Got Safety Chains?

[austinado16]

Just a little PSA:

A PUP owner over on PUX just had his camper come off the hitch ball while towing it up his (hill) driveway.  It rolled backward, crashed through a brick retaining wall and then fell 3' down onto the sidewalk below.  They had to call a tow truck to extract the thing because (it sounds like) the rear was down on the sidewalk and the front was still up on the retaining wall...

It's not been made clear as to:
1) Why it came off the ball (or wasn't properly latched to the ball).
2) Why the safety chains didn't hold it (or weren't even hooked to the TV).
3) Why the break-away switch didn't activate the electric brakes.

So just a quick reminder, especially to those who are new to towing, and/or new to PUPs.  Be methodical and be vigilant about your safety chains, hitch lock, and if equiped, your break-away switch!  Not only can you destroy your camper and whatever it hits, but you could injur or kill someone!  Slow down when hooking up, and unhooking and if need be, talk your way through the process......like a pilot doing the in-cockpit preflight.

Remember cross the safety chains under the tongue so that if the tongue were to fall, it gets caught in the crossed chains and held stable.  If your chains aren't long enough to do this, buy new chains.  If your chains are so long that they drag the ground sometimes, give them a twist or 2 before hooking them up to the TV....or buy new chains.  Your S hooks need to have rubber straps that go over the end that is passed through your TV hitch.  This keeps the S hook from bouncing out.  New chains come with spring loaded wire retainers that do this job.  

Another little bit of advice; the driver should be the one doing 100% of the hooking up and unhooking.  Everything else can be a team effort, but this should be the Captain's responsibility IMO.

Here's my personal near miss:
I got in a hurry unhitching at a slopped site 2 years ago.  I got a real wake up when the camper started rolling backward and just as I was about to grab on and go for a ride:yikes: the safety chains went "KA-WANG" and saved the day.  Yours truely forgot the wheel chocks.  The camper would have gone backward about 10' and then down a steep bank into an occupied tent site below us.  I'm sure it would have killed someone because they had a couple of tents and about 10 people total including a bunch of young-uns.

[JimS]

Damned good advice!

Most of us have made a similar BooBoo and by dumb luck have come out okay.  Mine was about 10 years ago when I was replacing the brake rotors on the rear of my Jeep GC, when for some reason, while I was reaching for a part, the truck came crashing down!  Fortunately, I was not under it or I would have been sqashed like a bug.  As it turned out, a wheel chock was not placed tight enough against the other wheel and allowed just enough movement for the jack stands to tip and then boom!

[LACamper]

A coworker of my wife's was killed a few weeks ago when the jack slipped while he was under a vehicle while changing a tire. No one knows why he went under there, but he shouldn't have. Don't trust a jack. Block all 4 wheels. Don't even trust jack stands. Cinder blocks are cheap, use a few.

The most complicated claim I was ever involved in (I'm an insurance agent) was a trailer claim. A guy was pulling his boat with his neighbors van on the interstate. The van had a blowout and hit the guard rail. The trailer came loose and the safety chains came off. The boat and trailer jumped the median into the oncoming traffic on the interstate. The boat and trailer seperated but were still connected by the crank rope. The boat hit a semi, motor first. The semi lost control and hit another car. The trailer rope was caught by another car and that dragged the trailer into yet another car. In the mean time the original van bounced off the guard rail and hit someone else... I'm not even going to go into the legal and financial aspects of this whole mess! Anyway, it was a disaster. Turns out the tire on the van was bald and the whole thing could have been avoided by spending $150 on a new tire. PLEASE inspect your tow vehicle, trailer, and connections before getting on the road!

[aw738]

A coworker of my wife's was killed a few weeks ago when the jack slipped while he was under a vehicle while changing a tire. No one knows why he went under there, but he shouldn't have. Don't trust a jack. Block all 4 wheels. Don't even trust jack stands. Cinder blocks are cheap, use a few.

Do not use concrete blocks. A neighbor was killed when the Jeep he was working on crushed him. It was setting on concrete block and they collapsed. On a level surface jack stands are safer.

