Hey captain dipshit! Wrap your chains!

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Out the front door. It's started. Be vigilant and take precautions. Hour long down pour yesterday and still sparked.

 

[FI460]

My office is on a secondary highway and I see folks passing by kicking sparks at least once a week. Bunch of shmucks taught them to tow I guess...

 

[NECALI]

Serious question. What do you mean by wrap your chains? Wrap them around each other to get them off the ground, or wrap them with some type of material?

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Serious question. What do you mean by wrap your chains? Wrap them around each other to get them off the ground, or wrap them with some type of material?

I guess I should of worded it better. Cross them to create a cradle for your tongue if it separates from the truck and twist the chains to draw up your slack so they don't drag.

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

On my old work trailer I put 2 oversized heavy duty zip ties around the tongue and threaded my chains thru it before hooking to the hitch.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Common sense folks, when you
live in the desert where rabbits run
by and burst in to flames.

 

[NECALI]

I guess I should of worded it better. Cross them to create a cradle for your tongue if it separates from the truck and twist the chains to draw up your slack so they don't drag.

Got it. That’s what I thought you were talking about, but wanted to make sure.

 

[Nameless Range]

At least once a summer we will get called out for a page that goes like:

“Please respond to a report of a wildfire on the side of the interstate at mile marker 173, 176, and 177.”

Always danglin chains.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

At least once a summer we will get called out for a page that goes like:

“Please respond to a report of a wildfire on the side of the interstate at mile marker 173, 176, and 177.”

Always danglin chains.

I

 

[dirtclod Az.]

I guess as we get older it's not the
chains but the balls...lol!

 

[Flatbrimmer]

I guess I should of worded it better. Cross them to create a cradle for your tongue if it separates from the truck and twist the chains to draw up your slack so they don't drag.

The law as far as I was taught.. I don’t know if there is an actual annotated code for it, but I’ve been told here in MT having them crossed to cradle your jack if it comes off the ball— is the law.

 

[dan.kirkpatrick]

by twisting your safety chains you can make them shorter and not drag,,by crossing your chains your lenth wont change much when turning and it also cradles the tounge if it comes off the ball,,standard trucker procedures,but alot of people dont have the common sense to do proper.

 

[Dsnow9]

As others have said chains should be crossed to cradle the hitch. With two wheel chalks you can actually get the jack back up to lift the tongue on a heavy trailer.

When it comes to twisting I have a point of clarification. The chains should be individually twisted if shortening is needed, not wrapped around each other.

 

[Farmerj]

Or just shorten the chains entirely and don’t twist them..

The Low-Down On Twisting Safety Chains - From The Mechanic

Should you twist a trailer safety chain to make is shorter? Here is the Engineering on why twisting safety chains is a bad idea.

mechanicalelements.com

 

[Cav1]

Stopped to help a couple on the highway about a month ago. He was pulling a double-axle 24-foot camper behind a fairly new Dodge pickup, the hitch came off the ball, and while stopping the tongue ran up under the back of the truck and axle so it couldn't move. With his jack and mine we got the back end up off the tongue and he walked off it with the front wheels in 4x4. Hooking it all back up, I said, "You need to cross the safety chains so they'll support the tongue if something like this happens." He glared at me and muttered what-the-f-ever and hooked the chains right back up straight again. You can't fix stupid.

Scariest thing I heard was when I had local LE channels on my Forest Circus rig working out towards Missoula years ago. One of our deputies responded to a chain fire along I-90, pulled over as far as he could get with lights flashing. On the radio, he said, "I've arrived on scene and....BAD WORD! Some SOB just took my door right off!" A drunk driver the Troopers nailed on down the road.

 

[np307]

Or just shorten the chains entirely and don’t twist them..

The Low-Down On Twisting Safety Chains - From The Mechanic

Should you twist a trailer safety chain to make is shorter? Here is the Engineering on why twisting safety chains is a bad idea.

mechanicalelements.com

That's what I was going to say. I get it on a borrowed trailer but if its your rig then just cut the chains to the right length. Chains aren't that expensive if you do ever have to have longer ones for some reason.

 

[Nameless Range]

At least once a summer we will get called out for a page that goes like:

“Please respond to a report of a wildfire on the side of the interstate at mile marker 173, 176, and 177.”

Always danglin chains.

A reminder from this smokey September day. Almost certainly poorly secured chains.

 

[2rocky]

We had a grass fire along a road when a garbage truck blew a hydraulic line. That was a first for me...Usually its folks mowing in the afternoon.

 

[PrairieHunter]

by twisting your safety chains you can make them shorter and not drag,,by crossing your chains your lenth wont change much when turning and it also cradles the tounge if it comes off the ball,,standard trucker procedures,but alot of people dont have the common sense to do proper.

Yes.


The one that gets me is truckers who don't twist their straps. I live on highway 287 and you hear those trucks with the straps fluttering in the wind from a mile away.

 

[BuckRut]

I know I am going to catch a ration for this but I would probably attribute these fires to hot piece of a failing cat or clinker from a large diesel than a spark from a chain. Even in extremely dry conditions the chance of a single spark igniting a fire are next to null.