Hensley / Propride safety chain option

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.

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.

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?

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