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55mph Towing limit

Jalopyshoppe

Jalopyshoppe

idiot
Joined
Jun 13, 2012
Location
DIFFERENT PLACES
Moto(s)
FXR thing, Buell Ulysses, Honda CRF250 Rally, Hawk GT's , and various others.
Name
Fish
I know the ins and outs. I'm curious of 2 things:

1: Does anyone know the origins? Near as I can tell this is a CA only law, and it really sucks.

2: Do you as LEO's actually care?

I tow a lot. I tow at 70-80mph a lot. When in AZ, TX, NV, and UT, I tow at 80+mph. I'm finding myself towing at 70+ in CA a lot lately. Well over 2000 miles this month, with 1000 of those on I5, the remainder on 80, 50, and a few random highways in the So. Cal desert. Am I living on borrowed time?
 
I've been pulled over near LA for going 65 with a trailer, and not being in the right two lanes, ended up with a warning as I wasn't aware of the rules and the trooper took pity. So the answer is yes, they sometimes care.
 
The origin probably has more to do with big rigs than autos with trailers. My truck spins out around 70-75 with the 3.73 gear package, so when I tow I usually keep it pretty slow.

Preferences for writing certain violations vary by officer. I know a hardcore dope/SWAT cop that blows a gasket over tinted windows, so your guess is as good as mine.
 
I hit the rev limiter of my 7.3 at 102mph last time I checked. That's with 32's and 4.10 gears, but it seems to settle at around 70. That puts it at 2200rpm. I'm also just impatient and drive aggressively.

Funny how certain things just irritate people. I can see tinted windows seeming like a threatening situation. Then again, I know people who should't drive at all, let alone tow, or tow at stupid speeds.
 
Jalopyshoppe said:
I hit the rev limiter of my 7.3 at 102mph last time I checked. That's with 32's and 4.10 gears, but it seems to settle at around 70. That puts it at 2200rpm. I'm also just impatient and drive aggressively.

Funny how certain things just irritate people. I can see tinted windows seeming like a threatening situation. Then again, I know people who should't drive at all, let alone tow, or tow at stupid speeds.
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I try to cruise at under 2k RPM. I haven't tach'd out my 6.4L because I know how much they cost to fix. :laughing

I'm not a traffic cop and have zero interest in using the VC for anything other than pretext, so I'm probably not the best person to ask. Maybe one of the CHP guys can chime in.
 
Chp gave me a warning for going 65 while towing my little pop up camper down 395
 
ramses355 said:
You do know that ST trailer tires are speed rated at 65 MPH?
Click to expand...

Most of my trailers are 10-12k and I use BF Goodrich Commercial T/A tires on them if that makes you feel better. The St radials don't hold up.
 
Jalopyshoppe said:
I hit the rev limiter of my 7.3 at 102mph last time I checked. That's with 32's and 4.10 gears, but it seems to settle at around 70. That puts it at 2200rpm. I'm also just impatient and drive aggressively.

Funny how certain things just irritate people. I can see tinted windows seeming like a threatening situation. Then again, I know people who should't drive at all, let alone tow, or tow at stupid speeds.
Click to expand...

I have 3.55 gearing and stock tires on my automatic e40d 7.3 idi naturally aspirated and am turning about 2.5k at 70. I had to adjust the throttle position sensor and replace the tach sensor when I got the truck. It wouldn't read rpm at idle up to 1.5k and OD was unusable, constantly bouncing between locking and unlocking the torque converter. $50 for the tach sensor and 5 minutes to adjust the maladjusted tps with a multimeter and the truck runs like a top. Marks her territory and the cdr valve smokes a little but I'm in love. Great trucks.

On topic of why the limit, I can only guess that it's political in origin and has to do with increasing safety (while actually decreasing it)
 
U-Haul's trailers are posted 45, reversed, so you can read it in your mirrors.
My guess from overloaded commercial traffic with sketchy brakes, poor tires, in the thirties when trucking with trailers was new.
Many threads on this in the Airstream forum, shredding Goodyear ST Marathons at speeds over 50
 
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Origins?

I always thought, possibly incorrectly, that it had to do with the 55 MPH speed limit. Prior to 1990 (not sure of exact year) freeway speed limits were set at 55 MPH for all vehicles. Done in the 70s in the name of safety and fuel savings. I figured the towed trailer thing was a holdover from that. They raised the limit to 65, except for towed trailers.
 
I tow quite a bit for work. I usually keep it right around 63-64mph and have never had an issue, even when CHP is running radar on the side of the freeway. I've even had the moto CHPs give a friendly wave sometimes when I have some bikes on the trailer. I also follow the rules about which lanes I can be in.
 
Too many people don't know what they're doing when towing and don't have their vehicles set up properly. For instance, every trailer I've always used a properly set up anti sway bar.

Somewhere on the internet is a great video of a car towing a small motorcycle trailer and the trailer starts swaying and eventually spits the bike off.
 
Not so fun story I heard at the Academy from an instructor of a guy with a trailer towing a car. Lost control, family of five died. That was more of a weight problem than a speed problem, though.

I love citing vehicles in tow out of lane, and exceeding 55. People will call 911 for this. I know a lot of CHP are the same.
 
