As I have already posted on this board, the church I attend rents its facilities from a local school. We keep the various things we need in a two axle trailer and one of the men with a suitable tow vehicle delivers it to the school on Sunday.
One Sunday a few weeks ago we asked a young man who has a 2010 Nissan Titan with a 5.7 V8 to bring it over. He works in construction, and anyone with a nice truck like that knows how to tow a trailer, right?
Well, perhaps not.
Apparently he did not get the locking lever on the coupler all the way down when he put it on the ball. So, he did not insert the locking pin. In addition, he did not know to cross the safety chains under the coupler, or where to attach them.
As he headed for the school, the coupler popped off the ball. I'm not sure where he had put the safety chain hooks. He either put them on the bumper supports or just hooked them on the bumper itself.
Anyhow, when the coupler popped off the ball the jack foot hit the street and the trailer stopped. The safety chains withstood the shock. They jerked off the rear bumper off the truck.
Actually, he might have really caused some damage to the truck if he had hooked the chains onto the receiver as he should have. Imagine if all that force had suddenly been applied to the hitch. He probably would have had to get his frame straightened and his hitch reinstalled by drilling new holes.
Tom
Proper Hitching
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