[A/S] First towing of the '74 Argosy

["glyoungca" <tygen@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello everyone. I picked up the Argosy late Sat. afternoon after a 4 
hr. drive.  Fortuantely I was well prepared with information obtained 
from this list and the emails of various members. Perfect weather and 
driving conditions. All went well hooking up the trailer.  Two 
driving lights burnt out and a rusty taillight socket.  I 
removed "some" rust from the socket and the bulb went to full 
brightness.  I will use form-a-gasket for the light lense as the 
gasket is missing.

Truck and trailer are both level.  So far so good.  Well off we go 
and the first application of the brakes produced a loud bang from the 
trailer and the brakes seized on.  I back up the units to free the 
brakes and go forward again.  Another bang from the trailer when 
applying the brakes and then the brake controller failed.  No power 
to the controller now.  Off I go anyway.  I pulled across the street 
into a gas station to fill up the four trailer tires (LT215\75\15 
load range C Michelin's).  My friend noticed the exterior door for 
access to the fridge didn't look right.  It was locked, but the top 
was not inserted into the lip.  A closer look and I found another 
access door in the same condition.  Lesson learned.  Check all doors. 
The battery compartment door has only one screw and what held the 
door in place was the lock.

I retightened one of the equalizer bars and the nuts on the ball 
mount and off I went.  Truck and trailer handled quite well and I 
drove defensively.  Braking was no problem and the truck stopped both 
units with very little effort.  I stayed overnight, at a friend's 
place in Calgary which is about 45 minutes from where I picked up the 
trailer.  The next morning I woke up to snow. I left Calgary and the 
snow turned into a blizzard with traffic down to one lane. Wind gusts 
and heavy wet snow.  I was white knuckeled.  What a way to have to 
tow, but both units handled so well I was amazed.  The wind gusts did 
not affect either unit.  As I got further north the storm lifted and 
all lanes were clear.  Semi's passing me were barely detected.  If I 
noticed anything it was the front-end of the truck that was sensitive 
to the semis and wind gusts whereas the trailer was fine. Even then 
the truck was hardly phased at all.  We won't talk about the gas 
mileage. 

If I've learned anything from this maiden voyage it's to ensure the 
tow vechicle is well prepared and well matched for what you're towing.

Now the cleaning and brake diagnostics begin.  I will be on the road 
in less than two weeks for the long weekend. The one thing I noticed 
when I got home was that some of the drawers had opened.  Any quick 
fixes to keep them closed?

I'm sure glad this list is here.

Gerald Young
Edmonton, Alberta