Hitch details

Since the details of the hitch that I use have generated some interest, here are photos of the ball on the truck and the hitch on the trailer.

The truck hitch is brand new. I added the red tape as a visual marker for backing up using the mirror. Normally when not in use the ball is covered by a rubber cap.

The trailer hitch is older but generally typical of European equipment. When the ball is engaged, the short handle on the top of the hitch unit drops down and locks. Raising this allows the ball to disengage. 

The trailer unit incorporates an automatic brake which works nicely now that it has been regulated. I've been advised to take the trailer out empty once in a while, find a quiet bit of road, and brake sharply in order to keep the brakes from seizing up.

Comments

[funder]

Ahhh, makes much more sense! thanks.

I think that funny looking collar is what threw me. That's an inertia brake, right? I have electric brakes with a controller box in the cab of the truck.

[lytha]

darnit i wanted to be part of this discussion the other day but often when i comment on your blog it stops me and says "cannot accept your data" or something.

i wanted to say that when i do see those F150s in germany it's always a kick cuz they invariably have the typical teensy european hitch ball which just looks ridiculous on such a truck. (yours looks pretty normal) the hitches here are so small, they even look dangerously inadequate when you see them on cars.

i have also never used a mirror and like funder got pretty good at backing up "6 inches slightly left" and such. i thought it was so odd the first time i saw someone hitch up a trailer in germany - he pushed the trailer onto the ball himself! that's a light trailer!

i was happy when i upgraded to get sway bars on my rig even though i never experienced sway, i just liked having 2 extra things connecting the trailer to the truck. my hitch had to be lowered for the trailer and the entire hitch was so enormous, it looked odd whenever it wasn't hitched up. not that i could ever parallel park my truck in the city, but it was cool to have this "guard" jutting out from the back of my truck.

here's what my final hitch setup looked like:
http://tinyurl.com/6awshvj

never had a disconnect, but i did have a hitch bottom out on the ferry and ripped up all the electricals. never take a rig on a ferry at low tide!

[funder]

I agree, sway bars look awesome! One day when we move to having a dedicated hauling truck I'll get them. I can't imagine making the vehicle I drive around Reno and SF any longer though! :O

I used to haul hay on one of those wire bottomed flatbed utility trailers. It was 20+' long but so light it didn't even have a jack. You just backed up near it, picked up the hitch, and dropped it on the ball. That's where I learned my backing up skills too.

[White Horse Pilgrim]

The collar is an over-run brake. Basically if the weight of the trailer is pressing on the truck then the brakes apply in proportion.

Electric brakes sound interesting. Are they applied by electricity or rheostatic in operation. (We use the latter method for dynamic braking on trains using their electric motors.) I guess that would be useful on a really long hill, however we don't have any of those around here.

It's a pity that Typepad blocks comments so often. It can be a really s**t service sometimes, even blocks me from time to time.

I use the regular truck size of hitch. I suppose that smaller ones may exist. They are quite strong - have you ever seen the tiny steel pin that holds the wings onto a large aeroplane?

The flimsy little trailers alarm me. There is one at the barn that looks like it will blow away in the wind! It's sold by a French firm but made in Eastern Europe and has tyres from the Ukraine. I would be nervous to transport a horse in something so light.

I haven't used a sway bar. My rig seems pretty stable plus I don't tow anywhere near the capacity of either trailer or truck. Supposedly the trailer can take 1.6t of horse but I don't see how two 800kg (say 2,000lb) horses could ever fit in there! But if I lived in a very windy place then I might take a different view.

[lytha]

maybe funder can say more about electric brakes . i know that they are set in the cab with a brake controller and the setting is very important with regard to how much weight is being towed. if i had only one horse in the trailer and the last trip i had three, i would know right away when i forgot to adjust the controller because the trailer brakes would jerk the truck to an abrupt stop. conversely if i forgot to turn it up for more weight, i wouldn't have the stopping power and the poor truck brakes would eventually get worn out.

coming down off a mountain on a logging road, i would use my finger to activate the trailer brakes only, just to equalize, and it would keep us safe on a long steep descent.

[funder]

I did a bit of research and the controller I got is supposedly one of the best. It's a proportional electric brake controller. Proportional brakes have come down quite a bit in price recently so they're not much more expensive than the other kind. I picked the controller I got (Tekonsha prodigy) because it accounts for hills - it's got an intertial sensor in it and it automatically adds more brake power when you're headed downhill. It's all magic to me!
http://www.etrailer.com/faq-brakecontroller.aspx
I never put more than one horse in my trailer! Gotta remember to change the brakes when I do.

Julian, if that collar senses pressure on the hitch, how do you back the trailer up? Won't that just lock the trailer brakes?

[White Horse Pilgrim]

I found the following explanation of auto-reverse trailer brakes, which are now a legal requirement in Europe. (The old sort of over-run brake required a locking pin to be inserted to reverse, and presumably people used to forget to remove the pin and drive off with brakes effectively disabled.)

In an 'ordinary' brake the lining is attached to the shoe and when the brake is applied the lining is forced against the drum.

In an auto reverse brake the shoe and lining(supported on a metal carrier) are effectively two separate items. In forward motion when the brake is applied the two parts act as though connected as in an 'ordinary' brake. In reverse motion, however, the motion of the drum forces the lining/carrier to dislocate themselves (for want of a better word) from the shoe and the lining is not forced against the drum.

This is the best picture that I could find - there must be better ones somewhere: http://www.towitall.co.uk/trailer_spares/lockheed.htm

Autoreverse brakes do have a downside - they rely on friction between the tyre and the ground to provide the reverse torque to separate the lining/carrier from the shoe. If there is little ground/tyre friction e.g. muddy field, the tyre just slides across the ground with locked brakes.