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Rockaway · 10-05-2016, 07:53 AM

In a recent trip to NM from central west Texas, I pulled onto I-25 going south at Raton. Very soon after entering the interstate I noted that the toad was wildly gyrating as noted in my rear camera. I had no place to stop except on the shoulder, and this situation was made worse by the fact that the inside lane of the interstate was blocked off at that point. I had to extract the Chevy Colorado from the guard rail (with minor damage) and remove the one remaining bent hitch pin. All through this experience, interstate traffic was going by me with inches to spare. My wife drove the Chevy, and we made it to our next destination without further incident. I contacted Blue Ox customer service ASAP for an explanation as to why I apparently lost a hitch pin. It was explained to me that the spring loaded locking pin my be dislodged by safety cables from the motorhome. The solution was to turn these pins around so that the locking pins are on the outside. Needless to say, I have continued to use this configuration, and have thrown the locking pins away in favor of some real "locks"...................

Rockaway, 2014 Tuscany XTE, Chevy Colorado

Waiter21 · 10-05-2016, 09:36 AM

I noticed similar on my Demco base plate (Blue Ox tow bar) when I attach the safety cables.

On my tow bar and base plate, the safety cables tend to push the pins inward toward the center of the vehicle. So I install the pins so that the safety cables would be pushing against the head of the pin, not the clip end. This way, when the cable touch the pins, they tend to push them into the holes, not out of the holes.

This is something everyone should be watching to see how safety cables/chains could move the attach pins.

hoosierrun · 10-05-2016, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockaway

In a recent trip to NM from central west Texas, I pulled onto I-25 going south at Raton. Very soon after entering the interstate I noted that the toad was wildly gyrating as noted in my rear camera. I had no place to stop except on the shoulder, and this situation was made worse by the fact that the inside lane of the interstate was blocked off at that point. I had to extract the Chevy Colorado from the guard rail (with minor damage) and remove the one remaining bent hitch pin. All through this experience, interstate traffic was going by me with inches to spare. My wife drove the Chevy, and we made it to our next destination without further incident. I contacted Blue Ox customer service ASAP for an explanation as to why I apparently lost a hitch pin. It was explained to me that the spring loaded locking pin my be dislodged by safety cables from the motorhome. The solution was to turn these pins around so that the locking pins are on the outside. Needless to say, I have continued to use this configuration, and have thrown the locking pins away in favor of some real "locks"...................

Rockaway, 2014 Tuscany XTE, Chevy Colorado

Glad that you and your wife are OK and it sounds like the toad & MH escaped injury too.

MSHappyCampers · 10-05-2016, 10:21 AM

Thanks for the heads-up! Glad you guys are OK!

Statgeek · 10-05-2016, 10:35 AM

Yikes! Glad you made it safely!!
I had a much less scary incident happen to me, when I went to detach toad after a long drive, only to discover that one of my retaining clips had wiggled out as well. Thankfully the main pin was still in place, but it could have been a situation like yours.

Someone suggested to me that I may have inadvertently snapped the retaining clip the wrong way, leaving a slight gap between the pin and the round loop. Who knows what happened, but I now triple check my retaining pins, and I check them whenever stopping for fuel or whatever else too.