Hensley / Propride safety chain option

There is no need to leave a lot of slack for movement with that hitch.
The longest the chains need to be is when the hitch is lined up in a straight forward line .

When turning, the bottom part of the hitch not only pivots, the whole trailer moves forward (along with the top part of the hitch) which slackens the chains. The same applies to the emergency break away lanyard.

This is only true with the Hensley and ProPride hitches. It does not apply to the normal WD hitch.

edit: I would check out the rating on those links connecting the cables and chains. They look considerably smaller (lighter weight) than the chain links and could possibly fail if needed.
Barney

Forget the chains being undersized, that Quick Link connecting the cable and chain will fail before the chain. Get the correct length and size chain and you should never have a problem. FYI, I also have a ProPride hitch.

Edit: I agree with Barney in that there is way too much slack with your setup. In a catastrophic failure your tongue/hitch would be dragging on the ground. Think of it this way: Would you rather have the tongue land on the chains or on the ground where it might hit a crack in the road and become a huge disaster?

BarneyS wrote:
There is no need to leave a lot of slack for movement with that hitch.
The longest the chains need to be is when the hitch is lined up in a straight forward line .

edit: I would check out the rating on those links connecting the cables and chains. They look considerably smaller (lighter weight) than the chain links and could possibly fail if needed.
Barney

You still need slack regardless of all things. I simply prefer how high the cables ride and pull the chain up. Some setups have the WDH bars pretty low and the chains even lower...this would help a lot.

The links are sized to fit thru the heavy chain on the trailer. I could use a pin type chain coupler, but the current threaded links have the same rating as the cables, so whats the point.

In fact, those links are the ones Hensley shipped with their chain extension.

Thanks for the concern though.

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
Forget the chains being undersized, that Quick Link connecting the cable and chain will fail before the chain. Get the correct length and size chain and you should never have a problem. FYI, I also have a ProPride hitch.

Edit: I agree with Barney in that there is way too much slack with your setup. In a catastrophic failure your tongue/hitch would be dragging on the ground. Think of it this way: Would you rather have the tongue land on the chains or on the ground where it might hit a crack in the road and become a huge disaster?

Funny. You might want to try some experiments or at least take some measurements before you fear monger something like this. How exactly do you think the chains will catch this contraption should it fall off or loose connection. And think about the points of failure. The box is not attached/reattached, so that coming undone is extremely unlikely. And what happens to the strut bars and WDH bars if that box came off the ball. Imagine the mess.

The other points of failure would be the draw bar or the TV hitch itself failing. You try to make the chains hold up the tongue in any of these situations with the Hensley or Propride, you'll both change you tune instantly.

Thanks again for the concern, but really guys, you need to analyze the mechanical situation better before making such a statement. Those chains wont hold up a darn thing, nearly regardless of what fails. It's mechanically impossible.

Interestingly enough, I just measured the total length of the chain I had with the Henley extensions (reduced) and compared to the chain and cable set up as shown. I'm about 6" longer with the cables+chain set up. Would that make or break any situation? I highly doubt it. But then again, why not remove the excess?

Add to that, not the welded pieces the chain attached to the trailer with. Those are not as thick as the chain either. Am I going to die?

Not so typical of me, peer pressure and fear mongering got stuck in my head.

Links replaced with double clevis and chains shortend, of which this changes very little. The weak link goes from the connector links to the single piece of .420" thick mild steel round bar welded to the thin wall frame, which is no better than a single 3/8" chain link welded to the frame. Go figure that one out.

RinconVTR wrote:

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
Forget the chains being undersized, that Quick Link connecting the cable and chain will fail before the chain. Get the correct length and size chain and you should never have a problem. FYI, I also have a ProPride hitch.

Edit: I agree with Barney in that there is way too much slack with your setup. In a catastrophic failure your tongue/hitch would be dragging on the ground. Think of it this way: Would you rather have the tongue land on the chains or on the ground where it might hit a crack in the road and become a huge disaster?

Funny. You might want to try some experiments or at least take some measurements before you fear monger something like this. How exactly do you think the chains will catch this contraption should it fall off or loose connection. And think about the points of failure. The box is not attached/reattached, so that coming undone is extremely unlikely. And what happens to the strut bars and WDH bars if that box came off the ball. Imagine the mess.

