Safety chain

[Tom&Joan]

Pony trailer is an old term I have not heard in years. If I recall correctly it referred to a very small (perhaps home made) semitrailer. I would love to see an official definition as related to the US.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Tom&Joan

Pony trailer is an old term I have not heard in years. If I recall correctly it referred to a very small (perhaps home made) semitrailer. I would love to see an official definition as related to the US.

It just means any conventional trailer... including every Escape and other travel trailer (since none of them are full trailers and none carry about half their weight on the hitch). It is a very old term, describing a cart supported at the front on a horse's back (rather than a wagon or "full trailer" with a pivoting front axle), but that's not surprising in legislation.

U.S. federal regulations are generally concerned with commercial vehicles, and most of them use semi-trailers (singly, or in B-trains and C-trains) or full trailers (in A-trains).

Commercial vehicles do use conventional "pony" trailers, typically with pintle-and-hook hitches, and they use safety chains, for the same reason as any other trailer with a hitch that can accidentally be operated without latching the coupler... such as the Andersen Ultimate. In Canada, a 20-ton to 35-ton dump trailer like this

... is towed behind a dump truck, and is called a pony trailer; I'm sure they're used in the U.S., but I don't know what they're called there (and didn't realize that the term "pony" wasn't widely used there until this discussion). The point is that they're nothing like a fifth-wheel hitch semi-trailer, and they're not full trailers... so neither trailer type nor size says much about the hitch to be used or the safety equipment (such as safety chains) required.

[Tom&Joan]

Brian, The hook you refer to is used to mate to a pintle hook is called a "lunette eye." As far as weight being roughly equal between the axle on a trailer and the pin, I have hauled many loads where most of it is on the trailer tandems or tridems, such in the case of some heavy machinery, and permitted accordingly. Truck and trailer terms: I was involved back in the 80's with working with an insurance company on educating them on accident history of antique trucks for a transportation history organization. I was on the board of directors and there was a lot of back and forth educating them on terms, such as the difference between a converter dolly and a jodog, just all kinds of stuff. We eventually got there and the end result was the creation of a new arm for the company just for the purpose of insuring antique trucks. Some of my Canadian friends were involved as they had a stake in the game.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Tom&Joan

Brian, The hook you refer to is used to mate to a pintle hook is called a "lunette eye."

Yes, I know that's one name for it, and I should have said pintle-and-ring, but I didn't think anyone cared.

Originally Posted by Tom&Joan

As far as weight being roughly equal between the axle on a trailer and the pin, I have hauled many loads where most of it is on the trailer tandems or tridems, such in the case of some heavy machinery, and permitted accordingly.

Sure - the point is that a trailer with an axle set on the back end and a pin on the front tows differently from one with an axle set nearly at the centre and a tongue carrying a small fraction of the load, so references to "semi-trailer" rarely mean anything like our travel trailers (even a 5.0)... and the need for safety chains rationally doesn't change with the trailer type anyway, as it depends only on the hitch type.

Show that trooper a jaw-and-pin hitch, which is more commonly used on small commercial trailers in Europe than on anything here, and watch the puzzled look...

[Tom&Joan]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Yes, I know that's one name for it, and I should have said pintle-and-ring, but I didn't think anyone cared.


Sure - the point is that a trailer with an axle set on the back end and a pin on the front tows differently from one with an axle set nearly at the centre and a tongue carrying a small fraction of the load, so references to "semi-trailer" rarely mean anything like our travel trailers (even a 5.0)... and the need for safety chains rationally doesn't change with the trailer type anyway, as it depends only on the hitch type.

Show that trooper a jaw-and-pin hitch, which is more commonly used on small commercial trailers in Europe than on anything here, and watch the puzzled look...

I've puzzled troopers before, had a good time doing it a time or two.;

[Iowa Dave]

Hi Brian B-P
Down here we call the combination a truck and a pup. They are very common behind dump trucks hauling dirt, rock or sand.
Iowa Dave

[Steve Clark]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Carl explained the situation well. The safety chain (or cable) requirement is typically not dependent on the specific trailer, or even whether the trailer is hitch conventionally (behind the bumper) or roughly over the truck's axle; it depends on the type of hitch. The Andersen Ultimate is a ball (and socket) hitch, and in typical regulations only fifth-wheels are exempted from the safety chain requirement.

The issue is that if a ball-and-socket hitch is not latched properly, the driver may pull away and not notice, risking that the trailer bounces off of the ball over a bump or in an incident. In contrast, if a fifth-wheel hitch is not latched the trailer falls out of the hitch when the driver pulls away, so the problem is noticed before dangerous speeds are reached.

For years Andersen incorrectly insisted that safety chains were not required with their Ultimate hitch; however, they eventually conceded that they were at least legally required and more recently they have offered the chain hardware as a normal part of the configuration.

The safety chains can be difficult to reach over the truck box sides, but a common solution is to leave the chains attached to the anchors down on the floor of the truck box when unhitching, and to instead unhook them from the more easily reached coupler location.

Hi All, Brian is on the right track here with the mention of the hitch type and King-Pin. The term fifth-wheel does not define the type of trailer, but rather the type of hitch. A fifth wheel, by definition in all 50 US states, is the King-Pin hitch. A King-Pin is a secure connection and requires no safety chains. This is true regardless of the type of trailer it is pulling. In fact, when a trailer has the King-Pin hitch, some, if not all states allow passengers to ride in the trailer. The key term to remember is “King-Pin”.

Cheers