Tavarish's towing troubles

"Flyboy is FAA certified insane" (flyboy396)
09/01/2016 at 01:11 • Filed to: Tavarish

Anybody else read tavarish’s (Freddy) article about towing with his S-class? Anybody else think it was stupid and dangerous? Good. Because I do.

Now normally I just read his “articles” and move on with my day, but this caught my eye because this is something that could seriously hurt other people.

No, I’m not saying I’ve never done anything stupid like that, but I can’t tell if he has a ton of trailering experience, and he blatantly states that he’s well over the recommended weight limit for the S-class. I’ve surpassed a vehicle’s towing capacity once or twice, but it was always with a 2" frame mount receiver and a trailer that had brakes, and it was never more than 500lbs over a 5000-7500lb capacity.

Oh well. At least he’s done with that, right?

Freddy, if you’re reading this, promise you’ll just rent a truck or van next time?

DISCUSSION (28)

CodyVella > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
09/01/2016 at 01:40

Now I didn’t read his article, but I’m a firm believer that if you have trailer brakes, it’s all good. I have towed a tandem car trailer with my ‘02 Xterra SE/SC (loaded with a ‘63 Malibu and an ‘84 944) but my Xtrerra has a trailer brake controller. I actually figured out that if I cranked the trailer brakes all the way up, it stopped the truck faster.

If you don’t have trailer brakes though, shame on you.

Tristan > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
09/01/2016 at 01:47

I’m much more at peace with someone who is aware of what they’re doing while doing something sketchy than with the thousands of people I drive amongst every day who are oblivious to the fact that their ‘96 Taurus has 4 bad wheel bearings, ball joints that are ready to separate, bald tires, a cracked windshield and zero brake pad material. But the check engine light isn’t on, so that’s a pass on "inspection”!

Alfalfa > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
09/01/2016 at 01:50

I had seen the headline, but just went back and read it. That’s a setup I might employ to get a local non-running car home, but never over long distances.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Tristan
09/01/2016 at 02:20

To be perfectly honest I’m not entirely sure tavarish is as competent with that car as he likes to say he is. I would be very surprised if I didn’t find some sketchy shit with his suspension if I did an inspection. In my experience it’s DIYers who think they’re hot shit who cause the most and biggest problems.

*puts flamesuit on and gets ready to re-embrace the grays in the FP

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
09/01/2016 at 02:22

Yeah...

See my response to Tristan...

Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
09/01/2016 at 02:58

DIYers who think they’re hot shit

That’s the point, a DIYer that’s self-conscious enough to know where his limits are will know when to give up and take his car to a pro when
the guy who thinks he’s the man will repair it into a state of disrepair.

But I guess that’s not even the type of person Tristan meant. It’s more about those people you see on r/Justrolledintotheshop/. Those will drive until the car falls apart, and they won’t slow down until it does.
When you know something is not right, you’re at least gonna be more careful.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
09/01/2016 at 03:32

The ones who are self conscious enough to know when to get help are fine, they’re not who I was referring to. Well, maybe, sometimes. It isn’t necessarily even about knowing they’re doing something inherently bad. There’s an art and a science to thoroughly inspecting a vehicle and most people, many mechanics (most with only a couple years of professional experience) included, are effing terrible at it. My personal experience with the justrolledintotheshop types, in real life, is that they occasionally are the hot shit DIY type, so hot that they know better than every professional they’ve ever spoken to, except the ones who had whatever answer they liked best. There are lots of problems cars can have that won’t have symptoms noticeable to the average driver until it’s too late. So they only worry about that one noise, or the CEL. Meanwhile, tavarish’s front lower control arm (spring link) bushings are probably torn and now chafing through the subframe. But this isn’t even a problem that a lot of trained eyes see, or that most drivers hear because of dat s-class interior yo. This means that he might be one good pothole away from having as much camber as doc Brown’s delorean after the hover car conversion.

Sorry for the long and probably not even remotely cohesive response. It’s late and I should’ve been asleep hours ago. I’m tired, so we may even be on the same page and I’m just not realizing it.

I guess the point is that there are lots of different car owners, DIYers, and mechanics out there, and the vast majority of them absolutely suck at working on cars. Now I want to go through all of tavarish’s Mercedes articles and tear them to pieces. Muahahaha!

Tristan > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
09/01/2016 at 04:29

DIYer here. Can confirm. Normally, I do impeccable work, but I have this ‘97 Cherokee that I’ve had for 14 years. When I bought it, it was a bone stock 2wd automatic. As it sits, its a 4x4/Ax-15 5 speed conversion. There’s nary a bolt I haven’t touched and the only time I’ve ever let anyone else lay hands on it was to get it detailed prior to my wedding.

But, about the last year of my wrenching on it has been redoing younger me’s half-assed or rushed work, or replacing crappy components I cheaped out on (except for the extreme vibration I finally traced back to an expensive Tom Woods drive shaft... Gr).

LongbowMkII > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
09/01/2016 at 06:06

Just make it an Oppo post. Ive made a couple used vs new car comparisons illustrating more useful things for gearheads (like running costs, predicted diy maintenance and insurance)

I’d guess criticism from an AMG tech would be more solid than a random jamoke like me.

LongbowMkII > CodyVella
09/01/2016 at 06:07

he didn’t.

