Oilguy

Unbelievable!!!
I pulled out of a parking lot this afternoon and my trailer just dropped suddenly... I thought I blew the bag on the air hitch but I ended up breaking the A frame off behind the first cross member on the trailer!!!

After that it was hanging on by 2 little welds and one was starting to break..

It has over 400K miles and 7 years... So I got good service out of it...
I towed it back to the shop at a blazing 25 MPH and eased it into the garage... I got it jacked into place and welded flat strap over the sides and bottom so it should be stronger than original >>> Just needs to last a month so I can get my new rig built up and running....

Too late in the week to be a Monday!!!

OG

03RAMBUNCTIOUS

my buddy was towin his bobcat on a 18foot utility trailer bumper pull, welds broke at the tongue, chains broke. slid thru the intersection taking a nice line of asphalt out with it. luckily he was only going about 20mph. made alot of ruckus though.

TonyB

That's why they make break away kits for trailer with brakes. I'm a big advocate of safety. I'm not saying you guys aren't...just throwing in my $2.

Tony

03RAMBUNCTIOUS

yea that would be great if everyone kept up with there battery's and such.

Oilguy

Break away or safety chains aren't going to protect you from that!!

The whole A Frame Broke!!! Under the Trailer!!

So what if you hold on to the A frame section of the hitch when you let go of about 5000 of weight that happens to be on wheels!!! LOL...

Break away kit has a battery that mounts to the A Frame and if the box of the trailer breaks away it is going to rip all the wires out before the trailer brakes can possible engage....
This is something I NEVER saw coming... I patched it up and now I am going to the car wash to pressure wash the rest of the frame so I can get a closer look at the entire structure... I am learning a lot about metal fatigue!!

I am just lucky the welds on the cross member was good enough to hold it behind me!

OG

John DiMartino

What good is a breakway kit when the trailer tongue is still attached to the hitch ball,and the axles,and load just passed you?This is why commercial vehicles are supposed to have a daily pre trip inspection,just a quick look around to see if anything obvious is wrong.That may have caught it,unless driver was lazy and didnt feel like bending down to look at the tongue to trailer welds.

As for being an advocate of safety,arent we all,besides the breakaway kit is the law,not optional.Every trailer needs one if its got brakes,and its supposed to work.

TonyB

Then why do some trailer mfr's still offer it as an option? My little 18' flatbed did not have a break away kit, when I bought it new, back in 1994. AZ law requires brakes on anything towed over 1500lb.

AZ law requires brakes on anything towed over 1500lb. My 3klb boat did not have brakes - An option! The salesman wanted to ARGUE with me. SO, they ordered the kit. My 1st trip to a local lake, without the trailer brakes, through 8 miles of switchback with my F150 (years ago), warped the front rotors! I parked the boat and asked the dealer if they wanted to get the brakes in NOW or pay for repairing my front brakes! Funny how the brakes came in the next week! Never had a problem after that!

My point is, just because the law requires it, does not mean that everyone will comply with the law. Hmmm...maybe that's why lawyers have made such a name for themselves????

Tony

1-2-3

"That's why they make break away kits for trailer with brakes."

I'm still not sure if I'm a fan of these or not. I have them on both my trailer, and they are maintained, tested, and do work. In some cases I can see where if a trailer would have them, they would have stopped it from turning into oncoming traffic and prevent a colision, however, picture going 70 mph and all of a sudden, an 8000 pound trailer locks up in front of you. Someones going to get hurt.

I guess the real answer is to keep a close eye on your gear and make sure it's always in top shape, plus be aware of what's going on while you drive, leave a little early so you don't have to make up time, and if you are running behind, accept it and deal with the delays after you get there.

And boat trailers, regardles of size usually don't have brakes because they get dunked into water. Some will have surge brakes, which are not electric. Whoever it was that got the brakes added up there, I hope your unplugging them and letting them dry befoe plugging them back in. We brakes can make a controller go crazy.

SOhappy

All that CTD low-end torque will do that ya' know

cstroup

Makes a good point for monthy trailer inspections.

John DiMartino

I stand by all my statements, this is a commercial trailer, I say that because having 400K on it,it has to be,not a personal use boat or weekend flatbed trailer. For commercial trailers they MUST have a breakaway system if it has brakes.Laws on when you need brakes vary form state to state.In NY if its over 1000lb empty it needs brakes.This means that 1100 pop ups need brakes,but 3500lb single axle boat trailers that weigh 800 lbs without the boat do not need them.Depends on the law in your state.

Oilguy

I hear ya!
But if the entire tongue breaks off behind the break away system/battery/connections/chains/jack/ball and everything else... It is not going to do you any good! The break away will still be attached to the tongue attached to the ball attached to the truck!

I do a weekly quarterly inspection on my rig and I never would have detected this problem because of the location it broke off at... It broke right behind the first cross member under the body of the trailer... I inspect the outer tubing because that is where I expected to see any stress >> I was wrong!

So here is the lesson >> If any of you have a trailer that has over 3 - 400,000 miles on it >>> Check the A-Frame for stress cracks and metal fatigue.

I guess you can normally see cracks through the paint because it will show as a rust line >> However, mine cracked after the cross member and the air flow caused road dirt to collect on the frame and hid the crack under a thick coat of powdered dirt.

I am building a new service rig right now so this trailer will only have to last another month and then it is going to be the "back up" rig.

Oilguy

Dartmouth 12V

I'm sorry to hear what happened to your trailer.

Personally, I have had 3 trailers break a major structural component. The first was a trailer for crew shells that had its frame snap where the axles attached. The only thing holding it together was the shells on it. With some jack work and a torch, I managed to braze on a bunch of reenforcements and it completed the trip before being retired. The next one was an aluminum trailer that I was fixing the lights on and when I stepped on the tongue, it nearly broke off. That trailer tongue is now about a foot shorter and has some reenforcements in it. The final one was an aluminum trailer that had recently had a large gusset plate attached to it which created a stress concentration and cracked right through the frame while driving.

In a fatigue situation, steel does a lot better than aluminum although aluminum does have a huge weight advantage.