This is probably a really dumb question, but I have a brand new flatbed trailer with breakaway electric brakes, and I can't figure out where to hook up the breakaway cable to.

The cable is a piece of steel aircraft wire with a loop at one end. I can't figure out a good way to hook it to my truck securely. Obviously this kind of thing is done all the time, and I am just an idiot.

Any ideas?


KaosII


1997 F-150 4.2 5-speed
1985 Porsche 944

 

to the tow vehicle, not the chains. that way if the chains break the cable will be pulled nice and hard then put the brakes on the trailer

 

Get an S hook for the cable and hook it through one of the holes that the chains go to. Make sure that the cable has about the same ammount of slack as the chains-That way if the hitch comes loose and the chains are holding the trailer the cable goes tight as well and activates the brakes. Too little slack in the cable will cause the brakes to activate on sharp turns, too much and they won't activate at all.

 

I have a pintle hook, so I usually wrap my cable around the actual bumper and back over the top part of the pintle hook and secure it with the cotter pin. The cable is ridiculously long! It's about 2 ft longer than the actual chains, but it sure doesn't come loose like that!

-Flea

 

I put an eyebolt in the winch hole in the bumper. It's not that hard to remove the eyebolt in case I need to get at the spare. Also makes it that much harder for anybody else to get at my spare.

I figure if something freaky like the welding on my draw hitch should fail, I would prefer to have the breakaway cable attached to something that wasn't associated with the hitch.

If you don't like using the winch hole, you could always use the hole for the bumper hitch... If the hook is small enough and the cable or chain is small enough to fit through the hole, you can double around and slip the hook over the cable.