My thought is to have the break-away cable a little shorter than the chains. But your point is seems valid and if the hitch somehow failed but the chains were still attached guessing I would feels something in the truck. One possible issue I can see is going downhill.
The pin in the contacts' housingcomes out very easily. I placed eye bolts, one just behind the the trailer hitch and another on the bumper of the tow vehicle. The straight cable is routed through the eyes and held above the hitch. This has worked for me as it eliminates the possibility of catching on anything during a turn.The cable I keep shorter than the chains.
For our camping trailer, with hydraulic surge brakes, the breakaway cable MUST be shorter than safety chains. I totally see where the other side of the argument is coming from if equipped with electric brakes but in my situation it doesn't apply.
@@TheAverageDan as the towing vehicle slows, the intertia of the trailer actuates a hydraulic master cylinder. The brake unit itself is just a standard dexter hydraulic drum brake setup. The breakaway cable is attached to a lever that directly pushes on the master cylinder should a breakaway occur.
I don’t understand why you would want the brake cable to be longer than the chains? What event would you actually engage the break if it is longer than the chains? You keep saying catastrophic failure, but if the break cable was shorter than the chains it seems that you’d be protected both ways - if the entire hitch came off, and if only the ball came off and the hitch remained. So why risk only protecting yourself against one event if you can protect against both?
If the hitch comes off but the chains hold and your 7-way is still hooked up, but the breakaway has not been pulled then you still have control of your trailer brakes through your installed brake controller. This allows the driver to have better control when pulling to the side of the road. If, on the other hand, the breakaway pulls out while the chains are still connected then the trailer brakes completely lock up, which could cause major issues if you are on the highway. The point of the emergency breakaway cable is to bring the trailer to an immediate and complete stop if it has completely broken away from the tow vehicle (rather than it going randomly through multiple lanes of traffic).
I’ve watched two of your vids and you have pulled the brake pin out in both of them. Can you do this when the trailer is disengaged from the truck? It doesn’t engage the brakes? Thanks, I’m just year two
Pulling it out WILL engage the trailer's brakes, and it will draw from your battery to do so, which can run your battery down to dead (and kill that battery if it is left that way for too long). Another youtube camping couple had that happen to them when they left it pulled out for a few days when they had to order a new one due to rust-through.
