.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, of course. Literally.
SPEAKER 05 :
All righty.
SPEAKER 07 :
So that’s the easiest way to do it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Well, you have a good day.
SPEAKER 07 :
We’ll do it. You got something else you want to add to that?
SPEAKER 05 :
I was going to say, sometimes, I mean, but usually it’s an air leak. Like if you hear an air leak as you’re driving down the road, trying to track that down, we found, like, take Windex, spray it around, then take your blowgun on the inside and spray around. And a lot of times you can find, like, if it’s a windshield or something like that. Right.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. Bottom line, these are the type of things where, yes, you guys on your own can do some of this detective work on your own. Because if you take it to a shop, in their defense, they’re taking two people out of the mix of what they’re doing production-wise and having them go find a leak. Yes, you’re going to get charged twice as much because you’ve got two people now involved in that process than what you would have. And it’s easier for you to do some of this stuff on your own. Literally, they’re going to do the same method I just mentioned. They’re going to use a garden hose or a pressure washer or something along those lines and coat that thing with water and try to determine where those leaks are coming from with a flashlight and so on. You can do the exact same thing at home on your own. All right. Aaron, Russ, you guys hang tight. We’ve got one line open, 303-477-5600. This is Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 17 :
Still haven’t had enough? Go to drive-radio.com. Email your questions and comments. Download previous programs and find lots of useful information, including your nearest Colorado Select Auto Care Center. That’s drive-radio.com. Thanks for listening to Drive Radio, sponsored by the member shops of Colorado Select Auto Care Centers. On KLZ 560.
