Was sitting reading at our 5ver at the lake with some friends on Friday evening and I heard a huge crash...jumped up and ran around my friends MH to see what happened, and there was about a 30'+ TT with 2 slides with the tongue laying on the ground,the tongue jack bent over,both front scissors were folded over and the rear bumper was about 4' off the ground.I saw the guy standing there with his wife rubbing his forehead and everyone looked ok,then started jacking up with a hyd. jack and get everything straightened out....didn't look like he wanted any help,so I went back to the 5ver but could see the back half of his TT,he jacked it back up to get it on his ball hitch and backed up to put the rear tires against the concrete curb and put some firewood in front of the front tires........no nothing was chocked when the tongue jack fell off the block ,someone came over and gave him their X-Chocks to use for the weekend,really felt bad for the guy,hope he didn't hurt the TT too bad,both slides were out when it fell,been doing this camping thing along time....as soon as you get it where you want it,the first thing you always do is PUT THE CHOCKS ON THE WHEELS!

...and take the chocks of last when you are hitching up.

Ouch. Hopefully he didn't get hurt too bad.

Seen it happen at least once a year. Last time was in FL. Guy goes to hitch his 5'r. Backs into the hitch. Trailer rolls back about 4 feet. Front landing gear falls off his cinder blocks. Trailer falls on brand new RAM 3500 truck bed. Crushed the bed rails. Damage to 5'r was unknown, except his landing gear was bent up badly.Now he doesn't know how to get out of this mess. Several friends standing around with all sorts of advice. Mostly just guessing.I strolled over and asked one of the friends if he wanted to know what he should do. Because I knew what needed to be done, and had the tools he needed. Was told to mind my own business. "Carl has been towing 5'rs for 35 years...he knows what he's doing. Beside if he needs anything...We got this."My response..."Great. But if you need my two 12 ton jacks...let me know." Then I walked away...thinking that in his 35 years experience he must have forgot the first rule...chock first and last...And the second rule...never put your elevator legs up on cinder blocks. Probably got the third rule though...keep your insurance paid up.Last I saw there was a wrecker there, jacking the trailer off the ground. Funny... wrecker guy put chocks under the wheels.Yep...They got this, alright.

I changed out my hitch to a new 20K Reese with the wraparound jaw, and it requires the pin box to be way low to properly hitch. In fact it has stickers all over it telling you to hit the hitch low. Works great - but......it takes the weight off the landing gear and if you aren't chocked in the rear you can chase your trailer down the street trying to get it to lock. Learned my lesson to today at a truck stop trying to re-hitch after hitting the CAT scale - DW yelling and darn near hit the semi behind me. Didn't even realize I was scooting the trailer back.

Once in place, chocks first. Ready to leave, chocks last. I'm too old to chase trailers.

Enjoying camping this weekend and...crash! | Good Sam Community

27 Replies

Bryanpark2
Explorer
May 21, 2013
Thanks Atom, it's nice to know that someone with your experience is next to us in the campground. I fell much better and no longer scared.
bstark
Explorer
May 21, 2013
marspec wrote:
jetboater454 wrote:
JohnBoyToo wrote:

jetboater, I'd get the brakes checked as mine will not let me move at all if I grab a handful of manual trailer brake

I've never had trailer brakes lock just applying power to them. Next time you have a drum off,hit the controller and see if your brake shoes move.
I know my brakes work as I can lock and smoke all 6 tires on pavement.And I haul heavy most of the time.

I thought on electric brakes shoe movement was a result of the magnet dragging on the drum. If drums are off how would shoes move?

You're correct of course.

Electromagnetic brake 101: Magnet brakes rely upon the attraction of an electro magnet to a circular disk mounted to the inside face of the drum to move a camming arm. the camming arm in turn spreads the tops of the shoes only against the inside of the drum. No drum ~ you won't see any action at all.

wheel must rotate slightly to drag the camming arm and spread the shoes.

Now onto electric HYDRAULIC brakes 101. Most common system installed on RV trailers is the Dexter or Kodiac system that has an on board hydraulic pump that runs at variable speed dependent on inertia of controller unit in cab of truck. Manual over ride engaged and brakes are in good condition you ain't moving that trailer at all.

I routinely hooked up the umbilical before backing under pin as my trailer was heavy on the pin at over 4K and my truck was a ten speed with a grunt reverse so if I misjudged the pinbox height and proceeded to back under, I could easily push my trailer right over the commercial chocks but if brakes were engaged, I'd simply get out of cab to find my trailer hooked up, jaws closed and feet about 6" in the air.

Those brakes were easily capable of stopping my combined weight of 36K by themselves.
marspec
Explorer
May 21, 2013
jetboater454 wrote:
JohnBoyToo wrote:

jetboater, I'd get the brakes checked as mine will not let me move at all if I grab a handful of manual trailer brake

I've never had trailer brakes lock just applying power to them. Next time you have a drum off,hit the controller and see if your brake shoes move.
I know my brakes work as I can lock and smoke all 6 tires on pavement.And I haul heavy most of the time.

I thought on electric brakes shoe movement was a result of the magnet dragging on the drum. If drums are off how would shoes move?
byrdr1
Explorer
May 21, 2013
Reader1 wrote:
...and take the chocks of last when you are hitching up.

yes, and dont forget to get them either!!
they make a nice crunching noise and will pop right out.
randy
marspec
Explorer
May 21, 2013
jetboater454 wrote:
JohnBoyToo wrote:

jetboater, I'd get the brakes checked as mine will not let me move at all if I grab a handful of manual trailer brake

I've never had trailer brakes lock just applying power to them. Next time you have a drum off,hit the controller and see if your brake shoes move.
I know my brakes work as I can lock and smoke all 6 tires on pavement.And I haul heavy most of the time.

I thought on electric brakes shoe movement was a result of the magnet dragging on the drum. If drums are off how would shoes move?
Bonefish
Explorer
May 21, 2013
On a previous camper (5800#) we were up in Colorado camping on a slope. The DW had pulled the chocks before we had it attached to the TV. It started rolling down hill and I jumped on the tongue to get the front jack stand to dig into the hillside to get it to stop rolling. We were lucky and hit a soft patch of soil and it dug in. All would have been lost if it had bent and failed.
time2roll
Nomad
May 21, 2013
BTDT with the old PUP. No damage except to the ego.

Now the rotos go on first and come off last. Any significant incline and the wedges are also in place.
SuperDutyMan
Explorer
May 21, 2013
OP here,To clarify,TT was on a pretty good downhill slope towards road,it wasn't hooked to anything,it sat really high,he had about a 6" block under all 4 scissor jacks and tongue jack,it probably rolled 4'-6'ahead when it stopped,it was pretty violent,sounded like a 5ver landing on a bed,it was that loud....he's actually lucky the tongue jack folded under and the hitch dug into ground or it would have probably run over his Dodge truck!
deleted-2
Explorer
May 21, 2013
Guess I should join non-chockers anonymous too... lol

What I love about this forum:
Taking something second nature done with little or no thought and turn it into a Geo-political scandal.

If the trailer unexpectedly starts rolling just yank the breakaway lanyard.
Stops it right now...

(actually we do set wheel blocks when unhitching so no worries)
Atom_Ant
Explorer
May 21, 2013
Bryanpark2 wrote:
You folks that don't chock scare me. Please don't set up in front or behind me. How much time does it take to chock the wheels. Oh, that's right, I set the brake, nothing could go wrong now.
Please post a sign so we know you are the one that is scared :R