Do you lock or unlock the hitch while pulling your TT?
I've always have locked the hitch when towing my TT, simply because I don't want to lose the lock. But should you lock the hitch when towing?
Forum Discussion
- Dear God, what have I stumbled into?...
Yes, I usually use a D-pin when towing. The D portion of the pin gives me a place to run my 7-wire cord and my trailer's hardwired camera feed.
I've also towed without one. Never worried about 8,000 lbs of trailer popping off the ball... but I also make sure my chains are secure and I test my breakaway every once in a while (intentionally & unintentionally). Gdetrailer wrote:
valhalla360 wrote:
Huntindog wrote:
Only if you have so little tension on them as to not be transfering any weight.
Never actually watched a WDH in motion have you. Those bars flex quite a bit in normal operation....yes even when they are already under a good bit of tension.
Let me get this straight.. there is no "need" for the hitch latch at all?
Perhaps under "normal" conditions, it is possible.
However, one must look past "normal" conditions and consider the possibilities of what can and most likely will happen when you encounter "not normal" conditions.
Put your money where the keyboard is and try a dry run minus your trailer ball, only using the WD hitch..
Bet your WD will never stand a chance of holding the hitch in place without the ball. Now you are just making stuff up.
When did I say anything about the ball not being needed?:R The weakest points of WD is the mounting points of the bars on the trailer tongue, they are made of light gauge materials. They were never intended to hold the hitch on the ball.
Now, consider what can happen if you were to have to slam on the brakes when someone cuts you off in traffic..
That WD has no chance in holding the hitch on the ball considering the weight of your trailer..
That is what this is about, it isn't "fear" based, it is a fact that objects in motion tend to stay in motion. All of the energy stored in that weight of the trailer must go somewhere.. The somewhere is your hitch and hitch ball and if the hitch is not latched, the tongue will easily be pushed up and over the ball and your puny WD bars and mounting points will not stop that from happening.- Well just for that I am never going to use a coupler pin.. Lookout as you never know when you will encounter one of us.
I am not the least bit concerned about it.
That is because I actually tried with my 4.5 ton jack to lift the coupler off the ball. It simply can't be done
Just because it has a hole, doesn't mean something needs to go in it. Manufacturers have no idea if WD will be used in conjunction with the coupler... So they all get the hole valhalla360 wrote:
Huntindog wrote:
Only if you have so little tension on them as to not be transfering any weight.
Never actually watched a WDH in motion have you. Those bars flex quite a bit in normal operation....yes even when they are already under a good bit of tension.
Let me get this straight.. there is no "need" for the hitch latch at all?
Perhaps under "normal" conditions, it is possible.
However, one must look past "normal" conditions and consider the possibilities of what can and most likely will happen when you encounter "not normal" conditions.
Put your money where the keyboard is and try a dry run minus your trailer ball, only using the WD hitch..
Bet your WD will never stand a chance of holding the hitch in place without the ball. The weakest points of WD is the mounting points of the bars on the trailer tongue, they are made of light gauge materials. They were never intended to hold the hitch on the ball.
Now, consider what can happen if you were to have to slam on the brakes when someone cuts you off in traffic..
That WD has no chance in holding the hitch on the ball considering the weight of your trailer..
That is what this is about, it isn't "fear" based, it is a fact that objects in motion tend to stay in motion. All of the energy stored in that weight of the trailer must go somewhere.. The somewhere is your hitch and hitch ball and if the hitch is not latched, the tongue will easily be pushed up and over the ball and your puny WD bars and mounting points will not stop that from happening.Huntindog wrote:
Only if you have so little tension on them as to not be transfering any weight.
Never actually watched a WDH in motion have you. Those bars flex quite a bit in normal operation....yes even when they are already under a good bit of tension.ktmrfs wrote:
valhalla360 wrote:
ktmrfs wrote:
However if your trailer uses a 2 5/16" ball and the keyed security lock is one that goes through the hitch pin, it's at best a cosmetic lock. that leaves the ball socket on the hitch open and all it takes for someone to drive off with your trailer is for them to drop the hitch onto a 2" ball, and then drive off.
I believe the OP was referring to while driving...so there's already a 2 5/6" ball blocking a thief from dropping it on their 2" ball...not to mention, it's doing 60mph down the freeway.
To the OP: We have a simple spring clip that keeps it from accidentally being released. No key'd lock.
agreed, but if that is also the OP's "lock against possible theft when unhooed" it's not providing much protection while in storage
If they are prepared to steal a trailer, 10 seconds and cordless grinder can get thru just about any padlock you can fit.
They probably won't muck about with a WDH though as it takes a few minutes to hook up the bars.dedmiston wrote:
but the trailer wasn't secured against roadside bantitos who might have wanted to hijack it from us.
Classic post!
Hopefully this won't spur the "How to keep Banditos from hijacking my trailer?" thread.Huntindog wrote:
This topic is a hot button issue.
Like many other subjects, some have an irrational fear of potential bad things.Lightening, towing with the propane on, guns, etc.,etc,, A common theme is that they do not fully understand how low the risk really is... I am more likely to have a heart attack while towing and crash into someone... Yet I doubt many would give up driving based on that risk.....
And standard fare for these discussions is someone making a imppassioned, overly dramatic argument, complete with name calling, telling some story that may or may have happened to somone.
I try to keeps risks in perspective. I tend to not believe I will be hit by lightening, and I do not buy lottery tickets.
Well said! And in introspect, I should probably more thankful that I have the agility to understand many things that others are irrationally afraid of. And at the same time, less critical of others...(which I generally am until someone asserts their irrational stuff as fact).MitchF150 wrote:
Do you lock or unlock the hitch while pulling your TT?
Yes.. :)
Mitch
Best answer yet!
Need to have a beer or 6 with you some day Mitch!
