Hauling Hints

6 Pearls of Wisdom

PHOTO BY KENT & CHARLENE KRONE Make sure your trailer and tow vehicle are ready for the road with these pearls of trailering wisdom. First pearl: If you hear a “clunk” or unusual sound, always pull over and check it out.

Here are six pearls of wisdom to add to your trailering-knowledge treasure chest. For each one, we give you the true story behind it and the recommended fix.

We’ve given many tips to help horsepeople stay safe when hauling a trailer. But sometimes, odd things happen that don’t fall within the normal scope of things. The following six pearls of wisdom contain hard-learned information that resulted from real-life experiences. For each one, we give you the true story behind it and the recommended fix.

Pearl #1: If you hear a “clunk” or unusual sound, always pull over and check it out.

True story: Once, we inspected our trailer before heading out on the road with our horse. Of course, we checked all the items on our checklist, including the coupler (making sure it was secure on the ball), the pin (making sure it was properly inserted into the ball mount), and the breakaway brake cable (making sure it was secured). Everything looked fine.

After driving a few miles, we slowed at a stop sign and heard a “clunk.” It sounded like a small stone had hit the car, and we felt a slight vibration through the truck. The temptation was to pass it off as nothing and to keep going to our destination, but we decided we’d better check it out.

We pulled over and inspected the hitch and coupler. That’s when we saw that the nut that holds the ball mount in place had come loose and had worked its way to the bottom of the bolt. When we had slowed, the trailer had pulled up the ball, which had then settled back down, making the “clunk” sound. Had we not stopped, the trailer would’ve come off the hitch. The fix: If you’re on the road, keep your horse in the trailer, and leave the trailer hooked to the ball. Tighten the ball nut securely. (Make sure the safety chains and emergency breakaway brake cable are attached to prevent the trailer from becoming loose while you’re working on it.)

Or, keep an extra ball mount and ball in the trailer. For this fix, you’ll need a wrench that will fit the bolt on the ball (or an adjustable wrench) and a second wrench that will hold the ball from turning while you tighten the nut. You’ll also need what’s called a cheater bar— a tubular steel bar about two feet long that will fit over the end of the wrench. This extends the wrench handle, which gives you more leverage to tighten the bolt securely. As soon as you can, have a mechanic make sure the nut is tight enough for future use.

Pearl #2: Carry a couple of extra ball mounts with various “drops,” or one adjustable ball mount, making sure that the ball size is the same as your coupler.

PHOTO BY HEIDI MELOCCO As you hitch up your trailer, check to make sure the ball mount is secured by attempting to pull out the mount after you insert the pin.

True story: A horse owner named Judy was hauling her horse when her truck broke down. She called a friend to pick up her trailer. The friend arrived with a four-wheel-drive truck that was set higher than Judy’s vehicle. To make matters worse, the truck had only a two-inch ball, which wouldn’t work with Judy’s slightly large coupler. They slid Judy’s ball mount into the friend’s truck hitch, but then it was too high—the trailer wouldn’t jack up enough to reach the ball. Judy had to call another friend to help. The fix: Carry an extra ball mount with a lower drop.

Pearl #3: When sliding your ball mount into your hitch, not only check the nut holding the ball, but also, after you insert the pin, pull on the ball mount to make sure it doesn’t slide back out.

True story: While we were getting ready to tow a trailer to a customer, we checked the ball sizes on the coupler and ball mount, then slid the ball mount into the truck’s frame-mounted hitch. This hitch had two hole placements for the pin that held the ball mount in place. This gave us the option of sliding the ball mount farther into the tube or letting it extend out the back a bit more. The ball mount we were using had a rather short tubular insert.

