Breakaway trailer kills father of two... kids injured.

   / Breakaway trailer kills father of two... kids injured. #1  

ultrarunner

Epic Contributor
Joined
Apr 6, 2004
Messages
22,662
Location
SF Bay Area-Ca Olympia WA Salzburg Austria
Tractor
Cat D3, Deere 110 TLB, Kubota BX23 and L3800 and RTV900 with restored 1948 Deere M, 1949 Farmall Cub, 1953 Ford Jubliee and 1957 Ford 740 Row Crop, Craftsman Mower, Deere 350C Dozer 50 assorted vehicles from 1905 to 2006
   / Breakaway trailer kills father of two... kids injured. #2  
That's a terrible thing to happen to those folks.

That said...it's also a typical knee-jerk reaction coming from California, and one of the reasons I left. The law already calls for a ball and hitch rated to pull whatever trailer is hooked to it and rated safety chains. We don't know if either of those were followed. If they weren't, or the chains weren't hooked up, more regulations won't stop idiots from being idiots. It just gives the regulators another chance to justify their existence.
 
   / Breakaway trailer kills father of two... kids injured.
  • Thread Starter
#3  
So far they media has not been able to find out how the trailer became detached and they had no comment from the business owner...
 
   / Breakaway trailer kills father of two... kids injured. #4  
I sold an old Turnbow horse trailer years ago. The new owner had it for a few weeks. He bought a nice shiny 2" chrome ball for his truck. Hauling it one day, the ball split and the trailer broke free and rolled off into the ditch. He had to repair it, including the axle. He was doing things right, but the fault lay in the manufacture and sale of the crummy chrome ball.
It pays to go with name brands in these cases.
 
   / Breakaway trailer kills father of two... kids injured. #5  
That's a terrible thing to happen to those folks.

That said...it's also a typical knee-jerk reaction coming from California, and one of the reasons I left. The law already calls for a ball and hitch rated to pull whatever trailer is hooked to it and rated safety chains. We don't know if either of those were followed. If they weren't, or the chains weren't hooked up, more regulations won't stop idiots from being idiots. It just gives the regulators another chance to justify their existence.

I visited California once..If it weren't for the politics, people, taxes and gov't regulation I think I might like California..
 
   / Breakaway trailer kills father of two... kids injured. #6  
i have had a couple dents in rear of truck, due to trailer coming off the ball. safety chains held. though recently i pulled the hitch into a V shape. hitch was rusted out and just pulled into a V, if i didn't catch it, it would of completely been pulled off. on farm, moving stuff so no real big deal, but still. it could of been a pot hole or having to weave off side of road and a good yank and bye bye trailer....

i hate checking the little "latch" inside the ball that latches up against the ball. i fear for my fingers being crushed. and keep other hand on jack, in case it is not all the way down and slips... though have caught a good amount of mis-hookup's to ball this way.

i wasn't paying attention a couple times, and have stretched and broke some safety chains before. the chains were all tangled up with one another vs being not to tight and not to long. a good old backing up with a jack knife on purpose, and there went the saftey chains. well is should say more along the "hooks" went. not the chains. again on the farm, not going any place off farm, so not really caring or paying attention,
 
   / Breakaway trailer kills father of two... kids injured.
  • Thread Starter
#7  
I've had a close call that could have ended in disaster.

My brother and I had just delivered his horse to the large animal clinic at Davis University... we unhitch the trailer to drive over to another part of the university.

When we were back and ready to leave... he thought I had finished hitching the trailer and I thought he did... lucky someone flagged us over and disaster averted.

Should have known to check because about 20 years ago kids were unhitching trailers for a prank around here... law enforcement urged anyone towing to check the hitch each and every time before getting behind the wheel and I always do now.
 
   / Breakaway trailer kills father of two... kids injured. #8  
law enforcement urged anyone towing to check the hitch each and every time before getting behind the wheel and I always do now

So do I. I've never had a trailer come loose, but in July 1972 enroute to Alaska towing a 24' travel trailer, when I went to stop once for gas in Canada, I told my wife that something didn't feel right. Sure enough, I found the nut holding the ball in its mount had backed off a bit allowing the ball to rock back and forth just a tiny bit. It had been installed by a dealer, so I learned to check even a dealer's work.
 
   / Breakaway trailer kills father of two... kids injured.
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Whenever I have the trailer in tow I also have my large breaker bar with socket so I can check...

All it took was one what if moment for me.
 
   / Breakaway trailer kills father of two... kids injured. #10  
I visited California once..If it weren't for the politics, people, taxes and gov't regulation I think I might like California..

One of the key symptoms of depression is only seeing the bad side of things. You might want to think about that.
 
 
Top