Trailers & 'BWSOW's

[figbat]

I beg to differ, it's not designed to go around the towball, that is just where everybody puts them, each tower/bracket will have a proper place to attach it to, just very few people do.

Where do you attach a looped chain? There’s no other attachment point on any of the tow bars I have had that will take a loop. On our current towbar there is a small bracket you can fix a clip to, but it is part of the towball.

 

[DRHysted]

I beg to differ, it's not designed to go around the towball, that is just where everybody puts them, each tower/bracket will have a proper place to attach it to, just very few people do.

I was gobsmacked when I was watching a TV program where a towing instructor was showing how to connect a caravan and they looped the breakaway cable around the towball. Personally I have always attached it to a separate point on the vehicle. All my previous vehicles have had attachment points near the towing hitch, although the Insignias was plastic so I hoped it would activate the caravan brakes before breaking. So far the only point I’ve found on the Kuga is part of the towbar itself, but I haven’t had a very good look yet.
My point is if people are being taught to loop it around the ball, could this be something I’ve misconstrued all my life, although I won’t change my habits on this.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

@Richard A Thackeray I understand what you're saying but if that ball snaps, you've lost the trailer, we have a Ifor HB505 (double horse trailer) you can see with the way the cable had formed previous owners had only looped it over the ball. The Shogun has a slot/bracket in the towbar itself to fasten it to, I see many caravans the same way just looped over.

Yours will be a breakaway cable, as it will be braked, has a previous owner driven off with the cable still over the ball, hence the deformity?

The 'slot'/hole on my towbar 'receiver', as it's a detachable, is set very well back under the 'bumper'
The breakaway cable would be at full stretch (too tight for sharp corners??), hence the bracket that I added
(a detachable, was all that was available, when I needed one fitting)

Would I-W, & other manufacturers use the shorted chains, if they didn't feel it was a secure method?
(or their research/statistics spoke otherwise?)


It's a 'long shaft'!
In the 2nd image, the holes, that could be used for a cable, in the 'receiver' are by the mount for the 13-pin socket (to both sides)

Slight difference with horse trailers and caravans is that they are braked, and the breakaway cable’s job is to apply the trailer brakes on detachment. With an unbraked trailer the cable’s job is to keep the trailer with the car.

Not that this makes a difference if the towball detaches as both types of trailer will go their own way. My camping trailer has a chain that is formed in a loop so the only option is to drop it over the towball.

I have actually witnessed a trailer detachment. Many years ago I was in a car that was towing a small trailer. The driver looked in the mirror and said “oh, there goes the trailer” and I look back expecting to see it grinding to a halt. What I actually saw at first was nothing - no trailer at all. A moment later the trailer appeared, falling from whatever height it had achieved when the drawbar dug in and pole vaulted it skywards. It landed in the verge on its wheels, was apparently unharmed, rehitched and we carried on. At a guess I’d say this happened mid-80s… different times.

I've seen it with a caravan, but the weight (& jockey wheel) kept it on the ground, & the breakaway cable did its job, applying the brakes

I beg to differ, it's not designed to go around the towball, that is just where everybody puts them, each tower/bracket will have a proper place to attach it to, just very few people do.

As above, it's not an easy location, hence the additional bracket, & a change to the newer 'carabiner' style cable on the BWSOW

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I was gobsmacked when I was watching a TV program where a towing instructor was showing how to connect a caravan and they looped the breakaway cable around the towball. Personally I have always attached it to a separate point on the vehicle. All my previous vehicles have had attachment points near the towing hitch, although the Insignias was plastic so I hoped it would activate the caravan brakes before breaking. So far the only point I’ve found on the Kuga is part of the towbar itself, but I haven’t had a very good look yet.
My point is if people are being taught to loop it around the ball, could this be something I’ve misconstrued all my life, although I won’t change my habits on this.

Will the Kuga's tow-bar allow for a breakaway bracket to be bolted on?
Eg;
https://indespension.co.uk/trailer-...es/towbar-accessories/breakaway-cable-bracket
https://www.hktrailers.co.uk/products/safety-cable-mounting-plate

I've just been out & taken this duo of photographs
A spare cable clipped into the (self-fitted) point, on the 'receiver'


Clipped into the holes on the main part of the tow-bar
It's part of the assembly that the 'receiver' (or fixed hitch) bolts into, it's a long way back, & a 'on your knees' to get to it
The plastic seen is the cover in the 'receiver'
It's too far back for the breakaway cable not to be taut on a sharp corner, & could possibly apply the brakes??

