Trailer Emergency Brake Incident

[GolfAddict]

If I hurt your feelings and made you grab a tissue.. sorry.

No, I wasn't looking for an apology, but was kind of hoping to see one to the OP. Should have known better...

would you like to swap ignore listings too? I'll assume yes

No, the vast majority of your posts are much more mature and usually have such excellent advice and council. But I'll understand if you put me on yours - I'll selfishly continue to peruse your posts.

don't want to upset you again with all the big boy 'strong' talk here .

Oh good grief....

 

[Hillman314]

Aczlan, thanks for the links. Re: "The reason is that it is far more likely that your trailer will come loose and crash into someone else than that the breakaway brakes will apply when they shouldn't." -I'm not sure if this is true. As your link shows, a loose trailer has happened much too often, but I'm not sure if the data has been collected that shows what is more "likely" (or if a brake would of saved it.)
There's 2 issues: What's more likely, what's more dangerous? I will agree that loose trailers are probably much much more dangerous than a towed trailers that go into a skid (BUT not always). So what we are doing is playing with likelyhood percentages and multiplying that by a "degree of dangerousness" factor. It's a gamble either way. And from the OP's perspective the likelyhood that he'll experience a trailer that goes into a dangerous skid is 100% while his experience with a runaway trailer that has defeated the hitch and two safety chains and came loose is probably 0%. I certainly can see his perspective.
Don't get me wrong, I'll take the gamble with using the e-brake versus not using it, but this is case where trying to reduce one risk creates another.
It's like my house insurance: After 50 years will I be $1000's ahead or behind by buying it? Talk percentages all you want, but it depends on how my particular circumstances unfold = gambling. Or perhaps, maybe it's more like war: We'll sacrifice 1 soldier over there to save 10 people over here. (i.e. we'll have one misapplied brake accident fatality if we save 10 runaway trailer fatilites) That's all fine and well as long as you or your's are not the 1 in 10.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I read half these responses and could not read anymore, Most are wrong. I work on 3 to 5 trailers a week, for a living.

First off the trailer emergency brake is to activate the brakes if the trailer comes off the hitch ball or pintle hitch, the cable must be shorter than the chains.
Then the brakes are applied to slow the trailer for a controled stop, chains are ment to keep the trailer behind you. If the brakes are not applied, this could lead to possible chain failure, truck trailer damage, or worse. All trailer brakeaway switches, come with a long cable, they must be cut to length, and a snap hook should be installed, get the hook and the cable crimp type clamp from a hardware store, its easy to do.

The chains must be the proper length also, not dragging or twisted, they should be crossed at the tongue, to cradle tongue, if hitch comes unhooked, this prevent it from digging in and possibly breaking chains or worse. The chains and hooks should be heavy enough, not to break, many are not!

I would bet 75% of the trailers and pickups on the road are not properly set up, hooked up or maintained. Take 10 min. and go check yours, it could save a life.

Have a safe day

Dave

You are correct Dave. Like you I work on trailers but will say its not as many as you. I always set up the brake away 3" shorter then the chains.

One other major issue I see all the time is people put the brake away around the ball or pin holding the draw bar in the receiver. This is point less in 50% of the accidents I have seen where the bar, ball, or pin fail.

Chris

 

[K TWO]

On one of my trailers I just give the cable a turn or two around the vertically mounted jack.

I'd be careful with this idea as a couple raps around anything will just cinch on that item causing the cable to break long before it pulls the pin. Try it. On a slow pull, it may work but on a quick jerk, it will not.

 

[kneedeep]

I also have used the smallest zip ties to take up the slack in my cable and many others. They are sacrificial and will break if the cable is stretched tight.

Chris

My trailer dealer made a loose overhand knot to keep the cable from hanging too low but I like your idea much better- Thanks Chris

 

[kneedeep]

I read half these responses and could not read anymore, Most are wrong. I work on 3 to 5 trailers a week, for a living.

First off the trailer emergency brake is to activate the brakes if the trailer comes off the hitch ball or pintle hitch, the cable must be shorter than the chains.
Then the brakes are applied to slow the trailer for a controled stop, chains are ment to keep the trailer behind you. If the brakes are not applied, this could lead to possible chain failure, truck trailer damage, or worse. All trailer brakeaway switches, come with a long cable, they must be cut to length, and a snap hook should be installed, get the hook and the cable crimp type clamp from a hardware store, its easy to do.

The chains must be the proper length also, not dragging or twisted, they should be crossed at the tongue, to cradle tongue, if hitch comes unhooked, this prevent it from digging in and possibly breaking chains or worse. The chains and hooks should be heavy enough, not to break, many are not!

I would bet 75% of the trailers and pickups on the road are not properly set up, hooked up or maintained. Take 10 min. and go check yours, it could save a life.

