Total justafiable RANT

[Lakota Wolf]

Ok peeps,,, I have to rant on this one.

When you are going to TOW a bumper pull trailer, Please Use the correct Hitch ball. Never ever expect a 1 7/8ths ball will work where a 2 inch or 2 7/8ths ball is required. And That break away cable... Dont attach it to the safety chain. Use the correct hitch ball,, put in a lock pin on your hitch, criss cross BOTH safety chans and connect the break away cable to the reciever hitch,, and make sure your lights are plugged in and working.

You have to be safe for yourself and others.

Thank you,,,, This public announcement comes to you from someone who has seen all the above not done.

[Lakota Wolf]

I brought up this rant because I was at the local truck stop, socializing with the locals, and several RV'ers was en-route to a mini get to gether jamboree of sorts. Several of the members were inside and more wondered in and out. One gentleman comes in and asks loudly who owns that blue suburban in the far parking lot? A couple stood up and said they did. The gentleman says,, you need to take a look at what happened,,, it was just hit. Wellllllll,,, cant miss out on an accident scene now can we? Several of us follow out to see the damage. A driver came in,pulling a 30 ft bumper pull, and lost his trailer, and the trailer took the scenic route across the parking lot into the side of the suburban.We looked over the possibilities of what happened,, and the guy driving the truck pulling the trailer had a tiny 1 7/8ths hitch ball,, No chains ,no break away switch and shredded wiring  The trailer required a 2 7/8ths ball,(mobile home ball), There was no chains, and non functioning break away switch, and what appeared to be shredded wire where it looked like they just twisted wires together for lights. While waiting for police to get there to make a report, several of us talked with the driver, He assumed that since he had a heavy tongue weight, the trailer would have stayed on the ball. When asked about safety chains and break away safety switch,, he said he had 2 bungee cords criss crossed and the break away switch was to sensitive. (we get a deer in the headlight look). We all standing there, astonished that this guy had actually drove it over 150 miles to here, before it let loose in a parking lot.  We walked around and looked at some other RV's rigs,, some really nice older ones and newer ones,, and several didnt even have safety chains or correct wire plugs and only one had a safety pin installed. One guys hitch was so worn out (how worn out was it?) The locking mechanism no longer worked, so he used Duct tape and wrapped it around the coupler , and around the hitch, to hold it.. WOW!!!!!!!  His break away cable was connected to his wire harness plug. Now he did have some classic vintage tires, (which is NOT a good thing).

They looked older then me, and Im old. Half the tread was gone,, a nice pattern of threads showing and big chunks of the tire was missing. and 2 out of the 5 lugs was missing. He did have some real purdy faded pinkish lights all the way around, and did he have a lic, plate light? NOPE,,, didnt even have a lic plate on it,, (it was up on the dash of his truck for safe keeping).

After wondering around,, we all headed back inside and was making mental notes to check our rigs for anything and everything that might not be 100%...... We did establish a word for the day while sipping our coffee,,,  and that word (Mr, Rogers approved) is WOW,  just wow.

[Rich Thomas]

Gilty! but had all the right stuff.  My problem was the hitch. My little Coleman pop up. It has the old style cup and ball type hitch. I had towed this camper several times with no problems. On my way over to a lake close to home we hit a bump coming off a small bridge and the camper popped off the hitch, the tong hit the ground. Luckily, the chains did there job.There is an adjustment on the hitch for the ball socket that must have been just outside the range to clamp the ball. That was 15 or so years ago and to this day I check to make sure the ball clamp is properly adjusted before I pull out.