RV Travel Trailers Watch For Speed Bumps

RV’ers need to be aware of tail dragging speed bumps at national and state parks. Here is an example of a speed bump installed by people who don’t have a clue about RVing. Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon is a prime example. This is a wonderful park but as you can see it has high speed bumps. Travel trailers suffer the most from these because when the tow vehicle’s rear tires go over the speed bump, the springs naturally move down and the tongue weight forces the hitch to it’s lowest point. Load levelers will help prevent this but will not eliminate it. That’s why you see so many gouges in these speed bumps that are too high to begin with. The best approach to these is to come to a complete stop after your rear tires have traveled over the speed bump. This gives the suspension time to level itself out and you should be able to clear the speed bumps using this approach. If you can’t clear it using this technique, then your hitch is too low, your tongue weight too heavy, your tow vehicle overloaded or any combination of these. I’ve pulled travel trailers thousands of miles, and I used load levelers. Load levelers and a sway control bar are very helpful and much safer than towing without them. Helping to keep your RVing safe and fun - Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing, Dr. of RVology and ROAD Scholar