Re: Trailer Warning - Cross those Chains
 

The few trailers that I have towed in the past, I have crossed them but did not know why I did it. Now that I have my own trailer, it is nice to find out how to actually do things the right way.

A question about hooks. Do you run the hook into the hitch hole from the top or up from the bottom? So the open would be facing the truck or trailer? My hooks have wire like springs that cover the open surface of the hook, so I don't think they would bounce out, but nice to know if there is a correct way.

Re: Trailer Warning - Cross those Chains
 

When we bought our last trailer, I made the comment to the dealer that the chains looked a little small. The trailer is 36' long and 13'6" tall so it is pretty heavy. He told me that if the hitch breaks the last thing you want is to be attached to the trailer. The small chains will break so the trailer doesn't take you in the ditch with it. It made sense to me so we left the smaller chains on it. I guess that is what insurance is for. LOL

Re: Trailer Warning - Cross those Chains
 

I guess you aways learn something new, I had never heard of this !!!
Does crossing the chains apply to a goose type hitch as well ??

Re: Trailer Warning - Cross those Chains
 

This is just crazy! Would you rather be liable for whatever small damage to your tow vehicle is as you slow the trailer down, or for whatever carnage your out-of-control trailer wandering all over the highway is to all the other vehicles? And which alternative do you suppose will result to the least damage to your trailer and your race car? Connected to you, in whatever way, is the only real chance of a safe result.

Not only is their advice insane, it's illegal.

Re: Trailer Warning - Cross those Chains
 

No. The truck bed will support the tongue as you slow down, and the chains will keep it on the bed.

Re: Trailer Warning - Cross those Chains
 

That's an interesting question. I have a Fifth Wheel trailer, not a Goose neck and installed on it are 2 cables with hooks. I could never figure out how they would attach to a 5th wheel but they are probably standard for a Goose neck. I can't see how you would cross them. I think the crossing is to support the trailer from dropping in case of an breakaway.

Pat I.

Re: Trailer Warning - Cross those Chains
 

Not trying to change the subject , but aren't the small battery's hooked into the break system there for just that reason. When the cable breaks it automatically puts on the breaks.
Stopping the carnage that your out of control trailer might cause.......

Re: Trailer Warning - Cross those Chains
 

I wonder how many people with bigger enclosed trailers have safety chains that meet the defined "each safety chain having an ultimate strength at least equal to the gross weight of the towed vehicles"? Take a look at chain ratings here: http://www.1st-chainsupply.com/WLLchart.htm
It looks like anyone with a bigger trailer needs two 5/8" chains to be legal!

On edit (I'll blame it on the cold medicine): Looks like ultimate strength is 4x WLL for Grade 70 chain, so 5/16" Grade 70 should suffice (I have 3/8" Gr 70 on mine now).

My trailer (16k GTWR) came with 1/4" chain held on with cold-shut links. Trying to pull the trailer over a hump in my driveway, the coupler broke loose. Fortunately the trailer didn't roll as it was hung up on the driveway, but the cold-shut links broke so easily I didn't even feel it in the truck. I discovered at that point that my breakaway switch was corroded and had quit working as well. From now on I check the breakaway switch monthly during racing season.

Re: Trailer Warning - Cross those Chains
 

If it works (battery not dead, switch still working - see below, etc.), and the brakes slow it down smoothly, and it doesn't wander all over the road while slowing down (or worse tip over), you get your trailer sitting in the middle of the freeway, with traffic coming up on it at freeway speed.

Or... you could drag the trailer, still hooked up to your tow vehicle and its brake controller, over to the side of the road, and stop it under some modicum of control.

Seems like a pretty clear choice.

Re: Trailer Warning - Cross those Chains
 

There are sad, and preventable, consequences to trailers being towed improperly, or illegally. A good friend and co-worker with my wife was on her way home from her shift as a nurse. It was a dark, wet, winter night and the highway was a mix of two lane changing to four lane sections. A small utility trailer (the type that have no lights and do not need to be registered) heavily loaded with firewood and being towed using an 1&7/8ths two-piece ball broke loose and crossed into the path of the nurse's car, killing her instantly.
Not long after that, an insurance investigator came by the dealership where I worked and asked if we sold that type of ball. Wasn't long before those were outlawed.

Don't skimp on this stuff.