) and you are all set.
- all comes down to the comfort of the familiar I guess!! 
My mechanic told me these were legal for use on towing chains in Canada .Hamin' X wrote:I think that we are having a terminology disconnect here. I think that what Jim is referring to is a quick link like this and not a carabiner.
~Rich
Rick Westlake wrote:If you have safety cables on your trailer, REPLACE THEM WITH CHAINS.
My new trailer came with safety cables instead of chains. These are coiled, plastic-covered steel cables that are several feet long.
I brought Bossa Nova back from my marina to a storage-yard close to home last night. By the time I was ready to go, it was dark. I didn't connect-up the hitch properly, but I did secure the safety cables and the breakaway brake cable. Two hundred yards out of the marina gate, the boat fell off the hitch. I braked to a stop - and - CRUNCH!
The cables, as you can see, were long enough to let the winch-post smash into the back hatch of my tow-beast. The breakaway brake cable was the same length, so it didn't activate the trailer's brakes. Now the hatch is jammed shut. The tongue may have done more damage underneath; my speedometer doesn't work, several warning lights stay on, and it takes a lot of force to shift the transmission out of "park".
A good samaritan who lives down the road from the marina brought a floor jack to the crash scene, and he jacked up the trailer high enough to fold down the dolly-wheel. I was able to hitch it up, and we each of us checked it carefully to make sure it was on properly this time. The car was still drivable, and I got the boat to its new home (and then got myself home) without further incident.
Safety chains of the proper length would not have enough "slack" to cause this damage. I'm sure the winch-post would have been snubbed short of the hatch. The hitch would have had nothing to hit but the spare tire, which is mounted just forward of the hitch-receiver.
Please learn from my sad experience!
What KHE said!Kelly Hanson East wrote:Too slack...you should maybe have an inch of droop under the tongue max...another way to get it right is to take them off, and the turn the tow vehicle into a tight turn to the right, and now clip the LEFT chain on so that it has minimal slack..now turn the trailer left, and set the RIGHT chain. Mark them with sharpies or a peice of red pre-flight check tape (
Less
Hey Puggsy,puggsy wrote:For C130king...A nice setup, and I am now very jealous, but those chains are just too slack. Only my 2 cents worth, but cross and shorten them so there is just enough slack to turn corners...and even if they are TOO short, it will only skid the trailer a bit and will prevent a slow motion jackknife on a tight corner...Also its a good idea to remove the jockey wheel from the bottom of the wind down tube...just in case to go over a higher than usual kerb...
In the good old days when i had SEAHORSE, SOB, SOB, I added a second jockey wheel to overcome the problem of when the front of the trailer was too close to the ground to remove the supplied one...
