80mph stopping distance towing 10,000# ????????

[letsgo]

I read all the postings with interrest, especially those that say " I drive at 80mph to 85mph towing 10,000# to 16,000#", I know a corvetts stopping distance is 212 feet going from 80mph to zero in dry weather, in the wet I beleave the stopping distance becomes sliding distance. If anyone has any info. on this subject or has anything been written about stopping??????????

thanks for any info

GMC 2002 DURAMAX SLT EXCAB SHORT BOX2500HD 4X4 AUTO

[MudNurI]

I for one hope that I'm never on the other end of someone driving 85 mph towing 15,000 lbs, and trying to stop before hitting me. Remind me to take my D/A and run run run when I see you all coming!!

Brandy

[56Nomad]

Here are some websites to compute stopping distance. There
must be a reason that the speed limit is 55MPH for trucks and
vehicles towing trailers in California??? :eek: I would imagine there
are other force vectors involved in trying to brake at that high
speed under the load of a trailer.

http://www.nsta.org/Energy/fn_braking.html

http://www.math.swt.edu/~cetp/courses/brake.pdf

http://www.e-z.net/~ts/motion.htm

[Colorado Kid]

Guys, you're getting a little too excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!

Trailer Boat magazine routinely test tow vehicles for unloaded and loaded (trailering) stopping distances, and low and behold the trailering stopping distance is usually shorter than unloaded when the tow vehicle has ABS. The trailer's brakes help transfer wieght onto the rear of the tow vehicle which lets those big rear brakes contribute to the stopping.

Personally I dodn't tow my 5'er fasster than 65, because it is ancient (1982) and was built when the speed limit was 55. I worry that the wheel bearing and (bias ply) tires may not be up to higher sustained speeds, but it'll shut right down from that speed. Also it's only a 24' with no slides, so it doesn't weigh 10,000-15,000#.

If and when I can someday afford a newer trailer I won't worry about towing it at highway speeds though.

[MudNurI]

I think you missed it- the question was at 80 MPH,,,where I come from thats bout 15 MPH OVER highway speed.

Brandy


If and when I can someday afford a newer trailer I won't worry about towing it at highway speeds though.

--------------------

[CanadaKev]

Think back, way back, to when we were all 16 and taking our drivers training.(Best thing my dad ever made me do.Teaches you to watch out for the 'other guy') Safe stopping distance in a car/truck, under ideal conditions? 2 seconds of distance. Trucks carrying a load should double that to 4 seconds. If the load is unstable ie:livestock, 6 seconds is more appropriate. As conditions deteriorate (rain, snow, ice etc.) increase time accordingly.
What is extremely frusterating :confused: , when hauling in heavy traffic conditions is that other motorists do not respect your stopping distance that you are trying to maintain. And continue to pull in front of your loaded truck because they see a gap that they somehow have a sudden urge to fill. I do not relish the idea of having a load of cattle sitting on my lap! So please respect heavy loads out there and let them maintain their braking distances! Sorry this is so long-winded but as you can see it's a bit of a sore spot smile.gif

[Colorado Kid]

MudNurI (Brandy)

Well where I come from its 5 over the posted limit and below the average running speed. Even the tumbleweeds go faster than that sometimes.

If you want to go slow I'm OK with that, that's why we built a frontage road on each side of the Interstate, and posted the limit on it at 55. ;)

[RealBigTruck]

Damn. I read something very interesting very recently and can't find it. It's directly applicable to this thread.

It was something like how long it takes a car to slow down from a given speed. The thing that really opened my eyes was a comparision between 2 speeds, say 55mph vs. 70mph. The article asked a question. If two identical cars are travelling at the above speeds and can decelerate at the same maximum rate, how fast is the car travelling that started at 70mph when the 55mph car has stopped. The answer was something like 35mph! The numbers may not be exactly right, but I'm definitely in the ballpark.

So, regardless of trailer braking, if you are driving at 80+ mph instead of say 60mph, you are still going to be FLYING in an emergency stop where you'd be stopped already at 60mph.

I'll keep looking for the article. I've been racing cars for 10 years and towing a larger trailer for 2 years, but nothing really opened my eyes until I read this article about 2 weeks ago.

[RealBigTruck]

Hmmm, I just read the pdf file at http://www.math.swt.edu/~cetp/courses/brake.pdf. Let's assume that the braking distances apply to our truck with a trailer. Comparing one rig at 60mph to another rig at 80mph.

Let's even get rid of the reaction distance. Let's say the driver is the best in the world and will react instantaneously to an emergency.

On the table at the URL, a rig at 60mph will stop in 172 feet. The same rig at 80mph will stop in 305 feet. When the 60mph rig has stopped at 172 feet, the 80mph rig still has another 133 feet to go before it stops. Looking at the table to see what speed requires 133 feet to come to a stop at, we can see that the 80mph rig is still travelling at about 52mph when the 60mph rig has come to a complete stop!

These numbers still surprise the hell out of me!