Breakaway Blues

[FriscoKen]

Newbie to these forums but I wanted to share a recent story/learning experience.

This past weekend my lovely wife and I travelled to a COE park a few hours away from our house. We were so excited, it was our first "real" trip in the new 5th wheel. Our shakedown trip a few weeks prior went without a hitch but was for only two nights. We really looked forward to this past weekend's 4-night adventure with our new rig, and two dogs.

I am a constant planner. I plan trips down to stops, potty breaks, etc., like I'm sure most of you do. Even with out Class B I used Google Earth to get a feel for the layouts of the gas staitions, fast food places, etc. Especially now that we are pulling this 37 ft 5th wheel, we need to be very careful and not get into a situation we can't get out of.

Last Thursday, on our way to our campsite, my wife started complaining that she was hungry, she was so busy during the day she didn't stop to eat anything. I was getting hungry as well. This particular highway we were driving had a frontage road right off of the highway. Anyway, as we drive along she spots a McDonalds and asks if we can quickly pull over. This stop was not a part of the travel plan so at first I was uneasy to stop as I didn't know the parking situation.

We decided to exit off the highway onto the frontage road. As we pull up to the McDonalds there "appears" to be enough room for me to navigate around the parking lot. That was bad decision number 1. We pull in and I park to the side of the lot, out of the way. Wifey runs into the store to buy food, I walk around the other side of the buidling to check out our exit strategy. I see two huge trees right at the exit, both hanging down to about even with the top of my head (6'1"). Ugh, that's a no-go. What's the next option? I start to feel the panick build up inside, "how the heck are we going to get out of this darn parking lot?"

As I walk back to the truck I look back at the service road we exited to get to McDonalds. Traffic is very light. That give me an idea! How about I just put this baby in reverse and back up the exact way we entered the parking lot. Yep, I think it could work...light traffic, plenty of room. Wife gets back to the truck with the oversalted Mcdonalds food and we prepare to put her in reverse.

I'm watching out of both side mirrors as I start to turn the rig in the right direction, thinking "this was a great idea!" In my time of gloating I realized the 5th wheel is cutting to sharp to the right and then I look back down the frontage road and see a semi exiting the highway. Oh crap, I need to hurry up! So with my 5th wheel at about a 90 degree angle I gave the truck more gas. I need to hurry, but then I hear a pop! Oh crap what happened?!

I straighten the truck and pull foward onto the side of the frontage road. Something feels weird, like something is dragging. This is when my stomach dropped as I felt sick that I just knew I had messed something up. I get my wife to get into the driver's seat and to slowly pull foward so I can monitor from the outside. The trailer tires are locking up! What have I done!? I then go back to the driver's seat and see a warning light that trailer is disconnected. Well that's not right, so I go back to the truck bed, pull the 7-pin out and put back in. Check the display again, still has the same message.

This is when we really start getting worried. What do we do? Can we call someone? Do we just drop the trailer and have someone come pick it up and drag to a repair shop? As we stood there, hands on our forheads, I remembered...what was that pop I heard when we were backing up? I start looking around at the pin box and see that the dang breakaway had come out of the little device! The trailer brakes are locking up because of that!!

Long story short - I clipped the breakaway to a different spot for this trip to make room for our smoker I put in the bed of the truck. When I hit that 90 degree backup the cable got caught under the smoker and did what it was supposed to, it popped out of it's little home. I plugged that baby back in, works as good as new. Crisis averted, carry on with trip. But a good lesson learned, pay attention to where you clip that thing so it doesn't pop if you need to make a sharp turn.

[DR60]

Glad it was an easy fix! You won't forget that soon.
When I can't see all the way from entrance to exit, I generally park on the street and walk a ways rather than get trapped. It has happened to all of us at least once! DR

[Flyer15015]

This is one of the many stories you'll be able to tell when you get to the retirement home. Glad it worked out for you. No damage done.

Mike in Colorado

[FriscoKen]

Originally Posted by DR60

Glad it was an easy fix! You won't forget that soon.
When I can't see all the way from entrance to exit, I generally park on the street and walk a ways rather than get trapped. It has happened to all of us at least once! DR

Thanks! That's my new policy, if I can't see the entire route I don't take the route. She and I laughed about it on the way back home, something that we'll never forget.

