Why You Should Use Safety Chains When Towing

Actually I feel sorry for the other guy. He probably had towed that old trailer several times with no problems and figured it would be fine. He made a mistake by being negligent that now puts him at fault in an accident and will probably cost him money in higher insurance premiums. It could've been much worse. If it had missed me then there was a corvette that came past a few seconds later. That could've been really bad as the point of impact probably would've been at the driver's level.

Hopefully I'll hear from his insurance company this morning.

 

Yeah, luckily the tongue was dragging on the ground. If he had a load that leveled the trailer this would've been much worse.

I had forgotten about the 2" tongue on a 1-7/8" ball thing. Like you said, doing that is an accident waiting to happen.

 

I like the receiver pins that lock automatically when you put them in (you have to squeeze and rotate the locking assembly to remove). Safety chains are a must but most utility trailers skimp on those...

Howard

 

Uncrossed/nonexistent safety chains were a $50 fine from the staties, last time I heard.

On trailers with brakes, a breakaway brake controller is a lifesaver. It engauges the brakes if the trailer becomes detached via a separate cable from the trailer to the tow vehicle. It requires a separate battery on the trailer and a breakaway switch with cable. Easy to install and fairly inexpensive.

 

A trailer coming unhooked is scary business. I've gotten in the habit of hooking up in the same order all the time so everything gets done. I also make a point of a quick visual inspection of the trailer hookup anytime I've left it parked because you never know if some arsehole might think it's funny to pop the latch or something.

Last summer I saw this little Honda tailgating and swerving left and right behind this large motorhome on a hill. As I got a little closer I realized the Honda was driverless and being flat-towed by the motorhome on a two bar setup but one bar had come off leaving the car flopping around. They got it stopped safely and the car rear-ended the motorhome but it could have ended real badly if the other tow bar would have let go too.

 

Been there done that or rather had it done to me.

Someone pulling a trailer w/o chains or locking the lever down lost his trailer which came across the double yellow center lines, and I had to cars to the right of me on the curb lane so there wasn't anywhere to go plus it was 2200 hrs and all of a sudden it appeared coming right at me.

The Crown Vic I was driving did a 180 and went across the two opposing lanes of traffic (fortunately no one was in them) and up an embankment.
Jumping the curbing before going up the embankment took out the front end.

The other driver never stopped and the insurance company totaled the car, which explains why I'm driving the Taco now.

 

i had a trailer jump off the ball and only the chains held it onto my truck.
I was towing a 20ft trail with a 18 ft box truck. I had no idea the thing came loose, but the other guy in my traveling party called me and said "pull over! it came loose and is shooting sparks all over as you drag it down the road! "
It did grind the front most edge of the trailer down a bit lol.....if it wasnt for the dual chains and locking S-hooks, that things woulda been gone !!

ALWAYS PUT THE CHAINS ON !!!
If its your trailer, Id say do whatever it takes to put TWO chains on the trailer. better safe then sorry.

 

If you read through all this, you will call your congressman and demand that towing be BANNED. Well maybe.

http://www.dangeroustrailers.org/Accidents_In_California.html

 

My brother forgot to put the safety chain on and the ball jumped off, when he was towing his huge wakeboarding boat and at 70 mph it came off and hit the back of the truck, and there was 2 people in the bed of the truck ( short ride and legal in AZ ), good thing he kept it under control, messed up his tailgate and the right beddside is bent off to the side.

 

That reminds me of my very first lesson in trailer safety chains. Many years ago, our Boy Scout troop set out for a one week trip to the 1964 New York World's Fair (yes, that many years ago). The boys (myself included) were spread out between two trucks, with one truck towing the troop's enclosed utility trailer hauling all our stuff.

Less than a mile into the trip, the trailer (too heavy in the rear) disconnected, rolled across the opposing lane (dragging the rear bumper), and continued roughly 45-feet up a hill on the other side of the road. Nobody was hurt, but it took all of us some time to get that trailer back down the hill and attached again. Also reloaded the trailer to balance the load better (more weight up front). Finally made a detour to a trailer shop (to add chains) before heading out again.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and the World's Fair was great. We stayed at the YMCA about two or three blocks from the Empire State Building. In addition to the World's Fair, also saw the usual tourist destinations (Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, etc).