Terryallan
NC
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beemerphile1 wrote:Mike Schriber wrote:The routing if your breakaway cable is not correct. It should not be run through the chains. In fact, the end of the cable should ideally attach to a point on the tow vehicle that is not connected to the hitch or receiver.
Mike
Correct answer above!
Take it out of the chain. Attach it to the tow vehicle, and not to the hitch or receiver. The length should be such that it will pull the pin while the safety chains are still connected.
Respectfully disagree with this. Agree it should no be hooked to the chain, or hitch. But, It should not pull out untill the chains come loose. As long as the chains are hooked, and the brake controler is hooked up. YOU have a chance to control the trailer. If the brakeaway pin is pulled, and the trailer brakes lock, They stay locked untill the battery dies, You have no chance left to control the trailer. You are along for the ride.
Terry & Shay
Pioneer 23T6
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wittmeba
Roanoke, Va
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Quote:Agree it should not be hooked to the chain, or hitch. But, It should not pull out untill the chains come loose. As long as the chains are hooked, and the brake controler is hooked up. YOU have a chance to control the trailer. If the brakeaway pin is pulled, and the trailer brakes lock, They stay locked untill the battery dies, You have no chance left to control the trailer. You are along for the ride.
Correct answer above. The pull cable should be the 'LAST' to be pulled and only once you are completely disconnected from the trailer.
Terry, where are you in NC?
Bruce & Carolyn Wittmeier
Viet Nam Vet 1968-69
2001 Ford F250 4X4 OffRoad, Auto ESOF, KingCab, ShortBed, Airlift Airbags, DiPricol gauges, SCT-Tuner from DP-Tuners (40/80/120HP), Bilsteins, Reese Slider, Jordan, 2001 30RKFS SunnyBrook w/personal touches.
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dodge guy
Chicago, western subs.
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wittmeba wrote:Quote:Agree it should not be hooked to the chain, or hitch. But, It should not pull out untill the chains come loose. As long as the chains are hooked, and the brake controler is hooked up. YOU have a chance to control the trailer. If the brakeaway pin is pulled, and the trailer brakes lock, They stay locked untill the battery dies, You have no chance left to control the trailer. You are along for the ride.
Correct answer above. The pull cable should be the 'LAST' to be pulled and only once you are completely disconnected from the trailer.
Terry, where are you in NC?
Completely agree! even if the laws don`t use common sense. Yes this has been discussed before.......in length!
Wife kim
Son brandon 7yrs
Daughter marissa 6yrs
Dog shadow
07 Cherokee 32B
02 Excursion 4X4 V-10 4.30 gear
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camping than a good day at work!
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Terryallan
NC
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wittmeba wrote:Quote:Agree it should not be hooked to the chain, or hitch. But, It should not pull out untill the chains come loose. As long as the chains are hooked, and the brake controler is hooked up. YOU have a chance to control the trailer. If the brakeaway pin is pulled, and the trailer brakes lock, They stay locked untill the battery dies, You have no chance left to control the trailer. You are along for the ride.
Correct answer above. The pull cable should be the 'LAST' to be pulled and only once you are completely disconnected from the trailer.
Terry, where are you in NC?
Maiden. About 40 miles northwest of Charlotte, 15 miles Southeast of Hickory. 60, or so, min from the BRP. 4 1/2 hrs to S Myrtle. 5 HR to N Myrtle, and 6 HR to Topsail Island NC. 20 min to Lake Norman.
In other words. A great place.
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Bobbo
Memphis, TN
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Terryallan wrote:beemerphile1 wrote:Mike Schriber wrote:The routing if your breakaway cable is not correct. It should not be run through the chains. In fact, the end of the cable should ideally attach to a point on the tow vehicle that is not connected to the hitch or receiver.
Mike
Correct answer above!
Take it out of the chain. Attach it to the tow vehicle, and not to the hitch or receiver. The length should be such that it will pull the pin while the safety chains are still connected.
Respectfully disagree with this. Agree it should no be hooked to the chain, or hitch. But, It should not pull out untill the chains come loose. As long as the chains are hooked, and the brake controler is hooked up. YOU have a chance to control the trailer. If the brakeaway pin is pulled, and the trailer brakes lock, They stay locked untill the battery dies, You have no chance left to control the trailer. You are along for the ride.
