While doing 65 down a packed highway? Yep, that happened to me yesterday. Thankfully I remembered to put the safety chains on unlike I remembered to slide the coupler lock forward.

I drug the trailer a good 1/8 mile before stopping and getting the trailer back on the ball. The trailer was empty which helped reduce the damages to the trailer jack but the ole butt hole was nice and puckered.

Remember to check the coupler lock! Have a good weekend Ags!

Growing up in Kingsland, TX we had no garbage service. We had to take our own stuff to the landfill or you could burn it. We had a pretty good size box trailer that we'd throw bags o garbage in for 2-3 weeks then go dump it in the landfill. One time my dad circled around to back it up to the edge and the trailer came off and kept going, right into the landfill which was burning at the time. My dad didn't even slow down. He just kept going and drove home with a disgusted look on his face. My brother was to blame for that. He was in big trouble.

Here. Fortunately pulling up the hill outside my house and the coupler slid off but chains held. If I hadn't done the chains, that trailer would have gone straight downhill possibly catapulting into the house.

Had a stock trailer come off with my show heifer in the back on the way to the Ft Worth stock show. Same thing, hadn't made sure that the coupler was all the way closed. Fortunately, I was in town and not going very fast and there was a wheel on the bottom of the jack. It pretty much just dented my bumper and my pride. The scary thing was I had driven about 50 miles at 65 mph before I got into town. Over 20 years later and I'm still pretty paranoid about checking the hitch and chains over and over and over. Yeah, that one is something you really don't want to experience more than once.

Borrowed a 12ft utility trailer from our survey contractor at a test site a couple months ago so I could run to our shop and pick up a piece of equipment without having to hook up a 25 ft gooseneck cargo trailer. Rotated my tri-ball, hooked up the trailer and all safety equipment, and made the 20 min run back to Tomball. In the back of the shop loading the trailer the coupler flies up off the ball.

First time in my life I've seen a 12ft single axle trailer with a 2 5/16 coupler.

Dad always pulled the boat with a safety chain the size of a door chain. His theory was that if something crazy happened and the hitch came off the ball he wanted no part of being anywhere near it or having it pull the truck apart.

Pulling a stock trailer, coming into St Louis in I-44, felt a jolt and saw sparks in rearview mirror. Fortunately, I was in the right lane and I pulled into a convenience store. The hitch the ball was attached to, completely broke off. Ball was still in the coupler.

Chains are what saved me.

Something I learned a few years ago why you are supposed to cross the chains under the ball. If the trailer were to come off the ball, the X in the chains acts as a basket to catch the tongue of the trailer and keep it from skidding on the ground. I've crossed chains my whole life and never really knew why until I was told recently.

In a work truck I had someone change from a 2 5/16" ball to a 2". Completely my fault I didn't look close, but the trailer popped off going 75. Chains saved my ass but it was whipping and was not a fun ride.

I've seen it happen with those 'el cheapo' stamped steel couplers.

My dad had one come off years ago (no safety chain requirement in Texas at that time and below the requirement for any trailer brakes/breakaway system) and it went in the ditch and got banged up pretty badly. Thank the Lord that it didn't hurt anyone.

From that point on, all our stuff had the forged steel 'Bulldog' couplers on them or they didn't get pulled. We'd cut off the junk and weld on a Bulldog on every trailer we'd use and never had another problem.

But, even a Bulldog would come off if you put a 2-5/16" coupler on a 1-7/8" ball, or if you just plain never latched it.

FWIW, I seem to recall the Bulldog factory rep telling me years ago that even their 2-5/16" coupler would stay on a 2" ball. Never tried that.

I didn't lose my trailer I lost my camp house. Built a 6x12 playwood hunting shack and failed to tie it down properly on utility trailer. While driving through downtown SA on 35 at rush hour I felt my truck accelerate. Halfway to Lytle I looked in my rear view and the camphouse was gone.

An old co-worker once pulled a 40' dual tandem from Giddings to Bryan fully loaded with pipe. When he pulled into the yard in Bryan, I noticed that the coupler for the gooseneck was latched closed and resting on top of the gooseneck ball...

I had it happen on I45 on the way home with a boat that I had just bought. The chains saved it. I stopped at the first Tractor Supply that I got to and bought a bulldog hitch, then welded it on as soon as I got home. All of my bumper pull trailers get bulldog hitches.

