Trailer safety chains???????

[narcop482]

Need some advice and/or input. I'm about 90% completed with my cargo trailer. Have some concerns with the safety chains. I know from pulling a camper with a vehicle, the safety chains will for the most part keep the camper behind the vehicle in the event that you have a hitch failure (comes off the ball) and the camper can be slowed down by the vehicle's bumper. I'm not to sure I like the sound of that when pulling a trailer with a motorcycle!!!!!! I don't know if this is the right attitude to take but I'd rather hand someone my insurance card then have the trailer take me off my bike while running 50-70 mph.

Any advice or input??????????

Thanks.

[greybeard]

for the very reason you stated I don't and won't put safety chains on a trailer behind my bike and have been pulling it for several years never had a problem yet

[Clamper]

So if your trailer comes loose and hits a kid walking or riding a bike along the roadway, you will just hand their parents your Insurance card.

I always use the chains and if it comes loose it might tug alittle, but I'll know it back there and pull over to a stop or slow down enough to get over. As a former Trucker, I've see trailers come loose. NOT that Big a deal.

[narcop482]

Clamper,
I'm not that heartless....... Of course I'd hate for the thing to come off and hit a kid riding a bicycle on the interstate let alone a vehicle but it does concern me towing with a motorcycle versus a car or truck. Just asking for some advise or input.

[freddy]

all the trailers I've seen that are pulled by a motorcycle use a safety chain..I like the pin adapter that bustec trailer uses seems unlikely that it would come off, instead of ball type

[Ripshod]

I don't use a trailer but if I did I wouldn't use a ball hitch.

[Clamper]

Sorry Jim, It was just the way I read your last line, and in reading threads back to 2004 of other who feel that when pulling a trailer you should not use chains.

OK my input;
At every stop, check the hitch. Cross the chains so it makes a cradle for the hitch to lay on, if by chance it somehow became disconnected. Oil or grease the hitch so when you push down on the little lever it does not hang up / this way you are not beating it down or other problems. Always lock the hitch in the closed position, and double check the Coupler pin Lock. Carry two extra keys for the lock, but that's more a personal thing and I now own a second really nice Dremel tool.

Again, cross the chains to cradle the hitch so it won't touch the ground. It will bump into the tire and jump, but if the length is right the trailer will stay right behind you as you come to a stop. If you run the chains - left side to left hook, right side to right hook, or even if the chain is too long the weight of the tongue and trailer could do a pit maneuver on the bike and low side you.

Good Luck with what ever you do.

[Whistlin Dixie]

Just put our new Piggybacker together and was wondering the same thing about the chain. Has anyone here ever had the trailer come unhitched?

[bigTom]

I don't pull a trailer, but I dodged one coming out of the other lane.

Safety chains are so named for a reason.

If you pull a trailer with out chains and it does come off and kill or maim some one, expect to be charged criminally. Under the same theory of a drunk driver's disregard for the law and fellow motorists. So you might want to update your get out of jail free card to go with your insurance card.

[Whistlin Dixie]

Tom, are you saying that the law requires a safety chain?

[greybeard]

in most states the law exemts MC trailers from safety chains for 2 wheels if you are pulling with a trike or if you use a side car it doesn't and I agree with Clamper about locking and inspecting and proper maintainance

[Jeff in Ferndale WA]

I don't know about other states,but in Washington state,safety chains are required on all trailers.

[narcop482]

To All,
I appreciate all the input, great info!!!!!! I just checked my Florida State Statute book and low and behold.......Florida requires ALL trailers two have two safety chains. Since I'm not going to throw my 23 year career down the crapper by violating the law, I'm going to use the safety chains. I'll do just as I did with the travel trailer I had, cross the chains and shorten them up with the old twist trick.

Once again thanks for all the input and advise.P^

[SCoffman1]

Here's the thing...pulling a trailer with a bike is a risk that we assume. I have owned and pulled one myself. Others on the road should not have to share that risk with us unnecessarily. The chains on the trailer are there to keep the trailer from coming off and careening across the road and hitting someone else. I would find it difficult to have someone else hurt because I was unwilling to assume the risk myself. Not only does the law require it, but in my own humble opinion, I think that we are obligated to assume our own risk. You can certainly minimize the risk by making sure your chains are own properly as mentioned earlier and making sure your hitch is properly adjusted. But ultimately, it's your bike, your trailer, and your responsiblity. The insurance card isn't really an appropriate backup in my opinion.

