Anyone use the quick coupler (www.quickcoupler.com)?  Looks cool to me!  I hate climbing in the bed.   I love the part about saving relationships with the pic of the husband & wife hollering at each other.  Very true....

Amanda

Actually the part about relationships was on the ad in Trail Rider magazine, wonder why it wasn't on the website....

I would still have to hook up my emergency brake wire and safety chains, which are right beside my coupler's locking pin. It would not save me from a trip into the bed.

Gard

OK, I'll bite. I had a couple of Kiefers and they came with the spring loaded lock, I loved it. I don't ever hook up the safety chains anyway. I would run the brake cable over and attach it to the truck bed. So it worked well for me, someone who nevers uses the safety chains, so I never had to crawl up in the bed.

As a disclaimer I have never seen a gooseneck horse trailer come off the ball, I'm sure there will be thousands of first hand through tenth hand accounts of trailers flying off the trailer ball(you know, I had coffee one morning with a guy, who ate supper one night with a gal, who's little brothers trailer came off the ball). I also understand that it may be illegal to not have them hooked up(not positive of this part because I do own a trailer that never had safety chains). Anywho let the bashing begin.

Wow, good point.  I didn't think about the safety chains.  I guess there's no way of getting around it....gotta crawl into the bed.   I wonder if they even used safety chains on the commercial.  I'll have to go back and look at the clip on the website.  I guess it's not worth $400 bucks to be lazy.  Things like this are why america is fat I suppose.

Amanda

Just don't plan on driving through here with safety chains unhooked unless you can avoid being stopped by a state man,because,it's the law.

I've seen a trailer come off once.  The guy went over the RR tracks way to fast and even though he said everything was locked, when I walked to the trailer to see if I could get my truck under the trailer and get it out of my neighbours fence the coupler was unlocked and the trailer had no chains. 

He bounced it off when he went flying over the RR tracks.It can be done,especially on a BP trailer.

Yep.  Except it was a goosneck and his truck wasn't pretty afterwards.  The trailer came off the ball, but stayed in the bed of the truck bouncing off the sides and finally destroyed the tail gate.  The back end of the trailer was through my neighbours fence and the front was in the middle of the road.  He didn't realize that the RR sign and the big sign that said SLOW,BUMP was there for a reason.  It sounded like a freight train was comming down the road which would have been really bad since they were unused tracks and lots of the wooden ties had been stolen or rotted out over the years.

OK, I'll play, how does a cop in car see if my chains are hooked up in the bed? Unless he is driving Bigfoot he can't see them.

Well,I'll be glad to tell you how it happened to US,and how one was able to see into the bed of our truck.I don't know how one might see into yours,however.

We were taking a trailer up to swap for a trade.A state trooper pulled us over,apparently,we had turned on the lights to overide the automatic headlight system,and only had on our parking lights,which is also illegal in this state.He walked all around our rig,and,he looked in the bed at the safety chains.About a month later,we were stopped at a sobriety/seat belt check point,and the state boy at that incident took himself a quick look,also.

This law was put into effect after two accidents in close proximity where #1: a utility trailer came loose and crossed a median and hit a car headon and killed the driver,and,a flatbed trailer with a couple of cars came loose and struck a vehicle and killed the 2 occupants.It is something that we take seriously.

Not too long ago in PA, a commercial truck pulling a trailer with a wood chipper had the coupler fail, the single safety chain wired on didn't hold, the brakes were nonexistent. The trailer crossed the road, slammed head on into a minivan and killed an entire family of five.

Contractors, horse and boat owners, anyone pulling a trailer is now paying the price, with increased "safety inspections" and in some instances, out right police harassment.

It is important that every vehicle on the road is being driven safety, and is in, an excellent mechanical condition. All safety rules should be followed. Safety equipment is just that, a way to make your trip as safe as possible for you and the other drivers who share your space. I agree with these statements, and hope that all other drivers do as well.

