Hensley / Propride safety chain option

Well, I'm not done here after all. There's a twist, literally and physically.

Upon inspection after a 3 week, 5000+ towing mile trip, my Hensley hitch pivot arms are bent and twisted. The head was binding, would not center, and no longer rotated smoothly. Upon seeing my pictures and reviewing my weights, Hensley could only come to one conclusion; SAFETY CHAINS ARE TOO SHORT.

So, lets this be a warning to all of you.

1. Don't count on your chains catching they Hensley/Propride hitch should something actually break loose. The chains will only keep the trailer tied to the vehicle...nothing more.


2. Too little slack can in fact damage your multi thousand dollar premium Hitch.

3. Serves me right, how I reacted to internet clowns, second guessing my own decisions.

In conclusion...I leave you all with these facts;

1. My original pic had 40" cables with about 10" inches of chain. Too long and a safety issue? That is your opinion, however this is no different than having excess slack as many of you have on your trailer and do not realize it. And removing the chain length from that cable set up resulting in the same 40" length of the new chain that I installed. So if anything, I could have/should have simple attached the cable direct to the trailer and eliminated all the chain.

1.5. The links called out as being insufficient. Again, those were the links supplied by Hensley. Their rated work load was below the cables and chain, but that doesn't mean they break any where near that point. If Hensley feels they are safe to use and thousands have them in use, well...what can you say about that? Debate it with Hensley...not me.

2. For the Hensely/Propride in particular, assuming the chains will catch the trailer tongue is a dangerously false belief. As I stated all along, it is 100% impossible. If you disagree, please do not debate, simply prove it with picture evidence and I'll give you all the kudos in the world! But I know, that in doing so...or attempting to...you'll find the truth of the matter and not post anything.

3. The belief that the chains need little to no slack on the Hensley/Propride because the pivot action moves the hitch forward is VERY false. The pivot action in fact moves side to side and pulls the chains with the head side to side, requiring a fair amount of chain slack. No more of less than most other trailers. The head does not "move/pivot" forward until the 4 bar mechanism is well past 45 degree (a turn greater than 45 degree's and less than 90)

Pic below is with the trailer at approx 45 degree's. Notice the chains are pulled to the side as far as the head linkage is long. End of story.

EDIT: No image? So much for Photobucket. They want a ton of $$$ to host photos? They are done.

Even if you don't cross your chains, they should really be short enough that if the hitch falls off the ball and finds its way under the back of your truck while you brake they prevent your propane tanks from contacting your bumper and being crushed into the nose of your trailer. I think your cables are too long to prevent this from happening.

BarneyS wrote:
Perhaps most of you have never seen the following thread that was posted by JBarca in December of 2004. It shows, with many excellent pictures, exactly what happens when you try to adjust your chains to "catch" the tongue in the event of an uncoupling or hitch failure.

I think you will benefit from reading it and it pertains exactly to the discussion here so have decided to bring it back up for your reading enjoyment.:)
Barney
JBarca's WD Hitch Safety Chains Hook Up thread

Never saw this! Thanks Barney. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the conclusion the same as I have been stating about the tongue not being caught by the chains? (I was going to take pics of this last night but I fear damaging something in the process. I'll pass.)

It's also hard to know what to test with the Hensley or Propride because its impossible to know what might fail. Would you try with the stinger in or removed? Both situations? What about the coupler and ball? That's impossible to test without high risk of damaging components. I'm not about to try this either. Pass.

If there is any take away from this, I learned my cables are fine but I am still improving the set up regardless after a lot of "feedback" and investigation as well...likely going all 3/8" properly rated chain point to point.

More importantly is not to assume the chains or cables will catch the tongue in any event. The primary purpose of the safety chains is to prevent the trailer from complete disconnect and then the last resort is the Emergency brake bring the unit to a quick halt.

But I'm on the fence about configuring the emergency brake to activate before a complete disconnect occurs. Its darn near impossible to have perfect length chains AND a perfect length brake cable short enough to activate before a complete disconnect while not binding or pulling out during turns.

RinconVTR wrote:

camp-n-family wrote:
Not sure what the purpose of your post is if you're just going to shoot down everyone's opinion and find "better" info elsewhere? Since you asked I will supply pics of my hitch setup.





I have a 6" chain extension with properly rated chain and connectors supplied by Hensley. I took 3 links out which leaves me enough length to cross them over several times. Enough slack for any movement but not enough for the tongue to hit the ground should it ever detach. Hard to see from the pic but there is 7" of ground clearance from the chains.

Shoot everyone down? That's was not the intent, but is it not what everyone has done to me? And now everyone gets their 2 cents on your setup. (Thank for posting, please do not take offense.) Let's see if anyone else is man enough to do the same.

Your chains have more slack than I have ever had (no way in h e double L will that hold up the tongue), you are never to twist chains because it reduces their break strength, and the yellow ties on the OCL's are useless.

Worse yet, I verified exactly what the Hensley supplied extension chain and links are and find them both severely underrated for a 6000lb+++ trailer. I was wrong to defend use of those links but think about how many thousand Hensley has supplied and people trust.

My cables are rated at 7400lb min break which is acceptable, but I was using some of the Hensley chain. No more. I'm either going all cable or buying new full length 3/8" chain.

