towing dissaster - nearly !

[UK-RV]

hi guys

still no laptop so this will be brief....

we travelled 200 miles today and are 100% certain we connected the the car up fully.

we stopped in a rest area for 30mins during our 4hrs of travel.

when we came to unhook the car, both pins (which secure car to tow bar were gone.

we definately put them in and flipped the rings over.

when we unhooked, one of the securing bars was close to falling out.

if that happened, we would have found how good the safety cables and brake buddy are.

anyway, has anyone ever experienced this problem.

we spent a long time on very bad road along the i-10 - could they have worked loose.

what can we do to prevent this happening again.

paul

 

[Ron]

Wow glad you did check the hitch and avoided the possible disaster.

We were with another couple in Hurricane UT and parked our rigs along the curb on the street went into the Ace hardware store.  When we came out a quick check revealed somebody had removed a retaining pin from our friends hitch.  Good thing he checked the hitch before we started.

They do make locks to replace the retaining pins.

 

[Tom]

Paul

Those pins, called clevis pins, have to be locked in the correct direction. It's easy to inadvertently lock them in the opposite direction.

You could replace them with padlocks.

 

[John From Detroit]

I grew up using those pins (We called them Drawbar pins on the farm) and never had that happen.

However there are several ways it can happen (in theory)

In practice... I've never seen one of those pins go astray w/o human help.

Padlocks are good and more secure

I have seen a receiver hitch pin get lost.....sadly it was pulling my lumina at the time

Oh yes... the safety cables.... Worked

What I don't know is did the receiver pin go and then the tow bar break, or the other way around
(based on how it was lying when I stopped... I think the tow bar broke first)

 

[Karl]

Paul,

It's hard to imagine one pin working itself out, let alone both of them! I would suspect someone removed them while you were stopped. Thankfully, you caught it before any damage had been done. Personally, I do a walk-around after every stop to check the toad connections, tires (for obvious deflation or nails/debris under or in front of them), leaking fluids, etc.

 

[Kenneth]

>>>>we spent a long time on very bad road along the i-10 - could they have worked loose<<<

You must be headed west,and discovered Louisiana ? If your in the Houston/Galveston area give us a shout..

I know where the good Indian Food is  :

 

[UK-RV]

thx guys

were out to buy padlocks this morning.

kenneth - you were right about Louisiana - I will never complain about uk roads again.

we are now in wallisville tx and heading for san antonio sat/sun, fort stockton mon/tue and then MORE WARRANTY WORK in el paso from next wed.

paul

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I lean towards Tom's explanation. If the Clevis ring is flipped the wrong way, it doesn't lie snug against the pin and can flip back (unlock) on their own, especially if there is a lot of vibration such as on a bad road. 

But I did have one just disappear once, on my boat trailer.  It anchored one end of my "transom saver" outboard engine support.  Was driving slowly down a washboard gravel road and the truck and trailer were really shaking. Saw the engine begin to bounce around on its pivot so stopped for a look. The lower unit support bracket was gone - found it about a 1/8 mile back. No sign of the Clevis pin.

 

[Shayne]

Totally agree on the reverse clevis pin.  Sincerely hope west bound I-10 has been repaved thru El Paso.  Extremely rough road and cost over $5000 to repaint my car after very near collision on terribles road.  Please don't try to enter El Paso in the last afternoon the sun is brutall.  Good luck  You are needing some after the month you've had.

 

[Carl L]

kenneth - you were right about Louisiana - I will never complain about uk roads again.

With I-10 you have picked the main east/west transportation all weather corridor in the winter for the entire USA.  The thing runs from Jacksonville, FL to Los Angeles ending in the Pacific at Santa Monica, a suburb of LA.  It carries most of the load for the Los Angeles-Long Beach Port the busiest in the USA and one of the three largest in the world.  Everything from Asia comes thru that port and heads east.

That is why you are encountering all those trailer-trucks.  You have not been cursed by the Truck Fairy.    ;D

I heartily recommend taking a break in Tucson or Phoenix.  Use your toad to roam those areas.  After Arizona, the highway surface should be in better shape.  It is excellent in the Southern California area having been rebuilt recently.  However, if you want to bypass LA, I would recommend using the I-210 which is new and well designed.  On the other hand, every Brit that has visited us, headed directly to the Pacific Ocean to dip their feet in the cold, cold water.