Kind of weird that towing above 55 is unsafe in California. If Sacramento's theory was true, wouldn't there be piles of wrecked trailers just across the state line?
 
TheRiddler said:
Not so fun story I heard at the Academy from an instructor of a guy with a trailer towing a car. Lost control, family of five died. That was more of a weight problem than a speed problem, though.

I love citing vehicles in tow out of lane, and exceeding 55. People will call 911 for this. I know a lot of CHP are the same.
Click to expand...

Improperly loaded trailers are terrifying. I know people who load trailers tail heavy so the tow vehicle doesn't sag. It's scary. If it matters, I have a proper weight distribution hitch set up, load range E tires, air bag rear suspension, trailer brakes on all axles, blah blah blah.

I assume by "in tow out of lane" you mean using the #1 lane for towing. I will admit that I do this on 2 lane freeways to pass, but I get passing done quickly. Good to know that there's at least one person interested in citing this.

On a related note, the 55mph limit applies to vehicles 3 axles or more as I read it. Are the passenger busses with tag axles down considered 3 axles? I won't lie that I hate the way the sketchy charter busses drive on I80.
 
IMO, this division of speed creates unsafe driving conditions. Everyone without a trailer sits in the left lane, holding up traffic. This then causes people (myself included) to pass on the right, which is ass-backwards from the entire country and frustrating. How is the rest of the nation's interstates can travel at normal speeds but CA drivers cannot?

This is one of the few things that really irks me about CA. I truly love my time here but this makes no sense and causes traffic issues on major interstates.
 
ateamer said:
Kind of weird that towing above 55 is unsafe in California. If Sacramento's theory was true, wouldn't there be piles of wrecked trailers just across the state line?
Click to expand...

Maybe, maybe not. But, also, while the state law is, well, state wide, a lot of our highways have pretty high density of traffic in contrast to a lot of the states. So, perhaps taking that in to consideration the speed limit has a positive effect.
 
The 55 mph towing speed limit. A story about a recent towing experience:

I needed to deliver a bike I sold. I decided getting it into the back of the truck and back down again conflicted with age so I rented a trailer from Uhaul. I pick it up and check it out, you know, the walk around, kick tires kind of thing. I pay more attention to the hitch, safety chains and lights. So far so good. I note the slight dings and dents and after their guy hooks it up and I check again, off I go.

I load up the bike, its not heavy, maybe 400 pounds, the trailer is rated for about 3 times that, the truck rated for tons more. Its a gravel driveway but all looks good. Off I go.

I drive the speed limits so 55 for me. I notice a slight vibration above 50. I stop and look after pulled to a soft shoulder, hitch is good, axles are cool so I keep going, just at a 50 on the number 3 lane, 45 up hills with flashers on. Still a slight vib but nothing serious. Could be the small wheels and cheap tires they out on. The trailer is tracking good, no swings.

I drop the bike off and and 3 miles out from there the vibration shakes the steering wheel. I check back real quick, traiker still there tracking straight. I pull over to call Uhaul and go through the ...are you safe...routine. I explain the situation and they say they'll dispatch a mech to take a look. At 45mph, flashers on, I limp to the next town and grab something to munch while I wait...and wait...and... Mech shows up and checks front to back. Asks if my truck is ok and I tell him I unhitched and no vibes so its the trailer. He looks and checks for maybe 5 minutes and then jacks up one side of the trailer. He spins the wheel, a little out of round, not the wheel, the axle obviously. He makes a call and is told the trailer was recently serviced and a brand new axle and new wheels were installed. License plate is from Texas, quite a haul for one of those motorcycle trailers they rent out but I was only going on a 300 mile round trip. He jacks up the other side, same thing. He looks at me with a puzzled look and then says "there might be too much air in the tires, it should be ## and lits of places overinflate". He fires up his compressor and tries to check the tire pressures. No valve stem! Maybe they are sealed pneumatics? Both sides, no valve stems. The mech pushes down on the tires and they seem hard.

He jacks up the trailer again and looks underneath. The wheels were put on reversed!

He changes the wheels to right side out and checks the pressure. Damn, the tire pressure gauge isn't working. In a miracle I remain patient. He pulls the gauge stick out and pushes it in, should work. He checks the gauge with his compressor, gauge works.

He adds some air to the tire, 5 lbs. He checks the other side, 5 lbs. He adds more air to the first tire, 15 lbs. Checks other side 5 lbs.

Ther was zero air in the right side and 5 lbs in the left side. The axle was old, the wheels did not look new and the tires, no way were they close to new.

The 55 mph towing limit? Maybe someone does know something or maybe they rented from Uhaul too.

I've seen sealed pneumatic tires on light trailers before, thought thats what was on there. Oh well.

I can only imagine what might have happened had I been running along at higher speeds with the bike in the back. Most peiple don't often pull a trailer so the speed limit is probably a good thing. I've driven large trucks, DP rvs up to 45' and should have inspected in greater detail. Trailer rental places can and will send out a trailer with no air in the tires, bent axles etc.

Tow slow, stay alive and avoid wiping out traffic around you.

I missed two pickups, lost out on getting a real nice exhaust and spent time, fuel and money on two extra trips I wouldn't have otherwise had to make because of the delay. At least no one got hurt.
 
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