When bringing our first TO-35 home from Kentucky, we stopped on the way to look at some Ferguson implements at a salvage yard.  We looked at them and then drove on to get the tractor, knowing we could think about the implements on the way and decide on the way back if we wanted to get any of them.

We loaded the tractor and then stopped after dark at the salvage yard to get a Ferguson cultivator.  Although the trailer was loaded more or less correctly with the tractor, putting the cultivator on the back of the trailer took some of the weight off the front of the trailer.  It was late, we had been driving all day, and I did not think about this problem when we loaded the cultivator.

This weight shift toward the rear made the trailer rear-heavy and it then had a tendency to sway back and forth.  We managed to get just to the Memphis side of Nashville near Dickson, when the trailer started fishtailing uncontrollably on a gradual downward curve of I-40.  At midnight on the interstate at 65 mph, there was nothing to do but brake and hopefully pull off the side of the road.

This did not work, and the trailer jackknifed and turned the Jeep around facing oncoming traffic in the rightmost lane.  We impacted the guard rail twice, once with the front of the Jeep and once with the rear of the trailer.  Oddly enough, the tractor stayed on the trailer, although some of the straps broke.  Fortunately some Swift Transportation truckers saw what was happening, slowed down, and blocked oncoming traffic for us so that no one would plow into the Jeep.  Unfortunately we were too shaken up to get the driver's names so we could properly thank them.

Sarah was driving, and I was sleeping in the back of the Jeep.  An ice chest spilled on me, and some of the cargo hit me on the head and the last I remember was the Jeep turning around and my trying to get out of the car.  After that, I "came to" with people attending to me as I was leaning against the guard rail.  I went to the ER, and since my clothes were wet, nearly froze to death getting my wrist and head x-rayed.  Sarah broke a fingernail.  Sigh.

Needless to say, we have changed our towing habits.  Our new trailer has brakes, two sway bars, and a weight distribution hitch.  The most effective of all this seems to be the sway bars.  Originally with only one sway bar, we had taken a trip and at one point, the sway bar popped off and immediately the swaying began.  We stopped to see what was wrong right away and put the sway bar back on.  After that incident I figured if one sway bar was good, two would be better.

Below you see the damage to the Jeep caused by the jackknifed trailer, which was totaled.  The tractor sustained just a scratch on one wheel.  Folks, be careful out there!  It is only by the grace of God that those truckers were watching out and protected us from a possibly fatal collision with oncoming traffic.