The other points of failure would be the draw bar or the TV hitch itself failing. You try to make the chains hold up the tongue in any of these situations with the Hensley or Propride, you'll both change you tune instantly.

Thanks again for the concern, but really guys, you need to analyze the mechanical situation better before making such a statement. Those chains wont hold up a darn thing, nearly regardless of what fails. It's mechanically impossible.

I disagree with your last statement. Due to a boneheaded mistake on my part, I did have my ProPride Hitch come loose and land on my safety chains. The emergency brake kicked in and the only damage was some stressed links on the safety chains. My chains were definitely more heavy duty than those in the picture. My point is that human error and mechanical failure do happen.
May I respectfully suggest that you start a new post with the same picture and title it: Is this Safety Chain Setup Adequate? It might be a good idea to provide the tongue weight of your trailer and the weight of the hitch as well.

I agree with the posters above. Those cables don't look nearly strong enough to support the trailer weight if it came undone. The coiled cables defeat the purpose of the chains as well. Chains are not only meant to keep the tt behind the tv should it break loose but they should also catch and cradle the tongue ( if they are attached crossed over) so it doesn't hit the ground. Coiled up cables would stretch out and the tongue would drop to the ground.

With a Hensley you don't need much slack. With the tt hooked up in line with the truck the tongue is at its farthest point from the tv. A couple of inches of chain slack is more than enough. When the Hensley rotates in a turn the tt gets closer to the truck giving more chain slack.

Your first pic has the right amount of slack. Why not use chains of the same length. Eliminate all the extra fail points.

RinconVTR wrote:

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
Forget the chains being undersized, that Quick Link connecting the cable and chain will fail before the chain. Get the correct length and size chain and you should never have a problem. FYI, I also have a ProPride hitch.

Edit: I agree with Barney in that there is way too much slack with your setup. In a catastrophic failure your tongue/hitch would be dragging on the ground. Think of it this way: Would you rather have the tongue land on the chains or on the ground where it might hit a crack in the road and become a huge disaster?

Funny. You might want to try some experiments or at least take some measurements before you fear monger something like this. How exactly do you think the chains will catch this contraption should it fall off or loose connection. And think about the points of failure. The box is not attached/reattached, so that coming undone is extremely unlikely. And what happens to the strut bars and WDH bars if that box came off the ball. Imagine the mess.

The other points of failure would be the draw bar or the TV hitch itself failing. You try to make the chains hold up the tongue in any of these situations with the Hensley or Propride, you'll both change you tune instantly.

Thanks again for the concern, but really guys, you need to analyze the mechanical situation better before making such a statement. Those chains wont hold up a darn thing, nearly regardless of what fails. It's mechanically impossible.

I guess you can "ostrich it" and keep you head buried in the ground, but IMO it's you that haven't analyzed the mechanical situation correctly nor understand how these chains work when needed. I not going to re-litigate all this safety chain stuff since it's been extensively covered here in past threads none of which you have evidently read.

I would highly recommend anyone NOT TO DO WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, since IMO your setup is TOTALLY "FUBARED" (as Barney and Mortimer have discussed just a couple of the valid shortcommings of your Rube Goldberg setup) and what you have is IMO no better than having nothing at all ... your system is again IMO a guaranteed way to ensure you will total your trailer should you have a failure where the safety chains would come into play.

Larry

You guys are not even reading what I post and have no clue what any of those items shown are rated for (chains, cables, links, attachment point on the trailer) so I'm done debating with ignorance.

So how bout you all stop the verbal BS assumptions and post pics of your full point to point safety chain set up with the Hensley and Propride AND prove it to functions as you advertise.

Install the stinger in the hitch box, attach the chains to the truck and lower the tongue until it stops. Show us all a picture of where it stops.


EDIT: This is perfect. Google search Hensley safety chains and look at those set ups. And you yahoo's think mine is at fault and will kill someone? Ha.

And here's Hensleys own web page showing an example of what they deem proper set up. Where's that tongue going to fall?

https://hensleymfg.com/introducting-new-swiftarrow-sway-control-hitch/

Until you guys post images of your own to prove your point, I think its wise you remain mum!