Steve

[Flashdog]

My concern with pulling a trailer designed to be pulled behind a car/truck is the type of receiver. Although there is some wiggle room ball hitches are only really designed to articulate left and right. They are not really designed for the rolling motion of a bike leaned over into a corner. This concerns me because it could be possible to try and make an evasive maneuver and have the trailer keep you from a steep enough lean angle to avoid a collision.
As for hitches coming off, it's normally caused by someone using the wrong size ball. (1 7/8" in a 2' receiver) or a worn out or ill tightened receiver. ( I hate the old hand wheel type). The best type not only lock down but also use a through-locking pin.

[GoldWingGL]

My concern with pulling a trailer designed to be pulled behind a car/truck is the type of receiver. They are not really designed for the rolling motion of a bike leaned over into a corner. This concerns me because it could be possible to try and make an evasive maneuver and have the trailer keep you from a steep enough lean angle to avoid a collision.
.

As far as the Bike not being able to lean far enough for the Tongue and having it bind up, that will NOT happen. You can take your Bike and set it on the Crash bars while hooked up to your Trailer and it will not bind up. There is that much rotation in them.

[motomac]

I don't know if every state requires safety chains or not, but I know that some do and I ride in all of them but HI. When they build the bridge, then I'll add that one. If you install the chains so you can cross them under the ball to act as a catch system, then the chains will do what they are supposed to. If you install them as most manufacturers install them, they won't cross. I take them off the coupler mounting bolt, cut them in half, install a longer coupler bolt and mount a chain on both side of the coupler. This way they can be crossed under the ball and catch the tongue if the ball or coupler comes loose. And the tongue won't drag if you have the chains short enough. To adjust the length of the chain, just twist it. It should be long enough to allow the trailer to jack knife behind the bike and short enough to catch the tongue in event of a disconnect.

[Bob E.]

Personally, I use safety chains for the reasons stated above. However, I dread the day that my trailer ever comes un-hitched from my bike. I had it happen with a trailer I was towing with my Bronco where the ball came unbolted from the draw-bar. It was a weird one where the ball actually had a threaded hole and a bolt threaded into it from the bottom, as opposed to the ball having a threaded stud that is attached to the bar with a nut. I've never seen another one like it. Anyways, the bolt fell out going down the road at about 60mph. Sure, the chains caught it, but the trailer started whipping back and forth so violently that it would have wiped out a car in the next lane if there was one. By the time I was able to get to the shoulder and start slowing, the trailer whipped around far enough to the side that the tire caught and actually flipped the trailer up into the air, slamming into the tailgate of the Bronco (I have no idea why the window didn't blow out) and ended upside-down with the wheels still spinning...dragging along behind the Bronco by the chains. Luckily for me, this trailer which typically hauls my atv was empty and aside from some damage to the wood, lights, and fenders of the trailer (and the newly painted tailgate of the truck) the damage was relatively minimal.

[bigTom]

Hey, Bob! Welcome to the site.

Disconnects are scary stuff, I had a boat come off the ball and mutilate the plate and gas door on a Buick, once. The only harm, but that plate looked BAD:)

[Bob E.]

Hey, Bob! Welcome to the site.


Thanks. I found this site while looking for motorcycle camper/trailers. I'm trying to convice the wife that it would be so much nicer than staying in hotels. I'm not having much luck, though. To her, "roughing it" is a hotel room without a hot tub. :rolleyes: But I'm working on her.;)

[DILLIGAF61]

i would like to know what states exempt mc trailers from using safety chains i know that in oh ,pa,ny,mi,in,ky,wv,va,nc,and sc chains are required on trailers

if anyone wants to disregard mine or the general public's safety by not using safety chains they should be charged with murder if anyone dies because of a trailer careening across the highway

I've driven over 2,000,000 miles in the past 27 years I've seen a lot of people do really stupid thing while driving and no chains would rank really high on that list

[GoldWingGL]

Washington state also requires them.. We are the only ones who should have to take on our risks.

[greybeard]

oops,sorry if I stepped on anybody's toes didn't mean too was just relating what I have found as to the laws about safty chains as for responsability I agree and so do the laws of most states you are responsable for any damage your trailer does weather you have chains or not and if you look at what I wrote not all states were included