[a-z racing 1]

For those of you that tow a trailer with the electric brakes and have a safety pull cable that activates the brakes in an emergency. Do Not attach the cable through your receiver hitch where the chains go, but attach the cable through the hitch ball hole in bumper or to bumper support but not to receiver hitch in case you are in a very bad accident situation like i was while pulling my 28' enclosed and class 5 receiver hitch tore in half off truck and the half with safety chain attached stayed with tongue of trailer and did not activate brakes. This would not have happen if the cable was run through hitch ball hole like i do now. FYI

 

[Nova Thug]

Thanks for the tip.. Class 5 hitches are built pretty stout and should be stronger then the vehicle chassis they are attached to. The loads and stress they are designed to endure necessatates over building the connective link between trailer and tow vehicle. I can only imagine the violence it took to tare one off of a truck chassis..

Hope you are well..

 

[SCHWABIE]

thank you for the tip , I hope all is well
that's crazy that the hitch failed

 

[a-z racing 1]

Was glad that the hitch did fail and rip apart when the trailer jacked knifed or my truck would have probably rolled over instead of doing a 540 degree spin and landing on bridge railing behind trailer that came to rest against railing after a 200 foot coast with no brakes activated because safety chain was on half of hitch with tongue ball still hooked to trailer and brake cable had no chance to release.

 

[bptactical]

28' trailer with a car in it is too much for a 1/2 ton truck. I see it frequently with travel trailers. You might have just barely enough HP to move it but you certainly don't have the brakes or supporting suspension.

Make sure you have enough truck.

 

[CGMike]

Can you post a picture of where we should attach the safety cable? Im having a hard time visualizing what youre talking about. Thanks!

 

[rquad]

Can you post a picture of where we should attach the safety cable? Im having a hard time visualizing what youre talking about. Thanks!

He's probably talking about the punch-out holes in the bumper where you can mount a ball if you don't want to buy an aftermarket setup. Basically, he's saying not to clip the brake safety cable to the same place you hook the safety chains, but pick a sturdy point on the truck chassis itself.

Not sure what the likelihood of this happening is, but if it happened to one person it can happen to another. I need to have a look at my truck. I'm thankful for the heads up.

 

[CGMike]

He's probably talking about the punch-out holes in the bumper where you can mount a ball if you don't want to buy an aftermarket setup. Basically, he's saying not to clip the brake safety cable to the same place you hook the safety chains, but pick a sturdy point on the truck chassis itself.

Not sure what the likelihood of this happening is, but if it happened to one person it can happen to another. I need to have a look at my truck. I'm thankful for the heads up.

That makes sense! Thanks. yeah I am going to do the same and add a little clip to that cable, right now there is just a loop on the end of it.

 

[Spooky427]

Good advice! Thanks

 

[71SS454]

I always use a steel carabiner and attach that safety wire to a hole in the frame of the truck itself. The bumper will come off in a bad accident as easy as, or easier than, the hitch. The frame usually doesnt come apart.