Potentially dangerous mistake in March RV Magazine

[BarneyS]

I received the March issue of RV Magazine yesterday and feel the need to point
out a potentially dangerous statement, probably made in error, by long
time contributor Mike Wendland. On the top of page 51 under the
heading "Chock Time" it states:
"If you have a trailer, unhitch it and
then chock the wheels."

This statement is backwards and can be very dangerous if done that
way. You should ALWAYS chock the wheels, on both sides of the RV,
FIRST before you unhook from the tow vehicle. If not done in that
order, you risk the trailer rolling away from you with no way to stop
it if you are parked on a slight rearward slope. If it were to roll forward, it could pin the person between the truck and trailer or put a serious dent in the tow vehicle.

Another even more catastrophic thing that can happen is that the
trailer will pivot on one set of wheels and the tongue will suddenly
move sideways when released from the ball. This can be a bit
difficult on a persons legs and could even knock them down and be run
over with the trailers tongue.

I have personally witnessed both situations but fortunately no damage
was done. All this can be avoided if you always chock the wheels
first thing upon backing into a site when arriving and before you
uncouple from the tow vehicle. This should also be the last thing you
pack up when leaving a site.

Hope this helps someone to not make a serious mistake.:)
Barney

[wnjj]

BarneyS wrote:

tommyznr wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
I watched folks do it in that order (Unhook,, watch Trailer roll toward lake. Try to stop it (Fail) thankfully there was dirt and the tong jack dug in and stopped it before splash. then they chocked and re-hooked repositioned and rechocked before unhooking again .

Oh if you do forget.. Grab the break-away brake wire It is not strong enough to stop the trailer from rolling but when the pin comes out of teh clothspin switch .. Brakes ON.

Or better yet, don't disconnect the breakaway cable from your tow vehicle until after you release from the hitch..... advice that should also be in the article referenced in the OP.

Not necessary if the wheels are properly chocked first.
Barney

True, but there's no reason the brake cable needs to come off first. I chock, then uncouple and remove the safety chains and breakaway last. Nothing wrong with redundancy.

[wanderingbob]

I learned that the hard way , I was lucky that there was a building to stop the trailer !

[mowermech]

I have seen similar instructions for hooking up a toad to a motorhome. They always say set the parking brake,prepare the toad for towing, then back the motorhome up and connect the hitch, then do not forget to release the parking brake.
I have never done it that way.
Drive the toad up to the back of the coach, connect the hitch, THEN go through the preparations. Once the hitch is connected, there is no need to set the parking brake, so it can not be forgotten. Driving the toad to the coach is a LOT easier than backing the coach to the toad!
Of course, that is merely my opinion. I could be wrong, it happens frequently.

[Cummins12V98]

JAC1982 wrote:
People still read magazines?

What's a Magazine???

[JAC1982]

People still read magazines?

[BarneyS]

tommyznr wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
I watched folks do it in that order (Unhook,, watch Trailer roll toward lake. Try to stop it (Fail) thankfully there was dirt and the tong jack dug in and stopped it before splash. then they chocked and re-hooked repositioned and rechocked before unhooking again .

Oh if you do forget.. Grab the break-away brake wire It is not strong enough to stop the trailer from rolling but when the pin comes out of teh clothspin switch .. Brakes ON.

Or better yet, don't disconnect the breakaway cable from your tow vehicle until after you release from the hitch..... advice that should also be in the article referenced in the OP.

Not necessary if the wheels are properly chocked first.
Barney

[tommyznr]

wa8yxm wrote:
I watched folks do it in that order (Unhook,, watch Trailer roll toward lake. Try to stop it (Fail) thankfully there was dirt and the tong jack dug in and stopped it before splash. then they chocked and re-hooked repositioned and rechocked before unhooking again .

Oh if you do forget.. Grab the break-away brake wire It is not strong enough to stop the trailer from rolling but when the pin comes out of teh clothspin switch .. Brakes ON.

