Safety Chains on a Gooseneck trailer

Help Support CattleToday:

D2Cat

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 12, 2012
Messages
2,222
Reaction score
2,381
Location
50 miles south of Kansas City
I have a couple of trailers that need safety chains. Both are 16' goosenecks. What is required and how are they attached to the trailer?

I saw a Titan that had a slot cut out in the gusset between the coupler and the top beam the coupler is welded to. The safety chain went through the slot and had a 3/8' bolt on the inside of the gusset.

It doesn't seem to me a safety chain will really do much if a gooseneck ever came loose.
 
The state troopers here told me it doesn't say it has to hold it, it just says they have to be hooked. In VA not having the chains hooked will get u a ticket quicker than not having lights on the trailer.
 
Well it will beat the crap out of the truck bed and tear the tailgate off. Hopefully you'll get it stopped before it hurts someone, that's about all you can really hope for.
 
I agree that they don't need to be able to hold the load. In all honesty I think they just want you to know it came un-hooked. I have had trailers that didn't have safety chains come un-hooked..... it took a good amount of time to realize the trailer wasn't back there. When you feel that pop of the chains you will be shutting it down right then.
 
Had an OHP officer that also works ODOT tell me to hook mine up once, so I have ever since. I also know several people that take them off a trailer as soon as they get it and swear they'll pay the fines rather than use them, and risk being tied to a trailer that's not hooked up. I know - the point is to save others, not yourself.

I've personally only seen a gooseneck ball break twice (no chains either time) - once at very low speed going up a steep driveway where it just got in a bind - didn't actually end up hurting anything, but if there'd been someone coming down the road the trailer rolled back into, it could've been really bad. The other time a friends trailer got rear ended by a semi at a red light - pushed the front of the trailer into the back of the truck. I didn't really see it happen, I made it through before the light turned red and the impact had already happened when I saw it in my mirror, but chains wouldn't have made any difference there.
 
I hear ya bud, I really don't think it would matter if they were welded to the truck and then hooked to the trailer, lol. If the trailer comes loose, it ain't gonna matter anyway. I have never had a trailer come unhooked/come off the ball.
It is required to have the chains though.
 
A few years ago I drove 15 miles with 4 cows on the front cut and 4 baby calves in the back cut and had forgot to hook the hitch on the ball. Good thing the front was heavy. But I had the chains hooked.
 
I was pulling our old pin hitch cattle trailer with some heifers in it. We got to where I was going to turn them out and looked back.... no trailer! :shock: I can not describe that feeling with words but we spun around a headed back the way we came. About 100yds in to the place there sat my trailer of heifers on the gravel road... right side up... cattle were fine.

The pin that holds the receive hitch sheered in half. The hitch was still on the trailer. No safety chains. I cant imagine what would have happened if that had been on the highway. My dad welded safety chains on that trailer the next day. We all went to bolts on our hitches also.
 
I'm racking my brain trying to think of all the gooseneck trailers I've owned or used through the years and remember one having chains on it. Most trucks wouldn't even have a place to hook them. I'm not saying its right but I never see anybody hooked up with them here.
 
My 25' flatbed made in Diamond don't have any on it. Don't look like it has ever had any. My hay trailer made by GoBob has some heavy chains on it. Just feels safer with them on, don't want any one getting hurt if it comes loose. Gonna put some on the flatbed.
 
The chains may not avert a disaster, but may keep one from being far worse. To me, its like not tying down a load on a flat bed. You may get by just fine, but you may also kill someone else who didn't deserve you approach! I always use the chains and the big fat fine from the WIDOT is not the reason why. Also, the check line to lock the trailer brakes up is threaded through the chains. If that line gets pulled tight, like when the trailer disengages from the hitch or the chain is snapped, the brakes lock up and the trailer stops sooner (theoretically of course, I've yet to find out personally).
 
This is how safety mechanic attached mine when I first bought trailer. It never had chains originally. 3/4 Grade 8 bolts with washers on both sides and a locking nut with G70 3/8 chain.

IMG_20170319_130553.jpg
 
I use 34" of G70 chain. Drilled three holes in the gusset and connected them using the die grinder with a carbide cutter. Pushed the chain link through the slot and inserted a 1/2" x 6" grade 8 bolt, centered the bolt and tacked it in place. Also welded a muffler clamp on the beam flange to hook the chain on when not being used.






 
I use 34" of G70 chain. Drilled three holes in the gusset and connected them using the die grinder with a carbide cutter. Pushed the chain link through the slot and inserted a 1/2" x 6" grade 8 bolt, centered the bolt and tacked it in place. Also welded a muffler clamp on the beam flange to hook the chain on when not being used.






 

Latest posts

Top