Trailer Safety

[linky]

Monday morning i saw a Toyota Camry sitting sideways on the front of a 16ft. trailer. The trailer had come lose from a truck on the other side of the road crossed the median strip and hit the car head on. It appeared that the trailer had no safety chains or breakaway brake. The car was totaled and the trailer looked as though it fared well. I don't know if the driver was hurt or not. Make sure you use those chains and hook up that breakaway. I wish that i had gotten a picture.

[TFL]

It's a scary thing to see somthing like that and know that it could be you in either position. I had it happen to me i had chains and luckily i was in my pasture dumping grass.

[little green guy]

That happened to me last spring, totaled the car and the trailer and the driver went to the hospital but she was ok. I had safty chians but the broke. Not a fun experiece :(

[SCAPEASAURUSREX]

A fellow contractor I ran into years ago told me a story of someone pulling a smaller , like 6.5 X 14 or so trailer with a Mason dump and he could not see the trailer behind him. So cruising along on his way home one night he gets there and realizes that the trailer was missing.. All his equipment and all .. Not sure how the story ended exaclty but I am sure most of his equip was toast.. But fortunatly no one was hurt including cars..

[SCAPEASAURUSREX]

On Saftey..

I usually leave the trailer hooked up to the dump for 3 or 4 days in a row depending whats going on.. SO I have gotten into the habit of checking the saftey chains and breakaway cable and lights every morning and every night before I leave .. and to take it one step further I check them during each stop I make as well.. Never can be too safe with this stuff..

[CSRA Landscaping]

I bought a Haulmark 7x16 (actually am buying it) and the breakaway seemed to just fizzle out after a while. I noticed that the thing didn't seem like it wanted to activate when I hooked it up, the light wouldn't come on. So, I've just taken the cable and wrapped it up so I didn't have to fool with the thing, since it seemed to be so much junk anyhow. Input?

[John DiMartino]

What do you mean the breakaway starts to fizzle out?it is only needs to work for less than a minute.In nY state the fine for a breakaway that is inopperative is 1500 dollars,and State police check commercial vehicles regularly.They pull the plug,,and your wiriing,and tell you to pull forward,all the brakes better lock,and drag or its another 1000 dollars a tire that doesnt lock.I would get it fixed,maybe the battery is bad,or weak,or your charge wire to the truck isnt hooked up.

[CSRA Landscaping]

John, I didn't say that it fizzles out, I said that it fizzled out. It seemed to be a loose wire or bad battery but I never got around to checking on it. To be honest, the thought of a loose wire gave me a headache, thinking of finding the problem. Now, when the wire is pulled, the light doesn't even blink.

[John DiMartino]

Jeff,check your mail.

[CSRA Landscaping]

John, mail checked, reply sent! :D

[CharlieIliff]

Jeff:
I've had the runaway switch corrode so it didn't make good contact when plug was pulled. Cleanup with a file worked for a while, but replacement is cheap.

[Albemarle Lawn]

Trailers can be spookey when it all goes wrong.

We run a Mitsubishi-Fuso with a landscpae body. Does everything my truck+trailer did, and takes up about half the space on the road.

4 Wheel disc brakes with ABS and dual calipers, plus engine exhuast brake. And 12-15 MPG fully loaded with A/C frosty.

NO MORE TRAILERS!

Ken

[steveair]

Hello,

My trailers are both pretty new, so they don't have many problems, but the break battery on my enclosed is always going bad. I recharged it a few times, but it doesn't seem to last long.

My comments on trailer safety are directed at the manufactures more than anyone else. Just look at how cheap all the stuff is made. All the break away stuff for the breaks is made of cheap plastic, and the wiring looks like a 3 year old did it.........even on brand new trailers.

As for safety chains, I really wonder if the ones the manufacturer installed will hold. On my dump trailer, it came with cables instead of chains. I seriously doubt they would hold if the trailer weighing 10k (which is the manufacturers gvw) came unhooked. But, thats what THEY installed. Even if the cables do hold, I wonder if the pothetic chain link they tack welded too the trailer A frame will hold the cable.

Not for nothing, but if safety is such a big issue, I think the manufacturers should put a little more effort into the subject. Trailer wiring/connectors/wiring looks like something you'd see on a 'power wheels' you'd buy for a kid. Also, all the saftey chains, hitches, etc. all look like a aftert thought when they got done. Almost as if they forgot to put them on and had to come up with something quick so they could send it out.

And for break away trailer breaking, I'm not sure what is better. If I am going down a interstate in busy traffic at 65 MPH, is it better to have a trailer rip off the back of the truck and come to a screachin halt in the middle of the highway or better to have it break away and run across the road. In either case, breaks or not, its going to be ugly...........\

steveair

[75]

I've felt the same way about "Factory" safety chains etc on trailers. One of the first things I did when I bought a secondhand camping trailer last summer was install a better set of chains.

On the subject of the worst-case scenario of a trailer actually breaking free, I would definitely want it to stop as opposed to shoot off across the road - reason being that traffic behind is "supposed" to follow at a safe distance behind to allow for stopping in the even of an "unusual situation". (I say "supposed" to because I don't see too many that actually do!)

Having said all that, proper hitch/coupler/safety chains - and checking things out every time you pull your trailer - should prevent the breakway box from ever having to do it's job.

BTW, most of you probably already know this but if you didn't, big-rig trailers don't require a breakway box because their air brake systems are designed to apply the parking brakes (spring brakes or "maxis" as they are often called) in the event of air loss, as would be caused by a trailer coming uncoupled & yanking the air lines off. The same "fail-safe" system will apply the parking brakes on the whole combination if the system pressure drops too low as well, even if the trailer doesn't come unhooked.

[linky]

I do agree with you guys about cheap safety components. The best thing is to have a good set of chains. Cross them and if the length is correct they would or should be able to support the tongue of the trailer if needed.

[TFL]

steveair what kind of trailer do you have try Big tex or preformace both are made really well their head offices are in mt pleasant tx but they sell nation wide no three year old wiring here.

[SCAPEASAURUSREX]

Jeremy,

I have seen these trailers from a company called Texas Bragg, They are in Tx but also have a place in NC, which is where I saw them and they looked incredible. If I had my truck when I was down there I would have come back up to NJ with one.. They were the best constrcted trailers I have seen And I looked at them all up in NJ.. Sorry for the digression...