Saftey cables on towed vehicle

[ChuckMC8]

I'm finishing up my toad...its a 1971 VW Super Beetle Convertible. I have the proper tow bar for the car, but I've never used saftey cables when towing like the ones that I see in the FMCA magazine. Are these required by law (I'm not trying to not have 'em, I just want to know the legal stuff, JIC)
Where do they attach to the car?To the tow plate or somewhere else? (if the tow plate should part company with the car?)
What about length for these? Are the coiled cable models available? Thanks Chuck

[Eagle]

Chuck most attach to the base plate which does not make sense to me.  Like you said if the base plate separates from the car what now.  It is the law that you have safety cables.  I like the coiled ones.

[skihor]

Safety cables should be connected to the bus not the hitch and to the toad not the mount plates. I've seen two instances of towbar/base plate failures. For my money it's just plain cheap insurance regardless of any laws. Imagine a car coming loose at hiway speeds??

[gumpy]

Chuck,

I use the coiled cables. I ordered them through a place here that does custom hitches and trailers. I get some of my hitch parts from them. They had 5000 lb and 8000 lb cables available. I got the 8000 lb cables. They're really nice to work with. When I fold up the towbar, I can just wrap the coils around the tow bar legs and it keeps them out of the way. When they're off the bus, they coil into a compact bundle. Big hooks, easy to install and remove.

Mine connect to the receiver on the bus, and to the base plate on the car. That being said, you are correct in that if the base plate breaks and parts company with the car, there's nothing to keep the car in tow. That's why you're supposed to have a braking system installed that has a break-away braking capability.

I actually had this happen to me last year. On my trip out west, when I pulled into my camping spot in the mountains and went to unhook the toad, I found that the base plate had busted in two places, and the only thing holding it on was two 1/2" bolts through the sides, and these were very loose. Had I gone another 10 miles, those bolts would probably have broken and the base plate would have been pulled through the front grill of the explorer and the car would have been gone.

I think this is a flaw with the way this stuff is installed. I haven't figured out exactly how I'm going to correct it, but I do plan on adding some steel loops to the frame of the vehicle to either attach the cables to, or attach some short permanent cables to the baseplate.

craig

[JackConrad]

Chuck,
  We purchased our coiled safety cables at Camping World.    There may other places that are cheaper, but we were getting ready to tow our new to us Grand Cherokee and needed the cables the next day.
   Our cables attach to the baseplate bracket,but we added a short cable from the bracket to the frame of the car. On the bus end, we attached to the hitch frame.  Jack

[Rick Brown]

I had a tow bar mounted to a substantial looking brush guard on an Isuzu pockup.  Safety to the same place.  Drove 100 miles at highway speeds.  When I turned into my driveway the truck broke loose by pulling off the brush guard and wound up in the ditch on the other side of the road.  Talk about could have been worse!

Now I safety directly from the engine cradle on my 4905 to the frame on the toad with 5/16 chain.

-Rick Brown in Reno, NV

[Jeremy]

If it's of any help, UK caravans are required to have a safety cable fitted which will pull on the caravan brakes if it goes taut (the cable would only go taut if the tow bar parted company somehow). Obviously caravan emergency brakes are designed to work this way, but if you were really concerned you could probably fabricate a system to pull on your Beetle's cable-operated handbrake in the same way. Pulling the handbrake on at highway speeds will lead to unpredicable consequences, but if the tow bar should fail it's probably better than having the toad running amok completely unchecked.

Just an idea

Jeremy

[gumpy]

Wow, there's an interesting idea.

A thin cable that goes from the bus hitch through the firewall of the toad, and wraps around the emergency brake pedal. If it should brake free, the cable would, in theory, pull the emergency brake pedal down before breaking free.

But, as you said, the consequences of applying full emergency brake at 70 mph might be interesting.

[Dallas]

Wow, there's an interesting idea.

A thin cable that goes from the bus hitch through the firewall of the toad, and wraps around the emergency brake pedal. If it should brake free, the cable would, in theory, pull the emergency brake pedal down before breaking free.

But, as you said, the consequences of applying full emergency brake at 70 mph might be interesting.

But Craig,

The consequences of the toad separating from the towing vehicle at 70+ mph would also be plenty interesting in and of itself.

[gumpy]

But Craig,

The consequences of the toad separating from the towing vehicle at 70+ mph would also be plenty interesting in and of itself.

Yeah, I know. Fine line there.

I'm still a little gunshy after seeing my broken and shaky base plate after driving up a winding mountain road.

I think there might be a way to get the cable to pull the pedal maybe half way down before breaking. Seems like that might stop it quickly without locking up the rear wheels. I'm going to give this some thought this winter. I like the simplicity of it.

Geeze, could you imagine following someone who's toad came loose and locked up the brakes?  Or worse meeting someone who's toad came loose and didn't?

[DrivingMissLazy]

I really think that locking up the rear wheels is the lesser of two evils. If a toad breaks free it can go anywhere and a couple of tires that have skidded a few feet would be the least of your worries.
Richard

[gumpy]

I really think that locking up the rear wheels is the lesser of two evils. If a toad breaks free it can go anywhere and a couple of tires that have skidded a few feet would be the least of your worries.
Richard

I was more concerned about the thing going into an uncontrolled skid and rolling as it leaves the roadway. If the rear tires lock up, it's highly unlikely it'll keep traveling in a straight line, and with nobody to steer, all hell's gonna break loose (again, so to speak).  If you could provide maximum breaking without skid, you'd stand the best chance of it coming to a stop on it's wheels in the shortest distance possible.

[DrivingMissLazy]

I really think that locking up the rear wheels is the lesser of two evils. If a toad breaks free it can go anywhere and a couple of tires that have skidded a few feet would be the least of your worries.
Richard

I was more concerned about the thing going into an uncontrolled skid and rolling as it leaves the roadway. If the rear tires lock up, it's highly unlikely it'll keep traveling in a straight line, and with nobody to steer, all hell's gonna break loose (again, so to speak).  If you could provide maximum breaking without skid, you'd stand the best chance of it coming to a stop on it's wheels in the shortest distance possible.

Sounds good, but probably wishful thinking. Any difference in the amount of braking applied to each wheel, any difference in the road surface under each tire and any difference in tread wear could cause the vehicle to go crooked.

In general, I believe the safety chains/cables it to protect from total disconnect if there is a failure in the hitch itself. Not the mounting brackets that the hitch is attached to.
Richard

[belfert]

Is a toad going to full braking when disconnected from the tow vehicle any better or worse than a huge fifth wheel coming loose and locking its brakes when the safety cable pull out?

[jaybe_2]

The last thing you want to do is lock up the rear wheel, they will try to pass the front. All of the aftermarket brake systems that have a breakaway will lock up all the wheels on the toad. Also if you read the trailor brake laws you must have a breakaway. As far as safty cables you do need them and they must be hooked to something that is bolted in place, like the hitch and the base plates. Look at how Roadmaser and Blue Ox do it, they have been doing it for a long time and they do it right.