Respectfully disagree with this. beemerphile1 is correct. I WANT my trailer brakes locked up tight while the chains are still attached to the TV. Proper chains will hold unless the hitch comes off of the TV (which is why the cable is attached to the TV frame, not the hitch). It holds the trailer back away from the tow vehicle. If the chains are properly crossed it helps hold the tongue off of the pavement. It holds the trailer in a straight line behind the tow vehicle. I can concentrate on safely stopping the TV knowing the trailer will stay safely behind it and also safely stopping. Consider this example.
Example 1. You are pulling a rope behind you. It stays behind you. It stops when you stop. This is your trailer with the brakes on.
Example 2. Same scenario, but you put the back end of the rope on a motorized toy which can go any direction. When you slow down, it will NOT slow down unless you reach down with your unoccupied (during emergency steering) hand and press the brake switch on the controller. OOPS, I forgot that the 7 pin connector pulled out of your socket so you have no way to put on the rope's brakes manually either. So now you are slowing down, emergency steering with one hand, with a free wheeling rope behind you swerving from side to side, punching holes in your TV and pushing it. This is your trailer with the brakes not on. Sounds like a ride at DisneyWorld to me. Or can this scenario not possibly occur?
Example 3. Of course, example 3 is the same for both of us. The rope comes completely free from the TV, the brakes lock up. The rope goes any direction it wants while stopping. This is a hitch failure, or inadequate (and illegal) chains that won't hold the load.
* This post was
edited 08/16/08 11:38pm by Bobbo *
Bobbo, Linda and the furry kid (German Shepherd)
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Terryallan
NC
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Your 7 pin cord not as long as your chains? Mine is.
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Mousefart
New Jersey
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You are all wrong.
The breakaway cable should be run through the passenger compartment and attached to you big toe. This way if you are thrown from the vehicle in an accident (or abducted by aliens), the trailer brakes will be applied.
Sorry, all this talk about rediculous places to "safely" attach your cable is ludicrist (referring to previous threads on the subject, this one hasn't gotten there yet.).
Don't attach it to the hitch, it might fall off!
Attach it to a frame crossmemeber. Don't do that, the crossmember might fall off!
Attach it to the axle. Don't do that, axles have been known to break off during accidents!
Geeze, you people really have some poorly constructed tow vehicles! 
My hitch is attached with six very large grade 8 bolts and is most likely the strongest part of the entire truck. The fact that when a trailer flips, it almost always takes the TV with it leaving it HANGING IN THE AIR should be a clue about how strong hitches are. Heck, I even saw a picture of a TV hanging over a bridge railing being held by nothing but the hitch ball.
With the exception of one particlar defective model of GM hitch, I think the chance of your hitch just dropping off while driving down the road (or even in an accident) is pretty slim to none.
I would feel pretty confident that even in one of those horrific accidents where the axles and even the engine are ripped from the truck, that the hitch is still going to be attached to the frame. Besides, in an accident that bad, the trailer is also going to be in a bazillion splinters and not much likelyhood of it "rolling on down the road out of control".
I always have, and will continue to hook my breakaway cable to the hitch.
* This post was
edited 08/17/08 09:13am by Mousefart *
Paul (Mouse)
2007 Flagstaff Shamrock 17 Hybrid (heavily modified for boondocking and winter camping).
2007 Dodge Dakota Quad Cab 4x4, 4.7L HO, factory tow, 3.92 gears.
Equil-i-zer Hitch, Prodigy.
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K3WE
Missouri
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Mousefart wrote:My hitch is attached with six very large grade 8 bolts and is most likely the strongest part of the entire truck.
Two things Mousie:
1) And, that is most likely the most stressed part of your entire truck too!
2) Excrement transpires, stuff breaks, including hitches.
You have a point that nothing is a 100% guarantee, but, it's common sense to find something other than the most stressed point on your hook up to attach the breakaway cable.
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Bobbo
Memphis, TN
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Terryallan wrote:Your 7 pin cord not as long as your chains? Mine is.
In the hypothetical, the cord got pinched in the twisted chains.  Just taking a bad situation to the extreme. Like was said above, excrement happens. Even if your plug doesn't come unplugged, I still don't want to emergency steer with one hand, run the brake controller with one hand, watch forward to steer to a safe stopping place, and watch behind to judge when to activate the trailer brakes, all at the same time. This does not sound even possible to me, much less safe.
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dodge guy
Chicago, western subs.
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If your controller is setup right, the TT brakes will come on before the TV brakes!
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