# Got To See A New Tundra Wrecked Today



## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

North of Colorado Springs there is a lil hill called monument hill.. Its elevation is 7200.. For some reason, every summer there are lots of rv wrecks on the back side of monument.. I think this one was number 5-6 this summer at this spot.. Dunno Lost count.. It was about a 25 foot Ragen toyhauler.. It was on its side. The Toyota had its rh side wiped out.. The trailer was laying on its left side.. The truck was upright when I seen it, so i dont know if it rolled on its side.. BUT there were a nice set of snake looking skids on the highway.. So prolly another sway accident.. Its kinda funny, his skids went right over the last sway wreck 2 weeks ago..

Dont really know what it is about this spot, but it sure is hard on RV'ers.

I have seen a good 10-12 rv wrecks this summer, I see so many I get a bit brazen to them.. But its still too bad.. I have seen several 3/4 toners towing 5th wheels that have rearended 4-5 cars. Have seen prolly 4-5, 1/2 toners sway and flip, and a few 3/4 toners sway and flip... So pretty much, it has just been another summer of fun on the front range..

I dont remember hearing that anyone died, but 3-4 times the flight for life chopper has hauled em off.

Someday we will live in a world where the public will be able to pull a trailer without sway trouble. Now the 3/4 toners rearending people, Well, they need to slow down! I dont feel too sorry for them.. I feel sorry for what they run over..

Carey


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## Collinsfam_WY (Nov 9, 2006)

Carey - looking forward to the day when you can reveal your pride-n-joy.

Curtis


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Curtis, I'm going on about a 1000 mile road trip this weekend for testing.. Dont really know where I'm going... Some where flat... I need to do some miles! Where do you live? 500 miles would prolly get me to about your house, right.. Busy this weekend?

Carey


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

I think the biggest mistake people make on long downhills is assuming they can do 65 at the top and slow down to 45 if they need to. You need to get to 45 or slower if that is needed at the very top when you start downhill. It is easier to maintain a safe slow speed than get down to it later when the TT is pushing you. Even big rigs do that.

John


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

tdvffjohn said:


> I think the biggest mistake people make on long downhills is assuming they can do 65 at the top and slow down to 45 if they need to. You need to get to 45 or slower if that is needed at the very top when you start downhill. It is easier to maintain a safe slow speed than get down to it later when the TT is pushing you. Even big rigs do that.
> 
> John


This hill has a 75 mph speed limit.. Its only a couple miles down, I guess maybe people get spooked, and tap there brakes and it throws the rig off balanced, then they lose it.. sure hate seeing it.. Been to many wrecks on this hill.

Carey


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## rms0726ea (Aug 9, 2006)

Carey,

What road is Monumet Hill on? Just curious...

Rich


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## lori26 (Jul 23, 2007)

So.......Carey, Your post was to warn others of the dangers on that part of road, not mocking the Rver's that had wrecked?????? Right? Just trying to understand.

Lori


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## 2500Ram (Oct 30, 2005)

White Buffalo said:


> Carey,
> 
> What road is Monumet Hill on? Just curious...
> 
> Rich


I-25 South of Castle Rock and north of Colorado Springs about 20 miles. It's not a huge hill at all, maybe a 4-5% grade for about 2 miles if that. Just one of those Bermuda triangle type places. Horrid to travel in the winter time, you never know if it's going to be black ice or just snow pack but always not fun if cold.

I have seen several accidents and know 1 person who had a wreck on that stretch of road, heading north going up the hill in his company van doing the speed limit (75MPH) he reaches the crest of the hill and to his amazement, stopped traffic. Long story short he's fine the others involved are fine and 3 vehicles were repaired on the company dollar.

Drive safe everyone.


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

lori26 said:


> So.......Carey, Your post was to warn others of the dangers on that part of road, not mocking the Rver's that had wrecked?????? Right? Just trying to understand.
> 
> Lori


I think it was a little of both


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## vikecowboy (Aug 17, 2006)

Curious to know what kind of setup (WDH, antisway, etc) the person was using.


