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Old 05-05-2020, 04:04 PM   #1
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Dropped my Trailer

About the time you think you have things figured out, they go wrong in a hurry. Hitched my 2104S up to pull it back to the storage lot like a hundred times before. Latched it down and hooked up chains and cables and took off. Made it about 2 1/2 miles and crossed a bridge over an interstate doing about 30 mph and the trailer came unhooked. I was dumbfounded. Coupler latch was down with the safety pin still installed. Ball mount and hitch pin still hooked up. Safety chains kept this from being a total disaster.
I was able to get it jacked up and rehooked back up with very little damage to TV, trailer, or any third parties. I realize now what I did wrong. When I hooked up this morning, I had trouble getting the coupler latch to lock down. So I jumped up and down on the bumper to move the ball up and down slightly. When I did, the latch sprung down in place. I inserted the safety pin and took off. Problem was, the ball must not have been down in the coupler. It must have been just sitting on top of the ball. I still had part of the tongue weight on the jack, and the latch went down in place while sitting on top of the ball. I then fully retracted the jack and drove off unknowingly with the tongue just sitting on top of the hitch ball.
Praise the Lord this didn’t turn out worse. I normally hop on the interstate for about 10 miles to get back to my storage lot. But I had new brakes installed this week and wanted to go the backroads to hit some traffic lights and stop signs to get the brakes seated in a little bit.
I guess the moral of the story is you can never be too careful. I will definitely be sure to double check and make sure that hitch ball is properly seated down in the coupler from here on out. The safety chains did their job, but I’m glad I wasn’t traveling at highway speed, or this would have been much worse.
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Old 05-05-2020, 04:12 PM   #2
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You ain't the only one . I have been toting trailers for sixty years and have done it 4 times . No damage on any of them . All the times it was my wife,s fault . { Do not let her read this ] .
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Old 05-05-2020, 04:14 PM   #3
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Glad you and the trailer are ok.

We actually did that once, but my spouse spotted the problem before we pulled out of the lot. Just about the time you think you've got the routine down pat.... you don't.
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Old 05-05-2020, 04:20 PM   #4
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Wow ! That could have been catastrophic for sure. Definitely a lesson learned, I had that a few times when I would have to just pull forward slightly just to get the latch fully locked,Scary stuff .Glad it turned out ok.
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Old 05-05-2020, 05:08 PM   #5
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Were the chains crossed to hold the tongue up? or was the tongue dragging on the ground.....Glad you dodged that bullet..
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Old 05-05-2020, 05:22 PM   #6
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You are not the first and you won't be the last.

I had a home built race car trailer that the coupler was terrible for not going over the ball before the lever would pop shut and sit on top of the ball.

I guarantee you'll check and recheck from now on and it'll likely never happen again.

Glad it turned out well and glad you were able to understand what went wrong.
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Old 05-05-2020, 05:35 PM   #7
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Make sure that the ball is well lubricated. Makes hooking up a lot easier... Ans safer.
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Old 05-05-2020, 05:46 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by paverdave View Post
Were the chains crossed to hold the tongue up? or was the tongue dragging on the ground.....Glad you dodged that bullet..
On my trailer the chains are anchored to the trailer at a single point on the very front of the "A-Frame". Crossing them doesn't do a thing. Now if each chain was attached to the side of the "A-Frame" and a foot or so back from the front, different story.


As for making sure the coupler is firmly on the ball, I drop the hitch on the ball and if there's the slightest difficulty in latching it, I move tow venicle back and forth until I feel the coupler drop onto the ball. Latch then slips into place with a flip of the finger.

Even then I still cross my fingers until I've made it to the street and stopped a couple times
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Old 05-05-2020, 05:54 PM   #9
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My 18 foot toy hauler dropped after crossing RR tracks. Ground off the bottom of the tongue jack. Did manage to get it jacked up and reconnected and towed 80 miles home. Glad the safety chains held!
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Old 05-05-2020, 06:21 PM   #10
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Glad nothing bad happened. I can (almost) guarantee it won’t happen again!
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Old 05-05-2020, 06:23 PM   #11
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Glad you escaped with only minor damage! You've given me another reason to like my Propride hitch. There is never any doubt about hitching up properly. The only thing not clearly obvious is if the pin is in the receiver.
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Old 05-05-2020, 07:15 PM   #12
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This serves as a good reminder to the rest of us. Thanks for sharing.
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Old 05-05-2020, 07:49 PM   #13
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I never dropped my TT or my boat, but I did "oops" a utility trailer before it ever left the driveway. I hooked it all up (I thought), then drove a scooter up the back. The front popped up and bashed into my tailgate. Put a deep scratch in it, but luckily that's all.

Glad yours wasn't as bad as it could have been.
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Old 05-05-2020, 08:46 PM   #14
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Given the circumstances, how lucky was it that this happened when you were attempting to seat new brake pads and took the back roads! Thanks for sharing your story. I'll be sure to check that the coupler is mounted correctly and the securing plate underneath the ball is secure.

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Old 05-05-2020, 09:34 PM   #15
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#1 When I connect, I watch the ball enter into the coupler, and raise the jack until it is 1" off the jack pad, then if the coupler latch won't lock down, I "jiggle" the tow vehicle forward and backward a little bit, and it's usually the forward motion that lets the latch lock into place. That's the way my RV dealer showed me how to do it.

#2 Then as a second check you are actually locked onto the ball, lower the jack again and actually raised the back of the tow vehicle. I have to do this anyway to put on my weight distribution bars, but even if I was using weight distribution, it's a good second verification to do anyway.

My dealer told me lots of people try to pound the latch down, or bounce things up and down to get the latch down, but the way to ensure everything is really connected correctly is to move the tow vehicle slightly forward or reverse (usually forward) until the latch locks into place easily.
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Old 05-05-2020, 11:00 PM   #16
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Dropped my utility trailer once. Forgot to put the pin in the tow bar. Had the ball hooked up correctly but of course the draw bar disengaged from the truck. Embarrassing but luckily no damage.
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Old 05-06-2020, 02:41 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wanderingbob View Post
You ain't the only one . I have been toting trailers for sixty years and have done it 4 times . No damage on any of them . All the times it was my wife,s fault . { Do not let her read this ] .
Dang! My wife did that same exact thing! (and like wanderingbob said, she must not read this)
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Old 05-06-2020, 11:57 AM   #18
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Good reminder for me to double check. Glad nothing costly or damaging happened.
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Old 05-06-2020, 12:45 PM   #19
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Originally Posted by NavyLCDR View Post
#1 When I connect, I watch the ball enter into the coupler, and raise the jack until it is 1" off the jack pad, then if the coupler latch won't lock down, I "jiggle" the tow vehicle forward and backward a little bit, and it's usually the forward motion that lets the latch lock into place. That's the way my RV dealer showed me how to do it.

#2 Then as a second check you are actually locked onto the ball, lower the jack again and actually raised the back of the tow vehicle. I have to do this anyway to put on my weight distribution bars, but even if I was using weight distribution, it's a good second verification to do anyway.

My dealer told me lots of people try to pound the latch down, or bounce things up and down to get the latch down, but the way to ensure everything is really connected correctly is to move the tow vehicle slightly forward or reverse (usually forward) until the latch locks into place easily.
X2 on #2
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Old 05-06-2020, 12:49 PM   #20
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Were the chains crossed to hold the tongue up? or was the tongue dragging on the ground.....Glad you dodged that bullet..


The chains appear to be attached at a single point so you can’t really cross them. The base of the tongue jack was dragging the pavement. Bent the base up a little, but jack still worked. Although it makes a lot more noise than before!
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