Trailer Break Away Kit Not Required

[ncridgerunner]

I pull a 16' tandem axle utility trailer occasionally in North Carolina. Trailer break away kits are not required in NC and my trailer did not come with them. In fact none of the people that I personally know with trailers have them installed.
Depending on whose figures I use, my BX23 weighs in around 3000 lbs.

What are the pros and cons of this system? I am asking for information not to be bashed or lectured. Since the State of NC does not value break away kits enough to make them a requirement most people (at least in my area) are not really familiar with them.

 

[MagKarl]

I personally put that in the category of "if you've pondered it, you better do it". I added one to my 20' 10K trailer, it's really easy. I got it from a site called etrailer, maybe $50 or so if I remember right. I can't think of a reason not to other than cost. It's like insurance, you likely won't actually need it, but it's nice to have if you do.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

The trailer break away kit is just that. INCASE the trailer brakes away from the tow vehicle it will stopish for the most part in a timly fashion and not plow under half the Interstate going down the road. Its a back up fail safe system should the saftey chains not work either.

Makes you wonder how an 80,000lb tractor trailer is only connected with a 3 inch nub of a king pin in the 5th wheel plate works. No safty chains either.

 

[Kubota_Man]

I have a 15' overall dump trailer that I use to transport my BX24 (weighing in at 2500lbs on a scale). My Big Tex LP70 came with a break away kit installed. Do I need it maybe, maybe not but I am glad I have it. It reduces my stress. So if you are asking.........as already stated if it can be added add it if for no other reason than to lower your stress level when taking any and all of your toys out for a road trip.

 

[Bulldog]

I've had it both ways, my current trailer does have break away. I look at it like this, having one is another way to cover your ass.

I'll tell you one time that really makes me happy to have a break away system. When I use my trailer for hay rides and it's loaded down with kids. No, I'm not running fast but it's a good feeling knowing if something was to happen and the trailer broke loose it would more or less stop in it's tracks.

Just my $.02

 

[ncridgerunner]

Thanks for the insights. It is certainly something to think about.

Has anyone experienced a break away trailer? I've never experienced it nor seen it happen in more than 40 years of driving. I've seen them jackknifed, laying on their side, slide off the side of our mountain roads, and split open but no break aways.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

Matter of fact I was heading home from Home Depot a few months ago and the guy who left infront of me has his little 4x6 trailer break lose off the ball and it was a tilt bed trailer and all his lumber went all over the road. His chains kept it behind him and I was back far enough to not run over the lumber. It looked like a shitty shady load to me so I knew something would happen it was just a matter of time.

And in the 6 years I spent as a wrecker driver I've spent plenty of times hunting in the woods off the Interstate for a missing utility trailer.

 

[ncridgerunner]

I know it happens, just never have seen it. I can imagine the feeling in the stomach when a driver realizes the trailer is no longer attached.

About 20 years ago when at the NC Outer Banks Fishing I saw a fellow flying down the beach just above the water line pulling a trailer. Every time he crested a hump in the sand the truck and trailer went airborne. I was just waiting for the trailer to cut loose but it never did. It amazes me sometimes how some people can get away with reckless behavior.

 

[85Hokie]

I have a 15' overall dump trailer that I use to transport my BX24 (weighing in at 2500lbs on a scale). My Big Tex LP70 came with a break away kit installed. Do I need it maybe, maybe not but I am glad I have it. It reduces my stress. So if you are asking.........as already stated if it can be added add it if for no other reason than to lower your stress level when taking any and all of your toys out for a road trip.

The system used have a very neat design, BUT there is a problem! IF, and that is a huge if, your 7 wire harness has been set up correctly, and that is sometimes not true, the "hot" wire charges the small motorcycle like battery that sits in its little plastic case on the trailer. THIS battery is the break a way stopping system. If that battery is out of charge or bad or weak, well all that fancy stuff is ....well ....you get the idea....SOL......

My 14' DA trailers battery would not come up to 9 volts! And that was after it was charged slowly. IT was only a couple of years old! The break a away circuit uses a pin that is normally open, when the small wire is pulled away from the truck, it pulls the pin out and closes the circuit and the battery on the trailer, brakes the trailer.

I always check and double check the ball coupler and the safety chains to make sure.......

I saw a guy pull into a sheetz station, $45,000 truck towing a $75,000 boat....and it was pulling it via the chains! I told him that as he pulled in for gas, he looked like a deer in headlights! I think it bounced out when hit came INTO the station and had not driven far, but still.......

 

[aeblank]

Actually, this happened to my dad with his camper. They put a lot of miles on, and the trailer hitch latch had (unknowingly) warn quite a bit. That, in combination with "easy hook" chains. On a bridge, it pulled off the ball, and the chain hooks straightened right out like plastic. Trailer skidded to a stop in the middle of a bridge. It drifted about half a lane, and it took a bit to get it back hooked up and the wheels turning again, but all was fine. Well, the electric jack might be an inch shorter... Scared the poopy out of the cars behind him, that's for sure.

It happens, thankfully rare.

