Hey All, so I had one of the scariest incidents towing my boat this weekend. I was preparing for a long trip and took the boat in for new rubber. It is a 30' North River Offshore. Loaded, it is about 12-14k. Anyways, I was on my way home and I hit a nasty bump in the road at 40 mph. I immediately look in the mirror and the boat trailer is no longer tracking with the truck. I was running my aluminum hitch, so I thought I broke the hitch. I was able to guide the boat to the side of the road with the chains and fortunately, I was going up a slight hill and the boat slowed down on it's own.

I get stopped and the boat trailer actually came off the ball. I was able to re-hook up and towed it home. The next day, I get under the trailer and check the coupler for adjustment that may be needed. The trailer is an ez loader dual axle with a surge brake and there is no adjustment on the coupler. So then I decide to try to get it to do it again. I use my floor jack and jack up on the tounge. I was able to lift the back of the truck off the ground with 2 different hitches. No apparent damage to the ball and the trailer didn't come off. So that leaves me wondering how this happened in the first place? Thoughts?

The only thing I can come up with is the trailer wasn't all the way down when I locked the coupler? That said, it fully locked with the normal resistance. Anyone with experience in this? I am a bit shy for my big trip this weekend. The last thing I want to do is lose my $100k boat driving down the highway. Any help is appreciated.

 

I usually jockey the trailer or pickup when hooking it up. I do that before latching the coupler. Drop the hitch on to the ball then move it. After I'm good with that I latch the coupler. I make sure the part that latches is free moving and not bound up when hooking up.

I'd look the make sure the ball is the right size for the coupler. 2 5/16" couple and a 2" equals big trouble.

Make sure the safety chains are in place and crossed crossed. If the trailer does become uncoupled the chains will keep the tongue from digging in.

It wouldn't work in your application, but it makes the bulldog hitches look good.

 

Easiest explanation: The coupler wasn't locked down onto the ball.

When I connect my trailer I never walk away without doing my 10 count. I have 10 things that have to be verified. If I get to a number lower than 10 then I know I missed something.

 

i always double and triple check. The thought that it wasn't coupled right still escapes me, but has to be the cause. I know the ball used is 2 5/16 as it is the only hitch I have rated at 15k. The coupler had no resistance when I locked it, but it still must not have been on. Good reminder on the crossed chains. I didn't do that this time.

 

Not long ago I was in a hurry to get the boat in the water. I know don't be in a hurry when towing, anyhow, apparently i set the boat down on the ball threw the lock over and drove away. When I stopped at the first stop sign I felt a pop and sure enough the boat was sitting on the safety chains. I apparently only had the hitch sitting on the top of the ball and not all the way down. Only time I have had an issue in over thirty years of towing, it can happen to the best of us. I have since been much more careful.

 

Every time I book up my boat it either happens real quick and easy or turns into a dog fight where it doesn't want to slide down the rest of the way. You really have to watch that tab that goes up under the bottom of the ball. I have for the longest time swore that I would haul my boat around the corner to a shop so they could cut the coupler off the trailer and put a bulldog on.

 

Pretty funny I beat myself up recently for not unplugging my trailer before backing in the water. I was worried I could have fried my whole electrical system. Later on I googled it and found that most people don't even bother and they have to leave them plugged in because their boat trailer has brakes.

 

I'm sure this is probably what happened. The weird thing to me is my coupler is a PITA to latch if it isn't all the way down. I don't see how I wasn't all the way on the ball the and the coupler was able to lock without any resistance. Either way, I guess it is a good reminder to slow down and be more careful, as you stated.

 

I never unplug mine and have never had an issue on any boat I've had. I know my dad used to, but with the sealed LED lights I run now, I don't bother. Probably should, but don't.

 

Hope this doesn't come across as a stupid question, but the slack in the chains.....should not be so much that the tongue would touch the ground if not connected to ball? I'm pretty sure if I were to take up the chain slack, so if the tongue were to come off the ball the chains would keep the tongue off the ground, I'd not have enough slack needed when turning.

 

With the chains criss crossed the diagonal shouldn't cause any binding. The chains should be long enough to allow turning but short enough to not drag on the ground. You need a little bit of slack, not binder tight chains.

The western half of the united states is pretty dry, Nevada BLM office said several fires were started by trailer chains dragging the ground.

 

I just wanted to add that from now on I will be chocking the front wheels when launching and loading. I feel I have been way too lucky over the years. I'll have a rope on them I can pull the driver side when I pull out and my wife can pull the passenger side.

 

js139, what do you use to secure the coupler lock?

Tonight, when hooking up my toy hauler at the storage lot I thought I had the coupler locked down. But my padlock that goes through the coupler lever refused to go through the hole. The padlock takes up the entire hole, unlike some cotter pins.

The lock refusing to go through the hole told me something was wrong. I looked through the hole and, sure enough, the lever isn't fully seated. Visually, it looked like the coupler was completely down on the ball and I could see the lock mechanism against the ball.

If I was using a small diameter cotter pin it would have gone right through the hole and I wouldn't have known there was a problem. I had to completely disconnect everything to get it to seat right.

 

I use a keyed coupler lock that matches the hole size. In my incident, this went on without any problem. If the Couple isn't fully seated, I usually can't get the coupler lock on as the holes aren't completely lined up. That is why I am so confused that this happened. The trailer appeared to be all the way on the ball and everything locked and hooked up as it should. The only thing that could've happened is the trailer wasn't on the ball far enough to stop the coupler from closing. That said, with an open coupler, why would the trailer be resting on the ball when the trailer jack is completely up? I can't recreate how I let this happen. I'll be a bit anxious on my 4 hour drive tomorrow as there are some big dips on the highway I'm traveling on. My trailer lost some trust I had in it. It'll take time to rebuild that. I will certainly slow down a little when hitching up and double check the inside of the coupler.

 

I drove from Central PA to, Boston, MA two years ago with an empty trailer to pick up a free boat, the trailer was nothing but a single axle rig with 12" wheels. I drove almost five hours one way. When I left, I went over everything, knowing I'd be running at highway speeds for a long distance. I even torqued the wheels and repacked the wheel bearings the night before.
I connected the trailer the night before, locked the trailer to the ball, and the ball mount to the receiver and went out and filled the tank about a mile from home. I parked the trailer and was up and on the road at 6pm after work that day.
The ride went fine, not a single issue, even had to back up after one detour turned out to be a dead end along the way.
When I get to the guys house, its already dark. The boat was around back sitting on old tires. I pull around back, release the tilt mechanism on the trailer and hook up the manual winch. The minute I start cranking on the boat the hitch pops up and catches the edge of the step bumper. To this day I have no clue how it came loose, if it had not been on the ball, how did it stay put for all those miles and backing up several times as well. Some of the roads I was on were rough, but it never left the ball. The coupler was adjusted properly to the ball, and I couldn't force it back on the ball without unlocking it. I also couldn't jack it off the ball without lifting the back of the truck. I even jacked up on the jack a bit to be 100% certain it was hitched the night before. I still have that trailer and run hundreds of miles since with no issues.
The only explanation is that it wasn't down all the way and I got lucky over all those miles. The most amazing part was that the trailer empty doesn't weigh more than 180 lbs or so. How it stayed put if it wasn't latched is beyond me. It was locked, so no one unlatched it without me knowing, and if it wasn't latched, how was I able to back up several times without it popping off. I also wasn't being all that super careful that day either on my drive up, I was trying to make time and get there before complete darkness, which I just barely did. Above all, I can't figure how it could have made it down my rut filled driveway without jumping off if it wasn't latched.