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Old 05-29-2017, 05:03 PM   #1
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Breakaway Cable

Sorry if i am starting a new thread but I am in a GM garage in Castlegar for a fuel filter. That discussion is for another day.
My breakaway cable was looped onto a safety chain hook when the hitch was installed at ETI last week.
That seems counterintuitive to me, a confirmed newbie and the manual recommends attachment to the tow vehicle.
Advice pls and thank you. JPS
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Old 05-29-2017, 05:16 PM   #2
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This is how Reace showed me to hook my break away cable. The cable loop goes through the head of the R-pin and then the loop goes on the pin that holds the weight distribution hitch in the hitch receiver. R-pin then snaps on that pin.
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Old 05-29-2017, 06:00 PM   #3
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Thank you! Also for the photo...I was about to GOOGLE r-pins.
That solution makes sense. JPS
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Old 05-29-2017, 06:02 PM   #4
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Ours is hooked onto the same bracket on the receiver where we hook our chains. Chains are to cross, for newbies.

I expect that ETI had in mind that the breakaway cable would work if the R-pin disappeared. We have a locking pin.

Found R-pins to be difficult to deal with and also questionable as to whether they would do the job, which they have not with quite a few people. A locking pin is so much easier and better, AFAIAC.
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Old 05-29-2017, 06:31 PM   #5
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Ours is hooked onto the same bracket on the receiver where we hook our chains. Chains are to cross, for newbies.

I expect that ETI had in mind that the breakaway cable would work if the R-pin disappeared. We have a locking pin.

Found R-pins to be difficult to deal with and also questionable as to whether they would do the job, which they have not with quite a few people. A locking pin is so much easier and better, AFAIAC.
Yes, that makes sense as well and easy to do because the pin is out at some point. But, it is not actually attached to the TV, so the trailer might not stop if for some reason the insert comes out.
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Old 05-29-2017, 06:40 PM   #6
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Yes, that makes sense as well and easy to do because the pin is out at some point. But, it is not actually attached to the TV, so the trailer might not stop if for some reason the insert comes out.
I think that you are right. Seems a questionable practice to attach to the pin rather than the vehicle although in Glenn's photo, it is somewhat attached to the vehicle.
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Old 05-29-2017, 06:42 PM   #7
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Or as Reace said to me at the rally, when we were discussing if my ball was secure, "you want a new trailer anyway".
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Old 05-29-2017, 06:47 PM   #8
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Or as Reace said to me at the rally, when we were discussing if my ball was secure, "you want a new trailer anyway".
Ho, ho, yep, he has that right.. Time to shop for a TV.
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Old 05-29-2017, 06:48 PM   #9
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Lots of folks use either a large stainless steel spring link or quick link attached to their tow vehicle's hitch - same place the safety chains attach.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Hawk-S...Link/999971084
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Hawk-Z...Link/999971108
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Old 05-29-2017, 07:23 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JPSpins View Post
Sorry if i am starting a new thread but I am in a GM garage in Castlegar for a fuel filter. That discussion is for another day.
My breakaway cable was looped onto a safety chain hook when the hitch was installed at ETI last week.
That seems counterintuitive to me, a confirmed newbie and the manual recommends attachment to the tow vehicle.
Advice pls and thank you. JPS
Hi: JPSpins... Otherwise how's that 19'er working for you?
Sitting in Orleans with no one to have coffee with. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie
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Old 05-29-2017, 07:52 PM   #11
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Our setup was done with the breakaway cable attached to the hook. Seems to me that if the breakaway cable is attached to the hook and the hook is attached to the vehicle, then the breakaway cable is attached to the vehicle. Its the same thing.
The strength rating for the hooks and the attachment point on the hitch, should far exceed the strength of the chain.

You would have to have an extremely unfortunate series of events to both dislodge the ball connection and break both of the chains. If both were to happen, then the breakaway cable would engage the trailer brakes.

Attaching to the pin is the same as attaching to the vehicle. Its attached with the pin to the vehicle....though I don't like how the cable is looped through the hair pin in Glen's example. I wouldn't want to give that hair pin any excuse to wiggle free.

