Hitches and your dealer....

[luckydc]

So when you get your new trailer, remember, the hitch is YOUR responsibility.

Never having pulled, I relied on my dealer, Colonial Airstream, to set me up correctly. Went on my first trip this weekend. WBCCI Region 2 Mid-Atlantic and DELMARVA units (co-unit rally) annual maintenance rally. These guys are GREAT!!!! I was not in the campgrounds two minutes before I had 3 people telling what was wrong with my set-up. Thank goodness I went.

Colonial connected my trailer behind their building, which has a bit of a culvert running behind it. They never pulled it out to check the pitch of the trailer. I was up five inches in the front. Because the ball was mounted in the last set of holes in the hitch, it could not be lowered. We had to throw more weight on the car with the weight distribution. The trailer is still about 1 1/4" high in the front. So, I guess I get to buy another hitch. The guys tell me it should be ok, but I want it right.

The set-up of the emergency brake was all wrong. It would take a miracle for it to have worked the way it was set-up. The head of the controller was facing to the side, the wire was looped through a plastic tie-down so tight it would not budge. It took effort to un-loop it. It was connected to the car by winding it around the electric hook-up and than attaching it with the chain latch. Not safe, so glad it is correct now.

Finally, the chains were not crossed. I had read about this and asked the guy that set me up (apparently, in more ways than one) about it. He said it was an "Airstream myth" that the chains had to be crossed. Myth or not, when I have guys that have been pulling for 20, 30, 40 years telling me the chains MUST be crossed, I believe them. The whole purpose of the chains is so the trailer has a place to fall if the hitch fails.

You owe it to yourself to check out your local WBCCI unit. Besides the hitch, I learned SO much about my trailer!! These people are a font of knowledge and willing to share!