I've lived on a ranch and went to rodeos my whole life and I haven't ever used a safety chain.  And I've put on plenty of miles so don't get the idea that I haven't drove my fair share of miles(almost 10,000 since the middle of march just to rodeos and ropings). 

I've travled with countless people and we all kind of thought the same the last thing I/we want is to be  going down the interstate or going through the mountains is to be connected to a trailer that comes unhooked at 70-75mph.  And I know you get a fine for not using them but I"ve pulled over a few times with trailer on and never had the cop even say anything(knock on wood).  So what I was wondering is who has this kind of expierence with a trailer coming unhooked or how many people actually use thier chains while driving with a trailer.   

I had a coupler fail on a boat trailer. The tongue sat down on the chains and I didn't notice anything until I hit the brakes. The tongue struck the bumper, jolting the car, and I then realized I had a problem.

In Pittsburgh, a contractor was pulling a wood chipper with no chains behind a dump truck. The pintle broke loose on a curve, the truck turned, the chipper didn't. A family of three were killed when the chipper plowed into the van.

I strongly believe in safety chains and always use them. I don't want to be responsible for setting loose a missile at any speed, that might endanger the lives of innocent people. My boat, trailer and car were able to stop safely and without incident. What damage would that trailer and boat have done, if it had struck something or somebody at speed?

Gard

That is the second thing I do when I back under my trailer, lower the trailer fisrt, hook the chains/brake second, latch the trailer 3rd, hook up power cable and light plug last!  Same routine everytime with all 3 trailers.  Even got the better half into the same routine!

Same thing here.

Moved the flatbed with 140 bales of hay last week about quarter of a mile up the farm path, never crossed or got onto a public roadway.... Just lowered the trailer onto the ball and eased to the other shelter..... No chains, no latches, no lights, no brakes, never got more than 5-10 mph and something about even doing that didn't seem right. I had to make myself not hook up all the "safety stuff", just have gotten into the habit of hooking it all up everytime. Those chains are there for a reason.....

Your truck, your trailer, your responsibility... If this type of accident is going to happen, it shouldn't smash into the Cleavers out on a Sunday drive. Nobody "wants" to be attached to that kind of mess, but it has become your mess. Use the chains...

If the chains fail and innocent people still die, at least you will have not have to answer that "what if?" question that would haunt you all the days of your life.  I think the chains will hold more and longer than you might expect.  The truck and trailer are generally traveling the same direction so there would not be an immediate snap applied to the chains.

You would 'just' be wrong.  By law each safety chain has to have a breaking strength equal to, or greater than the GVWR of the trailer.

My trailer has a GVWR of 7000# and came with 1/4" grade 70 chains installed (grade 70 is overkill for my size trailer, 1/4" grade 43 would satisfy the law).  Those two chains would require 25,000# to break them.  A set of 3/8" grade 70 chains would require twice that. 

And you seem to be overly concerned with your own safety and damage to your property.  Those chains are they to keep the public safe from your mistakes.  If you lose your trailer, take responsibility and deal with it......same goes for the emergency break away system, I hear same lame ass excuses for not using that.

Oh, to answer your question, I've never lost a trailer but I always use the safety chains. 

I Agree with the above posts.   Use Your Chains....  There is a reason they are there.   I've seen bumper pulls  come un-hooked.    With chains, you still have some control over the trailer....Without chains.....Well,   I have seen them cross the mediam of the interstate and wedge itself into the safety rail.  Those folks were just plain glad it didn't kill anyone.   

Use them on your Gooseneck too.   I Do.

I always hook both chains on the GN's, and cross and connect the 2 on the BP's. 

Once had a BP come off the hitch because it was never latched. (truly, I did not hook it up........but I was the driver and it was MY responsibility to do a walk around and check EVERYTHING)  The trailer settled onto the crossed chains, but I felt and heard an uncharacteristic bump......and I eased over and checked it.  The main cord had been sheared off by the wandering hitch, but all else was well.  I hooked up and LATCHED it, and when I got to the farm, put the plug on the now shorter cord, and went on my way.  The ititial event happened on a bridge, and those chains kept a TB 2 horse from gliding out into traffic on a bridge, a very bad scenario.

I don't know if the GN chains would hold in an event, but if there was an accident, and whomever's insurance found out those chains had never been attached.........well, kiss the insurance goodbye.  That alone should keep us hookin em up!  I don't relish the idea of being tied to an out of control trailer, but as said above, the mess is MY mess......I really don't want see my free-as-a-bird trailer wipe out a mini-van of girl scouts either!

Weather they "hold" or not, they are installed at the manufacture for a reason!  If the trailer happens to come loose from the truck for whatever reason the truck and the trailer would have been traveling at the same speed to start with so that much weight will hitting the chains at close to the same speed.  The only way the weight would hit the chains at 70mph would be if, well it would be IMPOSSIBLE! 