Mid '70s our family would spend Memorial Day weekend down at Rockport...our pre-harvest madness vacation. My folks would usually book us one of the cabins at the Sea Gun, my grandparents would set up their travel trailer at the Sandollar RV park. After a morning of buzzing around Grandpa's favorite spots in Copano we trailered the boat and checked on bait at the Sandoller Bait Shop. Those of you who know the area know the RV park was/is located up the rise from the Bait Shop. We pulled up to the travel trailer and Grandma calmly asks, "Where's the boat?" The trailer had detached as we headed up the rise, rolled back across Fulton Beach Rd, and came to rest nicely as you please in the middle of the Bait Shop parking lot. He never did live that down...Grandma had one hell of a mean streak.

GottaRide said:

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I had it happen on I45 on the way home with a boat that I had just bought. The chains saved it. I stopped at the first Tractor Supply that I got to and bought a bulldog hitch, then welded it on as soon as I got home. All of my bumper pull trailers get bulldog hitches.

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My last drive out of the backcountry at Philmont. My work truck was extremely loud to begin with, and the bear trap I was pulling was really light weight for a 3500. I get to the turnaround gate, and discover I no longer have a bear trap attached to the truck. It popped off about 2 miles back, and was tangled up in some aspen about 12 feet below the road. The safety chains had just snapped off. A little creativity with a tow strap, and we popped it back onto the road. We'll just say it was pulled back to Base Camp with the tow strap.

Used to work for Public Works in my hometown when I just got out of high school. Our crew did road repair so we were always hauling trailers and equipment. Our shop guy had just built us a new tandem axle trailer, but the chains hadn't been put on yet.

We hooked up the trailer for a test drive, or so we thought. As soon as you pull out of the yard you are on a neighborhood street going downhill. There's a little dip right at the exit and as soon as we hit it we watch the brand new trailer roll right past us and smash straight into a residents car down the road. No one was in the vehicle fortunately. Luckily I was not the one who failed to latch the coupler, but still not fun to be a part of and definitely an oh **** moment.

I'm very serious about triple checking my trailers now and using chains.

Today leaving Huntsville, at the stoplight I noticed the truck to my left his trailer hitch wasn't latched. So I sped up and flagged him down.

quite a few years ago I was gonna take trailer smoker somewhere... too long ago to remember..... anyway... i back truck up and wife hooks up the ball and locks the latch down.... ( i already hear yall laughing at the wife part)..... anyway I take off and downhill to a stop sign at an intersection..... as truck rolls to a stop, i feel an uncharacteristic thud..... so i get out to check.... yes sure enough...... wife had lowered trailer onto the ball and locked it...... but she didnt understand the whole mechanics behind hooking a trailer up...... yep totally my fault for assuming!!! Luckily trailer stayed good down the hill and didnt break right and go thru neighbors front door!!

This happened at work - was bringing in a 500 GA water wagon from the job site. Get the entrance to our yard which has a pitched entrance, so gotta get the approach angle right...well I got it spot on...bottomed out the trailer and jack went into the ground. With all the weight of the water behind the jack and the force of the impact the coupler lock broke and off came the trailer.
Low speed and safety chains meant all that was damaged was my 7-pin and ego as I was given hell for it by witnesses.
I too am now a triple checker when connecting trailers.

I've never had it happen before but my dad told me a story of it happening to him.

He went to one of his job sites to pick up a single axle trailer with a large tiller on it to get it serviced. His guys hooked the trailer up and he didn't double check it.

Going down a hill he sees the trailer pull up next to him bouncing off the street every time the jack hits the concrete. Trailer blows through an intersection, misses every car, and slams into a telephone pole.

The craziest part my dad said was when the trailer hit the telephone pole, the tiller did flip and landed back on its times. It was tied left to right and just flipped from the impact.

I told this story to a buddy yesterday and he told me that he hauled his wife's car on a trailer from Austin to Denver. When he got to Denver he jumped on the back of the trailer to unhook the car and the coupler came off the ball. He drove without the coupler locked for two days. Ha

Hope everybody's takeaway from this is that when you get behind the wheel, you alone are responsible for everything on your vehicle. Straps, chains, coupler, lights, tires. Your wife or buddy is not getting the improperly secured load ticket (or much mutch worse) if something goes wrong

I had it happen with a 14' utility trailer in town. Broke the trailer ball off it was still in the coupler. Problem was I had a little too much weight on the back and the tongue bounced up and dented my tailgate, made me absolutely sick.

Chains saved me when the coupler opened up on the jon boat trailer. Have been ocd about cotter pins ever since.

Had a wheel break off of my boat trailer and bounce past me during heavy traffic on I-10, but somehow the boat and trailer itself stayed on the hitch. Could have been catastrophic. I was incredibly lucky. Kinda ruined towing things for me for a long time!

