Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike_Garcia
I'll add my 2 cents to this also. Maybe this has happened to others, I wouldn't mind knowing, but while hooking up once in AZ, I did as always backed into the jaws and it went clunk. The handle closed as usual, I put in the safety pin (B&W Companion) and got everything all ready to go. Wife, check, dog, check, walk around to check all slides and jacks were fully retracted and in, check. In the truck, put it in gear, give it a little gas and KLUNK, WHAT THE HELL!!! The pin was OUTSIDE the jaws. Tailgate trashed, fiver sitting on the bed rails, and half of the park standing around. OH, the embarrassment and shame! Long story short, made it home ok and a little over $1700.00 later (new tailgate) I learned to VISUALLY check every time that the pin is truly locked in place. I think when I backed in, the alignment wasn't quite straight on and I hit one side of the jaws and caused it to close correctly, but fooled me. We all learn lessons the hard way sometimes.
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Caught a similar issue before catastrophe, so know it can happen. Similar situation with a Curt hitch. Pin wasn't low enough because we were hitching with the truck on a decline and hitch lowered a couple inches just backing up the last couple feet after I thought I had it perfect. Everything clicked, but it just didn't quite latch in. The bottom of the pin was in the jaws and not below the jaws. The Curt system is pretty fool proof if you check it close. But if I would have been in a hurry or didn't have that, "this didn't sound right" feeling, I could have easily missed it.
I had another camper tell me he got a hundred feet down the driveway one time when it fell apart on him.
We've learned to keep in mind whether we're hooking up level or not and make darn sure the hitch pin is slightly lower than you think it should be. We check the jaws and pin and we always do a slow/short test pull with the trailer brakes engaged.