Do you lock or unlock the hitch while pulling your TT?

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.

Your WD does not "superseded" or "replace" OTHER safety items.

Manufacturers of tongue couplers provide (IE drill, punch) a hole through the tongue latch for some reason.

That reason is to ensure that the latch cannot flip to the open position at any time with a pin installed.

Manufacturers would never waste money drilling those holes in the manufacturing phase if it didn't serve a purpose. It does cost manufacturers money and time to drill holes in other wise perfect hole free material.

I have personally have had those latches flip open. I had several lawn tractors which used a simple bolt to hitch lawn trailers.. I added a ball to the tractors and on the lawn trailer I added a ball hitch. Best upgrade ever, no more fighting a lousy bolt.

The latch on the ball hitch had a hair trigger and without a pin installed in the latch would easily allow the lawn trailer to disconnect.

While not quite the same as a RV trailer the idea is the same.

I have also owned a variety of on the road trailers and some have had decent latches that would stay put and some that just defied anything short of installing a pin to stop it from popping unlatched around my yard.

I get it, you believe you are smarter than the folks that put that hole in the latch, go ahead and believe that. But please, lets be a bit smarter about telling others that it is safe to not use all required safety measures. That hole is there for everyone's safety whether you agree with it or not.

Pin the latch hole, lock is optional but pin you will find is going to be required by every state DOT.

You do realize that if you were to drop or lose your load you can be fined for failing to properly secure your load? Your trailer is your load and as a driver it is your responsibility to ensure you have taken every measure required to secure the load at all times.

I don't understand your position as to why it is so inconvenient to insert a $1.30 pin into the latch

Those simple pins I linked have the potential to prevent your good day turning bad and possibly ruining other motorists day or life.

As a side note, after that chipper accident, PA enacted tougher towing laws. Simple open hooks on safety chains are no longer allowed, all safety chains must be secured using self closing hooks or any device that can be fully closed to prevent the chains from accidentally disconnecting.