Never had it happen with a bumper pull, but damn, make sure you lock onto the ball of your gooseneck hitch in the bed. Hooked a 25' flat bed trailer up one time that was not a lowboy, used ramps, and went to loading a 100hp tractor with bucket. Had it on the ball with chains hooked up, but I forgot to flip the latch and pin it. About the time I pulled up fully on the ramps the front of the trailer popped up and thank god for safety chains or I would have dumped the tractor with me on it. Only choice at that point was to pull ahead and slam back down onto the truck bed which made a hell of a dent. Changed my shorts.

Probably around 1985 - our boat trailer did not come unhooked, but we were driving up from Illinois to Michigan to Salmon fish a river.

Semi didn't see our boat trailer and pulled into us going 65 down the interstate and it's bumper got hooked to my dad's homemade boat trailer and my dad didn't skimp on the steal. Station wagon, boat trailer, and that semi had some fun - I was probably only 6-7 years old but I remember my dad laughing that his homemade boat trailer outlasted the semi's front bumper.

The bumper ended up straightening out and came unhooked as we were pulling off the road.

gonemaroon said:

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Probably around 1985 - our boat trailer did not come unhooked, but we were driving up from Illinois to Michigan to Salmon fish a river.

Semi didn't see our boat trailer and pulled into us going 65 down the interstate and it's bumper got hooked to my dad's homemade boat trailer and my dad didn't skimp on the steal. Station wagon, boat trailer, and that semi had some fun - I was probably only 6-7 years old but I remember my dad laughing that his homemade boat trailer outlasted the semi's front bumper.

The bumper ended up straightening out and came unhooked as we were pulling off the road.

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Oh man...sorry you weren't quite old enough to experience the hey-day of Great Lakes salmon fishing. It crashed soon after your early childhood trip.

Not a trailer detachment issue, but trailer related...when I was a kid, my dad borrowed a gooseneck trailer from his dad's feedlot to haul some cattle to the auction. We were loaded up and heading down the road at about 55 mph when the spare tire came off the trailer and passed us by going down a FM road.The three of us in the truck were like, where'd that come from. It finally rolled in the ditch so we stopped to pick it up and then realized it was from the trailer.

Another story about break away spare tires...we lived in the country and road the school bus as kids. Our house was about 1/2 mile from the highway so my mom was was parked in our car by the highway waiting to pick us up. A neighbor was pulling a cattle trailer on the highway as as he was approaching our driveway, his spare tire detached from his trailer and rolled smack dab into the driver side front tire of my mom's car. Scared the crap out of her as she was reading the newspaper at the time and had no clue what hit the car. Bent the heck out of the side panel and she was lucky it wasn't a few feet over or it could have been a lot worse.

So another thing to check on is that your spare tires are properly secured too!!!

lawless89 said:

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Something I learned a few years ago why you are supposed to cross the chains under the ball. If the trailer were to come off the ball, the X in the chains acts as a basket to catch the tongue of the trailer and keep it from skidding on the ground. I've crossed chains my whole life and never really knew why until I was told recently.

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That's junk.

The "basket" disappears when the hitch comes off. Anyone who tells you this has crossed the chains because, "we always do it that way".

The reason to cross the chains is for turning. When the chain crosses the pivot point the length doesn't change (much) during a sharp turn.

If you connect right to right and left to left the chain would drag the ground to be long enough to stretch during a turn.

Yep, almost lost a scout trailer but the chains held.

JD05AG said:

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In a work truck I had someone change from a 2 5/16" ball to a 2". Completely my fault I didn't look close, but the trailer popped off going 75. Chains saved my ass but it was whipping and was not a fun ride.

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Same here. Fully loaded hit a little dip going downhill where 408 and Loop 12 merge. Hammered the bumper and back door on the suburban a couple of times before I got it stopped.

Had to use the trucks jack to get it back up on the the hitch and limped it home.

Expensive lesson but could have been worse.

Perhaps your chains are too long?

I have heard and done the same thing for years. I see no way that my hitch will fall through the "basket".

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Never had one pop off when driving. Decided to speed up the process of unloading a UTV one day by unhitching the trailer when I was walking by to unload. Backing down the ramps, tongue starts lifting....stop, move the truck, and continue down to finish with a bang after I was unloaded.

Some of the stories above remind me why I like a tandem trailer.

I can guarantee they are not too long.

The point is the "basket" doesn't exist without the hitch being connected. Crossing the chains is for turning purposes, nothing more.