[LACamper]

I meant using the blocks as a backup to the jack stands...

[coach]

Thanks for sharing, I found the post at PUX, here is a link
http://www.popupexplorer.com/forum/index.php?topic=72101.0

How many times I have read that once the trailer coupler is secured and latched (with safety pin in place), to use the jack to raise the trailer/vehicle combination 2"-4" to ensure the ensure the coupler is securely attached.

[austinado16]

Re: the jack stand issue.

If you use the 4 legged stands, they aren't so apt to tip as the 3 legged "tube" style stands.  So watch out for that.

I started using metal ramps a few years ago.  I've got a "normal" set for cars or trucks that are normal height, and I've got one of the yellow sets that are sort of hump back and the plastic ramp wedges that go with them for use with cars that are too low for the regular ramps.  Very secure.

If you do use stands, it's a good idea (like the cinder block/concrete block idea to slide one or 2 of the car's tires in under the car. That way, if the car falls, it lands on the tires, giving you some safety space.

[JohnandLeann]

How many times I have read that once the trailer coupler is secured and latched (with safety pin in place), to use the jack to raise the trailer/vehicle combination 2"-4" to ensure the ensure the coupler is securely attached.                                                                                     

Best advice and procedure that anyone can do before heading out.  I do this each time I hook up.  Dropped the tongue just once and of course it was the ONE TIME I did not do this check.  Good thing I was still on my street at the time.:yikes:

[GlennS]

I have to completely agree about No Blocks. Period. If they are used as "backups", the vehicle falling on them is even more likely to cause them to fail than if it is sitting on them. Sort of like a hammer hitting a concrete block. Try that sometime.

The car/trailer tires do work OK as a backup. Can't crush them with a PUP.

A suggestion on order of dismount:
- release ball clamp
- remove chains
- if you have them, remove the cable for the breakaway last.
  That way, if anything is wrong, it will set the brakes if the
   PUP tries to run away. Unless it's trying to run towards your
   car/truck! Ooops.

Happy PUP'ing to you all. We put about 10K miles on our rig last year, from the OR coast to WV in the snow. Hope to do some similar travels this year.

[austinado16]

I have to completely agree about No Blocks. Period. If they are used as "backups", the vehicle falling on them is even more likely to cause them to fail than if it is sitting on them. Sort of like a hammer hitting a concrete block. Try that sometime.

The car/trailer tires do work OK as a backup. Can't crush them with a PUP.

A suggestion on order of dismount:
- release ball clamp
- remove chains
- if you have them, remove the cable for the breakaway last.
  That way, if anything is wrong, it will set the brakes if the
   PUP tries to run away. Unless it's trying to run towards your
   car/truck! Ooops.

Happy PUP'ing to you all. We put about 10K miles on our rig last year, from the OR coast to WV in the snow. Hope to do some similar travels this year.

I would modify that slightly:
1) Put down the wheel chocks
2) Put down tongue wheel
3) Disconnect trailer light wiring
4) Release ball clamp
5) Crank tongue up off hitch ball
6) Remove safety chains and break-away lanyard
7) Pull TV forward

[coach]

If it is steep enough to require chocks to prevent runaway, I do.

If not, I move the PU around on the site for the best view.

[brainpause]

Damned good advice!

Most of us have made a similar BooBoo and by dumb luck have come out okay.  Mine was about 10 years ago when I was replacing the brake rotors on the rear of my Jeep GC, when for some reason, while I was reaching for a part, the truck came crashing down!  Fortunately, I was not under it or I would have been sqashed like a bug.  As it turned out, a wheel chock was not placed tight enough against the other wheel and allowed just enough movement for the jack stands to tip and then boom!

Same here...I was replacing a hard-to-get-to distributor cap on a Century. I was on soft ground anyway, and I had just crawled out to get a tool, and the ground under the jacks collapsed. I would have been killed for sure. Just lucky, I guess.

This happened 16 years ago, and I'm slightly smarter now.

Larry