Safety Chains

[Forrest747]

Ok the build has had alot of good progress this week. The stupid welder is dying what is up with that!!!!

THe intresting issue I had was the length of the safety chains. I mounted them to the front body frame and thought i had enough length yet it snapped the coupling, when i turned. So with some trial and error I got it so they just alomost touched the ground crossed under the tounge and seemed to do ok. The do touch the ground when i turn, better than snapping for sure.

Is thier any set rule for the next build?

[Steve_Cox]

Did you cross the the chains under the hitch?

[Dale M.]

THe intresting issue I had was the length of the safety chains. I mounted them to the front body frame and thought i had enough length yet it snapped the coupling, when i turned.

Huh?..... Do you mean front cross member under body of trailer?... Safety chains are for "insurance" of a coupler failure. They only need to be mounted to tongue directly behind coupler. Should not have to be more than maybe 24 inches long and most of that is taken up by crossing them under "ball" and connecting them to tow vehicle.... IF set up properly they should never be snapped during towing and almost never drag ground (except in going through some maneuver that puts TV/trailer tongue in sharp vertical deflection)...

Dale

[sdtripper2]

Safety Chains

Always connect the trailer's safety chains securely to the trailer hitch or tow vehicle by crossing them underneath the coupler. The safety chains should only be long enough to allow for tight turns. Anything longer may weaken the safety feature of the chains if other connections fail. Also make sure the chains cannot wiggle or bounce free and do not let them drag on the ground.

[Forrest747]

After i painted the frame yesterday and gave it a day to cure, I reattached teh safety chains. taking into the new information from this post i moved them forward.[/img]