Thread: an old guy told me

There have been other stories of this happening but nothing conclusive.

Garry

I Know of 2 cases and got to physically eyeball one...

the one that I got eyes on the hitch was still there the ball had failed at the thread. Had the hitch failed there would have been no damage as the chains were hooked up to the same part as the ball.

An old guy told me once that when you hook up the safety chains, cross them left to right, right to left. This way if the trailer / van etc was to come off, it would rest on the chains.
That was when I was 18. Since then I have had two trailers come off and the crossed chains have saved me both times.
Cheers, Craig

Crossing the chains is at least an official reccomendation here in Tassie, for trailers above 850Kg.

I am pretty shure though that there is an actual requirement.

That aside, there are a lot of trailers/vans being towed that warrant the pracice, getting about uncrossed.

Right or wrong I was told it is the law here in NSW's that you must cross the chains if you have two fitted.


cheers,
Terry

Another tip is, have the chain at a length that the slide in tongue doesn't slide all the way out, this way if a pin brakes, it won't slide out and your trailer/van/camper won't drop onto the ground.

Baz.

Originally Posted by rovers4

Crossing the chains is at least an official reccomendation here in Tassie, for trailers above 850Kg.

I am pretty shure though that there is an actual requirement.

That aside, there are a lot of trailers/vans being towed that warrant the pracice, getting about uncrossed.

I believe it has changed recently and is now required for all new trailers.
Or at least that is the spell at a few places registering trailers when they slog their customers for welding on the second chain.

There have been some cases if the hitch failing to stay in. Most likely the pins had not fully connected. Mitchell Bros have supplied some hitches where this has happened but they were also told by LR to remove the mention of it on their web site.