B&W fail or Operator Error?

[shadows4]

Not my truck, trailer or hitch. Buddy of mine had this happen to him a couple of weeks ago. Said he did a pull test, all was good. When he pulled out of the campsite it disconnected. I do not have anymore pics than what are shown here. I think he must have missed the second hole when he pinned it. He has had this setup for about 4 years without a problem. He did hook it back up and drove 3 1/2 hrs to the next campground. What are your thoughts?

[MFL]

I think most cases of a FW dropped on truck are operator error, no matter what hitch brand. Most hitch manufacturers instruct the operator to do a pull test, as does B&W. I can't speak for hitches I've no experience with, but with the B&W, IMO, a visual test is more reliable than a pull test.

If you can see the jaws wrapped completely around the center of pin, larger portion of pin showing on bottom, and you have the handle closed, locked with pin/padlock, you are hitched.

Now I remove chocks, do a walk around, steps up, FW door closed tight, nothing laying in path to pull out. All good...but look again just before jumping in truck. Yup jaws properly wrapped, handle closed/pinned, I'm GTG, no pull test needed.

So even if I got distracted unexpectedly, it happens, my last look confirms I am GTG. I am happy to say, I've never needed to redo my hookup.

Jerry

[fj12ryder]

Likes to tow wrote:
B&W hitches are very good but if you don't get the handle all the way back and pin it correctly this can happen. Also if you get the kingpin over the jaws this can happen. A pull test should have caught this. Now I'm worried about my B&W pulling a trick like this!!

The handle doesn't need to be pinned if it's in place. When you hook up, and the handle comes all the way back, the hitch is secure. You can pull out and the trailer will not come loose, even if you haven't pinned the handle.

You cannot put the kingpin over the jaws, unless you're blind. If you can't see a couple inches of clearance above the hitch head, then you probably should give up driving. 🙂

This was operator error, pure and simple. I read about one guy that dropped his trailer with a B&W hitch, and it turns out he had pinned the hitch jaws open and forgot to remove the pin when hooking up. The jaws didn't close, the handle didn't move, and he still pulled out.

The guy just messed up. Happens to the best of us.

[Likes_to_tow]

B&W hitches are very good but if you don't get the handle all the way back and pin it correctly this can happen. Also if you get the kingpin over the jaws this can happen. A pull test should have caught this. Now I'm worried about my B&W pulling a trick like this!!

[dapperdan]

I'm NO expert but have owned a B & W hitch for 7 years and NEVER had anything like this happen! I'm sorry for your friend's predicament but IMHO that's operator error, sorry. 😞

Dan

[bgum]

Thank all the cribbing in his bed or it would have been much worse.

Most likely he failed to hitch up completely.