I drove past a guy on the interstate that I think was about to lose his trailer. The coupler looked like it was starting to come disconnected from the trailer. Like any welds or bolts had failed. I flagged him down and he pulled over. That would have been a nasty situation as it was a large boat on what I recall was a triple axle trailer.

While I agree that a trailer coming loose from the tow vehicle isn't very common, I don't want to be that guy that watches his trailer go off on its own.

 

I wasn’t saying it’s a common event, just more common than the average Joe would think. For bumper pulls, virtually every separation I know of was the result of operator error rather than equipment failure (though I did once have a drawbar bend down under load). As far as fifth wheels are concerned, I’d say the design of the hitch doesn’t allow the truck to get more than a foot or so before it falls on the bed rails. In campgrounds, I can say with confidence that I have seen at least one truck with crunched bed rails. I’m in Goshen, IN right now and saw no fewer than six fifth wheel equipped trucks with crunched tailgates and/or bedrails. If a fiver does break away from the truck, it’s highly unlikely the pin box is going to dig into the road.
In 2006 Master Lock Company surveyed more than 300 trailer owners and found that most were lacking in knowledge of basic safety and proper towing procedures. Fewer than half properly attached their trailer’s safety chains.

 

I think with fivers, from my experience, the bed rails get crunched at low speed starting out in the campground. Don't know for sure what happens at speed.

My thought with low numbers is prediction statistically becomes impossible with rare events and small sample sizes so there is really no way to know "best practices" for a lot of things and in many cases where it is discussed like how to run the break-away, it may really make no difference at all.

I completely agree with your comment about a great many folks not knowing how to hitch correctly and some don't seem to care!

Steve

 

Agree that chain first or second is a debatable item. Ditto for whether 5'ers and all trailers should have them.

The thing that confuses me is that the break-away system does not tie into the lights in any way. All well and good in daylight, but imagine an unlit highway at night . . .


Happens often enough that IIRC Maryland passed a law to require capture hooks for *all* trailers with safety chains. Naturally this does nothing if the hitch falls off and the trailer does not have / need brakes though.

 

They need breakaway brakes. On a semi trailer with air brakes the supply releases the spring (parking) brakes. The other circuit put air to the brakes when you step on the power units brakes.

No, 5th wheels are not required to have chains or cables. The jaws lock around the kingpin. The only time that fails the hitch fails the latch fails, the hitch breaks. The kingpin is the stringest part of the trailer. Failure is rare.

Now, with a pintle hitch or ball coupler chains are required. I’ve encountered pintle towed trailers don’t have the coupler latched. Yes, you’re fixing it and there’s a ticket. Ball couplers can come off the ball.

As long as the cable is hooked to the power unit, the brakes work and the battery is charged, I’m good. Makes sure the cable isn’t dragging.

 

I have been thinking about this thread for the last handful of hours. If you think about towing bumper pull trailers in the early to mid sixties the brake away issue makes sense. The trailer needed to be way behind the tow vehicle to save lives, hitch ball then chains then activate trailer emergency brakes.

Back then station wagons was the family cruiser/tow vehicles. Pick ups were slide in campers or two people/three max. In 1970 my neighbors towed a 23 ft Mallard with a 1/2 ton Blazer and drove a second vehicle to carry the kids.

My folks had a Mercury Montego two door with two adults and three kids and towed a 18 ft Holiday Rambler. My Brother and I were kicked out into a tent when my second sister was born. Camping was actually more primitive back then, No television,microwaves, air conditioning. It is a miracle I survived.

 

The design hasn’t changed much from the 50s.

 

My point was tow vehicle have changed dramatically since then. Travel trailers was the only option towed by large passenger vehicles. No SUV's, very few trucks. The thought was for survivalbility, get the trailer separated from the tow vehicle as quickly as possible.

I remember my Dad having to activate the vehicle brakes on one pedal and using his right leg to activate a second pedal that was installed to brake the trailer. This trailer brake was mounted on the cars brake pedal.

Not saying it still makes sense with todays tow vehicles, just offering another perspective.

 

I have had two trailer tongues break on me. One was a trailer I was hauling for my brother, not overloaded at all, hardly anything of weight on it, and another a used trailer I jsut bought! Both trailers were little single axle TILT trailers! The reason i will never buy a little tilt trailer again. Constant loading of quads, snow machines etc, banging down on that tongue eventually breaks that tongue. Both times I was lucky and the break was just enough or it to bend down and hit the road, and not fully seperate. I was able to stop both times and pull over with trailer still attached. So those of you with tilt trailers, that slam on a piece of 2x2 iron , make sure you inspect that iron regularly!

