Safety Chains Really Do Work...

[Ariz-Pacer]

I did a search and didn't find anything related to my experience. So here goes.......

I went up to the mountains last Thursday (To escape our dry heat) and had my nephew help me hook up the Pacer. We always cross the safety chains and had the link bolts placed so they gave enough room to turn adequately and were not too loose (I thought).

We had just driven through 18 miles of washboard dirt road (a shortcut) and came out on an asphalt paved 2 lane mountain road. After going 15-20 mph for the last 18 miles I sped up to about 45 mph as dusk was approaching.
I had gone over a number of cattle guards so I thought nothing about the one coming up.

As I hit the cattle guard there was a tremendous bounce followed by a tremendous noise. The trailer started bouncing left and right (I actually thought it was going to roll over) and there was a horrific grinding noise. I thought I had blown a tire and was resisting the urge to brake and instead let off the gas and downshifted to slow down. In the meantime my nephew who was following me was yelling on the handi-talkie " Look out UJ, something's wrong and there are huge sparks and debris are coming off the Airstream"

As I finally brought the tow rig down near stopping speed I actually gave it a little gas to pull over to the side of the road to get away from the center, once I realized it was staying attached.

Once we got out and assessed the damage we saw that the hitch coupling had disengaged from the ball and hanging on the chains. While the safety chains had held, they were long enough that the tongue jack post (Which was fully recessed) had been gouging out big chunks of the asphalt for about 700ft or so. The trailer was sitting about 3 inches above the asphalt and dragging the road had ground about 2 inches off the bottom of the post. Whew!

It seems that while the hitch looked properly seated and locked it was not as the cattle guard later proved.

The good news is there does not appear to be any significant damage to the Airstream and I will be putting new safety chains on and keeping them a little tighter.

AZP

[bredlo]

Thanks for sharing! Glad to know safety chains aren't just for show, and it's wonderful to hear what we can expect if a catastrophe like this does take place.

Grateful your story has a happy ending.

[withidl]

The longer you survive .......... the longer you will survive! Thanks for sharing a reality I don't wish to experience. I'll probably hook up a little more methodically next time.

[casa3805]

wow...glad for the happy ending. Reminders like this kind of force us all to take an extra minute or two and look carefully at everything. Not sure how you could have done anything differently to avoid it, but I guess I will grab connections and yank a little harder, and just stare at it all a little longer.
Thanks for sharing...

[paiceman]

Congrtes on the safe landing. Years ago while towing a 20' SOB in Norther Ontario we started a climb up a very steep hill, hit a large hole in the road, it was just coming up on dawn, heard a loud metal sound and the trailer dropped down a bit in the mirrors. But, she was still behind us, so I told my wife we were going to go to the top of the hill as I did not want to stop while going up. When we finally did stop and checked the hitch had torn off its rear mounting on the frame and was held on by four bolts towrds the front of the TV, the ball had come disconnected and we were pulling the trailer by the chains for about 1/2 mile up hill. Chains do work.

[whitefawn]

One of the last times we camped, we discovered that the lock for the locking hitch pin had fallen off and the only thing holding the hitch pin in was the weight of the trailer on the hitch. Luckily we weren't riding on cattle guards or dirt roads! Joe thought the lock had latched to the hitch pin- NOT!

We had the horrifying experience several years ago in a SOB of driving down I95 at 70 MPH and having the propane tanks bouncing off the road with sparks flying because at our previous destination the truck tailgate in the open position apparently had bumped the tie-down bar and dislodged it from one of the tanks. My husband would not tell me what was wrong when he first looked in the rear view mirror and eased us to the shoulder. I think he was speechless. The tanks suffered bad road rash ONLY and we lived to tell the tale.

Guardian Angels DO exist!

[reddogfox]

Ariz-Pacer
Each time I lower the coupler on to the hitch ball I test the connection by raising the tongue and rear of the truck with the tongue jack to check that the coupler is properly locked. I do this before hooking up the weight distribution bars as their downward pressure can hold an improperly latched coupler on the ball until you hit a really large bump.

[billiards]

terrific...i have always wondered about the likes of accidental pull-off.....everytime i connect the chains i am sure i will think of your posting.

[Max Well]

Originally Posted by reddogfox

Ariz-Pacer
Each time I lower the coupler on to the hitch ball I test the connection by raising the tongue and rear of the truck with the tongue jack to check that the coupler is properly locked. I do this before hooking up the weight distribution bars as their downward pressure can hold an improperly latched coupler on the ball until you hit a really large bump.

What he said!

[DanielB]

Debris? That's what he said? Debris? lol

[Ariz-Pacer]

Originally Posted by DanielB

Debris? That's what he said? Debris? lol

You really made me laugh.......Debris......

What he actually said began with an
"S" and rhymes with Hit,
I just changed it up a bit,
family forum and all......

AZP

[pappy19]

Did you cross the safety chains so the coupler would fall on the crossed chains? That's how I hook them.

Pap

[rock60]

towed home from a camping trip one time and when i unhitched at home found out that i forgot to put the hitch pin in, safety chains held the hitch in the recever all the way home.

[27fb2freedom]

The chains on my unit come from a single point on the a frame so they can not be crossed under to form a "craddle" like i do on all my other trailers. Is this how airstream does it or what?

[TBRich]

Ariz-Pacer... Glad you made it on your way safe and sound and that it all turned out well in the end. And thanks for sharing the experience with us...we all need to be reminded form time to time to check our hitch set-up...

[Bad Monkey]

Glad you and the truck anf trailer made it out o.k.

[Ariz-Pacer]

Originally Posted by pappy19

Did you cross the safety chains so the coupler would fall on the crossed chains? That's how I hook them.

Pap

Yes.......I did cross the safety chains and it did catch the coupler/tongue, however the chains were longer than they needed to be and that allowed the base of the jack to dig into the pavement causing quite a ruckus and tossing the Airstream about. It's a little shorter now.......

AZP

[Chaplain Kent]

I am glad to hear you had no injury or damage. I can attest to the worth of the chains after forgetting to put in the locking pins on our TOAD and pulling our Saturn through Vermont with nothing but the chains. Eventually a passing motorist on the Interstate got our attention and we correctly hitched up the Saturn.

[MrUKToad]

Although I wince every time we hoist the rear of the TV up with the trailer jack to connect up the weight distribution system, I do at least know for sure that the ball and coupler are mated properly. Crossed chains are always applied anyway, partly to satisfy the law but mostly to keep me happy that we're taking every possible precaution!

[slowmover]

Wow, great story, buddy!! Thanks for posting it! I was right there with you. I'll bookmark it for others.

Here's the thread on this issue for which you may have been searching.