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## RizFam (Feb 25, 2006)

lori26 said:


> So.......Carey, Your post was to warn others of the dangers on that part of road, not mocking the Rver's that had wrecked?????? Right? Just trying to understand.
> 
> Lori


Good question! I am curious about the set-up as well.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

skippershe said:


> So.......Carey, Your post was to warn others of the dangers on that part of road, not mocking the Rver's that had wrecked?????? Right? Just trying to understand.
> 
> Lori


I think it was a little of both















[/quote]

Yea pretty much.. I see about 700-800 car wrecks, and 12-18 deaths a year on my 12 hour shift mon-fri.... So far this year I have seen 13 deaths on my shift.. Makes me sad..

The only road I travel is from Florence, Co. Hwy 115 to Colorado Springs, then I-25 north to Downtown Denver, then back to Florence... I make 2 trips a day, one way is 115 miles, so about 460 miles total.. I drive a semi cement bulk tanker and have had this job for 7 years. I start at 4 am and am off by 3-6 pm.. Just depends on traffic. Drive about 110,000 miles a year.. I make 500+ trips to Denver a year.

When you see so many wrecks you kinda get immune to them.. By this late in the summer I am sick of seeing rv wrecks.. So basically saying here, just shaking my head, and am ready for the RV season to quiet back down.. I'm ready for snow.. Also saying, I wish towing an rv was safer..

There was a WD hitch on this rig, it looked liked some of the hitch tore off the Toyota from what I could tell.. Most of the wrecks I see, either the trailer coulper gets mangled and comes apart from the truck, or part or all of the hitch tears off the tow vehicle.. When these rigs flip, generally they come apart.. Thats pretty common.

No clue what brand of wd hitch.. It was bent up.

Carey


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

2500Ram said:


> Carey,
> 
> What road is Monumet Hill on? Just curious...
> 
> Rich


I-25 South of Castle Rock and north of Colorado Springs about 20 miles. It's not a huge hill at all, maybe a 4-5% grade for about 2 miles if that. Just one of those Bermuda triangle type places. Horrid to travel in the winter time, you never know if it's going to be black ice or just snow pack but always not fun if cold.

I have seen several accidents and know 1 person who had a wreck on that stretch of road, heading north going up the hill in his company van doing the speed limit (75MPH) he reaches the crest of the hill and to his amazement, stopped traffic. Long story short he's fine the others involved are fine and 3 vehicles were repaired on the company dollar.

Drive safe everyone.
[/quote]

Bermuda Triangle.. Thats about as good of a word for the Monument, Larkspur area I can think of.. Have to rememeber that one!

Carey


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## Texas Friends (Feb 12, 2006)

Carey,

Sounds like they should stop at the outlet mall on the top of the hill before they head down with all that speed!

Bryan

Happy Camping

p.s. I heard rumors the dirt biking area just west of pueblo was closing down???? (Pueblo Motor Park I think it was called) any truth to this?


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Texas Friends said:


> Carey,
> 
> Sounds like they should stop at the outlet mall on the top of the hill before they head down with all that speed!
> 
> ...


Yes and no on PMI. They have shrinked it to about 200 acres.. The only riding area now is east of the drag strip, then from hwy 50 to about halfway to Co hwy 96..

We always enjoy going there in the winter, as its way too hot in the summer. We always try to spend xmas day riding at PMI. kinda a tradition for us.. lol.. This year will be much less fun. We used to ride clear down to Pueblo Resivoir.. They have invested some pretty big dollars in fencing and big warning signs.. 100 buck a rider fine..

The nature people won on this one.. If you ever come this way, there are now some new riding areas north of Canon City.. Its just in winter, it would be better snow machining than dirt biking.. Last year we were up there at the end of January and rode about 3 miles in and had to turn back.. About 3 foot of snow in the shade.

So yep it sure is a bummer.. We all complained, but they wouldnt hear a word from us..

Carey


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## Justman (Jul 22, 2006)

Wow! That's a lot of wrecks!

So much for engine braking and using the trailer brakes, huh?


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Justman said:


> Wow! That's a lot of wrecks!
> 
> So much for engine braking and using the trailer brakes, huh?


