Just built my erde 122 and i have a question, may be silly but not sure. There is a chain attatched near to the tow bracket , just a loop of chain . I think its used as a last resort if the trailer unhitches. Now the question is do i just loop it over the tow-ball then hitch the trailer onto the ball ?
Is that safe enough or do i have to attatch it to my bracket soome other way?
Any help or tips much appreciated and is it best to spread the load or have it heavy at the nose end?
No it doesn't, because as your trailor unhitches (hope it never does) the chain is at the bottom of the ball, so as the trailor goes back it quickly tightens, so then giving you time to realise something is wrong. I have tried it. My concern with this method is that the tow ball or tow bar comes adrift the all your safty is gone, chain is useless. I put a longer chain on around the towing eye.
It should not "go around the towball" but clip onto a dedicated metal socket which "should be" bolted onto the towbar. This attatches to the towing bracket by the same bolts that hold the towball on. Apparantly it is there in case the towball sheares off although I have never heard of such a thing happening.
If there`s a seperate loop on the towball mounting you use that. If there isn`t, you loop the chain over the towball. Basically, the chain is there to stop your trailer going ricocheting all over the roundabout when your towball detaches en route. Check the coupling after every stop...basically pull the towbar up, and if you see the back of the car starting to lift, it`s secure.
As to how to load a trailer, you want it to have some positive pressure onto the towball but not so much as to start lifting the front end of the car and affecting the steering. With a caravan it`s easy to overload the nose, but a small trailer shouldn`t be a problem. Put the heavy items over the axle and just towards the front of it. What you really don`t want to do is tip it up at the nose, but you don`t want it completely nose down either.
If you have the option of attaching the chain (breakaway chain) to somewhere other than the towball it's better but otherwise loop it over the towball. I replaced our standard chain with something heavier as the original looked flimsy (it was on an old trailer).
When loading try to spread the weight around and have heavy items over the axle. You need to keep the nose heavier so it pushes down on the towball (rather than trying to lift up). If you load heavy on one side you risk the trailer 'snaking' at speed. Your car handbook should specify a maximum nose weight. Although you can check it by putting bathroom scales under the hitch with a piece of wood between them we find it best just to keep the nose slightly heavy.
When unloading best to keep the trailer hitched if possible so that it doesn't rear-up as you move heavy loads backwards and clear weight from the nose.
The only other thing you will find is that a trailer is like a black hole - it will suck camping gear into it. So you will end up adding side panels to increase the capacity, a lid with a roof box on it and a hundred other ways to cram gear in. Then you will decide you need a bigger trailer!
HelenD's OH
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once again guys you have solved my problems, many thanks . I have a seperate couple of holes on my tow bracket so i will attatch my chain to these via a clip of somesort.
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Topic: Silly Trailer question