The chains aren't twisted, they are loosely crossed over. There is a difference. Chains are supposed to be crossed to support the tongue should it drop. Hard to see from the pic but there are 2 cross overs at the low point in the slack. =xx=. I don't see how crossing them twice will do any harm vs once. Chain strength testing is not with crossed over chains, it is with a single chain that is twisted in itself. That type of twisting would bind the links and put a side load on them. That is what reduces their strength. Crossing them does very little, if anything, to the strength.

Yes, the yellow cable ties are useless for the purpose of the hitch as I mentioned above. They are there for my personal preference. Easier to see and keep together so I don't lose them.

Perhaps most of you have never seen the following thread that was posted by JBarca in December of 2004. It shows, with many excellent pictures, exactly what happens when you try to adjust your chains to "catch" the tongue in the event of an uncoupling or hitch failure.

I think you will benefit from reading it and it pertains exactly to the discussion here so have decided to bring it back up for your reading enjoyment.:)
Barney
JBarca's WD Hitch Safety Chains Hook Up thread

camp-n-family wrote:
Not sure what the purpose of your post is if you're just going to shoot down everyone's opinion and find "better" info elsewhere? Since you asked I will supply pics of my hitch setup.





I have a 6" chain extension with properly rated chain and connectors supplied by Hensley. I took 3 links out which leaves me enough length to cross them over several times. Enough slack for any movement but not enough for the tongue to hit the ground should it ever detach. Hard to see from the pic but there is 7" of ground clearance from the chains.

Shoot everyone down? That's was not the intent, but is it not what everyone has done to me? And now everyone gets their 2 cents on your setup. (Thank for posting, please do not take offense.) Let's see if anyone else is man enough to do the same.

Your chains have more slack than I have ever had (no way in h e double L will that hold up the tongue), you are never to twist chains because it reduces their break strength, and the yellow ties on the OCL's are useless.

Worse yet, I verified exactly what the Hensley supplied extension chain and links are and find them both severely underrated for a 6000lb+++ trailer. I was wrong to defend use of those links but think about how many thousand Hensley has supplied and people trust.

My cables are rated at 7400lb min break which is acceptable, but I was using some of the Hensley chain. No more. I'm either going all cable or buying new full length 3/8" chain.

camp-n-family wrote:
Not sure what the purpose of your post is if you're just going to shoot down everyone's opinion and find "better" info elsewhere? Since you asked I will supply pics of my hitch setup.





I have a 6" chain extension with properly rated chain and connectors supplied by Hensley. I took 3 links out which leaves me enough length to cross them over several times. Enough slack for any movement but not enough for the tongue to hit the ground should it ever detach. Hard to see from the pic but there is 7" of ground clearance from the chains.

You might want to re think twisting your safety chains since twisting a chain significantly reduces its strength and you safety chains might not be sized large enough to still meet FMVSS specifications if twisted.

Also, I'm unsure of how twisting them might effect how a simple single crossing of them works during a disconnect. My main worry here is by twisting them you might allow them to ride up on one side or another of your coupler negating the natural "self centering" what a single crossed chain provides. You want that trailer to track as directly behind the TV as possible.

In the end I see no benefits and several potential negative ones if one is to twist their safety chains.

Larry

As I said in my prior post I'm not going to re-litigate this safety chain/breakaway switch saga, but one of the more interesting that covers some of the more important points is found in the following thread

CLICKY

Just a couple of additional thoughts on this if they weren't covered in the above link:

1. There IIRC fed requirements on safety chains and their attachment points with that basically being each safety chain and any attachment points are to have a breaking strength equal to the GVWR of the trailer.

2. Ron estimated I believe that the max tension under full breaking of a TT would be in the order of 50 to 75 percent of the GVWR of the trailer. This is important in that as the tension increases the tension in the chains will tend to "lift" or at least reduce the weight that the tongue would contact the pavement with.

3. Crossing the safety chains especially from a common centered attachment point tends to try and keep the trailer tracking straight behind the TV and not veering off side to side.

4. Crossing the safety chains even if they won't prevent the tongue from contacting the pavement they will provide somewhat of a "SKID surface" so the end of the tongue won't catch on the pavement as easily. A simple experiment for those willing is to take and block your trailer. Then raise the tongue off the TV and pull forward until the chains are stretched out straight and set the parking brake on the TV and then lower the tongue and see what happens since this is as close as you can simulate what IMO should happen during a disconnect where the breakaway switch puts full braking to the TT with the safety chains still attached. For me it is also key to NEVER TOUCH the TV brakes and let the trailer slow both vehicles down during a disconnect scenario.

Obviously one caveat is I haven't included any potential unique things in relation to either the HA or Propride systems, but I would think the basic principles are the same and are the best you can do and what I would recommend to follow.

Larry

Steve B. wrote:
I came to the forum today to ask about chain length and I found it is already a topic of discussion. I have a new vehicle and am just getting the trailer paired up. I needed to add some length to the chains so added two quick links to each, after checking their weight capacity. Now I think they are hanging too low, so I'm taking one off of each side. I checked several sites and they just said long enough that they don't drag on the ground. More pics would help, some without a WDH, like my setup. I hate to over think these things, but it looks like a lot of us do.

You won't find a set answer for length because of the variety of hitches and attachment points. Etrailer has an answer to a similar question that should be helpful.