Interesting article on trailer accidents and safety

Interestingly I just posted about my runaway boat experience
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...newpost&t=6693

I too couldn't get my hitch to latch one time but it was on the beach and I was only moving the TM a short distance at very low speed. It didn't come off but it would have been really embarassing.

Here's something that might help. I'm an avid SCUBA diver and since much of the equipment is life support equipment I always go through the same procedure in the same order when gearing up to make sure nothing is missed. If I get interrupted, I start over from the beginning. The TM involves forethought and ordered procedures too. You can't fold the shells without putting down the walls etc. Try to have a total order of checks with the hitching items too. When the kids interrupt, start over.

I've driven cars at 150mph (on a track) but wouldn't have the guts to tow a TM at 70 in a 45 zone. How sad those stories are.

[B_and_D]

We also padlock our coupler and hitch pin, and use a gorilla lock on the hitch when the TM is parked. We have way too many keys.

I never understood why you should cross the safety chains until I read that article. Now it makes sense. What I still don't understand is why the safety chains are only attached with an open-ended hook. If the trailer and TV are bouncing around, couldn't this come off? The illustration in the article shows the safety chain hook slipped upwards and back through the "hitch holes" (I don't know what else to call them). What difference does it make to attach them from underneath rather than from above? Wouldn't it be better to use some kind of attachment that closes up securely? What could you use? There are carbiners available, maybe one of the mountain-climbing ones would be strong enough.

When I worked in the TT industry, we never hooked the hooks to the "hitch holes" as you called them. The chain is supposed to go through the hole and the hooks are supposed to hook back to the chain. In that configuration I have towed trailers for many thousands of miles (and kilometers in Canada and Mexico) and never had a chain come loose. On my utility trailer I use these: http://www.bosunsupplies.com/product...?product=S0120

Originally Posted by B_and_D

What I still don't understand is why the safety chains are only attached with an open-ended hook. If the trailer and TV are bouncing around, couldn't this come off? The illustration in the article shows the safety chain hook slipped upwards and back through the "hitch holes" (I don't know what else to call them). What difference does it make to attach them from underneath rather than from above?

I wondered about the open design when I got my TM also. But now I figure that the springingness of the slinky cables help keep the hooks in place. And for the hitch holes on my truck, there seems to be a combination of twists that I have to do to get the hooks into place, so I figure they should stay in place in transit.

I didn't know about feeding the hooks from underneath, but I saw that in the newspaper article, also. I have no idea why. Anybody venture a guess??

I also noticed that the government brochure shows safety chains with open hooks.


Chap

[CAmark]

My 2006 TM has the slinky cables but also has spring loaded clips that span the opening in the hooks. This makes it a bit tougher to hook/unhook for me but I assume a hook is not going to open/come unhooked if I ever need these for their intended purpose. It was tough getting the hooks into the "hitch holes" with their location while holding the spring clip open. I got some "carabiners" (industrial, not the supermarket checkout version) to attach to the "hitch holes" and then attach my cables to the caribiners. If I recall, the carabiners are rated at 2500 lbs ea...
I also use a padlock to keep others from messing with the coupler while I am parked and at every stop I make a quick inspection of the hitch/electrical cord, tires, and door and rear bumper cover before hitting the road again.
Mark

[B_and_D]

I'm going to buy some of those spring clips or carabiners (I always enjoy learning new tool/industrial supply terms here) next time I go to OSH and figure out a way to use both those and the hooks on the safety chains at the same time. At the very least, it seems that the openings to the safety chain hooks need to be closed up so that there is less chance of them coming loose.

[rickst29]

You've all focused on coupler errors, but these "runaway trailer" accidents can never happen in a TM if you remember the other safety feature: The breakaway switch!

Since the TM has batteries, when the breakway cable pulls the switch out the brakes will engage-- even though the bargeman connector has failed and there's no longer any voltage coming from the TV on any of the pins.

There's only two things you have to do to use this safety feature: (1) connect the breakaway cable to the TV (not the hitch); and (2) obviously, travel with at least a little juice available from your CONNECTED batteries at all times. So, if "double-check breakaway cable connected to TV" isn't present near the end of your final checkout list, PLEASE FIX YOUR LIST!

"Runaway Trailer" should simply be impossible with a TM, even if the hitch and coupler and safety chains all magically vanish into thin air at the same instant.

I don't know what kind of carabiners you bought but the ones I've bought for rock climbing are rated at that or higher. That is to support a human body not a 4K trailer. In addition, carabiners are only rated at their maximum strength in one position. At others they are much much weaker.

When extracting vehicles off road I use a 3/4" dia shackle with a screw eye.

I best way not to do something stupid is to have a system. I always use a key operated safety pin on the ball hitch locking latch. This ensures that the latch is fully home as the pin will not engage until the latch is in the locked position. I always walk around the rig at every stop and have my mirrors set so that I can monitor tire condition as I drive.
Geoff Card

Originally Posted by rickst29

You've all focused on coupler errors, but these "runaway trailer" accidents can never happen in a TM if you remember the other safety feature: The breakaway switch!

"Runaway Trailer" should simply be impossible with a TM, even if the hitch and coupler and safety chains all magically vanish into thin air at the same instant.

Rickst29,
For me, I try not to use those words "impossible" or "never" anymore....they have jumped out to bite me on occasion.

If everything is rigged up as it is supposed to be, then there should not be a problem. Outside of the reciever hitch falling off your TV, the coupler and safety chains should keep the TM behind the TV. But the 1 time you forget to put the coupler latch down and it comes loose over a wicked pothole, then the chains break for some reason, then 1 TM wheel brake is applied more than the other, the TM is probably going into another lane of traffic before it stops. Or the car behind doesn't realize what is happening, and plows into the TM from behind.

An I a worrywart??


I believe another redundant safety feature is the WDH. That would help pull the coupler down on the ball in case of a coupler failure, and maybe help drag the TM behind your TV in the event the coupler came loose and the safety chains fail, but that is getting even more far fetched than the rest of this post.

Like other owners have already posted....if we do a detailed, step by step hookup with our units, the probability of something happening like in the LA Times article are slim.

Chap