It floated a couple minutes but then Sank...Total loss
#41
Senior Member

Someone had posted awhile back on this topic (I think it was here on THT) that they have a chock for each front tire on a line with a loop that they throw over each side mirror. As they drive forward up the ramp, the chock is dragged along until finding a place to stop. I think that would work well.
#42

A guy I used to know lost his truck to a slippery L. Michigan launch. Algae....I once had my truck break loose and slide down an icy launch ramp but once my rear wheels hit the submerged part of the ramp it stopped. No ice there. It was definitely a pucker moment...Back when I was much younger a friend and I used to be out with ice chiselss,scrapers and salt just to be the first on the river and the first to pound wintering holes. Occasionally - nowadays - some young guy will call us p-ssys for staying home when water temps are 35 and air temps are 25 and ice chunks are floating down river. If it's sunny and calm nice. If it's breezy and overcast? Let the young guys puff their chest out and act like they're the first to ever do it.
#43
Admirals Club 


After reading this I just might pick up a wheel chock or two. I do the typical.. put it in 4-wheel mode, park and e-brake. Sounds like that might not be enough in the case of a one-off event. Sorry to hear about your vehicle, and good call not jumping in afterwards. The new VW sounds nice. Enjoy.
#44
Admirals Club 


Sure, maybe they work better in forward motion depending on what type of brake they are but your original comment that "E-brakes are not designed to work in reverse" is not accurate. A properly adjusted parking brake is designed to be adequate to hold the vehicle from rolling forwards or backwards.
#45
Senior Member

I always roll the windows down. In case one of the kids is in for whatever reason so they can swim out if it ever happened. I always make them get out and wait on the dock/beach, but just in case. If the ramp is steep I also put it in 4HI so park in the trans is connected to the front diff.
Kids are never in the truck at the ramp. I've laid in bed many nights having the horrible thought of the truck going in with the kids. Mine are in car seats so it's worse. Again please never leave the kids in the vehicle when launching. I'm sweating just typing this.
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#46
Senior Member

Will forever remain something very comforting about 5500+ lbs of of truck with substantial tires on a boat ramp.
A short piece of 4x behind the front tire will remove any lingering doubt.
A short piece of 4x behind the front tire will remove any lingering doubt.
#47
Senior Member

If that happened to me for sure I’d be chocking my wheels after. If your ebrake is not able to hold your vehicle on a moderate incline, something is not right. The usual practice is, in order: ebrake on, foot off brake pedal, vehicle in park. That way the load is on the brakes, not the parking pawl. And that way you know if your ebrake is holding on its own each time its used.
Anecdotally, I had one of those ford vehicles that wld jump out of park into reverse. Ford’s fix was to provide a sticker that read “do not leave vehicle unattended idling in park”.
Anecdotally, I had one of those ford vehicles that wld jump out of park into reverse. Ford’s fix was to provide a sticker that read “do not leave vehicle unattended idling in park”.
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#48
Senior Member
#49
Senior Member

I had a 2004 Tahoe which developed an electrical fault in the door locks and would spontaneously lock the doors. Not a good feeling to hear that ominous "click-thud" when I saw that a buddy had rolled the windows up and shut the door behind him at the ramp, with the engine running and the trailer in the water. Fortunately the tailgate was up and I always carried the spare key after the first time (at work) it locked me out.
Question for OP: what did you do with your boat on the fateful day? I don't see it in the photo so I'm assuming there was another dock to tie up to. But did the tow truck also bring the boat home?
#50

There are videos on youtube of pulling a stock car on trailer with the Touareg doing 75 and 80 mph. It's one of the best mid sized SUV's for towing and has factory hitch along with 4WD or really all wheel drive but still gets 20 or more mpg. It weighs around 5000 pounds. My Explorer got 13 pulling my 3500 pound boat.
#51
Admirals Club 


A note on chocks, be sure they're big enough to hold your vehicle on an incline. It only takes a minute to do a test run on a side road with a helper. I used to have an old Jeep J-10 PU (stick) that had weak compression and a crappy parking brake. I just put a set of 33" off-road radial tires on it. Next trip to the ramp, I backed down, shut the engine off and set the brake. Got out and stuck the chock (black rubber store-bought variety) behind the rear wheel and started unhooking the boat. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the rear tire start to work its way over the chock like a big piece of jello. I was able to get back in the cab and pull forward a bit, then got one of my passengers to hop in and tend to the brakes while I launched. I now carry one of the big laminated chocks that the truckers use.
#52
Junior Member

I watched my buddy's 2010 F250 pop out of park at work. He had the door open and had to hit the deck to keep the truck from hitting him. Luckily it just rolled into the street and stopped and nobody got hurt, and thankfully hasn't happened since.
#53

huh? My e brake holds the truck and trailer fine. Always set it first, which nobody ever does and this defeats the while purpose which is to prevent your transmission parking prawl from being overloaded.
#54
Admirals Club 


After reading this I just might pick up a wheel chock or two. I do the typical.. put it in 4-wheel mode, park and e-brake. Sounds like that might not be enough in the case of a one-off event. Sorry to hear about your vehicle, and good call not jumping in afterwards. The new VW sounds nice. Enjoy.
#55
Admirals Club 

Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Martin County Florida formerly Palm Beach County
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1,548 Posts

why did it catch on fire ???
#56
Senior Member

The drum in the disc rotor hat parking brakes do require some maintenance. Eventually the cables stretch and corrosion builds up on the part of the backing plate where the shoes move. When you do a rear brake job its a good idea to check the parking brake shoes too. Sometimes they crack and fall apart, and people can ignore them for years till there is a problem. You can take off the rotor (a project in itself sometimes, you need to fully release the adjustment of the parking brake shoes by backing off the star wheel adjuster), and if the shoes are still good, pry away slightly from the backing plate and put some brake grease between the shoe and the backing plate with a thin screwdriver. Then after putting them back together make sure to adjust them with the star wheel adjuster. It can be a bit of a pain unless you are used to drum brakes.
#57
Senior Member
#59
Senior Member



#60
Senior Member
Thread Starter

I had a 2004 Tahoe which developed an electrical fault in the door locks and would spontaneously lock the doors. Not a good feeling to hear that ominous "click-thud" when I saw that a buddy had rolled the windows up and shut the door behind him at the ramp, with the engine running and the trailer in the water. Fortunately the tailgate was up and I always carried the spare key after the first time (at work) it locked me out.
Question for OP: what did you do with your boat on the fateful day? I don't see it in the photo so I'm assuming there was another dock to tie up to. But did the tow truck also bring the boat home?
Question for OP: what did you do with your boat on the fateful day? I don't see it in the photo so I'm assuming there was another dock to tie up to. But did the tow truck also bring the boat home?
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