Have a safe day

Dave

Please give some idea of how to determine proper chain and cable lengths for the ones here who want advice from a person who knows the proper way.

Thanks

 

[cqaigy2]

THe FACTS are:
The cable CAUSED his trailer to go into a dangerous skid which easily could of "cut off a school buss full of kids, running them off the road, killing a few, injuring many, and in the process, 4-5 other vehicles are involved in this accident."

The emergency cable DIDN"T save his unhooked trailer from "cutting off a school buss full of kids, running them off the road, killing a few, injuring many, and in the process, 4-5 other vehicles are involved in this accident."

My point being: Most insurance isn't free. There is a cost.

I think most people here are trying to make the point that it wasn't the cable that CAUSED the issue, rather that it wasn't used correctly and that is what caused the issue. Don't disable safety devices because of lack of understanding how to use then but to strive to better understand how to use your tools.

 

[Diamondpilot]

What I do is just hold the chains strait out and make the brake away cable 3" shorter. I make my wiring pigtail 3" longer.

I figured this way if the trailer comes off the ball then the chains should grab and the wiring pigtail should stay in allowing the brake controller to do its job along with the brake away being pulled applying maximum brakes to the trailer.


Chris

 

[Furu]

THe FACTS are:
The cable CAUSED his trailer to go into a dangerous skid which easily could of "cut off a school buss full of kids, running them off the road, killing a few, injuring many, and in the process, 4-5 other vehicles are involved in this accident."

It seems that some are projecting a trailer with full emergency brakes activated that is still attached to the tow vehicle is possible or likely to skid out of control. As the OP stated it smoked big time and he pulled over and determined what happened. No dangerous skid just locked up brakes. If a trailer is behind the tow vehicle and still attached and all 4 brakes lock up symmetrically ( which they should) the trailer will not skid out of control unless the tow vehicle locks up all it's brakes and steers violently to the side. The trailer becomes a dead weight with a lot of friction but should track straight as the tow vehicle brakes to a stop. The trailer tires will most likely be destroyed depending on speed at lockup but there should not be a transverse skid unless only one side brakes lock. Thus I do not see how you can compare the risk to not having the emergency cable connected. Matter of fact I see no risk at all. If you have not checked the status of the battery powering the system you might want to do so they do not last forever.

Years ago the trailer shop that help me with my first trailer with emergency brakes showed me how to take the cable thread it through a ring hole on the tow vehicle hitch and then return to a clip that could be attached to a link on the safety chain and thus could adjust the length as needed.
I have wondered about that but it seems a common practice and is normally on a link that is 2-3 from the trailer attach point. Since the cable would be pulled prior to chains going tight it seems ok. What do our two experts (Dr Dave and soundguy) think of that technique.

 

[mojoinco]

You are correct Dave. Like you I work on trailers but will say its not as many as you. I always set up the brake away 3" shorter then the chains.

One other major issue I see all the time is people put the brake away around the ball or pin holding the draw bar in the receiver. This is point less in 50% of the accidents I have seen where the bar, ball, or pin fail.

Chris

To add to the fire: my one 'error' with a hitch (that caused a failure) was when I didn't put the ball carrier in far enough for the pin to catch it (long story). The point? When the carrier pulled out and the hitch fell down I felt/heard something wrong, applied the truck brakes, the jack rubbed on the bumper and cut/pinched the wiring and the cable in two.
Ooops. Lots of oops. I have a different truck now; then I think I routed the cable through one of the extra ball mount holes in the step, or clipped it to one of the safety chain mounts. No one was hurt in my dumb mistake (my wife exacted her revenge for marring her new trailer while still in sight of the factory).

I have been wrapping mine through/around the step in my bumper and back to the latch locking pin to make it shorter. Keeps the cable above the chains, and the cable over the pivot point.
I need to make sure my cable is shorter than the chains. Never spent enough time thinking about that.

Not sure how one would change the outcome, but thoughtful routing of cables for function for the event AFTER there is a hitch failure is what is important. This should have been patently obvious when I did it to begin with, but I never thought about the cables getting cut. My experience is free for you to learn from.

I haven't had any trailers with good enough brakes that [at least in a straight line and good weather] the trailer would swerve when locked up (I suppose failed brakes on one side could cause it). The tow vehicle has never been significantly affected when I have manually applied the brakes [again, I have only done this when driving in a straight line] on the trailer to see what happened and how it affected me. Like a lot of things, practicing something in advance is a good idea (and to apply the mandatory statement 'in a safe place or condition'). I am sure weather and curves would offer a different result.

To the original poster: You had the right idea when you posted -- "What should I do to not have this happen again?". And if you were sure of leaving the breakaway switch off you wouldn't have posted in the first place. Lots of constructive discussion here (even if all it did was make us think). It's good to think. Even though it hurts more than it should!