Yes.

When I had my Gheenoe I was towing it and I don't know what happened but the coupler and latch must not have been locked down properly and somehow the coupler popped up off the ball and came down landing on the "basket" from the chains. It popped one of the hooks off the chains and yanked the wiring harness loose. It's a sickening feeling to feel a slight jolt and then see your trailer pop loose and skid off onto the side of the road.

I was EXTREMELY fortunate that nobody was hurt and the only damage to boat or trailer was the chain and wiring harness. The chains were jerry-rigged for a few miles until I was able to get to a store and get a repair kit for the wiring harness and fix the chains.

I don't want to throw anybody under the bus because it's my fault for not checking it but I'm pretty sure it was another person who was with me at the time who hooked the coupler onto the ball.

Ever since then I'm extremely anal about making sure it's securely fastened and then I have a small padlock that I use to ensure the latch handle can't rattle loose and open up.

When I was a kid it happened to my dad. The boat and trailer flew past us as we were braking for a red light. Ended up in the median without harm to itself or anyone. Phew!

Happened to me today. Rented a large 6'x12' covered trailer from Uhaul and I mistakenly allowed the Uhaul worker to connect up the trailer. He failed to property tighten down the hitch on my ball. I failed to double check.

Hit a dip on I-10 in Louisiana and the trailer popped off the ball at 70MPH. I felt it immediately and looked in the rear view to see the trailer violently swaying/bouncing from side to side connected to my truck only by the chains. That trailer was working very hard to flip my truck and/or drive me off the road.

By the grace of God I was able to hold on, gently slow down while not losing control of the truck or the trailer, pulled over, and was able to come to a safe stop with only a little bumper damage where the tongue hit on one of its bounces from side to side.

How I didn't flip I do not know. The work crew guys who had been following directly behind me pulled over with me and helped me get unwrapped from the chains that wrapped around my tube and ball and helped me get hooked back up and on my way.

Scary situation that should have killed me.

When I was a kid we were returning from the annual mule deer hunt S of Marfa. Stopped in Ft Stockton and the cj5 Jeep was no longer behind my uncles motorhome. Turned around and drove until finding it on the side of the shoulder. No major damage but the Jeep hitch bent somewhat in the dirt. Towed it home with the kids watching from the back window.

This would have been in the late 80s, but my old man and I were headed to the lake and as we were coming up to a stop sign we feel a jolt/surge and my pop makes the joke of the old truck using extra power because it wanted to go fishing too. Well as we keep getting closer to the stop sign I look in the ditch to the right and see the old boat passing us. My dad saw it about the same time and yelled "please not the fence". It was one of the first high fence ranches I remember. Thankfully she nosedived just before it got to the fence. Paddles, rods, tackle boxes all went flying.....some almost going over the fence. We loaded everything back up and hooked back up and made the drive to and from with no issues. Still unsure of why it came off after 25 miles and it didnt happen again the other 120 but I can assure you dad installed safety chains to the trailer first thing Monday morning.

Just jumping in to add use safety CHAINS....not cables. I work on a tonnof trailers for people every year on side when im not guiding. I thought the cables were great back in the day. Until they get tight to do their job and snap easily. Especially if they have a sheath covering them. After a couple years the sheath is the only thing keeping them together. Then when they are used the tension snaps em and you have a failure. I replace em all with chains.

I twist the chains around each other before I attach them. This gives them less slack; I figure if something did happen where the trailer came off of the ball, it would be better to have less slack in the chains.

The worst I've done is forget to unattach the chains after I had already unattached the ball. Quickly discovered - no harm.

zooguy96 said:

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I twist the chains around each other before I attach them. This gives them less slack; I figure if something did happen where the trailer came off of the ball, it would be better to have less slack in the chains.

The worst I've done is forget to unattach the chains after I had already unattached the ball. Quickly discovered - no harm.

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Do not twist the chains! Pls do your research. Bad ju ju....

Driving from Texas to Illinois pulling a stock trailer. Was on I-44 just coming into St. Louis when I felt a jolt. I could tell the trailer was dragging. Had to move over two lanes in heavy traffic before I could exit. Pulled into a gas station.

