Was driving down the street today when a guy crossed the intersection in front of me. Little half-ton, ext. cab Ford towing a 5x10 single axle enclosed trailer going about 40 mph. Right as he hit the very slight dip in the road, his trailer went up and took the ball right out of the receiver hitch. When it came down the tongue of the trailer dug through 2 layers of asphalt and broke 1 of the safety chains. He managed to get it stopped under control, and drug the trailer across three lanes to turn off to fix the problem. Watched the whole thing from a safe distance, but I bet the guy driving the truck needed new drawers. Never a bad idea to double check, even with a light load in town.
Good tip. I towed my bosses Ski boat up to a lake in Bakersfield (100miles away) a couple years ago and I launched the boat and was unhooking the empty trailer and heard my Ball rattle. I grabbed it and turned the nut by hand a half turn. The ball was a brand new U-Haul 2" with a Nylon bushing instead of a lockwasher. Needless to say I never use those crappy U-Haul balls anymore:doah:
good idea. also dont forget to do a quick dubble check of the trailer when you hook up. i have a 10k equipment trailer and a few times i forgot to latch the tong. but its kind of tong heavy so all i got was some extra noise from the hitch. then one time as a kid my dad and i were going to ride are atvs. well we got there and as i unloaded the last bike wham the trailer was airborn. forgot to latch it also. opcorn:
OK.... Yep there still there. Sorrry just couldn't resist.rotfl That is good advice, I try to double check them, and check them everytime you make a stop, I've heard a few people have had someone unlatch there trailer while they were away from there truck. Heard a story the other day on the cb about a trucker who made another trucker mad and he unlatched the trailer while the driver was inside the truck stop eating. Then the first truker whent to leave and left the trailer sitting there.:doah:I've also heard of it happening to 5'er's as well. Sure wouldn't make for a good day.
Thats a good bit of Advise too. I usually hook up, drive to the end of the street then get out and check the hitch and the load. I also check at every fuel and food stop.
yeah, I've caught myself forgetting to hook stuff up all the way... some days I hitch/unhitch 4 or more times to the same trailer and get in a hurry and skip something... when hitching to my boat I can tell if it moves any when I drop the tongue, but on the big trailer I rely on the jack to locate the tongue. found it loose a couple times even with threadlocker... that much weight will loosen stuff pretty easy
On my way home Fri. afternoon I saw a truck that was pulling two generator/welders, one behing the other. The only problem was that the were no longer behing the truck. :doah: The truck that was pulling them was stopped in the center turn lane of a four lane road and the welders, still connected, were almost perpendicular to the road sitting in the oncomming traffic. An F150 hit them but it didn't look like it did too much damage. That would not make for a good way to end the week.
I tighten all my ball nuts with either an impact gun or a big honkin' crescent wrench for just that reason.
If you pull a gooseneck check the hitch. I used to work for a pipe hauling company and we had a trailer that the hitch wallered out bigger than the ball and a guy hit a cattle guard and it jumped off the ball. Needless to say that new dodge got a new flat bed, and there was not much left of the pipe trailer.
Another bit of advise is to not let someone else help you lock down the hitch to the ball. I had some work done on trailer axles and the guy was helpful in getting me lined up, lowered the trailer and said "all set to go". I drove around the corner and hit a ridge and off came the enclosed 24 footer . He never put in the hitch lock. It took and severed one chain, didn't eat the wiring, and stopped without slamming the rear of the truck hanging on the one remaining chain. I was able to use the trailer breaks to keep it off the truck. That wasn't his fault, it was mine. That will NEVER happen again. Brisk is right, pull out and check it again even when you do it.
I was stopped eating at a waffle house with my gooseneck horse trailer and some one unhooked it completely. When I drove off it ripped my tailgate.
How stupid. Time and time again, I can't contemplate how people enjoy destroying other people's property for pure enjoyement. It's like they have the attitude "who cares what the damage costs anyone, I got a laugh."
And the kicker is, the person(s) who did it probably sat a safe distance way to watch it all go down.
I always check my sh*t after I stop anywhere - check my safety chains, break-away brake, pin and wiring connector, then check my chains & binders on the abortion. My buddy stopped to eat at a restaurant and when he went to leave he started to turn out onto the highway and kaTHUNK his trailer fell out of the receiver. He says he saw some teenagers walking near his truck when he was eating and didn't think anything of it and aparently one of them pulled his hitch pin.
When ever we do a trailer at my work (tire shop) I always ask the customer to double check the hook up. A lot of them roll their eyes at me. I trust my hook ups, I just want them to trust them also before they drive. About once a week I see a trailer moving the ball around on some random receiver. Scary how many loose set ups are out there.
A few things I do every time I Haul.. - Always check the ball with a wrench to make sure it is tight. - ALways use locking hitch pins so no one can mess with them. - Always check safety chains and make sure they are still connected well to trailer tongue - Always check and make sure brake away box is charged and good to use. - Always check tire pressure on trailer, and make sure all lights work before leaving the house and when I stop somewhere I always do a quick check on all this stuff before I start to drive again. I feel that the few mins I spend doing this will save me a lot of time down the road
thats sucks for your friend I always check everything over myself when I stop you never know who is out there today and yeah it would suck to have some huge vet bills over a sick pranksters and a lame horse.When I was in driving school we were always told to check our rig over and especially the hitch can never be to safe.
