Towing a HUGE 16-Foot wide Mobile Home Trailer From a Farm
You’d be hard-pressed to find a mobile home in Toronto, but in many rural places outside the city they’re a way of life. Most businesses use mobile homes as trailers remote offices that they can set up at a jobsite. More commonly, you’ll see people who have a mobile home installed on their land because it’s cheaper than building a home. In a few cases, a mobile home is installed on a residential site as an extension of an existing home. The latter was the case in this tow job. The mobile home in question was purchased by the new owner, who called us to have it towed from Sheffield, Ontario (just outside of Cambridge) and delivered to his site just outside Kingston, Ontario. The 200km long journey goes through winding 2-lane country roads and major highways, requiring a reputable and experienced tow truck company.
After receiving the call, we knew Marcus was the right fit for this job. Few months back, we did a call in Schomberg, Ontario – where he towed another mobile home trailer from a farm to a construction site. That video can be seen here. In that video, you’ll notice heavy tow operator John Allen pulling the trailer’s wheels sideways using his winch as Marcus backed the trailer out of the driveway – in an effort to prevent hitting the electricity pole behind the trailer.
This new Sheffield call was just a straight tow, but has the added complexity of being even wider. At 16-feet wide, the trailer occupied two lanes! This means that we needed to hire a traffic management company to provide pilot vehicles to escort the trailer to its destination. The pilot vehicles are equipped with a 2-way radio to warn Marcus of any oncoming danger. Marcus had one pilot vehicle behind him, and one in front. Khan, our Brampton heavy tow manager, also arranged a mechanic team join us along in case there were any mechanical issues with the trailer during the tow.
After arriving on site, Marcus started preparing the trailer for the tow. First, he needed to connect his auxiliary brake lights to the back of the trailer. Because of the length of the trailer, he didn’t think it was a good idea to use the wireless transmitter to connect the brake lights. He instead decided to add a wire to the brake lights so there is no issue with transmitting the signal.
The trailer had a chimney on top for the furnace inside that was almost at the road height limit. Marcus used a ladder to get on top of the trailer and cut the chimney down to size so it met the height limit.
To safely secure the trailer during the tow, Marcus installed a safety chain from his truck to the trailer. The safety chain would prevent the trailer from getting left behind in the event it gets disconnected from the trailer hitch.
The trailer was now ready to be transported. Marcus started pulling the trailer forward onto the road slowly to note any issues. He noticed some of the wheels and/or axles were creaking as they were being pulled. He asked the mechanics to inspect if there were any issues. The mechanics noticed there were 2 blown tires on the trailer and began fixing the issue. Once fixed, the trailer was ready to be safely transported to its destination.
