Off the Ball - connection issue

[Brian B-P]

The jacking-up method of checking works well, and is a side effect of all the extra work done to hook up a WDH, but I don't do it. I visually (or by feel) confirm that the latch is around the ball. Not only have I never had a trailer detach, I've never found that I had latched the coupler on top of (instead of around) the ball. While it helps that my own travel trailer has a yoke-type coupler, but every other trailer that I've towed (including my own utility trailer) has has a style more prone to coupling issues.

It helps to understand how the coupler is supposed to work.

[Jim Bennett]

I can tell by looking at the hitch seated on the tongue if it is seated and connected. I do test the grip every once in a while and tighten to where there is still just enough play to move correctly.

Given the many thousands of times I have connected to a trailer, I just admit a couple times I erred, and that was forgetting to latch the connector. I have done this twice with my dump trailer, which travelling would rarely be an issue due to tongue weight, but at the dump..... Imagine as the 4,500 lb trailer has about 4,000 lb of load, and as you raise the box to dump it, the weight moves rearward.... then realize that as the tongue lifts up in the air until the rear end sets down you have erred. Lowering the box slowly will allow the tongue to drop slowly, but never on the ball. A bit of manoeuvring needs to be done to correct this error. That said, this error has not happening in near 10 years as it is now a habit to check the latching.

When I had a Class I license and drove big rigs, I am happy to say there was never a hitching incident. LOL

[Nindy]

Haven't had time to review all the posts in this thread yet but thought I would share what happened to me.

I was at a campground with friends one morning when we were alerted that there would be flooding in a few hours but we would have time to pack up. A half hour later I was in 6 inches of water.

My friend who owned another trailer came over to help and when I backed up the Jeep he lowered the trailer into position. He called me over that I had the lock still on the hitch so I got out my key and removed the locking pin. He finished the process.

Later as we pulled into another campground about 18 miles away I was going around a sharp uphill lefthand turn that had a weird bank to the outside and my trailer came off the hitch. We were able to use a lot of wood blocks to get me hooked back up again and the only damage was my crank arm got bent but still works.

Looking back at a photo of me standing in the flood water by the trailer I could see that the trailer was not fully lowered onto the ball but somehow it still latched. I was lucky it stayed hitched all the way to the next campground.

Now I'm very careful to examine it every time to make sure it's lowered completely onto the ball and I perform all the steps myself. Not his fault - we were in a hurry and I failed to make a final check.

[bdornbush]

Our process is that I back the Jeep into place with my wife's coaching to get it to the right place. She lowers the trailer on to the ball then I pull the Jeep slightly forward slowly until I feel that I have engaged with the trailer and hear a bump noise. Then she latches the trailer hitch. We learned this procedure after having some difficulty getting the latch to engage properly. It works well for us. Since we use a WDH, we always crank the trailer jack up to engage the bars so that confirms that the trailer is secured on the ball.

[tdf-texas]

A bulldog type trailer hitch coupler is better.

https://www.bulldogproducts.net/prod...ec9WZOxSt%7Csp

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by tdf-texas

A bulldog type trailer hitch coupler is better.

https://www.bulldogproducts.net/prod...ec9WZOxSt%7Csp

Next thread topic: "the welds on my new coupler failed".

[John in Santa Cruz]

My E21 has a different sort of hitch I've not seen before, the coupler clamp is on a U shaped piece that slides forward and drops over the front of the ball socket.... I dunno how to describe it, but its almost impossible for it not to hitch correctly, and I don't think there's any adjustment.

here it is with the latch up and slid back, in the disconnected position, but sitting on the ball. if the latch won't go forward and drop down, then I roll the truck forward a half inch or so and it drops into place.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

My E21 has a different sort of hitch I've not seen before, the coupler clamp is on a U shaped piece that slides forward and drops over the front of the ball socket.... I dunno how to describe it, but its almost impossible for it not to hitch correctly, and I don't think there's any adjustment.

That's the yoke-type coupler (the moving part which wraps around the front is the yoke); Atwood may be the best-known manufacturer, but there are others. There isn't any adjustment possible, or necessary. I like it (mine's an Atwood).

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by tdf-texas

A bulldog type trailer hitch coupler is better.

https://www.bulldogproducts.net/prod...ec9WZOxSt%7Csp

There are multiple types of coupler made by Bulldog; that's the forged type (which just describes the manufacturing method, not the design, but at Bulldog only this design is made by forging). Most people who refer to "the Bulldog coupler" mean this type.

