safety chains and the laws

[Bimus]

Yes class 8 requires chains or cables

[Killer Bee]

ca vehicle code only requires a safety chain( )

except vehicle tow dolly requires safety chain(s)

although most do have two chains anyway

[Steeveedee]

I learned about crossing the chains here. I didn't get any info about that when I bought my travel trailer. They do drag on sharp turns, but there has been maybe a hundred yards of that, cumulative. I haven't towed it very much.

[GOPAPA]

Originally Posted by Boog

Here is an interesting article on this subject.

https://mechanicalelements.com/trailer-safety-chains/

Yes,,this is a good read Boog ..covers every thing I have either heard or learned myself about trailer hook ups ..

I just learned recently why there is the 3 red lights at the top of my travel trailer at the rear .I was going to just delete the one light in the middle and make it my camera spot to use along with the hot and ground wire already there..

Well.. I was told that the 3 lights signify that this trailer is 8 foot wide to any one coming up behind me ..it is a law for any truck or trailer 8 foot wide to have all these 3 red lights on the rear

I did use the power form the center red light for my camera ,,but I installed the camera on top of my travel trailer therefore both can work off the same power ..

[67C10Step]

Interesting topic and good reads posted. My trailer has safety chains and I was taught from a young age to cross them under the tongue so I always have. I also have a pin or long hasp lock through the catch as well because I have seen some bounce loose on a rough road.

I've never been faced with an oncoming, loose trailer but it has happened to my wife twice on hwy 167 here in Arkansas. First time the trailer stopped in the median and didn't cross all the way over the second time it thankfully happened where there was a retaining wall between lanes.

If you look at a typical ball/hitch setup there just isn't a lot there holding it all together and I tend to try to think about what will happen not during "normal" use but if I should hit a rough patch or possibly even have to swerve off the hard road for a second.

[Steeveedee]

Yup, under the right conditions they can pop off. One street has since been smoothed, but it used to be a real washboard. 45 MPH speed limit, but everyone (almost) slowed to 30, max. Many years ago a trailer came off the hitch and struck a power pole in front of the local Chevy dealer, and caught fire. Fortunately the FD was on it pretty quickly and only the pole was scorched.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

Yup, under the right conditions they can pop off. One street has since been smoothed, but it used to be a real washboard. 45 MPH speed limit, but everyone (almost) slowed to 30, max. Many years ago a trailer came off the hitch and struck a power pole in front of the local Chevy dealer, and caught fire. Fortunately the FD was on it pretty quickly and only the pole was scorched.

Just remembered my daughter said there was a spot somewhere near Prescott AZ where you go over the cattle guard and your trailer pops off. After her horse trailer came loose, the guy out there where she was going says "yeah, that happens to everybody with a trailer going over that cattle guard"

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

Just remembered my daughter said there was a spot somewhere near Prescott AZ where you go over the cattle guard and your trailer pops off. After her horse trailer came loose, the guy out there where she was going says "yeah, that happens to everybody with a trailer going over that cattle guard"

And I'll bet that there is NO requirement to make it safer for trailers, just like railroad crossings aren't required to be pretty. Some of those crossings have the asphalt all bunched up, I GUESS from semis coming up to them and stopping fast, pushing the asphalt up. Maybe I'm wrong, could asphalt move that much? I do know that I've dug some nice grooves in new asphalt with my '69 Camaro. My dad wasn't all that happy, as the grooves were right in front of his house.

[special-K]

Were trailers that jumped off the ball latched properly, lock pin, and proper sized ball? I can't imagine a trailer coming uncoupled that is properly coupled. It sure hasn't happened to me and I have put that situation to some extreme tests. I take my utility trailer back trails into the woods and even across creeks, loaded with firewood, twisting and turning all the extreme angles. Trailer just follows along. I always check when I get on the flat road. Always good.

[GOPAPA]

Originally Posted by special-K

Were trailers that jumped off the ball latched properly, lock pin, and proper sized ball? I can't imagine a trailer coming uncoupled that is properly coupled. It sure hasn't happened to me and I have put that situation to some extreme tests. I take my utility trailer back trails into the woods and even across creeks, loaded with firewood, twisting and turning all the extreme angles. Trailer just follows along. I always check when I get on the flat road. Always good.

That's the way I see it too,,if the trailer hitch is latched down correctly and pinned ,,something has to break to come up off the ball ..

[1976gmc20]

Well, speaking of safety chains ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RyEdC0lNnw

[Boog]

As far as a properly latched ball and socket coupler goes even they can come loose. There is an adjustment on at least some of the couplers, maybe all, to tighten them up. There is a nut on the bottom side of the socket to close or open up the jaws on some of them. We all know using the wrong ball and coupler can lead to separation such as a 1 7/8" ball in a 2" coupler. It will hold for a while but can pop off at any time. The same can happen using the correct size ball in a loose coupler. Matt's events look like worn or loose couplers. The first one I saw he had a side by side hanging off the rear of his trailer as he moved his Jeep to get a better angle then with the weight being mostly on the rear of the trailer it just easily lifted off the ball and that was in the sand. The second one Matt was pulling the empty trailer up the rocks when the trailer just popped loose and rolled down hill and slammed into a rock. Working his rigs in all that sand I imagine he has wear on the ball and or socket and just needs to tighten it up some. As mentioned being a towing company operator he should know the dangers of NOT using safety chains and I cannot think of any good reason not to. Anyone?

[1976gmc20]

The second one Matt was pulling the empty trailer up the rocks when the trailer just popped loose and rolled down hill and slammed into a rock.

