Be careful who you let hook your trailer up

[bgott]

That hitch you described is called a Bulldog hitch.

[HalseyGreen]

Seeing all theses post where the safety chains saved your butts, here a trick I learned early on in my towing experiences. Cross the safety chains under the hitch, left to right side, and right to left side of truck. That way if the trailer comes off the ball, the chains will catch the hitch and will also help keep the trailer tracking straight and from passing the truck.

[gerard]

Two local law enforcement marine patrolmen (department shall remain nameless) were putting in their police boat on a steep ramp on the hudson river a few years back. They backed down the ramp and started undoing the hold downs and the bow cable when an old local advised them they probably shouldn't do that because the ramp was so steep and the boat will slide off. Of coarse they knew better so the old guy just sat back and prepared to be entertained. You can finish the story. As soon as they started backing the boat came off and went bouncing down the concrete ramp! Moral of the story - always listen to the more experienced and table your ego!

[Bird]

<font color=blue>Cross the safety chains under the hitch</font color=blue>

Yep, always have, always will.

[Darren]

If you're specing a trailer that will be run in water, Dexter makes a wheel hub that has externally greaseable wheel bearings. You don't have to disassemble the hub to repack the bearings. All you have to do is remove a rubber plug to access a zerk fitting.

[patrickg]

Darren, One of the "Name" brands that comes to mind is "Bearing Buddy" and has a spring loaded diaphram and zerk fitting. You grease it and the chamber fills with grease that is kept under pressure by the diaphram and spring, any leaks and grease goes out not water going in. As it keeps the grease under pressure they don't tend to suck up water when immersed.

At least one outfit used to sell a bearing cap with a Schrader valve connection and a short "jumper" air hose. The deal was that you temporarily connect your trailer tire stem to the bearing via the jumper. The pressure keeps water out. I never thought too much of that system.

bgott? Yes Bulldog is what they call them in these parts but I didn't know how widely they were known by that name hence my attempt at a description. I have learned of several idiosynchratic/regional/dialect kinds of words and expressions that do not enjoy wide promulgation nor foster communication, e.g. "sweet cracker" is a cookie, "cracker" is a soda cracker/saltine cracker, cracker is a southern redneck, "headache powders" are aspirin tablets not compressed into tablets but left as a powder, bugle mouth bass are not large mouth bass nor even bass but are carp and on and on and on.

I meant to mention before that I was appraised at an early age of the weakest possible safety chain theory but personally opt for much stronger than required, adjusted as short as possible without binding in sharp turns backing up, and a break away controller for the electric brakes set as tight as practical without "false alarms." I am also of the "grease the ball" school even though it makes a mess if you aren't careful (even when I am). I would be happier if there were a zerk in the top of the ball.

Patrick

[Bird]

Yep, I always used bearing buddies on boat trailers, but have not seen them used on trailers that had brakes because of the possibility of pushing grease past the inside seal and getting it on the brakes.

And that Bulldog hitch is a good one but if you ain't careful, you can sure get a finger pinched in it.[img]/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif[/img] Yep, voice of experience.[img]/w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif[/img]

[Darren]

I've seen the Bearing Buddies. Those are nice for retrofitting. Dexter did something different. They center drilled the spindle for the zerk on the end and then cross drilled the spindle so the grease comes out between the inner and outer bearings. I didn't know that feature was available until I talked to the guy who built my dump.

Dexter calls it E-Z lube.

[Bird]

Darren, I was in Elkhart in 1990 and went to the Dexter plant and had axles custom built for my 5th wheel trailer and was surprised at all the different ways they can do it. They had what you're talking about, as well as gear oil instead of grease, the "normal" ones we usually see, etc. And I sat down with one of their guys and we selected the axle tubes I wanted, the hub and spindles I wanted, the brake size, the springs, etc. and when I asked how long it would take to get them made, he looked at his watch and said, "I couldn't have them before 1 o'clock tomorrow." Needless to say I was amazed and he told me they were making 1500 axles a day there.[img]/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif[/img] And they were ready for me to pick up at 1 o'clock the next day, too.

[GlennT]

Another trick I saw MANY years ago when there were trailer houses (before manufactured homes and before mobile homes) was to use a piece of 4 x 4. This was inserted under the axle without a wheel, over the adjoining axle with a wheel and up against the frame. The weight of the trailer held the 4 x 4 in place. It seemed to work.