[RVnAggie]

Thanks for sharing….you know you’ve reached a new level of humility when you can tell on yourself. It’s always much funnier later.

I know this guy who once pulled out into the interstate from a rest area with an upstairs slide extended. He only had about 10 years RV experience in a fiver at the time. I won’t name names, but he’s married to my wife.

On a serious note regarding the breakaway cable, that same guy had his get caught between a hitch leg and the mounting rail many years ago while making a sharp switchback/downhill u-turn from a 2 lane road onto road entering a state park. Needless to say, it stopped me instantly while in mid swing and blocked both lanes coming down the mountain. After a couple minutes of similar panic to what you described, I saw what had happened and plugged the plunger back in.

When we got home from that trip, I immediately put a hose over the breakaway cable so it was large enough it couldn’t get pinched again. That was also the first “upgrade” to my current fiver.

Plastic wire loom or any flexible hose about 1/2” diameter for a sheathing is a good preventative that I highly recommend.

Happy Trails,

[tuffr2]

I had a minor situation that was similar. I knew what happened when the trailer wheels locked. My break away cable also got caught on something in the bed of the truck. I did have some trouble putting the pin back the right way with the 5th wheel sitting on the hitch.

After that I bought the curly que cable that does not sag and sit on the bed of the truck.

[FriscoKen]

Originally Posted by RVnAggie

Thanks for sharing….you know you’ve reached a new level of humility when you can tell on yourself. It’s always much funnier later.

I know this guy who once pulled out into the interstate from a rest area with an upstairs slide extended. He only had about 10 years RV experience in a fiver at the time. I won’t name names, but he’s married to my wife.

On a serious note regarding the breakaway cable, that same guy had his get caught between a hitch leg and the mounting rail many years ago while making a sharp switchback/downhill u-turn from a 2 lane road onto road entering a state park. Needless to say, it stopped me instantly while in mid swing and blocked both lanes coming down the mountain. After a couple minutes of similar panic to what you described, I saw what had happened and plugged the plunger back in.

When we got home from that trip, I immediately put a hose over the breakaway cable so it was large enough it couldn’t get pinched again. That was also the first “upgrade” to my current fiver.

Plastic wire loom or any flexible hose about 1/2” diameter for a sheathing is a good preventative that I highly recommend.

Happy Trails,

Oh goodness! Yeah, I don't feel so bad anymore . Really, at the moment when something like this happens the world feels like it's crashing down, but it is such a teaching experience. If I've learned anything during this whole "5th wheel" process it is paitence. Every time I get in a hurry I miss/overlook something important. Slowing down is the key for me.

Good times! Thanks for sharing.

Yep, Amazon has benefited from A LOT of our money, recently. One of those red, coiled cables was the first thing on my list once we settled into our camp site that night.

[FriscoKen]

Originally Posted by tuffr2

I had a minor situation that was similar. I knew what happened when the trailer wheels locked. My break away cable also got caught on something in the bed of the truck. I did have some trouble putting the pin back the right way with the 5th wheel sitting on the hitch.

After that I bought the curly que cable that does not sag and sit on the bed of the truck.

My poor wife, she was worse off than I was...she kept saying it was her fault for wanting damn chicken mcnuggets. Same here, I ordered one of those coiled cables.

[FriscoKen]

Originally Posted by Flyer15015

This is one of the many stories you'll be able to tell when you get to the retirement home. Glad it worked out for you. No damage done.

Mike in Colorado

Camping "War Stories" haha!

[tuffr2]

Get one of these.

[FriscoKen]

Originally Posted by tuffr2

Get one of these.Attachment 394203

Thanks! That's exactly what I ordered.

[hamm2018]

Originally Posted by FriscoKen

My poor wife, she was worse off than I was...she kept saying it was her fault for wanting damn chicken mcnuggets. Same here, I ordered one of those coiled cables.

Double check the brakes on ALL the wheels. Sometimes if you do not reinsert the plug quick enough you can damage the magnets on the electric brakes.