Or better yet, don't disconnect the breakaway cable from your tow vehicle until after you release from the hitch..... advice that should also be in the article referenced in the OP.

[blaczero]

azdryheat wrote:
It's ironic that I always chock my trailer before un-hitching yet none of the trailers at my dealership are ever chocked and none have rolled away (and our yard is not level) even in the severe summer storms. When I'm parking trailers for our RV show at the fairgrounds sometimes the tongue will swing a few inches but that's because the axles are under tension otherwise they stay chockless where I park them.

If something ever does happen, who gets the blame?

I've never been mugged at a 7-11, suppose I never will be.

[schlep1967]

Prevented one of those disasters a few years ago at a Maryland Campground. We were alread set up and sitting by the fire after dark when the neighbors showed up. Nice 5th wheel being hauled by two nice ladies. They managed to get backed into their site just fine and were having some problems getting unhitched. I'm sitting there watching them struggling to unhitch for about 3 minutes and finally I said to the wife, I can't sit here and watch them roll that thing into the lake. I politely asked if I could help and they gladly accepted.

First, do you have chocks to put under the trailer wheels? Yes! Oh we forgot about them! They put them in place. And then I instructed them on backing up off the pin. You should have seen the look on her face when she reached for that handle and it easily pulled out. I'll bet they never forgot that lesson.

[dedmiston]

Years ago we were out on a riding trip and one of my buddies blew out his knee on his way over the handlebars. After we took him to the ER, we packed him up and his wife said she could drive the trailer home. I called her that night and she said she didn't know how to back it into their driveway to park it behind the house, so I went over after work the next day to help out.

They had one of those Power Caster electric dollies, so I threaded the needle between their fence and house and got the trailer to the back yard. When it was time to stop, I realized that I hadn't thought things all the way through and had no way to stop the thing. (I learned later that there was a connection to the trailer brakes that I hadn't been briefed on.)

Somehow I managed to use my Fred Flintstone brakes and drag my heels to stop their trailer just in time. Scared the snot out of me.

I think of that freewheeling trailer whenever I unhitch.

[BarneyS]

Got a reply today and they said they would publish a correction in the April issue of the magazine. Glad they got it and just hope nobody has been or gets hurt in the meantime.
Barney

[dodge_guy]

BarneyS wrote:

wildtoad wrote:
Snip...

On edit, did you attempt to report the error?

Yes, I have attempted to report it on several areas including e-mails and Private Messages. No replies as of yet.
Interestingly, the magazine does not make that very easy. I searched all over for a "contact us" type link and found none.
Barney

And that is the problem with the new magazine......no Q&A section. They have made it very hard to contact them.

[JRscooby]

Grit dog wrote:
Well at some point common sense prevents Darwinism. And if you park your trailer on a slope and attempt to unhook it without blocking the wheels on the downhill side, you probably don’t have the mental capacity to do other things required to safely tow a trailer.

In my work I have seen many places where the grade is deceptive. Bell, they sell tickets to houses where water runs up hill. As a general idea, chock front and back of wheels on both sides is best practice.
When setting up camp it is my job to put trailer where she wants it, get it leveled, chocked, and unhooked. Once in hurry to beat dark and rain, I had dropped chocks next to ramp on right side. Backed up on ramp, saw wife bend down near right wheel. I chocked the left side, and hurried to unhook. Coupler off the ball, then sideways into my shin. Wife says "You didn't block this side" But I saw you bend over right there! Thought you did! "The leash was wrapped around Luke's leg." Still have a knot on my shin, from trailer tongue, and on my head from other tongue.

[wa8yxm]

I watched folks do it in that order (Unhook,, watch Trailer roll toward lake. Try to stop it (Fail) thankfully there was dirt and the tong jack dug in and stopped it before splash. then they chocked and re-hooked repositioned and rechocked before unhooking again .

Oh if you do forget.. Grab the break-away brake wire It is not strong enough to stop the trailer from rolling but when the pin comes out of teh clothspin switch .. Brakes ON.