| Towing safety chain [message #88091] |
Fri, 11 June 2010 16:19  |
Ken Burton
Messages: 10030
Registered: January 2004
Location: Hebron, Indiana
Karma: 10
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Senior Member |
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I tow things all the time. I towed a large covered trailer last week, a flat trailer with dirt on it on Wednesday, and a different tilt bed trailer on Thursday. None of these were mine but were part of the group "loaner pool" at the airport owned by various friends.
On my 2 axle trailer I have heavy chains with hooks that latch and can not hop off of the towing vehicle. A week ago while helping another friend re-wire a different trailer, I got into quite a discussion over the hooks used on the ends of the chains. I stated that the hooks should have latches on them so they can not hop off in case of a disconnect from the towing vehicle.
Yesterday, I pulled up to the trailer we were going to use and discovered I had the wrong size ball on the drawbar. My friend went in the hanger retrieved a different drawbar with the correct ball size, installed in on my truck, and off we went for about a 200 mile one way trip to pick up a tractor on the Iowa, Illinois border. This trailer did not have latches on the chains but the chains were installed correctly.
About 25 miles into the trip in an area of I-80 westbound where the lanes were reduced from 4 lanes to 3 for construction, I looked in the mirror and saw the trailer fish-tailing all over the place. The traffic was packed and running about 65 with me in the middle lane. I started to slow down and the trailer took off. It passed me in the left lane and was following a car. It actually looked like the car was towing it though they weren't really connected. It just stayed in that lane and went right down the road. Eventually, it slowly went to the left and ran into the temporary concrete center divider dragging it to a stop.
There were no shoulders on the road due to the construction. Just concrete barriers on both sides. I made it to the farthest left lane and backed up in all of that traffic. We reattached the trailer and went on our way.
My point of this whole posting is to say the safety chains were not broken they just hopped off of the truck because there were no latches on the hooks. The reason the trailer came loose is my friend did not install the pin in the drawbar correctly and it eventually came out. The only damage was one tail light on clearance light and we lost the license plate on the trailer. I had a spare pin in the truck so we went on our way and picked up the tractor.
I strongly suggest on any safety chain used for towing that you use hooks with latches so they will not hop off when the chains are needed most.
Ken B.
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
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| Re: [GMCnet] Towing safety chain [message #88123 is a reply to message #88100] |
Fri, 11 June 2010 19:42  |
Ken Burton
Messages: 10030
Registered: January 2004
Location: Hebron, Indiana
Karma: 10
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Senior Member |
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Yes. The guy with me owned the trailer. He admitted this afternoon that he did not set the fold over latch on the drawbar pin.
The good thing was the concrete barrier kept the trailer from going into the oncoming traffic. The oncoming lanes were filled with Illinois people trying to get out of state a day ahead of time for the week end. They all love Chicago so much that they clog our highways trying to get out of state ASAP. The worse time is Sunday nights when they all go the other way back home. The jam up on that highway can last 6 to 8 hours on a Sunday evening.
Please heed my warning and use some type of retainer on your safety chain hooks.
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
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| Re: [GMCnet] Towing safety chain [message #88130 is a reply to message #88123] |
Fri, 11 June 2010 20:09 |
Bob de Kruyff
Messages: 4260
Registered: January 2004
Location: Chandler, AZ
Karma: 1
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Senior Member |
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Being in the towing business, this is close to my heart. I recommend any one towing a trailer go to this site
http://www.uhaul.com/tips/videos.aspx?videoID=o4-Bs2Ph7a4
We do not use latching hooks for durability reasons and have had excellent luck with S hooks. As you can imagine with over 100,000
trailers and millions of transactions in just 1 month, we see it all. A reliable and correct hook up can be had with simple S hooks.
Bob de Kruyff
78 Eleganza
Chandler, AZ
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| Re: [GMCnet] Towing safety chain [message #88236 is a reply to message #88168] |
Sat, 12 June 2010 10:41 |
Bob de Kruyff
Messages: 4260
Registered: January 2004
Location: Chandler, AZ
Karma: 1
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Senior Member |
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""I retrospect, It was funny to see the trailer passing me in the left lane. ""
Ken, i can't even remotely imagine that and have a decent ending! It reminds me of one of the Lucy shows 
Bob de Kruyff
78 Eleganza
Chandler, AZ
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| Re: [GMCnet] Towing safety chain [message #88241 is a reply to message #88236] |
Sat, 12 June 2010 11:30 |
stick miller
Messages: 1036
Registered: March 2010
Location: Americus, Georgia
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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I hate to speak ill of the dead, but I'll tell you this story. My Daddy was a long-time airstreamer. He bought 3 new ones over his lifetime and the first thing he (and everyone else I had any knowledge of) did was to take a hack saw and saw a link in the safety chains almost to the point of breaking. I think the theory was that if that beast came loose from the hitch you certainly didn't want it chained to your bumper. There was a safety cable that locked the brakes if the trailer separated from the vehicle.
