Break-away cable - Montana Owners Club

lasater · 04-11-2006, 12:41 PM

There have been a couple of instances when my break-away cable got tangled on some part of my 20K Pull-Rite hitch and caused the brakes on the RV to lock. I had to buy a new cable because the old became kinked and frayed.

I now have to double the cable back through its own loops to keep it from dragging and catching on something. Have any of the other forum members had this problem? If so, how did you solve it?

Native Tex · 04-11-2006, 01:48 PM

Wow! That could be a 'jolting' problem. I always hook ours to the release handle on the fifth wheel hitch. That seems to be a good spot that allows it to hang out of the way and never foul. I would experiement with different points where you hook it to be sure it lays away from any place that it may catch. Good luck.

Searchers · 04-11-2006, 02:10 PM

I hook mine over the release handle also and haven't had a problem. Awhile back someone metioned slipping a piece of clear plastic tubing over the cable to prevent it from hanging up.

gkbutler · 04-11-2006, 02:49 PM

"Ditto" Over the release handle and have no problem at all.

Virgil · 04-11-2006, 02:56 PM

I attached a small swivel snap hook on my hitch release handle with a small hose clamp. I hook the brake cable in there. It has not hung up on anything yet, but then again I don't go as much as most. I have seen it swaying side to side pretty good but so far it hasn't snagged. I would think the time it would snag and activate the trailer brakes is most likely during right hand and fairly sharp turns. Good luck to you.

Montana Sky · 04-11-2006, 05:39 PM

I also hook the break away cable to the handle of my Superglide. So far have not had any trouble.

Dave e Victoria · 04-11-2006, 07:13 PM

I was the one that suggested the clear plastic tubing over the cable. It works great. The original instance was going around a corner. The cable caugh and I ended up having to drag the trailer through the intersection and off onto the shoulder. It was scarey.

Koalityman · 04-11-2006, 07:25 PM

I have the same clear plastic tubbing covering our breakaway cable. This keeps it from kinking and from wapping around anything much like Daves set up.

lasater · 04-12-2006, 09:23 AM

This is one of those cases where you have 36 to 40 inches of cable and only need 14 inches. That excess cable just had to go somewhere that would cause me a problem.

The first time it happened was when we pulled into a roadside park on a 2-lane highway. We had to do some sharp turning and all of a sudden, the trailer didn't want to move at all. It took me over 10 minutes to figure out what was wrong.

Now I know what to look for and how to prevent it.

Thanks,

Illini Trekker · 04-12-2006, 09:35 AM

I like the tubing idea and will try that out. What with bikes, wood, tool box, you name it back there it can happen easy. Some have put an eye bolt in the bed side to straighten the cable out too.

sreigle · 04-20-2006, 01:20 PM

Ours tripped while turning into a KOA campsite and the whole park was watching. Ours was looped over the Reese pull handle but got caught in the slider rails. I put an eye hook through a hole in the body of the reese. That was 50k miles ago and no reoccurrences. So far.

Lstierw · 04-21-2006, 03:41 PM

I have also been concerned about this for some time. I did buy a fifth wheel tool box that now sits behind the hitch and it seems that there is now not the problem for the break-a-way cable catching up on something. It (the tool box) of course has the lowered center where it does not affect backing into the kingpin. We put everything that could cause a problem in front of the hitch. Although anything can happen, this has worked well for us....Les

VanMan · 04-22-2006, 03:50 AM

I just happened to think - is it possible to lose the "business end" of the cable? If so you'd be locked up until you got a replacement. A spare (or at least a spare of that end) might be a really nice thing to have in the toolbox ? ! ? !

RonS · 04-22-2006, 06:05 AM

yep - I carry a spare. I also have replaced my cable with a coil cable with a snap on both ends, Coil keeps the cable just taunt enough. Works great for me.

Trailer Trash 2 · 04-23-2006, 04:56 AM

I also have mine conected over the relese handle, I tried to conect it once to something other than the hitch, thinking if the hitch came off which is highly unlikely, that is the time that the cable some how got tangled up under the brackets that hold the body to the bed rails it must have happened when making a turn. I did have a kinked wire but did not have it pull the switch, I cought it in time. so now it's over the handle.

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