On Thu, 17 Nov 1994, Kevin Meek wrote:
> use. However, I had a rental trailer come loose from my Suburban
> last weekend. I was lucky that the safety chains held the trailer
> from totally breaking free. I found that the hitch pin and retaining
> clip (which holds the tow bar and ball) was gone, and therefore the
> tow bar pulled right out of the receiver.
The clip is very unlikely to come out on its own, unless it had completely
lost its spring. More likely some person of very little brain thought it
would be funny to take the pin.
Locks are available to prevent this. Some other options are to put the
ball mount in only when towing (of course, *you* can forget the pin), or
drill out the clip hole to a clearance fit on a 1/4 bolt, then use a
locktighted 1/4 inch bolt in place of the clip. For even more security,
if you never intend to remove the ball mount, you can have a welder dab
weld on the unbent end of the mount retaining pin so it cannot come out by
accident. You can get it out by grinding off the weld if you must.
It is good practice to cross the safety chains under the trailer tongue
when you connect them to the hitch. The theory is that the crossed chains
will catch the trailer tongue if it falls off the hitch for any reason.
Another reason for having electric trailer brakes is that they make it
easy to have a breakaway brake actuator. This is a drycell battery and
switch arrangement. A cable that attaches to your hitch closes the switch
and applies the trailer brakes if the trailer pulls away from your hitch.
It seems like good insurance; I had one on the horse trailer.
Ray Gibbons
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