The drop hitch had sheared off. Fortunately, the chains worked and held. Interesting the trailer was empty so not much weight other than the trailer.

Had a spare hitch. Jacked the trailer up, put in a new drop hitch and was fine.

I've lost a few and for sure once when the ball latch was as it's supposed to be and ball not worn down.
Most interesting I saw was a professional boat delivery guy brought me a small 12' boat from Breaux Bridge to Kingsland. Informed me that I needed a 1 7/8" ball to pull it myself, so I went out and bought one, like his. On first time hooking up I realized that the hitch was 2" after all.
That professional had towed it from Louisiana to central Rexas with a 2" hitch coupled on a 1 7/8" ball.

Glad you're ok though, never a good idea to trust anyone hooking up the trailer unless it's you, the driver.

We pull stuff for work and that's the requirement. Driver has to give the final approval of trailer attachment and safety check before leaving.


Granted if the guy who hooked up the trailer was driving, well probably would have ended badly - but normally small things like that get caught.

On another trailer note.

Where do yall hook up your trailer break-away engagement hook?

Hogties said:

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Happened to me today. Rented a large 6'x12' covered trailer from Uhaul and I mistakenly allowed the Uhaul worker to connect up the trailer. He failed to property tighten down the hitch on my ball. I failed to double check.

Hit a dip on I-10 in Louisiana and the trailer popped off the ball at 70MPH. I felt it immediately and looked in the rear view to see the trailer violently swaying/bouncing from side to side connected to my truck only by the chains. That trailer was working very hard to flip my truck and/or drive me off the road.

By the grace of God I was able to hold on, gently slow down while not losing control of the truck or the trailer, pulled over, and was able to come to a safe stop with only a little bumper damage where the tongue hit on one of its bounces from side to side.

How I didn't flip I do not know. The work crew guys who had been following directly behind me pulled over with me and helped me get unwrapped from the chains that wrapped around my tube and ball and helped me get hooked back up and on my way.

Scary situation that should have killed me.

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I absolutely HATE those screw down hitches on rental trailers.

Glad you are ok. Scary situation.

I had our stock trailer come off in high school after dropping my show heifer off at the school ag farm. Drove through a dip and looked up in the mirror to see the trailer drifting off to the right. Ended up missing one telephone pole and took out the 100 or so yards of 5 strand barb wire fence before missing the next telephone pole and stopping in a wheat field. I spent the next 3 hours patching up the fence so the cattle on the inside wouldn't get out on the road. My ag teacher happened upon me towards the end of my ordeal and laughed as I finished the last couple repairs. I still remember on the front of the trailer where the barbs from the wire would catch and peel back the sheet metal like a banana peel for an inch or two.

Got home and broke the news to my dad expecting a severe ass chewing. He grunted said he probably better get that hitch fixed before it comes off and kills someone. Apparently the same trailer did the same thing to him 20 something years earlier when he was just out of school but ended up punching a hole through the side of a grain elevator off the highway. Trailer was built in the 50's and I'm not sure if they even knew what safety chains were back then. I really don't remember safety chains being a thing till maybe the late 80's on a lot of our farm trailers.

Ag97 said:

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I had our stock trailer come off in high school after dropping my show heifer off at the school ag farm. Drove through a dip and looked up in the mirror to see the trailer drifting off to the right. Ended up missing one telephone pole and took out the 100 or so yards of 5 strand barb wire fence before missing the next telephone pole and stopping in a wheat field. I spent the next 3 hours patching up the fence so the cattle on the inside wouldn't get out on the road. My ag teacher happened upon me towards the end of my ordeal and laughed as I finished the last couple repairs. I still remember on the front of the trailer where the barbs from the wire would catch and peel back the sheet metal like a banana peel for an inch or two.

Got home and broke the news to my dad expecting a severe ass chewing. He grunted said he probably better get that hitch fixed before it comes off and kills someone. Apparently the same trailer did the same thing to him 20 something years earlier when he was just out of school but ended up punching a hole through the side of a grain elevator off the highway. Trailer was built in the 50's and I'm not sure if they even knew what safety chains were back then. I really don't remember safety chains being a thing till maybe the late 80's on a lot of our farm trailers.

