Scary situation - truck hanging over bridge rail

[HikerBob]

After seeing that truck hanging off of the Interstate 84 bridge in Idaho, I have to question whether the factory safety chains on my MiniLite are adequate. There is one chain attached with two 1/4" bolts (about 1 link apart) to the trailer yoke behind the electric jack bracket. the two ends have heavy hooks with safety clips that attach to the TV. I think they're too long to form a cradle if the ball hitch were to fail, Is it safe to twist the chain to shorten it, or will that weaken the chain?

[HikerBob]

Looking further on the Forum, I found this great answer to my question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TceYjWCPnB4

[Brother Les]

are you sure that the video answered your question? Also you must consider your most weakest 'link'..... the cotter pin may only have a stress level of several hundred pounds. Jerk the u-pin hard and cotter pin snaps and pin falls out. the 'chain' 'design' ('safety chains') are only 'there' to keep the trailer from 'taking off' in any direction if the tongue comes unhooked from the tow ball. This is only to keep 'the train' together for a very short time frame and never designed to keep a truck hooked to a trailer while the truck is hanging over a 100 foot drop gorge. Never depend on 'safety chains' for nothing more than 'looks' to pass OSHA codes....

[Bhrava]

That is 100% correct. Chains are sized to the GVWR of the trailer, not the tow vehicle. If the GVWR of the trailer is 4800 pounds, then the properly sized chains are 5000# rated, which is the weakest link of the chain. If you are going to modify any part of the chain, make sure you know what you are doing and use the properly rated hardware.

What saved these people is that the GVWR of their trailer is more than likely more than the curb weight of the truck, so it would have chains sized to handle the weight of the truck easily. They had the foresight to have the chains welded to the A-frame which is what really prevented any breaks in the system. I doubt a 5/8" grade 8 bolt would have held on to all of what went on.

[HikerBob]

Originally Posted by Brother Les

are you sure that the video answered your question? Also you must consider your most weakest 'link'..... the cotter pin may only have a stress level of several hundred pounds. Jerk the u-pin hard and cotter pin snaps and pin falls out. the 'chain' 'design' ('safety chains') are only 'there' to keep the trailer from 'taking off' in any direction if the tongue comes unhooked from the tow ball. This is only to keep 'the train' together for a very short time frame and never designed to keep a truck hooked to a trailer while the truck is hanging over a 100 foot drop gorge. Never depend on 'safety chains' for nothing more than 'looks' to pass OSHA codes....

No, it did not answer my question. I accidently hit that link and was unable to remove it. What did answer my question was an article about twisting chains that showed quite clearly why you SHOULD NOT twist chains since doing so can reduce their tensile strength by up to 80%. Hence a chain rated at 6000 lbs is reduced to 1200 lbs. I don't have the link to that article now or I would show it.

[Idahojoe]

Your arrow is pointing to the wrong wheel. The hub on the passenger side is resting on the I-beam flange

[The Evil Twin]

That actually looks like a decent weld on the safety chain bar. Notice the break away cable woven through the chain links. I wonder if the pin was pulled or not.

[Idahojoe]

[HikerBob]

From that perspective, it looks like only one of the owner's chains was still on the truck, the others being those put on by the passing trucker and highway patrol. That, or the latter had removed one of the owners' to make room for theirs. It also looks like the ball on the truck is considerably smaller than the hitch on the trailer, but that could be the angle of the photo, too. Since the owners were fulltimers, it could be there was excessive wear on the ball, causing the hitch to easily decouple.

[The Evil Twin]

Originally Posted by HikerBob

From that perspective, it looks like only one of the owner's chains was still on the truck, the others being those put on by the passing trucker and highway patrol. That, or the latter had removed one of the owners' to make room for theirs. It also looks like the ball on the truck is considerably smaller than the hitch on the trailer, but that could be the angle of the photo, too. Since the owners were fulltimers, it could be there was excessive wear on the ball, causing the hitch to easily decouple.

From one of the articles I read, only one safety chain was still attached when the trucker came up on the scene. The other broke or came off somehow. No matter what, that trucker had some big ones to reach in that mess to wrap chains around the hitch.
Since everyone and the puppies are safe, I couldn't resist:

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Idahojoe

Your arrow is pointing to the wrong wheel. The hub on the passenger side is resting on the I-beam flange

What arrow?

[HikerBob]

Originally Posted by The Evil Twin

From one of the articles I read, only one safety chain was still attached when the trucker came up on the scene. The other broke or came off somehow. No matter what, that trucker had some big ones to reach in that mess to wrap chains around the hitch.
Since everyone and the puppies are safe, I couldn't resist:

Like your sense of humor.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by The Evil Twin

That actually looks like a decent weld on the safety chain bar. Notice the break away cable woven through the chain links. I wonder if the pin was pulled or not.

I read a comment that their dealer or hitch installer welded the chains.

[The Evil Twin]

Originally Posted by ependydad

I read a comment that their dealer or hitch installer welded the chains.

No dealer is going to have a welder that good
(most sub out the welding work anyway)

[Idahojoe]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

What arrow?

Image in #20

[Idahojoe]

I live about 5 miles from this accident. Rarely mentioned is the truck wheel component on the I-beam flange. The safety chains helped steady the truck but plenty of the weight was on the flange.

[Gumpster808]

See below

[Gumpster808]

Originally Posted by The Evil Twin

From one of the articles I read, only one safety chain was still attached when the trucker came up on the scene. The other broke or came off somehow. No matter what, that trucker had some big ones to reach in that mess to wrap chains around the hitch.
Since everyone and the puppies are safe, I couldn't resist:

Thanks for that, DW and I got a good laugh out of that one!!!

She is still chuckling every now and then

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Idahojoe

Image in #20

I actually figured that out right after I posted that pic. The news article I posted in post #21 mentions it.