Loss of Tow Bar Connection. Pin Came Out.

[Triker56]

X2 a pair of like key padlocks to use in place of the pins.

[KIX]

Another school of thought regarding locking pins is that should there be an emergency disconnecting the towed is a longer and perhaps impossible problem.
We don't use locking pins any longer. We use the "hairpin" type pins. When they are inserted I insert then all the way past the detent to the loop. IMHO they would have to be forcibly removed. And that's why we check connections before pulling out from any stop.

[TerryO]

Originally Posted by jtroop

I have beard of people pulling pins out when folks are stopped. I bought a set of blue ox locking pins jjust for this reason. Do you think someone could have done this while you were at the outlet mall?

Thank God my tow bar wasn't locked to my Kia when it burned (see Kia FIRE thread). If it had been we would have lost our car and Entegra Aspire.

[Sky_Boss]

Originally Posted by TerryO

Thank God my tow bar wasn't locked to my Kia when it burned (see Kia FIRE thread). If it had been we would have lost our car and Entegra Aspire.

First...glad you got it disconnected and away from the MH!

OK...at some point there is a balancing act on risk management. I don't have data to back up my gut feeling or even the most correct answer. I guess the balancing act on locking vs non-locking pins is whether the potential for tampering outweighs the need to quickly disconnect in an emergency.

The more I think about our situation I am wondering if we had a malfunction of the locking mechanism. Without finding the pin I can't even begin to reconstruct the potential for that to have happened. I'm just having a hard time imagining it wasn't properly locked in the first place and not failing much sooner. It is not impossible that it lasted that long but...

The concern I have with Blue Ox kind of locks is that there really isn't a way to inspect the "guts" of the lock. It certainly lends some credibility to the KISS (keep it simple stupid) properties of a regular pin which can be seen to be working properly with one's eyeballs.

So I am left to ponder the gee-wizz of locking pins or the plain-jane functions of regular pins. The latter option would certainly help force the best practice of visual inspection prior to each departure.

[JohnT]

Don,
Sorry to read about your event and glad nothing serious resulted.

We are towing for the first time and now I'm a little paranoid. We have all Blue Ox hardware with the AF1. The key locking pins don't have a visble lock whereas the clip thru the pin is pretty convincing. I guess installing keyed pad locks thru the pins would solve the "tamper-proof" scenario.

Thanks for sharing.

[Sky_Boss]

Originally Posted by JohnT

Don,
Sorry to read about your event and glad nothing serious resulted.

We are towing for the first time and now I'm a little paranoid. We have all Blue Ox hardware with the AF1. The key locking pins don't have a visble lock whereas the clip thru the pin is pretty convincing. I guess installing keyed pad locks thru the pins would solve the "tamper-proof" scenario.

Thanks for sharing.

I am looking into the padlock option but I haven't found one yet that will fit the 1/2" pin holes. Do you know of any and a source to get them?

[jdoc]

Don, got mine at Wally World. They're made by Brinks. Master Lock also makes them.

Jerry (RVM3)

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by Sky_Boss

I am looking into the padlock option but I haven't found one yet that will fit the 1/2" pin holes. Do you know of any and a source to get them?

I used Master locks thru the clip holes in the 1/2" pins to secure my 5'er hitch.

[Wayne M]

Let us remember that there is only one pin that needs to be pulled in an emergency to get the TOAD away from the MH. That pin is the one in the receiver that holds the tow bar to the coach. Unsnap the safety cables, pull that pin and you pull the tow bar completely away. You can always replace the other electrical connectors.

Happy trails.

Yes, there are some receivers that have anti rattling devices and in that case it is the pins at the TOAD end to remove.

I like using Klik Pins, or also called Linch Pin. Very easy to tell if they are not there and I think they are much better than the typical push through clip.

[baraff]

When we had our travel trailer our pigtail was cut with a pair of bolt cutters at a truck stop. You could see the blade marks in the rubber casing. We had parked next to a semi and gone in to eat lunch. On the way home I realized I had no trailer lights, or any lights because the fuse had blown.
Vandalism can and does happen. There are some really sick people out there.

[jtroop]

I always have the key with me, in fact I have one on several key rings. I don't think it will take much longer to unlock the pin at the rig versus pulling the cotter pin. If anything, I'd re-examine using the locks based on the potential for the lock to fail, not the speed of pulling the towbar from the rig.

[Dr4Film]

What I have experienced with my Blue-Ox Adventa LX tow bar is after unlocking the lock pins, depending on how the vehicle is sitting relative to the coach, sometimes the quick release won't release as there's too much pressure or torque on the arms. I actually have to drive one pin out before the the other side frees up.

If I am on perfectly level pavement, then the binding is not so noticeable but how many times are you presented with that perfect situation when traveling.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

[JohnRR]

Blue Ox states do not strike handles, start the engine and turn wheels all the way in the direction of the bound handle, the very few times that has not worked for me I just put the toad in gear forward and reverse and try to find the neutral spot, the pins always have so far came out with finger pressure only.

[pcurt23]

Don't be so fast to dismiss mischief as the cause of the missing pin. We had parked at a mall some time ago and a during the pre-drive check discovered that one of the pins had come loose and was hanging on by the last part of the clip. I now use locking pins.