I don't want to be the next victim of an arrogant, lazy driver who has no consideration for what he drives, or the lives of the people his presence may endanger. It doesn't take a rocket scientist, to understand that a thirty second chore may save someone's life. If it only affected the driver, that would be one thing. But when it is a time bomb waiting to go off, endangering other innocent lives, it is unacceptable. People should be mature enough to accept responsibility for their own actions. Who is the driver going to blame when the next trailer kills another family?

Please, all you people who disregard basic safety standards, and have little regard for the lives of others, come to PA. Our best representatives will enjoy giving you a life lesson on responsibility and maturity. They don't have to see into your truck bed while driving; they will be checking you out while you are parked beside the road, trying to explain away your transgressions and stupidity.

Gard

Nope, I sell equipment not trailers. After thinking about this for a little longer, I also pull a 2006 Cedar Creek Fifth wheel trailer and it doesn't have any chains on it either. So I am really confused now. I have an older Sundowner I pull, no chains, The fifth wheel, no chains, and newer horse trailer that has them, so I guess I could be super safe 1/3rd of the time if I wanted to be. Hey, I do hook up the lights.

I agree that it would probably take one hell of a jump to bounce a GN trailer off of the coupler ball if it were locked on there.It is heavy as all get out.It wouldn't take much to bounce one off of a BP trailer,tho,altho I wonder how those old rusty chains that are on,say,our 95 Delta stock trailer would come close to holding that thing,since it doesn't have a breakaway cable on it for brakes.That's the issue with a BP,most of them don't have a breakaway that we see on the road,not the older BP's,anyway.

I'm not saying I think,"AAAA,I don't feel like putting those chains on,they wouldn't hold it,anyway," which,I'm darn sure if the wreck is bad enough to shear a big LQ off of the ball,those chains aren't going to be worth a hoot in you know where to help out.But I just know they passed the law in my state,and,they'll be looking at them if they pull  you over for any reason,so,we put them on.

Well,you know a lot of those older stock trailers didn't even come with breakaways on them.I had a nice little 2H S&H that had the battery and cable,but the box was missing out of the dressing room.Of course,the LQ has one,and I have an older Sooner 2H '90 model I bought from a gal down at Cabot,Trailer Country,and it has one on it.But most of the steel trailers I've had over the years didn't have a breakaway kit.THey've all had chains,tho,and,I use them.

And,YEAH,I'm darn sure a lawyer could make a good time out of an accident happening if someone didn't have their chains hooked,or had a breakaway that wasn't working,ect.But you live here,too,and you know as well as I do,from seeing the tons of junk getting pulled down the highways that most of them dont' even have working LIGHTS,much less breakaways and chains! But it's the law to have chains here in good ole I'll say it proud: ARKANSAS.

Both the owner of the truck and the driver, were held responsible for the deaths of the PA family members. Most of the several convictions were based on a lack of safety equipment, the lack of maintenance concerning the trailer and the inoperable brakes of the trailer. No inspections had been effected or recorded.

How much effort does it take to have a welder install a $20 set of safety chains? Ten, maybe fifteen minutes? Anyone without them has no logical excuse for their absence.

Can anyone reasonably expect that the ball hitch mechanism is absolutely foolproof under every condition? What happens if I were in an accident, and something in the hitch failed because of the impact? I would have a six ton, 35 foot missile headed for god knows where. I don't want to be responsible for anyone's death.

Gard

Me,neither.I've got a horror of that GN coming off the ball and into the cab anyway,ever since I heard about the accident involving  top Western competitors Steve Heckamann and his wife.His wife was killed by such an accident as this,although the impact that would probably CAUSE a GN to shear off the ball would be enough to kill you,much less the GN coming in on you like that.

It feels to me like we're hauling a danged HOUSE trailer behind us,anyway,and my nerves are such nowadays that I doubt seriously we'd ever attempt any place like over in the Smokies,or out west in the mountains.The hills of the Ozarks are enough to keep my grip on the door handle with white knuckles.