Don't Let This Happen To You!

[Barnyard]

This afternoon I took my Kubota with mower and front bucket down to our 4x4 grounds to do some work in preparation for our race this weekend. As I walked past the hitch after loading to go home I saw this.

trailer-hitch1.jpg (56.44 KiB) Viewed 2303 times

The other day I had used my smaller trailer with the 2" ball, but today I needed the bigger trailer with the 2 5/16" bal. My hitch has a ball on top and one on the bottom that is rotated to select the ball size needed. I had forgotten to rotate the bigger ball to the top and put the 2 5/16" coupler on the 2" ball.

I had driven ten miles from home to where I was using the tractor and I am guessing the trailer dislodged after pulling onto our grounds.

I will now color coordinate the tip of each hitch to match the color of it's respective ball so I know I have the right one whenever I switch trailers.

[Bill E Bob]

Yes, I can see where it might be difficult differentiating shades of Ferric Oxide

[Barnyard]

Yes, I can see where it might be difficult differentiating shades of Ferric Oxide

Yeah, each ball will be painted to match the tip of the trailer tongue too.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Many years ago when I had not had a lot of experience pulling a trailer I made a trip to my wife's folks pulling a camper. Coming back, when I got on some of the rougher roads, I thought that trailer is sure making a lot of noise. Finally back home I backed the trailer in to it's parking spot and went around to unhitch it to discover I had not closed the hitch. Only time in my life I was glad it had that much tongue weight.

[Bill Hudson]

You lead a charmed life.

Bill

[Jackman]

Hope your chains were crossed that's important when they unexpectedly disconnect, I put a pintle ball hitch on my truck that gives two points of lock for added safety

[Steve Butram]

Probably happened when you unloaded. lucky for you the coupler didn't ride up and destroy the tailgate.

[Gary Dotson]

Guilty!! Much like your story, I too had been using my 2" ball for my small trailer. Not thinking, I hooked up my big trailer and drove to a friends house, about 15 miles away, to load a tractor to bring home. As I drove the tractor onto the trailer, the hitch lifted off the ball. I backed the tractor off the trailer, unhooked the chains & light cord and drove the truck back home to switch ball mounts. No damage was done, but I was sure glad no one was watching. John, I too have stopped to check my load and discovered that I hadn't locked my coupler down. A few potentially bad situations, like this, have made me extra vigilent with trailer hook up.

[Stanton]

It's a valuable lesson to be learned when an accident shows itself before it happens. Glad to see that was all that came out of it--no one injured.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

For the last 20 or so years I have used the Tow-Power convertible ball mounts. Very handy but do require some maintenance, mainly periodic removal of the ball and oiling the mechanism. Never have to wonder if I have the right size trailer ball, and using it I have more of a tendency to check that the right size ball is on the hitch.


They are still available, but I think the manufacturer has discontinued them, however, Convert-a-Ball still makes a similar version.


http://accessories.etrailer.com/search? ... &view=list

[RUSSALL]

I have a lot of knuckleheads in my neighborhood. So when I leave a trailer hooked up overnight, I always check the hitch, chains and lights before I move it.


Russ

[Denny Clayton]

Guilty!! Much like your story, I too had been using my 2" ball for my small trailer. Not thinking, I hooked up my big trailer and drove to a friends house, about 15 miles away, to load a tractor to bring home. As I drove the tractor onto the trailer, the hitch lifted off the ball. I backed the tractor off the trailer, unhooked the chains & light cord and drove the truck back home to switch ball mounts. No damage was done, but I was sure glad no one was watching. John, I too have stopped to check my load and discovered that I hadn't locked my coupler down. A few potentially bad situations, like this, have made me extra vigilent with trailer hook up.

I now always use a clip pin in the closed hitch when I hookup the light cord.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

.........I now always use a clip pin in the closed hitch when I hookup the light cord.

Also, make sure they are the rights size pin. Some of the hitches are designed for 1/4 inch pins, and some for 5/16 inch pins. I put a 1/4" pin in a hitch made for a 5/16" pin, and discovered the coupler could be opened and closed with the pin in place. The hitch I was dealing with used a plate with a notch for the pin to go through, and the smaller pin would slip out of the notch.

[Mr E]

Guilty!! Much like your story, I too had been using my 2" ball for my small trailer. Not thinking, I hooked up my big trailer and drove to a friends house, about 15 miles away, to load a tractor to bring home. As I drove the tractor onto the trailer, the hitch lifted off the ball. I backed the tractor off the trailer, unhooked the chains & light cord and drove the truck back home to switch ball mounts. No damage was done, but I was sure glad no one was watching. John, I too have stopped to check my load and discovered that I hadn't locked my coupler down. A few potentially bad situations, like this, have made me extra vigilent with trailer hook up.

Hmm, I'd never admit to doing this.

[leerenovations]

At least I can see that you have safety chains on that, around here I cant count the number of people I see that dont have any safety chains on at all, they usually just clip the chains around the trailer toungue and never use them.