Emergency breakaway switch works

[H. John Kohl]

Ann and I pulled into Fort Chiswell, Va for an overnight stop. Just as we started around the corner the trailer tires locked up. Got out walked around checking the wheels and then the break-away switch. Yep it got tangled and pulled. Thank goodness it was in the campground parking lot.

[BB_TX]

I am always a little concerned about that. I try to always keep that area of the bed clear and make sure the cable lays where there is very little chance of it hanging on something.

[exav8tr]

John, I am glad to hear that it works, thanks for being the test engineer for the rest of us. Also glad to hear is happened where it did and not on the road.......

[Capt Kidd]

Had the same thing happen as we pulled out of the driveway on our way to Lake Sis last year. I now check more cafefully to see that it is clear.

Scared the poo out of me. Just what you need at the start of a trip is a problem.

[azleflyer]

I had the same problem. After fueling, I was pulling away from the fuel island making a right hand turn when all of a sudden the trailer brakes locked up. Found the cable from the break away switch had gotten caught between the rear base rail and the left side bracket of the hitch. Needless to say it was not a good feeling.

[bncinwv]

H. John,
Been there, done that at the sharp turn on the road to the Gettysburg rally. Consider yourself very fortunate, since we (read that I) did not realize that the brakes were on until about a half-mile down the road. As an incentive to not do what we did, Richfaa can testify to the burnt brake smell when he quided us into our spot at 2 a.m. that morning. Fantastic fan, A/C, door open, etc. etc. and it still smelled like brakes the next morning. Seems like I always live and learn the hard way????? By the way, was your stop at the August Rally location?? and were you impressed with the facilities. Rich posted or PM'd earlier that he thought it was a nice park, when he stopped there on the way to the un-North!!
Bingo

[H. John Kohl]

Yes it is the same park. Nice area. I took some pictures and will put them on the web [s]when I have a better internet connection[/s].

[richfaa]

We will also be stopping at that park on our way North the 22'nd of April.I do remember that burnt brake smell bingo. We did that at a fuel stop in N.M and drug the camper about 100 yards across dirt and gravel before we realized something was not right.

[ehmcfarl]

Yep, I had the same problem on a hard right turn in a CG in Pidgeon Forge last year. My trailer brakes locked up, and being somewhat of a newbie I thought something really bad had happened, I had my cousin in the truck with me, who has much more experience at pulling RVs than I do, and he immediately knew what the problem was. So, I too try to make sure there is nothing for the cord to get tangled up in now.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

John, Here's my cure for keeping the brake cable up & out of the way.



You can buy these suction cup hooks most any where.

[Emmel]

John, we ,I, had the cable get caught as I was leaving the cg in Florida on our way home.
And thanks Glenn, I like how you have your cable rigged up and that looks like the simplest and surest way to cure that problem. Will do that with the new one when it comes in.

[Waynem]

John,
Been there, almost done that, but it was just tight and had not pulled out yet. So I took a short bungee cord, not the rubber kind, and after I hooked up I would take the hook of the bungee and put the cable in it. The other end of the bungee stayed on the king pin in some hole I found. Worked for me.

[Art-n-Marge]

The cord used for this function on my trailer is real long (2.5 to 3 ft). I hate hearing these types of stories where an important safety design is a problem in and of itself. At least in all your cases it was not accompanied with the crunch of your rig on your truck bed since it was only a cord failure. I use a Boy Scout knot to shorten the cable and then loop the end and the new loop created by my knot around on the hitch bar. I like the hook idea from Glenn, but I would expect with my luck the suction would fail and I'd have a problem, plus my cord is so long it might not be enough.

In the past I have use the cord and crimp tool to cut and shorten cord like this for a gate latch, but that does not take much pull like what a trailer safety cable would need. And now I have been thinking about cutting my cord and using the crimp tool to create a new end loop but I have not done it yet only because I am nervous that I will not crimp it down enough and the cable itself will fail to do its job. I would rather have burning brakes than need the feature and the cable fails to do what it's supposed to.

Does anyone else think that should be safe enough? The distance from the hitch bar to the safety brake is very short and I don't know why the stupid cord has to be 3 feet long. Since I want to put stuff in my truck bed I don't want to have to worry about this as much as I do.

Thanks in advance for any ideas,

[HamRad]

Art,
Can the cable be shortened? I'll take a look at mine tomorrow. I just loop mine and try to make sure there is nothing that will snag it. So far I've been lucky but I like Glenn's idea. I may try that.

Dennis

[Dean A Van Peursem]

Now this is one problem we haven't had yet but sure think about every time I walk by the bed of the truck. Always check that everything is kosher around that area. We don't carry much or anything in the bed of the truck so maybe that may be part of the reason we haven't had a problem. Maybe an advantage of pulling a 3400RL with a F250. The pin weight of the 3400RL causes one to not want any more weight in the bed than absolutely necessary even with airbags. Not that close to exceeding the Rear GAWR though.

I haven't checked if the emergency release swicth even works ..... lately. Time to do that. Item #21 on the "have to do" list! :-)

[Glenn and Lorraine]

quote:Originally posted by Art-n-Marge
...... I like the hook idea from Glenn, but I would expect with my luck the suction would fail and I'd have a problem, plus my cord is so long it might not be enough.

OOPS, guess I forgot to mention that YES over time it will lose suction. I solved that with just a small drop of Super Glue.
BTW--So far as I know, All the cords are the same length as mine and therefore the suction cup hook will work.