Had a scary thing happen

[starcrwzr]

Was coming back from a trip to Mammoth Lakes CA on Memorial Day weekend and had only gone about 40 miles from the camp ground. Was slowing for an intersection in Bishop CA when I felt the motor home surge forward and felt a thump. Looking in my drivers side mirror I see my Fiesta up against the corner of the MH! Pulled over as best I could and went back to see what had happened. Evidently, somewhere along the 40 miles or so my quick pin that secures the hitch pin on the left side had fallen off and the vibration had slowly let the hitch pin fall out right as I was slowing for the intersection. My Fiesta, still attached to the tow bar was able to swing over to the left side and impacted the bumper of the MH. Fortunately, there wasn't much damage done. I was able to unhitch the tow bar and disconnect the safety cables and wiring harness. The only loss was the cable for my ReadyBrake, a large hole/ding in my front license plate and some paint scratches on the front of the Fiesta. Not wanting to tow the Fiesta without brakes, we decided to split up with the wife and dogs going in the Fiesta and me driving the MH the eight hours to San Diego.

The quick pin was a replacement for the original one that came with the Blue Ox tow bar that I lost in February. I bought it from etrailer.com and it seemed OK, but I guess it wasn't up to the job. I'm now going with a new set of heavy duty hitch pins from NSA that have hairpin cotters that are wired to the pin so you can't lose them. Heavy Duty Hitch Pins With Handles

[SarahW]

I'm sure that was a scary feeling, but I'm glad it wasn't any worse for you. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[LarryW]

Good to hear all is now well and that there were no injuries. Nothing is totally safe.

[staggerlee]

Maybe one of these would work better.
They do end up stretching out, and losing the spring.

The pintle , and pin would seem much safer, it clips right over the end.
Etrailer sells them.

[LuckyGrandpa]

We are newbies, but have locking pins in all positions on the Blue Ox.

[LarryW]

Lucky, sometimes newbies are safer since they don’t believe they know everything and they double check.

[Filshere]

Wow! As bad as that must have been, I'm really glad it wasn't any worse. Thank you for sharing!

[jrpend]

I have padlocks on all my tow-critical connections. I'd heard stories of scumbags messing with toad connections while the rig was parked.

It takes a little bit longer to hook/unhook, but I don't mind.

[Flagstick]

I agree with the suggestion to use padlocks instead of pins. People do mess with your equipment while you're having lunch/coffee etc. You can buy matching sets of locks that use the same key at Home Depot. It also stops someone from driving off with the toad, in my case I have to put the key in the ignition to unlock the steering. Easy job to remove the pins and drive away.