breakaway cable

[catherine2]

Just a thought - as I do not know much about detachable tow balls.

If you loop the cable around a detachable tow ball aren't you missing a potential failure point if the towball had not been inserted properly?

We have a fixed tow ball and the hole in the bracket is not big enough for the breakaway cable.

We loop ours around the towball and over the part of bracket that holds the plug assembly, this way if the van came lose the cable would still work and if the cable did not work before doing so it could rip the plug and cable assembly from the bracket - small pennies in the event of the van coming lose.

The hole in the tow bar is not big enough - that's why you need a D ring or carabine

 

[catherine2]

Because the breakaway cable has to loop back on itself and you cannot fit the clip through the hole in the towbar because it is too small

I forgot to say that the cable has to loop back on itself because the clip is not strong enough to apply the breaks if the caravan becomes detached from the towball.

 

[ColinA]

I'm with Lutz on this one, after rolling about on th ground for 5 minutes I can't see anywhere to attach the cable. when I had the tow bar fitted I was told it would have to go round the tow ball.

Colin

 

[CarolineSimon]

On my recently completed Caravan Club towing course the instructor told us not to wrap the cable around the towball as it is unsafe practice as if by any chance the caravan comes off the hitch or isn't on correctly then there is nothing to hold the cable with so it obviously won't work.

He said best practice is to buy the stronger D clip & use that to clip the cable to the designated hole in the tow bar fixing, if you don't have one due to having a detachable towbar & no other hole to clip it to he did say you may have to wrap it around the tow ball but to bear in mind that it wouldn't really do the job correctly. He didn't say it was illegal just not a very good idea & to try to find secure fixing to it.

Luckily I have a hole in my towbar mount for the purpose so I clip it in there.

 

[catherine2]

On my recently completed Caravan Club towing course the instructor told us not to wrap the cable around the towball as it is unsafe practice as if by any chance the caravan comes off the hitch or isn't on correctly then there is nothing to hold the cable with so it obviously won't work.

He said best practice is to buy the stronger D clip & use that to clip the cable to the designated hole in the tow bar fixing, if you don't have one due to having a detachable towbar & no other hole to clip it to he did say you may have to wrap it around the tow ball but to bear in mind that it wouldn't really do the job correctly. He didn't say it was illegal just not a very good idea & to try to find secure fixing to it.

Luckily I have a hole in my towbar mount for the purpose so I clip it in there.

If you do use a D clip or carabine don't use one of those flimsy brightly covered ones people use for keyrings etc but get a proper one used for climbing (expensive) or go to a builders merchants and buy one there (cheap).

 

[sunnybunny]

If you do use a D clip or carabine don't use one of those flimsy brightly covered ones people use for keyrings etc but get a proper one used for climbing (expensive) or go to a builders merchants and buy one there (cheap).

Excellent comment Catherine.

Colin - Orpington.