 

[DRHysted]

Will the Kuga's tow-bar allow for a breakaway bracket to be bolted on?
Eg;
https://indespension.co.uk/trailer-...es/towbar-accessories/breakaway-cable-bracket
https://www.hktrailers.co.uk/products/safety-cable-mounting-plate

I've just been out & taken this duo of photographs
A spare cable clipped into the (self-fitted) point, on the 'receiver'
View attachment 679317

Clipped into the holes on the main part of the tow-bar
It's part of the assembly that the 'receiver' (or fixed hitch) bolts into, it's a long way back, & a 'on your knees' to get to it
The plastic seen is the cover in the 'receiver'
It's too far back for the breakaway cable not to be taut on a sharp corner, & could possibly apply the brakes??

View attachment 679322

Was out at the caravan today and had a proper look. The Kuga has a proper metal attachment point for the breakaway cable. I’d thought it was the stop for the fold down electrics, but looking from the side shows the hole for the clip to go through.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I did my trailer towing training back in the early 80's at that time I worked for a large company, anybody who needed to tow trailers on behalf of the company had to attend a days course. One of the biggest points that was hammered home repeatedly was that you never attached the safety chain/lead/wire/whatever to the actual towball it had to always be fitted to the appropriate part of the towbar.

I know most caravan/trailer towers who will just throw it over the hook, but to me that's wrong, now it could be that it is myself that is wrong, but I don't think I am. Every towbar I have ever had (I fit one to virtually every car I buy) has had a proper bracket/loop/slot somewhere on the bracket, some are not in convenient places but they are there.

But it's each to their own, you do what you feel is right, but I know which way I do it & will continue to do it.

 

[DRHysted]

I did my trailer towing training back in the early 80's at that time I worked for a large company, anybody who needed to tow trailers on behalf of the company had to attend a days course. One of the biggest points that was hammered home repeatedly was that you never attached the safety chain/lead/wire/whatever to the actual towball it had to always be fitted to the appropriate part of the towbar.

I know most caravan/trailer towers who will just throw it over the hook, but to me that's wrong, now it could be that it is myself that is wrong, but I don't think I am. Every towbar I have ever had (I fit one to virtually every car I buy) has had a proper bracket/loop/slot somewhere on the bracket, some are not in convenient places but they are there.

But it's each to their own, you do what you feel is right, but I know which way I do it & will continue to do it.

Like yourself I have always attached the breakaway cable to a separate point on the vehicle. My first reaction whilst watching this program was to comment that they hadn’t connected the cable right, but it made me wonder if (maybe) it’s me that’s been doing it wrong. After all there’s plenty of old incorrect information out there.
However it won’t change how I hitch up, now I’ve found a good point on the car, that’s where the cable will go.
For some reason I’ve always referred to them as pig line, has anyone else ever heard this term? (I know what a proper pig line is as I use pigs to clear pipe work at work).

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Sunday 12th

Just a quick check over of the BWSOW, after a ‘tip-run’
All okay!

However… l kept getting a message on the instrument panel telling me that a trailer tail-light bulb was out, 'this message', to be exact
I think the 7-pin plug needs checking again, or maybe the entire trailer rewiring?
It could all be brittle/‘work-hardened’?

Oh!, & it’s a lot quieter since l bent/tightened the brackets on the tail-gate, that the over-centre clips latch onto

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Sunday 12th

Just a quick check over of the BWSOW, after a ‘tip-run’
All okay!

However… l kept getting a message on the instrument panel telling me that a tail-light bulb was out
I think the 7-pin plug needs checking again, or maybe the entire trailer rewiring?
It could all be brittle/‘work-hardened’?

Oh!, & it’s a lot quieter since l bent/tightened the brackets on the tail-gate, that the over-centre clips latch onto

View attachment 681301

I thought on the VAG range you have to use the software to tell it you'd fitted a towbar so it knows to expect different signals for the lights? VAGCOM

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I thought on the VAG range you have to use the software to tell it you'd fitted a towbar so it knows to expect different signals for the lights? VAGCOM

I’m not certain, but the installer certainly had a laptop plugged in for the coding

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

@Phaeton

Edited the post, as l ought to have stated trailer tail-light was out

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

However… l kept getting a message on the instrument panel telling me that a trailer tail-light bulb was out, 'this message', to be exact
I think the 7-pin plug needs checking again, or maybe the entire trailer rewiring?
It could all be brittle/‘work-hardened’?

I replaced the 7-pin plug earlier, as part of the problem with 'tail-light bulb' messages might be the cable moving in the plug, as the one that was fitted had no internal clamp
It's going to be a 'trial & error procedure'

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I think SWMBO's taking the BWSOW away, possibly 23rd - 26th, of next month
Chosen site; not known yet (but probably within an hours radius of home)

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Boy, 14, sentenced for towing caravan down M4 ​

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-65087492

 

[Jameshow]

Boy, 14, sentenced for towing caravan down M4 ​

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-65087492

Law unto themselves...