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Trailer Safety

by: Tim Waguespack, HSE Coordinator

When equipping and hooking up your trailer for your next cross-country adventure, consider the following safety tips.

• Ensure that the trailer ball is the right size for your trailer tongue. A 2" trailer receiver will fit very nicely on a 1 7/8" ball, but will pop off when you hit a good bump.
• Load your trailer with more weight in front of the trailer axle than behind it. A trailer with too much weight on the back end can result in a violent and uncontrollable "wag" that can cause the tow vehicle to flip.
• Use safety chains that are heavy enough to support the weight of the filled trailer. They should be crossed UNDER the trailer tongue. This will keep the tongue from dropping down and digging into the roadway, breaking the safety chains, and flipping over, possibly into the tow vehicle or other vehicles.
• Ensure the safety chain connectors are up to the task at hand. "S" hooks will work, but other alternatives are available that positively close and stay that way.
• Throw away a trailer ball that receives a threaded bolt from the bottom side, if the bolt works loose, and falls out, it may stay in the receiver tongue and the trailer can slide away. A ball with its own threaded shaft will corrode in such that the nut cannot easily back off. If it is loose, it will be readily apparent.
• Fasten safety chains to a stout piece of framework or the part of the auto hitch designed for that purpose. Do not wrap the safety chains around the ball.