 

Years ago, I replaced an axle that snapped off at the spindle on a little 3,000 pound utility trailer. It was a warranty replacement.

I broke an axle on my own trailer a few years ago running down the road. It was a bad axle to start with. That is enough to screw up your day.

 

Sort of Off topic; I guess most people would not remember the (infamous) Kelsey-Hayes hydraulic trailer brake actuators. My folks had one in a '66 Chevelle, a '70 F250 and a '72 LTD. I had one in two of my 'Harvesters, a '64 Travelall and a '73 1010 pickup. I have a brand-new unit in storage that might find its way onto a Bumpside or Dentside project. They were hard to set up and sometimes dribbled brake fluid a bit in the cab but they worked great.

On topic; When my folks started towing things in the '60's, a local shop installed hitches and controllers. That was his main line of work. His focus was on safety so he made sure you were doing things right, requesting to see the rig hooked together after he installed the hitch for you.

He wanted to make sure the chains were crossed and hooked right. His thoughts were you should have the 'bail'on your hooks to keep the hook from coming loose. The breakaway cable should be slack enough that it will not come into play should the coupler come off the ball and be caught by the chains. Also, the trailer electrical whip should stay engaged at the full length/extension of the chains, too.

His thinking was, in the event the trailer does come loose, the chains will catch the tongue. At that point, you can apply some trailer brake, holding the trailer back while you stop the tow vehicle with the service brakes. He was real big on the trailer brake intensity being set just tight enough to hold the vehicle with the transmission in drive at idle or with just a bit of clutch engagement on a manual trans. This left the trailer without the ability to lock up/slide if you were faced with stopping a loose trailer and grabbed too much controller lever/paddle in a panic.

By the way, we should all practice a bit with slowing the rig with the trailer brakes only. You need to know what to expect should you have some failure that disconnects the tow vehicle and trailer. I've always tested a new boat trailer that way, going to a quiet street and testing the brakes. We even took an old, derelict Road Runner boat trailer, put a plywood deck on it and strapped down a ton of sand. My family, uncles and cousins practiced with it disconnected from the truck but still chained.

Keep in mind, if the trailer does come loose from the ball but it's still chained, trailer brakes first before service brakes or you're gonna get rammed by your errant trailer. Not fun. The wife has been there, done that, has the t-shirt, bent tailgate, tweaked box corners where the tailgate was still latched and pulled the corners in, and a very totaled boat/trailer.

It's not too hard to stop a loose but still chained trailer but I'm sure I would not want my breakaway brakes on and still chained. The breakaway brakes are usually full on, which could be a real issue. That trailer would be all over the road, possibly causing you to have a vehicle accident in the process.

Just my $0.02 USD worth. YMMV.

 

I agree with your "sequencing". I don't want the breakaway activated until it truly breakes away.
As far as the old K-H controller, I wouldn't hassle with tapping into the brake line and then routing it into the cab. The accelerometer units (Prodigy family for one) work extremely well and are easy to install. Basically the same wiring job but no tapping into the hydraulics.

 

Actually, I'm not sure our RABS or four corner ABS would like that controller attached to the brake circuit. If I do a Bumpside or Dentside, the controller will only be for looks, not hooked up. That truck project is just something for me to cruise around in and if I do end up towing something, I'll have a Prodigy installed and ready to do braking duty.

I towed a large single car trailer with my one ton Travelall and the K-H controller worked flawlessly for me but that was a number of years ago. I'm not sure I would trust it to continue functioning today, since it does have a hydraulic cylinder inside the case. Wish I still had the trailer, though. It could hold a crew cab dually with the dually outers still on and have several feet fore/aft to adjust tongue weight with.

 

That's correct, the ABS systems don't play well with the old displacement systems. I understood you were talking about putting it on a dent/bump. Those controllers actually worked very well once you got them dialed in to the trailer being pulled. They were proportional to line pressure like the newer integrated units (but thats where the similarities end). If I remember correctly, there was an adjustable resistor assembly that went with it. It looked like a pair of parallel springs with an adjustable bridge between them. Jeez I must be getting old......