LongbowMkII > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
09/01/2016 at 06:16

Oh noes, King George will come and threaten us for criticizing the mothership!

Tavarish is crap. Id rather hear from some local redneck here in KY. At least those hodge podged mildly dangerous solutions would be coming from a different voice than the north east. Plus they’d probably have a modicum of self awareness.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
09/01/2016 at 07:23

I think people who are freaking out about his set up are just worrying too much. Sure that isn’t something I personally would be okay with driving but it is still interesting to read about and I believe it can be driven safely. Compared to all of the poorly maintained trucks out there with bad brakes, taking that setup down 1000 miles of 95 is nothing. It is a super boring interstate that is mostly level throughout the whole journey and has plenty of visibility for miles. I think the risk can be mitigated enough to make it a harrowing but safe enough drive. Should he have used trailer brakes to make it extra safe? Yes. But should we condemn him for doing it his way? No. Either way, I love reading his stuff since it provides that “shade-tree mechanic” vibe that I always used to love about Jalopnik before Gawker. There is MUCH less of that on here nowadays which is mostly why I don’t spend nearly as much time on the front page.

kgman > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
09/01/2016 at 07:50

I’d really enjoy reading a professional’s opinion of Tavarish’s DIY work

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
09/01/2016 at 07:56

I’m especially skeptical of the hitch. It just doesn’t look strong enough for anything more than a bike rack or luggage carrier.

BigBlock440 > LongbowMkII
09/01/2016 at 08:08

Now they’ll be coming from Florida, problem solved.

shop-teacher > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
09/01/2016 at 09:26

The only part of that article that really bugged me was the 1-1/4" to 2" receiver adapter. That adapter serves no purpose but to make a weak link and increase the lever-arm on the back of the car. He also didn’t mention inspecting the trailer’s bearings, which is a must before a long trip. I gave him props for carrying two spares for the trailer.

I think people are making way too big of a deal about how much weight he pulled with it. He wasn’t THAT much over the limit. I wouldn’t have done what he did, because of the excessive wear and tear on the car. I don’t think what he did was unsafe.

bob and john > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
09/01/2016 at 09:26

you know, I cant say I do condone it. But there are two other points that I’d like to point out.

1: as other mentioned, compared to some of the rusted out shit boxes you see on the road, jeez.

2: it might not be as over built as the older S classes, but I’m willing to bet that the car is so over built that its not QUITE as dangerous as some make it out to be.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Tristan
09/01/2016 at 09:33

Nice!

I’ve never seen an issue with a Tom woods shaft. Did they take care of it?

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > kgman
09/01/2016 at 09:38

We’ll see if I can find the time.

Wagon, semi manual, not brown, turbo because volvo > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
09/01/2016 at 09:47

Towing with a sedan platform that isn’t rated for it tends to cause issues down the line. Whether it be from the undue stresses on the transmission the suspension the emgine or the frame/subframe. No matter how carefully you drive, if your vehicle was not set up to accomodate an extra ton of material swimming around several feet past the ass end, your vehicle will not enjoy it.

You can try to better mitigate those stresses by having a trailer with its own brakes and using an anti sway bracket to keep the trailer more in line with your vehicle frame and minimize sway and roll. The bracket does mess with your turning radius tho.

Before you tow change out your trans and diff fluids and clean off the inspection plugs. Redrain when you are done towing and check for metal in the fluid. Might not be a bad idea to check pads post journey and if close enough replace pads and flush brake fluid.

Thems my 8 cents.

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > Wagon, semi manual, not brown, turbo because volvo
09/01/2016 at 11:23

My 7-series is rated to tow 3500lbs if whatever I’m towing has trailer brakes. But only 1700lbs without them. I don’t think the braking system could handle that even.

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > Tristan
09/01/2016 at 11:26

I’m with AMG tech. I’m not sure if he’s that competent of that specific vehicle. He’s probably a better shade tree mechanic than the rest of us, but Freddy still has to realize how complicated those cars are. And how badly they can go wrong.

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > CodyVella
09/01/2016 at 11:29

Wow you put a 944 AND a heavy Chevy on an Xterra? How’d it do?

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
09/01/2016 at 11:32

Yea, I’ve made that i-95 journey many times. It’s not particularly taxing, but I’m just worried about how the car/trailer combo is affected by the extra weight for emergency braking.

Tristan > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
09/01/2016 at 11:40

I just figured it out last night, and I bought the shaft 7 years ago. I’m guessing it must have gotten damaged.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Tristan
09/01/2016 at 12:52

Oh that sucks.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
09/01/2016 at 13:50

Well that's why I said mitigation. Just keeping a further following distance and going slower all the time would really reduce the risk. So many people out there follow WAY too close with a perfectly loaded car, which is likely to be more dangerous. Just keeping some distance and being aware of the surroundings could make it relatively safe. Every time you get on the road it's a risk, it's all about limiting those.

CodyVella > Flyboy is FAA certified insane
09/02/2016 at 02:21

It did alright. The JATCO tranny in those things is a lot tougher than you’d think. I don’t think a naturally aspirated one would be able to do it. We didn’t tow them a very far distance. Only about 20kms. The truck mostly hauls around demo derby cars and circle track cars.