Prolly just driving too fast.. Honestly though, this was one of those real tall toy haulers.. I wouldnt even think of towing one of those with a Tundra.. It really was one of those haulers that are meant for a 3/4 and up truck only.. It said Ragen on the side, I think the maker is Weekend Warrior, but I may be wrong. I think those models allow you to double stack your atv's.. I bet it was prolly 9000+ lbs loaded.

The wrecks arent really that bad considering on some winter days I will see 50 or so wrecks in a day.. But most days I see a good 5-6 wrecks. Hwy 115 is bad for deaths.. Been lots this year.. They are all head ons as its all 2 lane.. With the speeds people are driving now, there is only pieces left when they crash together.. Not many live.

Its hard on my head.. Makes me very depressed to see good people die for stupid reasons..

Carey


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Too let everyone know, I'm meeting Curtis around Quanah Tx. This weekend. He is camping around there.. Mapquest said like 515 miles to Quanah. That will be the perfect drive.. Leaving in the morn.. Will knock out the trip down tomorrow.. I will meet Curtis and his family Sun morn, then we will head straight back.. Should be home by around 2 am monday morn.. This trip is a test trip only.. Its all about rolling down the highway, not relaxed camping unfortunatly. The Outabck is heavilly loaded.. I always max out the thing for a good hitch test..

Well I have some bugs to kill.. lol Talk to ya'll later!

Carey


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Knocked er out! 1007.6 miles, 36 hours exactly... There was 16 hours driving and the rest camping. I ran 65-80mph the whole way.. At one point I set the cruise at 82 for about 10 minutes.. No sway, no movement.. Nothin. Mostly kept her around 70 though. The hitch test went excellent! Everything went super smooth.. Had a hard time keeping the speed down.. People mobbed our rig everytime we stopped.. It was like driving a Model T in the horse and buggy days. lol.. I tried not to stop much! just too much attention.

Stopped at the Pilot Truckstop in Amarillo..

Here are my weights from this trip.
Front axle 2860
Rear axle 2860. talk about a very nicely balanced ride and feel! Front and rear axle weighed exactly the same..
My hitch 920
Trailer 6100
Combined gross 12740

Empty truck weight with wife, son, mtn bike, and 3/4 fuel, and my hitch installed 5520
Tongue weight 1120. a loaded 23 roo has a terrible heavy tongue weight.
Gross trailer weight 7220, I had her loaded to the max.. maybe just a lil over.
Only 200 lbs of the tongue weight was on my truck.. This made her ride awesome, and I hardly knew the trailer was behind me..

I got to meet Curtis, Micah and there daughter.. Cool family and it was a ball to meet them!! pretty cool to meet people off our site.. Curtis is a cool guy! Best part was Curtis got to test drive my hitch.. I'm sure he'll report soon what he thought.. I'm thinkin he liked it! lol

Anyway better go get some sleep.. I'm pretty stoked it went so well though.. I will keep marching onward with this crazy idea!

Carey


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## Collinsfam_WY (Nov 9, 2006)

We just got back from Copper Breaks State Park. Great Park if you have not been there. They have part of the official State Longhorn herd there whose DNA has been traced back to the cattle the Spaniards brought over. Those "pure" Longhorns are enormous cattle btw. I had no idea they were so large. Huge animals. Much larger than your typical feed or dairy cow. We got to feed them - a couple of 'em would even eat out of your hand. That was an experience - having two huge horns on either side of your head while this giant Longhorn cow ate out of your hand. Wow!

It was great to meet another Outbacker and his family. Carey and his family are great folks and I'd camp with 'em anytime although I don't think they took to the mild heat in Goodlett too well







Oh - tell Crystal I how much I appreciate her for helping out my wife "at the pool" - if she did not tell you - she will know what that means. PS if Nick is interested in an old hardtail GT Avalanche with a bunch of Titanium parts on it - tell him I'd make him a great deal on it although I think he is more interested in a different aspect of riding than racing.

Speaking of Wow - Carey has come up with something that makes "towing experience" quite hard to describe in words. You really have to tow with it to understand what it feels like. I don't expect you to understand this but try to think of it this way. Go out and drive your truck, unhitched, just cruising down the road. Now - imagine that there is the weight of your Outback behind it but it umm....doesn't have any wheels - it is a weight that you just pull along but it doesn't ride on the road. Maybe imagine something pulling backwards on your truck all the time but it is a dynamic force that pulls backwards smoothly at all times so there is no typical feeling of having a trailer back there in terms of the movement you feel in the truck.

