January Issue 52 New Year Resolutions

[otherclive]

I see that resolution number 12 recommends that the break away cable be routed back on itselfaround the towball, or the towbar. Yet I have Brinkmatic removable towball and Brinks advised against looping the breakaway cable around removable towballs. The picture in PC shows a cable being looped around a removable towball. Is it now deemed okay to do this?

Cheers

Other Clive

 

[Lutz]

It would be logocal to use a dedicated attachment for the breakaway cable, if one is available. If not, you've got little choice but to loop it around the towball although, to my knowledege, it is illegal to do so in Holland.

 

[otherclive]

The fixed attachment provided by Brink is too small to loop the cable end through, so I will be using a carabiniere to go through the attachment and then loop the cable throgh that.

Regards

Other Clive

 

[forestgump]

beeing in the crane and rigging industry it is common knowledge that any sling or wire bond choacked back on its self or called a bite will lower braking point.this will make the brake away cable will brake premature to its full brakeing point.

 

[Lutz]

I think what Clive was trying to get at was his concern that the cable would not do its job if a removable towball became detached. However, the design parameters for removable towballs are so stringent that so long as the towball was engaged properly in the first case, such an incident can be ruled out.

So long as the weakest link of the breakaway cable is still strong enough to deploy the caravan's brakes, there is no need for a particularly high tensile strength.

 

[forestgump]

agree lutz but tryed to say in a worst case the cable may rip apart before brake is pulled on

 

[Lutz]

The cable would really have to be extremely weak not to do its job properly as the force needed to apply the brakes is relatively low.