I've never towed with one, just latched and unlatched them on trailers in dealer's lots, but I don't like it. Maybe they get better to use when worn in, but while the clamping action is good, it is very clear that it is on the ball properly, and the collar makes sense, getting the collar to slide and using the latching system to hold the collar in place (there are at least a couple of latching options) seem awkward to me. The people who like them seem to really like them.

This Bulldog page for A-frame couplers shows the forged couplers with two different latch types, plus other coupler designs:
https://www.bulldogproducts.net/prod...LwoxgjUuTgU7k!

[CADreamin]

John, that's just like the hitch on our 19' and our 21'. Isn't that the standard ETI hitch?

[Rossue]

John- that is a RAM coupler made in China that ETI has used for some time now. It is a knock off of the Atwood yoke coupler. My Andersen hitch ruined mine and I replaced it with the Atwood- have never had the yoke come open again and I ditched the Andersen. Now that Dometic has swallowed Atwood I don't see that 2" Atwood coupler anywhere on the market. Etrailer & Amazon had them but not anymore.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

That's the yoke-type coupler (the moving part which wraps around the front is the yoke); Atwood may be the best-known manufacturer, but there are others. There isn't any adjustment possible, or necessary. I like it (mine's an Atwood).

Our 2018 Escape 21 has the same yoke style coupler as in John’s picture
Our Escape coupler looks similar to the one Atwood makes but it is definitely not an Atwood

[gbaglo]

My hitch 2009.

[Rossue]

My 2010 17B had the yoke style RAM.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Now that Dometic has swallowed Atwood I don't see that 2" Atwood coupler anywhere on the market.

Unfortunately, it looks like Dometic bought Atwood just for the appliance lines. I can't find the couplers anywhere in the Dometic website, and they may have discontinued the hardware (couplers, jacks, etc) part of the Atwood product line.
https://www.dometic.com/en/se/rebranded/atwood

[gbb]

Hi DT6
First, thankful you are ok and everthing worked out.
Second, thanks for posting this and reminding all of us for the need to check and double check everything. I've never towed a RV but I have been towing trailers for 50 years and have had something similar happen to me a few times. Once mechanical failure and the other times my being in a hurry. Last time was loading an expensive bull to haul to his new home before daylight. I had hitched up the night before in a hurry and had backed up to the loading chute. He went on the trailer just fine but as he stepped into the back the front end of the trailer came up off the ball and the bull came back off faster than he went on. Didn't take too long to get the trailer hooked up correctly, but it took a while to coax the bull back on it. I've been pretty careful to double check the hitch since then but your reminder comes just in time for our trip in August to pick up our 21. Good luck and safe travels in the future!
Thanks again,
Buddy Belflower
Belflower Farm
Sunshine, NC

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by tdf-texas

A bulldog type trailer hitch coupler is better.

https://www.bulldogproducts.net/prod...ec9WZOxSt%7Csp

Hi Tom what I think too . Wish we had one . Pat

[steve dunham]

The pivot pin on the locking lever for my Escape coupler had one end that was peened over to hold it in place . On the peened end a large portion of the metal being thin had broken away and there was little left holding the pin in place so I removed the pin and replaced it .
It’s hard to understand why the security of the coupler is dependent on a cheap 5 cent part and thin bent over pot metal

[cpaharley2008]

Another observation on the the hitch up process. Why is it that every time we start to hitch up, people come over to talk to us? I finally said to the person with a polite comment that I needed to concentrate on the task as hand and that once completed I could then continue their conversation. They apologized, saying it was understood and said "carry on" as they left. Distraction, be it driving or hooking up, is dangerous.

[MyronL]

This has been an incredible read so far. Only one thing not covered, and that is, if you do get unhitched while on the road, once you pull over to assess the situation, now what do you do?

You're alone, there's traffic, it's night, the shoulder is soft or sloped. I've been in that situation several times and each time it was because of my mistake.

No way by yourself you're going to lift that tongue that's nested in your chains. You might be able to back the tow up 6 inches to relieve the stress on the chains, after chocking the wheels but don't count on it.

If the tongue jack is damaged or bent you're not going to use it to raise up the tongue to re-attach to the ball.

Always carry a claw bar.
Always carry a spare bottle jack and a few 2x8" pieces of wood.