Honestly, being used to the "feel" of having my trailer hooked up to my truck, the way this rig felt creeped me out for a good while. It is bizarrely smooth. It is nice and to drive and oddly enough, at times, it is uncannily similar to the way a truck would feel hooked up to nothing. It is very stable - in fact - Carey seriously started to freak me out with a few "on the road" demonstrations that began with "now let me show you what it does when you do this...". I will leave out the details of what he did because I don't want people to take this post off topic and in the wrong direction. So - let's just say that situations that I avoid or spend effort minimizing the time that my rig tows in those situations - they were complete, total, "non-events" with his rig.

I thought about bringing my video camera or our new digital camera to record the towing experience on the road (no way would I take pics of his pride 'n joy) and I am glad that I didn't, for several reasons. Most importantly, I am not a professional photographer and to record what the towing experience was like might make people come up with false ideas due to the umm..."un-towing-like" behavior of the rig going down the road. Oh - I also rode in the back of his truck for a while







and watched it work while he drove. This thing is something pretty darn neat folks.

I am rooting for you Carey!

-CC

ps...still jealous of the power of that hemi...loved it.


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## rms0726ea (Aug 9, 2006)

Sounds like you have a great prototype Carey, good luck with it. Don't forget us little guys when your famouse!


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Curtis, I hope you made it back to Quanah with that low fuel light flashing! But sounds like it!

Yea you explain it about like I do.. Still dont really know why it works so well.. We left there at 12:15 mountain time yesterday and arrived at home by 10 o'clock. That was with a couple meal breaks.. I wasnt tired when I got home. I have been working all day. Laid down 494 miles sat, and 494 back sun.. You drove the rest! Feel great today.. I really cant believe how nice my way overweight for a 1/2 ton combo worked with this hitch.. I have been testing around Colorado all summer, but they have been trips under 500 miles done on a weekend..

This trip was the longest.

I would love to post pics, and was told by my lawyer I am able to sell it and show it to the public... But I have no product to sell right now. He told me till you are ready to sell, do not post pics of the product.. So I am obeying him sadly. I'm getting a LLC, Logo, Trademark, Domian, and website started.. I have spent about 10000 so far on this thing and am not even close to being done.

It takes 1 to 3 years to get an actual patent approved and a number granted... Till then I am in Patent Pending. I am able to sell, and show the product though.. I am going as fast as I can!

The worst part is I am prolly going to quit my job, empty my retirement fund, and find a trucking job with hours of like 8 hours a day.. Scares the livin hell out of me..

I really dont want to go in debt to start this thing nore share the interest with a joint venture capitolist.. So very sadly I think I will quit my job.. We are losing one of our long term contracts anyway, but I still would prolly keep my job, although winters would be slower.. I am poor like everyone else when it comes to trying to float this big fat boat..

After driving this whole trip at around 70 mph with a 1/2 ton hemi towing 7000lbs with a 1100 pound tongue weight, I came to the conclusion, I better just quit my 12 hour job and get a lil job to invest more time into this thing..

Curtis, I want to Thank You for giving your honest opinion, and keeping part of it on the quiet side.. I needed a view from another not happy 1/2 ton rv owner that I could trust, and after chatting with you here on Outbackers I knew it was you.............. THANK YOU!

Crystal said no problem on the help and enjoyed chatting with Micah.. She knew us guys needed our special time together.. lol

You guys made a very cute daughter! Crystal enjoyed her time with her.. I felt a bit left out on that..

It was freakin HOT down there.. Not mild hot.. Really hot! What wimps we are, uh!

If this thing continues, you will get the 1st unit with a free or very low price! Promise!

PS Nick just got home... He said he'd pass.. But thanks for the offer! He said the only racing he wants to do is down 13000 foot mountains.. He said you need full suspension for that.. 
Let me tell ya.. That scares the hell out of me too! I'd rather have him hardtail racing.. I went and bought his Iron Horse for his birthday.. he begged and begged for it.. I gave in.. Now I'm thinkin, what have I started?

Carey


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