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None of our ag trailers had chains in the 80s and 90s.

I agree. Driver should make sure. My mistake on not doing the hookup or at minimum final check test. Very scary lesson learned.

Here.

16' utility trailer jumped off when I hit a dip in road. Chains were not crossed and there was too much slack. I hit the brakes immediately causing the tongue to drift under bumper make contact with tire and sending the attached jack and tongue vertically into the bed side. Happened before I even knew what was going on. Luckily I was on a residential street if I was going freeway speeds it would have been a bigger disaster than it was.

SGrem said:

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zooguy96 said:

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I twist the chains around each other before I attach them. This gives them less slack; I figure if something did happen where the trailer came off of the ball, it would be better to have less slack in the chains.

The worst I've done is forget to unattach the chains after I had already unattached the ball. Quickly discovered - no harm.

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Do not twist the chains! Pls do your research. Bad ju ju....

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Should have put cross the chains, not twist. That's what I do.

Up until about 10 years ago I had never heard of crossing chains. Then urban or I guess rural rumor started spreading about DPS down in Corpus area cracking down on crossed chains. Incorporated it into regular towing preparations and its habit now.

When I was a kid while hauling hay we watched our empty 16 ft square bale trailer roll past us into the ditch. No chains.
Old coupler wasn't latched. That was a WTF moment I still remember.

Way back in the '40s & 50s I was told a lot of cow trailers were open top because they were prone to flip over and cows could survive without breaking legs.
My uncle hauled a lot of cows and flipped his old trailer going to Port City Auction barn.

Never had it come off the ball, but at least 2 times I can remember with my old trailer that in my hurry to hook up and leave I neglected to push the latch down and put the pin through the hole.

.....aaaaannnnd one time I didn't latch it and found out when I drove my buggy on it loading it up and gave my truck the tailgate crease of stupidity.

One time I remember I felt something weird after hitting a bump in the road, pulled over and realized I was a dumbass that got lucky that the trailer didn't pop off. Another time I made it all the way home and didn't realize I was again a dumbass until I was unhooking the trailer. Luckily the trailer was empty that time because if I'd had my buggy on it I would have found out the expensive way when the tongue creased my tailgate as it popped up like it did the one time I didn't latch it before loading.

I had a bulldog hitch put on my trailer when I had it built. Won't go any other way now - they aren't foolproof, but they do have a much more solid connection IMO and it's much more difficult to ignore finishing up the latching part and putting the safety pin in than it is with the stamped latch type of hitches.

I was sitting at a traffic light one time waiting for the light to change when here comes your standard white construction pick-up flying through the intersection while pulling a concrete mixer on a two-wheel axle. The mixer had come off the hitch and flipped over, being dragged through the intersection by the safety chains and bouncing around on the pavement as it went. Not sure when the driver noticed and stopped, but at least the safety chains held while traveling through the intersection with a lot of other vehicles present.

Although not a coupler issue, the craziest thing I have ever seen relating to a trailer happened about a week ago. Someone was pulling a cattle trailer past my house. I was sitting on the front porch and saw what I though was big sheets of paper or drop cloths fly out of a pickup. Once he hit the brakes, I saw 8 or 10 cows come out of the back of his cattle trailer. What I thought I saw turned out to be three cows that first fell out. He was probably doing 50 or 55. I drove up to him and he said something about not sure how the cows opened the back gate. I didn't feel like rubbing any salt in the wound, but the cows didn't open the gate, lol.

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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Dam- this is good to know, never knew that, I will always cross them going forward

Had a pin come out (user error) and the whole ball mount came out on I-30 somewhere near Sulpher Springs.

Took foot off accelerator and coasted to a stop on the shoulder so the trailer didn't slide into the back of the truck.

Thank God for the chains....the ball mount was nearly sheared clean through. I don't know what I would have done if the trailer coupler had been dragging instead of the mount.

One of the scariest driving experiences I've ever been a part of.

Purchased a Miller Trailblazer welding rig setup on a trailer while in school at TAMU back in the day! Paid may way through school in part by using it. The trailer was homemade and had a straight pipe tongue with some gussets/braces that started about halfway between the ball hitch and the trailer frame.