 

[cerlawson]

I have had it happen with a loaded utility trailer since I hadn't noticed the wear in the hitch, but the chains took care of it.

However, my current wife happened to be separated from her husband and he, with a car full of kids had a trailer with back-hoe on it come from the other lane and hit them head on.

Husband and one one daughter killed, three others badly injured. The legal costs to the other driver were very high.

So now I have 5 step kids due to that accident and finding a great gal.

Coincidentally at the time of that accident I was burying my first wife.

 

[Bulldog]

My dad lost a trailer several years back. He hit a bump and the ball broke, the trailer started to the left into oncoming traffic. When it got to the end of the slack in the pig tail it pull back to the right and jump off a bank sticking the tongue in the ground like a arrow. Thankfully nobody was hurt but it could have went the other way and been a very ugly wreck.

 

[ncridgerunner]

However, my current wife happened to be separated from her husband and he, with a car full of kids had a trailer with back-hoe on it come from the other lane and hit them head on.

I always double check to make sure my backhoe is locked down before I start out. When I was in high school a dump truck pulling a backhoe on a trailer was coming down the mountain near my home when the hoe swung loose into the on-coming lane. Unfortunately it struck a van and killed 8 members of a college tennis team. One of those things that is seared into my memory.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

I don't know if I want to fess up to how many times I've had loads falling off the back of the tractor trailer or not... I HATED hauling bags of mulch on pallets. I've dropped quite a few 40lb bags of mulch on the interstate.

 

[Highspeed]

I've had a trailer come off, but it didn't become an orphan. I was moving slowly at the time, but the trailer came off due to the tongue letting go of the ball. My tractor was on the trailer (skidsteer trailer) and the chains held on as they should. Since the brakes are hydraulic and the trailer never got far enough away to set the emergency lever, the trailer ran into the back of the truck as I stopped. But, the only damage was to the winch and mount where they hit the receiver. The trailer reconnected and I limped it home and replaced the tongue and the ball. It's a wake up call when you hear the bang and then get a bigger bang from your own trailer!
You didn't mention which type of system you are considering. If you're thinking of electric brakes, then the emergency features are only as good as the battery...as previously posted. If you should have problems on a hill and the battery is the only thing holding the brakes, then you're going to be chasing your trailer in a short time when the battery dies. Surge brakes aren't always as smooth as electric, but they work with or without a harness, and the e-brake sets and holds until you release it.
IMHO, the emergency features are dead last in order of importance. Get a trailer that is rated above your loads and the chains will keep it all together. If you lose it with enough force to break the chains after that, then it's probably going to be pretty ugly anyway.

 

[Wbk]

I pull a 16' tandem axle utility trailer occasionally in North Carolina. Trailer break away kits are not required in NC and my trailer did not come with them. In fact none of the people that I personally know with trailers have them installed.
Depending on whose figures I use, my BX23 weighs in around 3000 lbs.

What are the pros and cons of this system? I am asking for information not to be bashed or lectured. Since the State of NC does not value break away kits enough to make them a requirement most people (at least in my area) are not really familiar with them.

A couple years ago I was following a 5th wheel travel trailer pulling about a 18ft aluminum fishing boat. The hitch came out of the receiver lucky for the owner the boat shot to the right into a rock cut and was now a 14ft boat. There were no safety chains or brakes on the trailer. The lucky owner only lost a boat and didn't take someones life.

 

[MagKarl]

You didn't mention which type of system you are considering. If you're thinking of electric brakes, then the emergency features are only as good as the battery...as previously posted. If you should have problems on a hill and the battery is the only thing holding the brakes, then you're going to be chasing your trailer in a short time when the battery dies. Surge brakes aren't always as smooth as electric, but they work with or without a harness, and the e-brake sets and holds until you release it.
IMHO, the emergency features are dead last in order of importance. Get a trailer that is rated above your loads and the chains will keep it all together. If you lose it with enough force to break the chains after that, then it's probably going to be pretty ugly anyway.

FYI, a nit pick point of clarity here, surge brakes need a ball pushing on the coupler to work. If your coupler pops, no brakes, period. Breakaway kits only work with electric brakes and a functional battery on the trailer with which the brakes get powered.

I agree with you though that with good equipment you should never need a breakaway, hopefully.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

Surge brakes have a fail safe system on them too if the trailer happens to brake lose.

 

[ncridgerunner]

Surge brakes have a fail safe system on them too if the trailer happens to brake lose.

That's good information to know. At one time or another, I have owned a pop-up camper and a boat trailer that had the surge brakes. As with most of my toys, I bought them used. Neither had the fail safe cable on them and I never took enough time to closely research how the surge brakes operated to even know they were supposed to.

I know I hated the surge brakes because they made my truck "surge" when going down hill and stopping quickly and were always causing problems backing up. I also don't know if it was the type of coupler required by the surge brakes or not but they were always more difficult to couple and uncouple from my vehicle.

 

[MagKarl]

Surge brakes have a fail safe system on them too if the trailer happens to brake lose.

Good point Eric. I stand corrected.

I actually have an old coupler like this on my boat trailer. It's been broken for years and I had forgotten all about it.