As irresponsible as that sounds now, I was led to believe it was common practice back in the 60's and 70's.
Daddy wasn't much when it came to obeying the rules. Once he made Momma ride back in the trailer - against the law in most states and probably in violation of a biblical commandment or two - and cook. Like me, she was very prone to motion sickness and in her words "puked and cooked and puked some more".
Precious memories, how they linger.
Stick Miller
'78 Royale - "White Trash" - she left me for another man
'76 Eleganza - "Cousin Eddie" Sold
'84 Bluebird Wanderlodge - "Past Tents"
Americus, GA
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| Re: [GMCnet] Towing safety chain [message #88288 is a reply to message #88257] |
Sat, 12 June 2010 19:31 |
Ron
Messages: 250
Registered: February 2004
Location: Conifer, Colorado
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Bob..
I have the same rubber "keepers" on the safety chains on my tow bar.. I have lost one.. I can't seem to find a replacement.. Any ideas?
Ron
now a P.O.
Conifer, CO
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| Re: [GMCnet] Towing safety chain [message #88364 is a reply to message #88357] |
Sun, 13 June 2010 10:38 |
Ron
Messages: 250
Registered: February 2004
Location: Conifer, Colorado
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Matt..
Did a search for safety chain safety and came up with many alternatives.. The one I bought was from RVHilltop through Amazon which was about $5.25 for 2. But I bought 2 cards s I would have extras.. But the damned shipping was $8.25. That was cheaper than some others which were as high as $12.50 for shipping.. What a rip!
Thanks for the tip..
Ron
now a P.O.
Conifer, CO
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| Re: [GMCnet] Towing safety chain [message #88400 is a reply to message #88364] |
Sun, 13 June 2010 14:44 |
Ken Burton
Messages: 10030
Registered: January 2004
Location: Hebron, Indiana
Karma: 10
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Senior Member |
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| Ron wrote on Sun, 13 June 2010 10:38 |
Matt..
Did a search for safety chain safety and came up with many alternatives.. The one I bought was from RVHilltop through Amazon which was about $5.25 for 2. But I bought 2 cards s I would have extras.. But the damned shipping was $8.25. That was cheaper than some others which were as high as $12.50 for shipping.. What a rip!
Thanks for the tip..
Ron
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What I think I would do is to take one of those flat thick rubber bungee cords and saw it up in to appropriate lengths. Then drill two holes in each 2.5 inch or so length and install it on the S-hook.
I'll bet I could make a bunch of them rather quickly. I know the trailer I used will get a pair of them this week. The owner is in IA school all week so I'll install them while I'm fixing the lights before he returns. Also at Two Wheel Tuesday this week, I need to get our resident welder to fix one slightly smashed spot on the left front.
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
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| Re: [GMCnet] Towing safety chain [message #88706 is a reply to message #88288] |
Tue, 15 June 2010 16:08 |
Bob de Kruyff
Messages: 4260
Registered: January 2004
Location: Chandler, AZ
Karma: 1
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Senior Member |
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I suspect a U-Haul center will give you one for nothing. Also, you can walk through a U-Haul lot with empty trailers and usuall find a few laying on the ground:) If not i can mail you a few. We really didn't start using those untill recently nationwide. California had a law requiring them so we went nationwide. I think we had about 60 years of acceptable experience without the keepersbefore that point.
Bob de Kruyff
78 Eleganza
Chandler, AZ
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| Re: [GMCnet] Towing safety chain [message #88877 is a reply to message #88706] |
Wed, 16 June 2010 16:59 |
Kingsley Coach
Messages: 2691
Registered: March 2009
Location: Nova Scotia Canada
Karma: -34
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Senior Member |
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I had a 356 come off a trailer on time and pass me...first on the left and
then it slowed down and ducked in behind me to pass on the right....it
eventually went off the road and into a pile of bushes.....Not Fun!!
Pass the fresh undies, please!
Mike in NS
On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 6:08 PM, Bob de Kruyff <NEXT2POOL@aol.com> wrote:
>
>
> I suspect a U-Haul center will give you one for nothing. Also, you can walk
> through a U-Haul lot with empty trailers and usuall find a few laying on the
> ground:) If not i can mail you a few. We really didn't start using those
> untill recently nationwide. California had a law requiring them so we went
> nationwide. I think we had about 60 years of acceptable experience without
> the keepersbefore that point.
> --
> Bob de Kruyff
> 78 Eleganza
> Chandler, AZ
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> List Information and Subscription Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>
--
Michael Beaton
1977 Kingsley 26-11
1977 Eleganza II 26-3
Antigonish, NS
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