Unplug the trailer harness from the truck, pull the pin and pull the truck forward a little bit. You should be able to tell if the trailer brakes are dragging.

 

Darn fine idea! I'll do that this weekend.

Thanks,
Chris

 

Make SURE you disconnect the trailer harness from the truck BEFORE you energize the break away switch. Some brake controllers can be seriously damaged if you activate the break away system while the controller is connected to the trailer.

 

Well like most people who have made a post here, I've had the trailer come off the ball and it passing us on the right side!!! I pulled infront of it to try and stop it with my back bumper, but it was too late. I bounced off my truck and took out a couple of mailboxes.

Needless to say, a couple of hours of mailbox repair and $150 later, I ALWAYS use the chains, even if makes the trailer bounce and skip on turns.

Hunter

 

why dont you get a little longer chaines like a link or two? that would release the tension on it for sure. heck why you have the chaines off go with a heavyer chain

 

What in world is wrong with you? Use the safety chains. Then you don't have to call the insurer to say, oh by the way, my trailer broke loose, because I was too cheap or too stupid to not hook it up and it ran off the road killing the horses inside. Duh....

I pay plenty for commercial insurance, but that's not the point. If I don't have the required chains in place, I don't think my insurer will renew my contract after an accident. Do you?

 

Due to the importance of using safety chains and therefore the importance of this topic, I'd suggest that instead of closing it because of a certain person or persons.....maybe those certain people should just bow out and leave this thread alone. Maybe just take a step back from it and take a few deep breaths and calm down?? There's no reason this can't be a civil discussion.....even if there are differing opinions. We're all grown men here....let's act like it.

Did those words really just come out of MY mouth??

 

Awright now, BBD just made an offhand comment, which I am sure most people would not do, and I KNOW that most people took offense to.

I'm betting BBD wouldn't do it anyway, but he sure stirred something up.

Everyone please be nice.

Chris

 

I had to move a friends GN horse trailer. I was only moving it across the city and twice I looked at the chains and pondered not hooking them up. I did hook them up anyway.
So now I am on the by pass and every now and then I here a loud thump and I figure I must've either not locked the coupler on the ball or theres something wrong with the coupler.
I pull off the road and check...all is fine. I looked over the whole trailer and the hitch rails and the bolts etc etc.
All looks fine.

Off I go again and thump thump again! I am almost at my destination so I keep going. I make it there safely, drop the landing gear, unhook the chains, unplug and crank the trailer up.
Here is where I found the thump...the coupler assembly was not tight! I was wondering why the coupler was still on the ball even though I was cranking it higher and higher. Then I noticed some unpainted surface of the coupler pipe showing... Problem found and solved. Coupler pipe was loose inside the outer pipe.

Same trailer different time...Buddy hooks up the trailer. I look it over...all is good...we pull into the yard kind of fast and BANG, the trailer jumps off the ball and the chains drag the trailer...I had a small dent in the bed where the coupler landed.
Looked at the coupler and the spring in the clamp handle had broke from corrosion? The handle/pin worked its way out in less then 5 miles! Another thing to watch out for.

I passed on hauling that trailer again.

 

"Pappyman this artcile 393.70 is refering to pintle style hook ups. Not goosenecks. The only ball and socket reference is in reference to trucks used to transport mobile homes in tow-away/drive-away situations." (BDD is Correct)

Pintle hooks & ball and sockets are classified together (in tow bar applications). They are considered free floating, I argued that the gooseneck ball is locked similar to a fifth wheel but the officer did not see it that way. i was just moving it from spokane to missoula for him and the Courd'alean scale house thought it would be nice to flash me in.

So you can all argue all you want about whether the break away system is adiquate or whether or not you are required to have chains on a goose neck, frankly i dont care, (but as far as i can read into the law they are not required in outr applications) .


But i will tell you that just relying on a break away controller is a lawsuit looking for a place to happen, irregardless of if your insurance company covers it, the coverage stops at some point. Negligence which the state will argue against you equates to involuntary manslaughter, i seem to recall a hay hauler in N.colorado or wyoming who spent 6 months in jail and had heafty punitive damages against him when he got out solely because the state found him to be reckless for not having his chains hooked up on his gooseneck when the ball broke loose and even though the tongue dug in and the brakes engaged it still managed to cross that little yellow line on a two lane highway and provide a giant obsticle for a head on killing 3 out of the five people on a family on vacation in a mini-van.

I can think of three other jail time or massive punitive award cases related to lack of safety chains in Oregon and Washington. So say and do what you will, there are just a few examples from the last ten years that i can think of. But they all equate to operator error lack of equiptment maintenance.

BTW Nobody is stupid, i have never had a gooseneck ever come off, never had an unsafe situation with a trialer or hitch failing or a wreck even running heavy and there are times i have run without chains but when i read about that guy in the paper i decided i wasnt taking anymore chances at least not on the legal end. Either way though if you have to use the chains with a GN you are going to be all over the road and you werent checking you equiptment throughly enough, trailers, ***** & hitches dont break without warning cracks, rust, pops, and broken welds all indicate something is happening and is getting worse.



Anyways keep the tires on the pavement
D

 

I agree with you whole hartedly, my understanding before that day was that fifth wheel and goose neck are exempt from chains just like a fifthwheel tractor trailer. go figure cops will argue thier point of view till they are blue in the face anyways.

Thanks for posting that tid bit i imagine it was an idaho Law, im out of the business now anyways desk job now, you get tired of so many different inturpretations of the law. I will climb into my post and correct it right now that i hate posting mis-information as fact on these pages. So hopefully someone can get this right

 

rules and reg's 393.71 (10) covers safety chains and cables and disconnects or failure of the tow bar

I pull both 5th and goosenecks and have had 5th's disconnect because of not being locked bent my side wall on the bed a little....I've only had one gooseneck problem of disconnect after some very ruff RR tracks the gooseneck ball broke but my safety cables kept the trailer with the truck....it was turned over to my insurance and curtis the maker of my hitch payed everything