Re: How fast do you tow?
Cruise control...you mean that lever on the side of the blinker? It's not like you need to do 15 steps to use it, it has on/off/set. Isn't it a shame that so many people get confused by on/off/set?
If someone is annoyed that I'm going 55ish, I would much rather they pass than drive ten feet off my butt. I'm of the mindset that I'll get there a few minutes later rather than take any kind of risk getting into a wreck or blowing a tire or getting a big fat ticket.
Cruise control??? They put that in trucks now? I've not yet had anything that new. I was headed home the other day with an 18' flat bed trailer behind my truck, with about 300 outboards and one 14' boat on it. The trailer and all attached was a CL buy. The trailer had 4.80x8 tires, was made of aluminum and had Wisconsin tags on it. I didn't go much over 40 with it in fear that it might come apart. It was a take it all or none deal, $100 for all sale. I no doubt made some serious enemies crossing the bridge at 35mph, but that's as fast I thought safe for that mess. The thing hadn't seen the light of day in years, the tires were small, and far too hard to get at to change if one blew up. I took my time, nice and slow, and it made it all the way home, about 130 miles total. It even had working lights on the the trailer. I can't count the number of drivers that waved a finger at me the whole way home. I took back roads the whole way, stayed off the main highway, yet still had people behind me screaming and honking horns the whole way. What's worse is those that'll tailgate a trailer full of stuff like that, I'd be afraid that a motor or something would fly free and hit my car, but they ride the bumper and won't pass. I pulled off the to the shoulder several times to let traffic pass but most would just stay in line and blow their horns.
The trailer was an all aluminum flat bed, with four telephone pole posts with four rails made of 2x12 pine, with four rows of old outboards down each. I was towing this with my my truck, an older 4 cylinder Ford Ranger. The trailer didn't feel heavy but my concern was with the tires and how hard they appeared to be to get too. There were two spares on the trailer but on a rainy day, I chose not to have to deal with that. What really governed my speed was the lack of visibility in the heavy rain, there were times I couldn't see 20' ahead yet cars blew by at high speed. If I couldn't see ahead, they most likely couldn't either.
The trip took me 4 hours up and back, I never felt what I was towing was too heavy or a problem to stop but I'd also not run 80mph with such a load, especially on secondary roads.
I paid good money for my truck, I gave $600 for it 8 years ago and it needs to last me another 20 or so years. I don't care to tear it up just because someone wants to go faster.
