Nut backed off ball caused accident

iamalienru wrote:
I was heading up to santa cruz ca. in my 40' american eagle I had my motorcycle in tow on a utility trailer. Before I left I had tighten the nut on the ball with an air impact driver the kind that you take lug nuts off a car or truck it was tight lock washer in place. safety chain hooked up all was good. traveling down the 101 near north Hollywood ca. I saw the trailer jumping in my rear camera as I slowed the trailer let loose breaking the safety chain and hitting another car. what a mess. I have never had this happen before but the nut from the ball was laying there on the freeway. now I am having insurance issues on the trailer and coach it was the vacation from hell and it's not over. The only type of ball I will use from now on is one with a cotter pin going through the bottom of the shaft. Uhaul carries them. Sorry for the sad story but i hope this will help others. I still do not understand why that nut backed off

Sorry for your troubles, what a mess!

I was pulling a Uhaul cargo trailer several years back when I started noticing increasing noise from the back of the TV. When I stopped to investigate, I found the nut backed way off of the ball. Luckily I was able to hand tighten the nut back snug, and drove slowly to a service station where they tightened the nut with a big ol wrench. In my case the coupler was turning the ball, so a bit of grease prevented it from happening again.