Yeah actually he drove off a ledge and the tongue hit the ground and the entire rear end of the jeep was hanging off the ball coupler!

Once a coupler is pulled off the ball then it's going to be more likely to happen again.

Fun videos and he has a knack for pulling vehicles out of the sand, snow, and mud, but I'm getting more perplexed about some of the things that he does. The last one he dragged Lizzie and Randy ten miles across the desert in a junk car with no tires, windshield, or doors! A "carnival ride" that could have ended very badly.

I don't know why he doesn't rig up some sort of contraption off the hitch receiver that he could use to hold up one end of a side by side or small car like a wrecker ??? When our VW bug steering broke one night a couple miles from home, I went back the next morning with my log truck (without the trailer) and a hi lift jack and jacked up the car and just chained it to my pintle hitch.

[Boog]

It's easy to see the weight of the Jeep hanging by that ball making it pop out but the point of this thread is actually safety chains which he doesn't use and would have prevented that trailer from rolling off down hill possibly hurting that kid or the adult that was back there in the area when it came crashing down.
And yes, that deal he showed today was real dangerous. I hate to see some of the things he has Lizzy do. Those car doors hitting rocks and slamming shut while they were buzzing along could have hurt Lizzy or Randy and all the sand and that amount of dust in their faces makes it near impossible to see. She couldn't do much steering but I could just see that little turd box rolling hard around one of those turns. "howdy howdy, we got rowdy tday" she says.
Then there was the Excursion precariously parked at a severe angle and he put her in there while they pulled on it. I think they said it was about a 400' drop? Sure she is the smallest, lightest body there but ... and sweet Lizzy is willing to do whatever Matt tells her to do. Ol Dad shakin my head.

[special-K]

I was taught to cross chains when I learned to hitch a trailer. But it was much later I was shown to hook the chains facing backwards. In other words, don't just drop the hook into the hole. You go under the hole and hook up into the hole with the open part of the hook facing rearward. Way less likely for the chain to hop out of the hole. Rare chance, but everything that reduces odds helps

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by special-K

I was taught to cross chains when I learned to hitch a trailer. But it was much later I was shown to hook the chains facing backwards. In other words, don't just drop the hook into the hole. You go under the hole and hook up into the hole with the open part of the hook facing rearward. Way less likely for the chain to hop out of the hole. Rare chance, but everything that reduces odds helps

Somehow I did/do that just instinctively. Or maybe I picked it up somewhere and just don't remember?

Like tying something down on a flatbed: I always drop the end of the chain through a stake pocket and then to the outside and put the hook over the top edge so gravity holds it down. I'm sure someone showed that to me but it was a very long time ago.

[special-K]

I noticed truckers did that and picked up on it

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by special-K

I noticed truckers did that and picked up on it

I must admit that it took me a few times before I figured out to hook the top hook of a chain binder ("boomer") first and pull the chain slack up to the bottom hook - duh! That way you're not fighting the weight of the boomer along with the chain when you go to take up another link or two. I did know from somewhere to pull the cheater pipe down towards yourself so it doesn't fly back and break your jaw. And to wrap the loop of slack around the boomer handle to keep it from popping open just in case.

But I never got used to these ratchet straps that everybody uses now because all I ever used was boomers and chains (well, the "wrappers" were made of wire rope with a chain tail for booming down).

I do remember now that on the real log trucks of the guys I worked for sometimes, that the log trailer safety chains had these T-shaped toggles on the ends of the chains, that fit up through eyes on the truck and then turned sideways so they didn't fall through. My log trailer was a repurposed military trailer and just had standard chains and hooks. I had some particular way of hooking them to the truck frame/hitch but now I don't quite remember how I did it, but it was secure and they would never jiggle loose. The hitch was a weird contraption made from a pickup ball drop hitch and a chunk of ~10" channel welded to the frame crossmember with a hole cut in it for the pintle hitch shank bolt. I welded it all up myself and it never broke even hauling logs, and a mobile home on the ball.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

I ran a Uhaul center back in the late 80s and what you guys describe is true. 2" ball to be exact Assuming they're still using same couplers. Memory serves me the couplers screw down tight and lock, that's the lever you push down to unhook. I also remember never use the end links on a chain if you can help it.

Something to think about is the strength of the quick links, they're not all the same and some inadequate. Was reminded of that recently when I tried pulling a BA bush out with my C20, stretched the link straight

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by 71CHEVYSHORTBED402

I ran a Uhaul center back in the late 80s and what you guys describe is true. 2" ball to be exact Assuming they're still using same couplers. Memory serves me the couplers screw down tight and lock, that's the lever you push down to unhook. I also remember never use the end links on a chain if you can help it.

Something to think about is the strength of the quick links, they're not all the same and some inadequate. Was reminded of that recently when I tried pulling a BA bush out with my C20, stretched the link straight

Yeah, back in my logging days I ran an unofficial unfunded test program on various hardware links

Fortunately, I never dropped anything on anyone's head

[Boog]

So this guy with the off road recoveries jeep now has changed his trailer from coupler to pintle hitch and has installed safety chains. I saw it in his most recent video of the burning sxs recovery.
I guess he heard us.
Good move brother.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Boog

So this guy with the off road recoveries jeep now has changed his trailer from coupler to pintle hitch and has installed safety chains. I saw it in his most recent video of the burning sxs recovery.
I guess he heard us.
Good move brother.

And then breathing in all that toxic smoke !!!!!

Per my firefighter training we wouldn't go near that thing without full PPE including SCBA.

They should have left it and come back the next day when it was cold.