Tow Chains & Snap Hooks

[Thommo]

Can I have a rant here?

Why is it that every second car I see with a trailer in tow appears to have cheapo snap hooks attaching the safety chains to the vehicle that are at their best weight rated to hold your car keys!

How could any one be so naive, No do not answer that, who has to be killed because of these idiots. No wonder we are becoming such a Nanny State with laws to protect ourselves from ourselves.

Worst still, I was recently helping a highly experienced traffic Copper who just loves to defect vehicles and he has these things on his camper trailer chains! He had absolutely no idea about their weight rating! He bought them because they were on special at the checkout at Mitre 10 and were "made of metal" so they must be OK and "they are easy to use". He even had some rated D-shackles in his tool box but did not use them because they "take too long" to do up. (They are the ones that were probably supplied with the trailer).

Even if you bought 1/2 decent stainless ones they not going to stop a trailer from overtaking you at 60 KPH.

So you can be defected for installing various heavy duty off road safety items but it is OK to tow a 3.5 ton trailer with key chain snap hooks!

Rant Over :twisted:

[VladTepes]

Totally agree !

[S3ute]

Can I have a rant here?

Why is it that every second car I see with a trailer in tow appears to have cheapo snap hooks attaching the safety chains to the vehicle that are at their best weight rated to hold your car keys!

Rant Over :twisted:

Short answer is probably to stop the chain ends dragging along the road, or otherwise because they make a nice match to the totally inadequate lightweight link chains that are typically tack welded on many box trailers.....

To be honest, I suppose most people use the cheap hooks because they simply don't know better - who tells them other than the guy at the counter of the hardware store or servo? It certainly isn't on the tow hitch of most small trailers.

A bit like storing petrol under your house - who knows until................ That's another rant coming on from me.

Cheers,

[V8Ian]

I'm constantly amazed at the number of people who don't cross the chains to form a cradle and/or have chains too long to keep the drawbar from hitting the bitumen.

[CraigE]

I will get into this, are you sure they are cheap snap hooks? If so then yes they are dense however I use steel Karabiners that are more than capable and have a better load rating than most D shackles used in this application. Most D shackles used on trailers are rated from 500kg to 1000kg max, thats if they are even rated shackles, most shackles I have seen on trailers are not even rated. Karabiners are rated from 3 tonne to 5 tonne and already have inbuilt safety margins already.
:twisted:

[Tank]

"Rated" shackles should have larger diameter pins than the body of the shackle, one way to distinguish from toy shackles and should have the WLL or SWL embossed on the body of the shackle. If you can you should use shackles that have pins with a hole through the big end so as you can put a wire through and around the body of the shackle to ensure the pin doesn't rattle loose when off-road, it's called "mousing", Regards Frank.

[Thommo]

I will get into this, are you sure they are cheap snap hooks? If so then yes they are dense however I use steel Karabiners that are more than capable and have a better load rating than most D shackles used in this application. Most D shackles used on trailers are rated from 500kg to 1000kg max, thats if they are even rated shackles, most shackles I have seen on trailers are not even rated. Karabiners are rated from 3 tonne to 5 tonne and already have inbuilt safety margins already.
:twisted:

I would be happy if people were using real carabiners, I would even use some of my abseiling carabiners if push came to a shove but I would never use them again for rope work, "D-shackles" would be much cheaper.

No I have never seen anyone use carabiners just cheapo snap hooks!
Unfortunately some snap hooks are advertised as "carabiners".

[FeatherWeightDriver]

Size and looks are not everything, my 3.5mm key ring has a rated breaking strength of over 1 tonne :)

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Probably not recommended for this application though as they do not have a way of locking the (screw) gate shut.

[mick88]

It is one of my pet hates too!
I have witnessed a trailer that did not have the chains connected come astray in a 60kph zone and it went a long way before it stopped. Luckily no was injured but on the positive side it staked an almost new rear tire on the towing vehicle. So a $250 lesson for the owner and hopefully a mistake they will never make again. Luckily the trailer was empty but this person also reguarly tows horsefloats. The thought of a runaway loaded horsefloat at 80-100 kph makes for some horrible thoughts.
It is very common around here to see trailers with either the chains not connected and dragging on the road or they are connected with those two bob snap hooks.
I have never read it but was once told that bow shackles should be used as a preference instead of D shackles!

Cheers, Mick.

[Thommo]

Feather Weight Driver, agreed and at 8 Euros (about $12) each I do not think these animals will be sitting in the bargin teasers at the hardware checkouts. I agree without an effective gate lock they would not be the most suitable but certainly better than the cheapos.

Mick88, I think for certain weight ratings/pull angles and appliations & uses you may be correct. I certainly use bow shackles for recovery work. I just know someone here will be able to give us the good oil on "bow" v "D" shackles.

Thanks team for your replies at least I am not the only one who has noticed all the cheapo snap hooks out there on trailer chains. I feel better for my rant now :)

[Dougal]

I will get into this, are you sure they are cheap snap hooks? If so then yes they are dense however I use steel Karabiners that are more than capable and have a better load rating than most D shackles used in this application. Most D shackles used on trailers are rated from 500kg to 1000kg max, thats if they are even rated shackles, most shackles I have seen on trailers are not even rated. Karabiners are rated from 3 tonne to 5 tonne and already have inbuilt safety margins already.
:twisted:

Given the cost difference between even rated shackles and carabiners. Why would you?

On this side of the Tasman over 2.5T you need to run two safety chains crossed. Safety chains must be bolted to the trailer (never welded). Under 2.5T one safety chain is allowed.

[FeatherWeightDriver]

Feather Weight Driver, agreed and at 8 Euros (about $12) each I do not think these animals will be sitting in the bargin teasers at the hardware checkouts. I agree without an effective gate lock they would not be the most suitable but certainly better than the cheapos.

They are somewhat exotic, and yes as like other PPE you won't find them in a hardware store bargain bin.

Having said that you are right - I bet 99.99% of the shackles / snaps that look cheap are cheap and probably not worthy to hold more than a couple hundred kgs at best

[Tank]

Feather Weight Driver, agreed and at 8 Euros (about $12) each I do not think these animals will be sitting in the bargin teasers at the hardware checkouts. I agree without an effective gate lock they would not be the most suitable but certainly better than the cheapos.

Mick88, I think for certain weight ratings/pull angles and appliations & uses you may be correct. I certainly use bow shackles for recovery work. I just know someone here will be able to give us the good oil on "bow" v "D" shackles.

Thanks team for your replies at least I am not the only one who has noticed all the cheapo snap hooks out there on trailer chains. I feel better for my rant now :)
"D" shackles are designed to take one sling eye (or 2 very skinny eyes of wire rope) in the body of the shackle, "Bow" shackles are designed to take multiple sling/strap eyes in the body of the shackle, no difference in strength between same dia. pins and body, Regards Frank.

[CraigE]

I would be happy if people were using real carabiners, I would even use some of my abseiling carabiners if push came to a shove but I would never use them again for rope work, "D-shackles" would be much cheaper.

No I have never seen anyone use carabiners just cheapo snap hooks!
Unfortunately some snap hooks are advertised as "carabiners".

Yeah you are right shackles are cheaper but we retire karabiners regularly so I get plenty of spares to use for this type of thin and in the shed, tie downs etc, but would never use them for rescue work or recreational abseiling again.
In my experience most of the trailer on the road have non rated D shackles.