Break Away Cable

This is what I did:

I took a screw pin connector and hung it from a heavy chain around 2 large holes in the bottom of my bumper. The second picture show how it hangs making it very easy to use a carabiner and connect the cable to the truck.

BenK wrote:
Forgot to touch on this while cut n pasting the above pic's...

Most tow balls have a rating and a torque specification for the nut...that few
know about...nor try to attain...

To torque that nut properly...a torque wrench is needed...and the length is key
to the highest torque that wrench is rated for...

To tighten my tow ball nut to the specified 450 ft/lbs, a 3/4" torque wrench is
needed. Mine was over 3.5 feet long, till a buddy who borrowed it...he dropped it
and that left a dent in the head. Finally got him to pay for after getting his
wife involved...

Well...most trailers discussed here are in the +24 FEET to over 30 FEET long and
the lever arm is about 10 times longer than my old 3/4" torque wrench...

Hope some folks get that message...tighten the tow ball nut to spec...

Now add to this the fact that so many will not grease the ball. With no lubrication, the ball may seize or gall to the coupler and be rotated loose.

I have seen several aftermarket 2 inch receivers rust to failure.
not the actual 2 inch receiver but the metal welded to it to mount to TV frame.

and check the mounting bolts for receiver to TV frame for tightness. Even Factory units.

Stay Safe. Enjoy your Trips.

They hooked the cable to a chain link?? That is most def not right. The cable should be hooked to the frame of the truck separate from hitch assembly.

Forgot to touch on this while cut n pasting the above pic's...

Most tow balls have a rating and a torque specification for the nut...that few
know about...nor try to attain...

To torque that nut properly...a torque wrench is needed...and the length is key
to the highest torque that wrench is rated for...

To tighten my tow ball nut to the specified 450 ft/lbs, a 3/4" torque wrench is
needed. Mine was over 3.5 feet long, till a buddy who borrowed it...he dropped it
and that left a dent in the head. Finally got him to pay for after getting his
wife involved...

Well...most trailers discussed here are in the +24 FEET to over 30 FEET long and
the lever arm is about 10 times longer than my old 3/4" torque wrench...

Hope some folks get that message...tighten the tow ball nut to spec...

Most folks have never worked on any design team, nor in an industry where
that if your product failed...people potential died or were maimed...

I have a few decades in such an industry...Industrial controls. Robotics,
Factory automation, motion control, people movers, shipboard main propulsion, Etc

Taught to me by one of me mentors while a part time designer working
my way through college:

"design for the idiot and gorilla, as if they
mis-use it...they will"

and

"you are designing it for that worst
day...when Mr Murphy crosses the path"

Management authorized a budget to design, test, re-design, re-test
and the big $$$ certification test for regulatory agency sign-off...

So...the designer can only take care of a 'few' of the potential failure
scenario's and the majority of the other potential failure scenario's
are taken care of via warning labels, ratings, recommendations, etc
that are *ALL* written by liability lawyers...as court case history
has shown that if you followed all the applicable codes/etc of 'that time'
and CYA'd with labels, ratings, specifications, etc, etc...your are
'less' blameless in a court case...

So on the majority of the good days out there...you can have that breakaway
clipped onto the receiver with a clothes pin and it will be okay...but
on that day Mr Murphy crosses your path...either it is connected properly,
or not...not time to go back and re-connect it...


Not a common thing to have the receiver, hitch, coupler, etc break...but
since there is a DOT requirement for safety chains and a break-a-way
lanyard...there were cases that caused our regulatory agency investigate
and then legislate the requirement for safety chains and break-a-way
lanyards...

Quickie search found these images and not to say a common thing, but
common enough for a simple search to find thousands of images of
broken receiver/coupler/hitch/etc...or if they were over their rating
or not


This shows the break-a-way lanyard connected to the vehicle, not
the receiver
























This one shows how a back yard welder cause a stress raiser by welding
that gusset onto the shank, which seems a bit on the thin side...which
might have been designed within there ratings/specifications/etc...









This one had this small utility trailer break a way and smash another car

travelnman wrote:
Anyone have an opinion as to where to hook the break away wire.

I clip it to the same place on the hitch where I connect the safety chain.

I hooked mine to the bottom side of the hitch using an eye bolt. Not the ideal situation, but there is just no where on the bumper to attach it to.

3oaks wrote:

belairbrian wrote:
when we had a travel trailer we used a carabiner on the cable and hooked it to the same place the chains go on the hitch.

That's where we hook ours. Never saw a well maintained vehicle loose a whole hitch assembly yet.

In fact I never saw a whole trailer hitch break free from a tow vehicle at all. Unless the TV frame was so rotted out it would have collapsed before it ever got on the road. Then nobody is going to hitch a trailer to it in the first place.

Take a look through these posts.
I know at least two or three of them have pictures of hitches that have broken off of the tow vehicle.
Barney

belairbrian wrote:
when we had a travel trailer we used a carabiner on the cable and hooked it to the same place the chains go on the hitch.

That's where we hook ours. Never saw a well maintained vehicle loose a whole hitch assembly yet.

In fact I never saw a whole trailer hitch break free from a tow vehicle at all. Unless the TV frame was so rotted out it would have collapsed before it ever got on the road. Then nobody is going to hitch a trailer to it in the first place.