Headed back to BCS after a spring break spent working. As I came south on HWY 6 in Marlin, I noticed something out the corner of my eye in the RV mirror. That trailer was about to pass me on the right (Hwy 6 was curving left as I passed over Business 6 on the north end of town). It had been raining and the ground was soft. When that trailer left the pavement with the hitch on the ground, that pipe tongue penetrated the ground and the trailer started to flip and over. However, the OXY/Acetylene bottles stood up on the young at the trailer frame and were fastened with a heavy couple stain roller chain.
So, when the trailer flipped, the first thing to contact the ground next was the Oxygen bottle. With 3plus feet of the younger in the ground, and the oxygen bottle secured so well, it actually almost stopped the rotation.

It was at this point that the Miller Trailblazer, being welded to a plate that the previous owner had then bolted to the trailer frame (but not well), broke the bolts and the welding machine with the plate attached looked like a football headed for a goalpost as it flew through the air, end over end. It landed probably 150' away, bounced for another flip or two and came to rest upright down the slope from the elevated highway.
I was sick at my stomach. The one thing I owned free and clear at the time, and used to help make ends meet was just destroyed I feared.

The stupid hitch in the trailer for a 1-7/8" ball and the one I had used was one the was female threaded. So the ball was like the nut for a bolt. It had come loose over the previous week and I had not noticed. So right as I got to Marlin, the bolt portion fell out and the trailer hitch (ball portion still in it) separated. The trailer had a safety chain, but it was one chain with each end welded to the tongue making a loop. It seemed smart when all I had to do was loop the chain over the ball. Of course, I learned why. That was not so smart then too!

Anyway, I concur with the OP, use proper safety chains and make sure they are attached properly. And use balls with studs, and make sure you use a lock washer.

BTW, though the welding machine landed on its intake filter housing and broke a breaker, that's all it did and it ran fine for years.

I recall the fire fighters who responded to the scene, being very afraid of that Oxygen bottle that was standing there upside down, with whole valve and regulator (yes, I traveled with the regulator still attached and not the cap) in the mud and the trailer resting on it! They were very gingerly digging around it. I walked over and let them know that that bottle was about 90% full, and if that valve was broken, that trailer would not just be sitting there on it!

I was 21 at the time! To this day, I triple check everything and never trust anyone else to make sure it's right. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

Never had that happen but I did have the bolt shake loose under the ball and the ball was just bouncing in and out of the hole in the bumper. It was a boat trailer and the boat and trailer were mismatched . I replaced the trailer shortly thereafter but I think the root cause was more than just the mismatch as I didn't have a lock washer between the ball and bolt - just a flat washer. Nothing happened other than the boat bouncing excessively up and down for a few miles so I learned that lesson cheaply.

Working for a boat manufacturer for 39 years, 90% of the time I had a boat ranging from 18' to 26' behind my truck traveling across 6 states in my region of responsibility. I never had an issue with towing until one day I was at our manufacturing plant and was picking up one of our 23' Bay Boats to take to an event with one of my dealers.
I had a lot to gather up and take with me, was running late of course, and one of the plant guys offered to take my truck and go hook the boat up for me. I told him that would be great and tossed him the keys.
I was in the office talking with my boss when the guy stepped in and said I was ready to go and that my truck and the boat were parked out front.
I said thanks and told my boss goodbye and went out with an armful of sales brochures, caps etc. and jumped in the truck and headed out.
As I pulled out of the factory parking lot onto the highway I could hear the hitch clunking badly. I thought perhaps it was just the surge brake actuator, but I needed gas so pulled into the Exon that was right by the factory to fill up.
I went back to check the trailer and found the latch was never pushed down, nor was the safety pin put in….. but the safety chains were hooked up.
From that day forward I never trusted anyone to hook my boats up and always do a walk around to make sure the boat stern tie downs are hooked up, winch strap his hooked to the bow eye and tight, safety chain hooked to the bow eye, and that the trailer connector, emergency brake cable, and safety chains are hooked up.
I have a permanent sticky note on my dash that has "check trailer" on it as well.
Luckily in all those years and pulling all those boats those thousands of miles I never had a bad towing experience or accident.