After sliding it into the hitch, we inserted the pin with no problem and hitched up the trailer. As we pulled out of the parking spot, we hit a little bump, >>

and the trailer disengaged from the truck! Fortunately, we’d connected the safety chains and there were no horses in the trailer. Here’s what had happened: The tubular shank didn’t go back far enough to reach the hole where we’d inserted the pin. We’d inserted the pin behind the shank, instead of through it. There was just enough pressure on the mount that it didn’t immediately disengage. However, it probably would’ve come out down the road. It was lucky we’d gone over the bump, which lightened the pressure just enough for the mount to slide out while we were still in the parking lot. The fix: As you hitch up your trailer, check to make sure the ball mount is secured by attempting to pull out the mount after you insert the pin.

Pearl #4: After you’ve checked your trailer completely, stop at the end of your drive, get out, and check your horse and trailer one more time.

PHOTO BY HEIDI MELOCCO

After you’ve checked your trailer completely, stop at the end of your drive, get out, and check your horse and trailer one more time. Make sure you have all the tools you need for any emergency that can happen on the road.

True story: A horse owner named Gayle wrote to us about an incident illuminating why this final check is important. After she’d loaded her horse, inspected her trailer, and drove to the end of her driveway, she noticed the trailer’s manger door was open. When she got out to close it, she discovered that her horse had not only opened the door, but the long lead rope she was using as a trailer tie was hanging out and starting to wrap itself around the wheel. The poor horse was almost dragged up into the manger. The fix: If possible, install outside butterfly latches on all horse doors. Many tall, strong-looking doors are only held shut by a half-inch piece that’s part of the recessed door latch. An outer latch on the outside of the horse door will ensure that it doesn’t pop or get kicked open. Or, if your trailer has a deadbolt on the door latch, lock the deadbolt, but leave the key in the lock so that you can quickly open the door, if needed. The deadbolt will usually prevent the door from opening. Most body/fabrication shops can do this for you.

Pearl #5: Carry a variety of extra parts for your trailer and tow vehicle.

PHOTO BY HEIDI MELOCCO

True story: Late one evening, we were coming back from a horse show with a trailer in tow when the engine suddenly quit. The power steering and brakes quit with it. Fortunately, there was still enough power to activate the trailer brakes so we could stop. The serpentine belt, which runs the alternator and fan, had broken.

I called the American Automobile Association, known as AAA. (This was in pre-USRider Equestrian Motor Plan days.) The mechanic said that it was an easy fix and that he could do it quickly. However, he didn’t have the part—and it was after hours. We had to call a friend to pick us up and tow our trailer back to the barn.

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The fix: Make a list of all the problems you might encounter with your particular trailer and tow vehicle, and carry the spare parts that would help you solve the issue. Especially make sure you have a spare serpentine belt in your vehicle.

Pearl #6: Make sure you have all the tools you need for any emergency on the road.

True story: We were traveling with a friend in a two-trailer caravan to a trade show some 390 miles away. We hooked up, checked everything over, and headed out. About 90 miles down the road, the trailer brakes started to lock up on our friend’s vehicle. We pulled off the exit, grabbed our toolbox, took out the wiring tester, and went to work on finding the cause. After 30 minutes, we still hadn’t fixed the problem The fix: Since the trailer was empty and it weighed only 3,400 pounds, we decided that the 2500 Dodge could easily handle the load without brakes. We checked the wiring diagram to isolate the brake wire. Then we carefully cut into the plug cord, found the wire, and cut it to disconnect the current going to the brakes. We pulled the wire’s cut end out of the cord and wrapped it with electrical tape. We had it fixed the first chance we got. For this particular fix, you’ll need a razor blade knife with extra razor blades (they can break or dull quickly), an electrical tester, electrical tape, and a wiring diagram for your trailer. USR

Tom Scheve and Neva Kittrell Scheve are the authors of the nationally recognized textbook, The Complete Guide to Buying, Maintaining, and Servicing a Horse Trailer. Neva has also written two other horse-trailer books, including Equine Emergencies On The Road with Jim Hamilton, DVM. The Scheves present clinics at equine expos and promote trailer safety through articles in national magazines. They’ve designed and developed the EquiSpirit, EquiBreeze, and ThoroSport lines of trailers.