Subject: Insurance stuff... From: Mechanic of Xanadu Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 13:52:10 -0400 To: bikers@tridod.org Kudos to State Farm.... As some of you know, we had the trailer come loose on the way home from the RCR, on I85 near Durham (exit 177C, to be exact). We trailered up since we were also hauling beer and other liquid refreshment. The trailer, a moderate sized enclosed trailer, was loaded with Boomer and the Hawk, for a cargo weight of about 1Klbs. The ball came out of the receiver, and the trailer walked back, snapped back and forth once on the safety chain, then popped forward as the chain pulled taught. I heard the clunk as the trailer let go and got to watch this. I announced that teh trailer was loose to Mel, who was driving. She braked lightly and the trailer thunked into the rear of the Trooper. Mel then braked the Trooper to the side of the interstate and on to the shoulder. Fortunately, the trailer ball stud acted as a drag point for the tongue of the trailer, preventing the tongue from digging in and causing the trailer to tumble. Damage was light -- about 1300 in sheet metal damage to the rear of the Trooper (mostly to the rear door, as the door mounted spare tire took the brunt of the impact), one bent clutch lever on the Hawk, and about half an hour lost to making things right again. State Farm is covering the damage under Comprehensive as well, which does NOT count as an accident, so the $250 deductible is all we'll pay, plus the cost of a Hawk lever. FWIW, one of eight tiedowns popped loose. We were also lucky that the problem occurred within a quarter mile of a Big KMart, so we had a replacement towball within 15 minutes. The cause was apparently a failure of the lock washer on the hitch ball pin nut. Our error was not checking it after hearing some lesser clunks from the trailer hitch. Had we checked, it would have been a non-problem. The hitch had been clunking some all Friday onn the way out, and I didn't think that the noise it was making was out of order for what had been heard Friday. I was wrong, fortunately with only minor consequences. One further note -- I think a adding a "drag bar" to any trailer would be a "Good thing". This would be a 1/4 inch or larger steel bar, bent at a ninety degree angle and welded to the bottom on the trailer tongue so that the front of the bar is at 60 degrees to the tongue. The trailing portion would then be at 30 degrees to the tongue. The triangle formed would need to be large enough to keep the tip of the tongue about two inches off the tarmac. This should keep the tongue from attempting to become one with the pavement should it come loose, and prevent tumbling. J -- Joshua J. Fielek DoD#385 AMA#517381 The Garage of Xanadu: jfielek@home.com 96 900SS-SP #A19 (Belldandy) 82 XV920R(Boomer) Wrench Early, wrench often. 77 R100/7(Slash) 96 BMW R1100RTL(Babe the Blue Ox) Happiness isn't getting what you want; it's wanting what you got.