Bottom line the use of chains or calbes is the law and just spend the 10 seconds it takes to hook them up!

You hear a few urban legends about them coming off, but I have never seen pictures of a gooseneck that came off the ball. I have seen 2 wrecked trailers that bent the coupler almost 90 degrees, but were still hooked to the ball. To each their own. JMHO

I had a bumper pull hop off the hitch once.   I was using the trailer to move so I was thanking my lucky stars that I didn't have a horse in the back.  The chains kept if from taking off.

Years ago my dad was moving across country before chains were used.  He used to tell us about the trailer getting loose and watching it pass them and luckily plow on through the median.  They were lucky it didn't end up in the other lane.

As you say "hitched properly." He didn't pin the locking collar.

The same cause of most human disasters through recorded history.  3 Mile Island, Hubble telescope, etc.  ...Cascading human error. 

Not using the safety chains is merely the first error of the cascade.

When you say; "chains ripped right off the truck" where was the failure?  Broken chains? Chain hooks? Chain loops on receiver?

If I may also inquire;  What make was the receiver/hitch? What grade of chain & hooks?  "S" or forged hooks?  How was the chain attached to the trailer?  For example; bolted on, welded on with weld-able links, or just welded a link of chain to the tongue?

http://www.laureloutlook.com/articles/2007/08/15/news/04accident.txt

Do NOT become an ENTRY...

http://dangeroustrailers.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html

Here's some more info:

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/dec/09/nation/na-decouple9

Gard

I for one, always manually check my trailer brakes before I even load a horse. Part of the hitching process. No different than making sure all the doors are latched shut.

Edited by genebob 2009-06-24 8:35 AM

When you say; "chains ripped right off the truck" where was the failure?  Broken chains? Chain hooks? Chain loops on receiver?

If I may also inquire;  What make was the receiver/hitch? What grade of chain & hooks?  "S" or forged hooks?  How was the chain attached to the trailer?  For example; bolted on, welded on with weld-able links, or just welded a link of chain to the tongue?

The original failure was the coupler.  The little mechanism that closes on the ball broke and the coupler slipped up over the ball.   Once we got to level ground, the safety break engaged.   Because its cord was shorter than the chains, the break engaged which caused the chains to be pulled taut. The "S" hooks on the chains were yanked so hard they actually straightened out under the pressure. 

The chain was welded to the trailer.  I'm sorry but I don't know what grade the chains and hooks were.  I bought the trailer used and had it inspected.  The dealer put the safety break away system on for me.  I don't think the chains would have failed if the break away cord wasn't so short.

Thanks.  You're probably right about the break away causing the "S" hooks to fail.  Although I suspect that if the trailer had properly attached chains and forged hooks of the correct grade it would have remained attached. 

I've read/heard several similar stories about "S" hook failures.  Even read a university paper/study that found the "S" hooks failed well under their published ratings. 

IMO "S" hooks are a cost cutting measure and I tend to steer clear of trailers that use them as that's probably not the only place corners were cut.........safety is the last place you should cut corners anyway.

Steer.

Well, I hope it never happens. I don't rush hooking up trailers and I always do a twice around. Hopefully my equipment won't fail. I have S hooks on my stock trailer.......Hmmmm.....

You guys have provided alot of important information.

Funny ... But absolutely true.

That's a fairly easy fix. 

I 'acquired' an old flatbed BP (GVWR 7K) that had 1/4" grade 30 (5K breaking limit) chains with "S" hooks that had a chain link welded to the frame.

A trip to the hardware store and a few minutes later; I had 1/4" grade 43 (7K breaking limit) and forged hooks bolted to the frame with 1/2" grade 8 bolts and hardened washers.  Made me feel better anyway.

While I hate to admit it, I had a case of 'I thought you did it' once when hooking up a GN. (this was many, many years ago). The trailer was a 20 ft GN 4h w/dr that never had the coupler locked....went up a steep hill and all of the way home on back roads and it never budged...it was realized when the trailer was parked. That particular trailer didn't come with chains and we always used the EB when we hauled. We had two or three horses in it at the time. It was my trailer and someone else's truck. With plenty of weight in the trailer, it was fine (thank goodness).

I learned that lesson and double check everything. I never let myself be interrupted when hooking up the trailer either. It's all or none. That way things don't tend to be forgotten. I have chains on my GN now and I use them every time as well as the EB.  

I am appalled that anyone has the attitude they don't use chains because they might get hurt in an accident with a trailer attached to the truck if the hitch fails.  My thought is if you take it out on the road you are responsible for it, not the poor guy who gets hit by your trailer if it disconnects from your truck, whether it be bumper pull or gooseneck.

The attitude "at least it won't take me with it" is incredibly selfish.