Imagine this scenario: 5 year old wanders over to hitched trailer at the rest stop and gives hairpin a pull because he's seen Mom or Dad do it a few times You've now lost your hitch security and the breakaway cable is not functioning. Hope you catch that before you hit the road.
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Old 05-29-2017, 08:06 PM   #12
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Gotta watch out for induction hardend.
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Old 05-29-2017, 10:14 PM   #13
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Riddle me this

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Originally Posted by gocamp View Post
Gotta watch out for induction hardend.
Do you know where that pin was made? My locking stainless steel pins were proudly made in Michigan. While I'm not fond of their football team, I like their steel. Great luck for the past 30 thousand miles.
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Old 05-29-2017, 10:31 PM   #14
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Do you know where that pin was made? My locking stainless steel pins were proudly made in Michigan. While I'm not fond of their football team, I like their steel. Great luck for the past 30 thousand miles.
Dave
Gee, during fifth and sixth grade little league in Fairfield, Iowa the sponsor of my team was Iowa Malleable Iron. Our biggest and most despised rivals were the kids sponsored by Fairfield Aluminum Company. What happened to Iowa steel?
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Old 05-29-2017, 11:35 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by davescape View Post
Imagine this scenario: 5 year old wanders over to hitched trailer at the rest stop and gives hairpin a pull because he's seen Mom or Dad do it a few times .
Can you send that 5-year-old over to my site to pull the R-clip for me? I have to get out my Leatherman and pry it off.
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Old 05-29-2017, 11:54 PM   #16
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Iowa steel and iron

There were a pretty good number of foundries Iowa in the days before foreign steel came in just like in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and other places. They specialized in cast iron used in farm equipment and some heavy equipment. Remaining and significant are griffin pipe in council bluffs and Wilton steel in Wilton iowa. Some of the John Deere foundries are still running, most are not. I worked for three summers at Iowa Steel and Iron works in Cedar Rapids in the grey iron foundry. I was a moulders helper(grunt) slag grinder and knocked out thousands of red hot cast wheels used on Cedarrapids rock crushers used all over the world. We also made all of the counterweights for Link Belt cranes. I was a sledge hammer swinging fool 51 years ago. But as They say. Times change. Industrialist Howard Hall was a Cedar Rapids resident and owned several large factories paying union wages, treating workers fairly and contributing generously to the city. Howard is long gone but his memory lingers on as the song goes. We are not better for it. Where's my 12 pounder I got some wheels to knock out.
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Old 05-30-2017, 12:11 AM   #17
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The normal way to use a breakaway cable is to snap the attached hook onto the safety chain loops of the hitch receiver, or some similar non-removable part of the structure, as Dale described. This is why the breakaway cable usually has a hook on the end, not just a loop; it's usually a basic snap hook, but there are various hardware alternatives for this.

Quote:
Originally Posted by gbaglo View Post
This is how Reace showed me to hook my break away cable. The cable loop goes through the head of the R-pin and then the loop goes on the pin that holds the weight distribution hitch in the hitch receiver. R-pin then snaps on that pin.
Very occasionally the pin which holds the ball mount or WD shank into the receiver falls out, when the retaining clip fails and the trailer owners is extraordinarily unlucky. For that, you want the safety chains and the breakaway cable to do their jobs... but nothing would be holding the breakaway cable. Even if just the R-clip comes off (because it is not installed properly), the breakaway cable could easily fall off.

This is an unlikely problem, but I spent the buck for a snap hook rather than make a ten-cent R-clip do double duty.
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Old 05-30-2017, 12:23 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by Brian B-P View Post
This is an unlikely problem, but I spent the buck for a snap hook rather than make a ten-cent R-clip do double duty.
Well it would be easier than getting out my Leatherman and prying the clip off.
My R-clip, however, is no ten-cent item. It is a quality product, if price is anything to go by.
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Old 05-30-2017, 06:40 AM   #19
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We use a locking carabiner attached adjacent to the safety chain.
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Old 05-30-2017, 07:11 AM   #20
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I read Ontario regulation requires a 'separate attachment point' for the cable. maybe brian will find the BC regulation. Some US states require attached to the vehicle frame for good reason.
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