we all forget something when in a rush

[junior1113]

made it all the way to the gas station where i realized i didnt put the pin in the hitch receiver no tradgities good thing for tongue weight and no uphills

 

[ShaneCarroll]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

Whoa, you better be counting your blessings. . Thankfully all turned out well.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

Yes, but that's why we use safety chains from the trailer tongue to the....oh oh....

 

[Spinkick]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

doh! One of my worst fears... forgetting the pin.

 

[hubbard53]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

yesterday on my first outing of the season, I had an "OH SH*T! moment - after being anchored the engines wouldnt start and I thought it was dead battery (I had a dead battery and had jsut taken it off the charger) but then realized it was not in neutral

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

made it all the way to the gas station where i realized i didnt put the pin in the hitch receiver no tradgities good thing for tongue weight and no uphills

Scarey !!!! You got really lucky.

 

[ne7800]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

My camper is a 5th wheel and i am always parinoid that i will forget to make sure the pin is latched and pull away and drop the camper on my pick up box lol

 

[wanttofly]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

Saw someone forget to put the pin in once. Started to pull his boat that had a fly bridge (maiden voyage), and the boat rolled over onto the ramp.

 

[TriadSteeler]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

My camper is a 5th wheel and i am always parinoid that i will forget to make sure the pin is latched and pull away and drop the camper on my pick up box lol

I am paranoid about that as well. I always do a test pull with the front legs about 1" retracted to make sure the king pin is latched.

 

[idrownworms]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

My trick for not forgetting the pin is to never remove it.
If your worried about theft they make locking pins

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

My trick for not forgetting the pin is to never remove it.
If your worried about theft they make locking pins

But keep it in good shape. Especially during winter or you may never get it off again.

 

[skargo]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

My trick for not forgetting the pin is to never remove it.
If your worried about theft they make locking pins

Exactly. If I don't have one of my trailers ball mounts in my truck, I still keep the locking hitch pin in my receiver, always have, always will.

 

[sportsmanphil]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

I never take mine out, so no worries there............However I did have one brain fart moment last fall.

A buddy of mine was having trouble with his truck. I was on my way fishing. So I hook up the boat and take off.

I get to his appt complex and was going over speed bumps. Right in front of his building (he is standing outside at his truck) and I hit the last speed bump and all I hear is DRAGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! I felt the chains jerk and then felt the tongue jack hit the bumper. It wasnt bad because I was going slow but it felt like the bumper got crushed.

I get out and the hitch came off the ball. The ball is the right size, the pin is in the receiver and in the ball catch on the trailer........What the Hell right?

The top of the ball has a nice fresh scratch around the top back half. Then it hit me. I set the boat down and threw the latch but the latch thing inside the tongue sat on top of the ball and didnt slide down under it. SO the latch was closed but sitting on top of the ball. I am 6'5" tall so from where I am standing it looked fine.

What makes it worse is the buddy that this happened in front of, I give him HELL all the time, so needless to say he slayed me on our ATV forum before I got off the water that day. :redface:

 

[idrownworms]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

But keep it in good shape. Especially during winter or you may never get it off again.

I have found that out; however, my brother has a locking pin removal tool in his garage (cutting torch)
Three in one oil, transmission fluid, etc works to keep it unrusted though.
jamie

 

[rusirius]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

made it all the way to the gas station where i realized i didnt put the pin in the hitch receiver no tradgities good thing for tongue weight and no uphills

I can do one slightly better... Last year me and the family were going camping... Got everything loaded up and ready to go and headed out (with the boat in tow)... The camping site we were going to wasn't too far away, and I normally stick to the highway for most of the ride... This time I decided to take back roads and just enjoy the weather and the day... Didn't really know where I was going, just kept heading in the right direction (knew I had the GPS if I couldn't find the place)... Most of these roads were full of pot holes, huge bumps, etc... Just horribly maintained way out in the country roads...

So anyway, I get to the camp site and we all start setting up... After backing the trailer in I wanted to unhitch so I could pull the truck beside the boat and not have it stuck way out into the road...

As I go to remove the hitch that's when I see it... The hitch looks like it's sitting WAY higher than it should be... A closer inspection revealed the problem...

The hitch wasn't even down around the ball!!! It was just sitting on top!!!

That hitch had always acted strange no matter how you adjusted it... If you dropped the hitch down over the ball and tried to secure it you couldn't do it no matter what... The only way to get it to latch was to keep pressure on it as you were lowering the jack... I guess I missed and ended up "securing" it to nothing!!!

That very same day I went to the store and bought a replacement hitch...

 

[dave11]

Re: we all forget something when in a rush

Being a little more conservative (older?) I also use a Trailer Guardian. The trailer hopefully won't come unhitched if I forget something or the latch gets loose.