Whoops! The trailer is supposed to be attached to your vehicle....

[Shookie]

Buddy of mine is in Myrtle and sent me this.... ended up helping the guy. Apparently his trailer came off the hitch somehow and his boat crashed into the back of his SUV. Sucks to be him!

 

[captras]

I bet he forgot to lock the hitch......I did that and luckily it was with jetskis and going slow. Just fell on the gound.....no damage! Hope his damage was limited!

 

[Shookie]

Yep, had to of not locked it. As for damage, you can see the back door crushed in and glass gone. That won't be a cheap fix.

 

[Neutron]

Bet he is in the "Dawg house" with his wife after trashing the family car

 

[captainhook]

I bet he forgot to lock the hitch......I did that and luckily it was with jetskis and going slow. Just fell on the gound.....no damage! Hope his damage was limited!

It happened to me once with my SeaDoo right as I bought it. I trusted that the mechanic doing the set up knew what he was doing when he hooked it up to my vehicle. A couple miles down the road I noticed it bouncing a lot when I went intentionally slowly over some railroad tracks. I pulled over and sure enough he didn’t latch it. I can only imagine what would’ve happened had the tongue of that trailer fallen off and gotten jammed into the tracks while the safety chain was still attached.

Never trust anyone and always check the trailer yourself!

 

[Funtacular]

Been there done that. Had a real stressful day of engine not firing up in my Bayliner and actually unhooked the Pathfinder to pull alongside and jump-start. Needless to say I failed to lock the hitch down and promptly received the bow in my liftgate on the way home. Ended up finding a perfectly paint and trim matched one at a junkyard for a bit over $1k and was able to swap it in. Not my finest moment

 

[swatski]

Good reminder, @Shookie !
Years ago (not w/a yammie) I had a coupler pop off the hitch and drag on the ground in the middle of an intersection, it was something... I still get massive heebie-jeebies just thinking of it. I was very lucky it happened at an end of a trip and off the highway! The coupler was locked but the adjustment screw must have loosened up which I failed to notice. Two great guys stopped at the intersection to help me lift the tongue and pop it back up on the hitch, I made it back home couple blocks down the road. It was quite an experience...

--

 

[2kwik4u]

I've not yet forgotten to lock the hitch. I have forgotten to chock the wheels while unhitching a utility trailer in the past. Glad I left chains on, as the trailer took off down the hill as soon as the hitch cleared the ball. Chains caught it, but still drug the truck when they pulled taught far enough to knock me off balance and I almost fell.

Could've been much worse, as there was another house about 150 yards down the hill on the other side of the street. Would've been depositing a log splitter and a trees worth of firewood into their front door!

 

[Shookie]

I always triple check the lock and hitch. Can't be too careful dealing with that.... Don't have that on the checklist though and need to add it.

 

[Funtacular]

 

[Funtacular]

A checklist would make things easier though....probably would not have had to stop at the hardware store to grab a drain plug if I had a checklist...

 

[Whisky]

Any time I park the boat I try to do a walk around and remember to check that the coupler is locked and the hitch pin is secured and pinned in place. I don't know why but I have an irrational fear that someone will pull the pin and I will get a way's down the road before it finally wiggles loose and ruins my day.
on the positive side though, this walk around has saved the day before.... being honest, likely from my own mistake, not some evil person, but still it could have ended poorly.

 

[jjmparsons]

Buddy of mine is in Myrtle and sent me this.... ended up helping the guy. Apparently his trailer came off the hitch somehow and his boat crashed into the back of his SUV. Sucks to be him!
View attachment 99749

View attachment 99750

Hats off to your buddy for helping the guy and not just pointing and staring and moving on down the road.

 

[Dennis P]

I always get on my knees and make sure that the cleat is under the hitch ball. I think most problems are catching the cleat on the top end of the Ball.I also lock the pin so no worries about a pin slipping out.

 

[Jim_in_Delaware]

I always get on my knees and make sure that the cleat is under the hitch ball. I think most problems are catching the cleat on the top end of the Ball.I also lock the pin so no worries about a pin slipping out. View attachment 165510

I always do this as well!

Jim

 

[Wayloncle]

When I was active Air Force one part of my job was delivering the equipment that we maintained to the aircraft. Most of the equipment has 4 wheels with a steering tow bar attached with a pintel hook to the truck….I’ll never forget the sound a heavy towbar makes as it slams down on the concrete as you drive along the flight line!

has happened to me several times, once when I hooked it up but didn’t latch the Pintle hook, others were when someone else hooked it up for me. Luckily never hit a plane with one?

 

[WV Hillbilly]

I had a utility trailer not get the cleat under the ball, first bump in the neighborhood it jumped off and drug down the concrete street at 7 AM on a Sunday morning. I have been dealing with trailers since I was a kid and never had it happen. Since my knees are bad, instead of looking at the cleat, I latch the hitch and see how far I can raise the back of the truck by using the tongue jack on the trailer. I also stop about 30 minutes down the road on any pull to check the hitch and hubs on all of my trailers.

 

[Babin Farms]

Usually I just watch the coupler set on the ball as I use the jack and know how far it has to go down onto the ball to be locked in and ALWAYS use a locking pin after it is coupled. On my MFI trailer coupler there is a hole that you can see the top of the ball to make sure that the coupler is all of the way down.

 

[Ronnie]

I hope I’m not the “winner” but years ago I installed the locking pin through the receiver/tow hitch attached to the tow vehicle but in front of the draw bar / bar with tow ball attached to it, instead of through the hole in the draw bar. The draw bar separated from the hitch on the freeway at 60+ mph With my family in the tow vehicle with me. All the safety gear worked as designed and I did not have much damage to the tow vehicle or boat trailer. AAA would not show up to help but tow boat US did with a floor Jack to help me reconnect the tow vehicle and trailer. Now all of my draw bars are marked to indicate where they should be in their respective receivers.

Lesson learned, I walk around checking on the trailer several times before I take it on the road both when I leave home and when I leave the ramp as well as after restroom and food breaks.