Safety Chains/cables

[windchaser]

Hi, all.

Well, you'll have convinced me to flat tow my tracker with a Blue Ox and Brake Buddy. I have the dolly up for sale as we speak.

My question tonight is safety chains/cables. How much play do you need? How strong should they be? And where? Spread far apart, on the toad, and RV? When I used the dolly, the chains hooked right to the hitch block and where on the tongue. Should I hook the saftey chains/cables parrallel or cross the hitch as I did with the dolly?

The dead man braking system seems like a double edged problem. If I loose the hitch, the saftey chains should carry the toad, without setting off the deadman. However, if by losing the hitch and pulling the deadman switch, will my braking system make it worse by slowing the toad and maybe braking the safety chains and lossing the whole load?

I guess I am asking a lot of questons. And this forum is one of many reasons why we joined. You guys/ladies are a wealth of much needed info. I am very happy that you'll care enough to provide the very best infomation for us newbies.

Jim Moore

Catawba, NC

[tbutler]

Jim,

When you get your Blue Ox system you should receive some answers to your questions. They should recommend how to connect the safety chains. Our Roadmaster system came with safety cables (instead of chains) which are attached to the loops on the hitch. I crossed them as is conventional but don't recall anything that specifically said what to do. The reason for crossing the chains is so they will catch the hitch arm if the hitch on a trailer comes disconnected. This would keep the hitch arm from hitting the road and digging in causing further damage. With a tow bar, the bar is unlikely to come loose. The failure will likely be in an arm of the hitch so crossing the cables won't help.

Our automatic braking system is part of the Brakemaster system also made by Roadmaster. The cable that pulls the plug in case of break away is not long enough to allow the safety cables to work without activating the brake. So in the event of a broken tow bar, the brake on the toad should be activated. This should give us a good tug letting us know that something is wrong. If the safety cables (chains) break then the car should come to a safe stop on its own. If the safety cables (chains) don't break, the braking action we would initiate with the RV should allow the toad with its brakes set to come to a stop without running into us.

[kalynzoo]

Sure, Right, good question, often wondered myself???? I cross my chains because long ago, when I had the dolly I was told to cross the chains, so the procedure just sticks. Actually, they are not chains, they are safety cables. When I lost my baseplate 3 years back, because of improper instillation by the shop, the toad headed off at a very slow rate of speed. Everything tangled as the faceplate was pulled from the car. Magically, this pulled the brake ring. As I look at my tow setup, the safety rings are attached to the Motorhome hitch assembly, and the Saturn hitch assembly. The brake ring is screwed into the fascia plate attached to the Saturn hitch. Even the electrical connections attach to the two hitch assemblies. If the welds break, and the hitch falls free I have no idea what forces of nature might come into play to rescue the towed vehicle. Giving this situation much thought, and I have, I realize that to weld new safety rings would move them deep under the vehicles, and with my back, I doubt if I could complete the hookup. Same applies to moving the break ring deep under the Saturn. Since the whole front assembly of the Saturn is a plastic uni-construction, attachment to this fascia would be useless.

Thus, even though I think about this often, to date, I still use the standard attachment of everything hooked to the hitch assemblies on both vehicles.

[drobinson@roadmasterinc.com]

Hello Windchaser. I don't normally follow the forums but a coworker within the industry spotted your questions and thought I might be able to help.

I am an employee at Roadmaster, Inc. and we make similar towing systems (including bars, cables, braking etc.) to Blue Ox. Following is a hyper link to our safety cable instructions. You will want to follow the instructions that come with your Blue Ox system, but the basics are the same. These instructions are detailed for each of our tow bars and are full of warnings as is required in todays litigious environment.

Safety Cable Instructions

Your cables on the car will connect to designated mounting points on your baseplate. Your baseplate instructions will show you where. On your motorhome you will connect the cables to the safety cable/chain ring which is welded to your receiver. Do NOT run the cables parallel. You want to criss cross the cables underneath the swivel joint of your tow bar. In the event that you forget to put your safety pin in, or should something occur to your tow bar that causes it to separate from the receiver hitch, the crossed cables will hopefully cradle the tow bar, possibly preventing the tow bar from catching on the road and pole vaulting the car.

You questioned how much play there should be in the safety cables. The answer is just enough so that in your sharpest turn the cable does not run out of play. But not so long that they drag going over dips and bumps. If you are uncertain, you can go to a large parking lot and without cables, but with the car connected make your sharpest turn. Now connect your cables so there is just a little slack. Remember that one side will be very short (compressed), while the other cable will be very long (extended). They will of course reverse rolls when you turn in the opposite direction. Your cables must be long enough to accommodate this sharpest turn without running out of play.

As for strength, you simply want cables that are rated in excess of the total weight of your towed car and all of it's belongings. Most cables are available in a 6k, 8k or 10k rating.

Regarding your braking system, we recommend that your breakaway cable is just longer than your safety cables. This requires proper placement of the breakaway switch so that you have enough slack to make sure the breakaway cable is long enough. We want the breakaway to activate the brakes should your car take a vacation from the motorhome at an inappropriate time. We don't want to emergency stop your vehicle unless it has actually broken ties with the motorhome.

I hope this information has been helpful.

[Guest Wayne77590]

I have a DemCo Excali-bar towing system. It does state in the hook up procedures to cross the safety cables. They provide coiled cables that they instruct to put around the towing bars and use what is needed. It makes it easy to stow.

Happy trails.

[seajaycecil@yahoo.com]

We have an 04 Ford Ranger and I had a real problem with the base plate on the front of the truck. It was poorly designed and I almost lost the truck. I went back and welded cantilever braces from the side of the base plate to the frame of the truck and solved the problem. The dummies that designed the base plate for a Ford Ranger truck know nothing about ''stress points'' on the frame of the truck. Most base plates have tabs with holes in them for the chains or the ''curlie cables'' to attach to. I go a different route with my truck. The truck has ''hitch points'' that stick thru the front grill on the truck. They are well attached to the truck and are suppose to be used to pull the truck out of the mud when necessary. This is where I hitch the curlie cables on the truck. In this manner I can lose the base plate completely and the cables will still be attached to a different place on the truck. It would be really messy if I lost the base plate but I would still have the truck attached to the coach.

This advise will cost you ten cent if you use it and if it dont work for you ... I NEVER NEW YOU ....

Seajay the sailor man.