Breakaway cable & stock reciever

[HFarr]

First of all, I mispelled "receiver" in the title! And I'm not sure what auto correct did with the "&amp" thing. I didn't catch that until I posted. But anyway, I came across this and thought it was worth sharing. To cut through all the reading/popup ads, it's about NOT hooking your breakaway cable for trailer brakes to the same place you hook your safety chains. In some rare cases, the entire factory receiver AND the safety chain mounts have simply broken off of trucks. In that case, there is no secondary means to stop the trailer from going where it wants. They suggest hooking the breakaway clip to some other point on your vehicle that is not connected to the receiver or hitch. The link below has some photos of this happening to someone. Luckily no harm was done as it didn't happen while on the road.

https://campaddict.com/rv-living/rv-safety/deadly-towing-mistake/

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[larry_arizona]

If my boat detached from my truck, I would prefer it to be destroyed and get a new one.

The odds for it to brake to a stop undamaged is slim to none.


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[Holdmybeer]

I agree with Larry. As long as no one else is hurt, total it give me a check and I'll go shopping.

The failure in the article is from a 2010-era chevy truck. Picture with taillight confirms this. They used round tubing for the cross member of the hitch and was only rated to 5k (same as Ford current). They were prone to failure because salt, dirt, mud, etc would get stuck and rust them out. The failure in the article highlights this issue. The round tube will never be as strong as square and the pipe failed tearing the steel. My 2008 dually had the "class IV" version of this hitch (7500lb rating) it was replaced with a Curt square tube actually rated for 18k (truck rating) to avoid this exact problem.

I wonder how loaded that Airstream was? 500lb tongue weight (stock hitch) is not much. Airstream are light, but people load them with so much junk and do not factor that into their towing setup.

[brad460]

That’s definitely a one in a million failure mode! That being said you absolutely want to boat to stop if it becomes disconnected from the truck. Damage to the boat (and getting insurance might be the least of your concerns). Imagine the boat becomes disconnected and flies through the median into on-coming traffic and… kills a family?!

Good advice in that article..

[2in2out]

My breakaway cable is so short I can barely get it to hook to the chain hoops on the receiver let alone find another anchor point.

On my last two camp trailers the breakaways were long enough to grab an alternate spot. I was taught by dad and three RV dealerships to loosely wrap the cable around the chain closest so it doesn’t drag and become damaged.

And point about Airstreams, they aren’t light. They easily weigh more than most comparable trailers. In renovated airstreams people use larger dimension hardwoods and real stone for counters and such. The stainless is a thicker gauge, hence why the old frames were so sought after. So, tongue weight on the renovated AS is just a guess or an outright lie.

Anecdotally, I’ve also seen a lot of towing accidents. The best outcomes are when the trailer separates from the tow vehicle. Safety chains seem to cause more carnage IMHO.


2022 SA 450