If the OP uses safety chains he will wrap them around the bumper. I don't
know how many times I have seen this type of "design". Safety chains are
designed to cover operator error, in case the part that goes over the ball
pops off, from not being tightened enough or from a shock load it can't
stand. They are not designed to mitigate weaknesses in the actual hitch
"design".

Earle

"Tomes" wrote in message
ink.net...
I know, Mike. It's just that the safety chain placement was left out of
this discussion and then I started to think about it when Bill posted
about
chains. It does sound like he is married to this design; maybe better
chain
placement, heavy chains **and correspondingly heavy hooks** (I forgot that
part) might mitigate things....

That is a story of yours there that made me laugh in an 'oh fine' kind of
way. I can just imagine that happening. "Will you stop that already??"
Interesting that your trailer tongue had an upward vector like mine did.
Thinking about it further, I am now betting that just about any trailer
crash will do this as the hitting vehicle will be higher than the trailer
frame, pushing down the trailer rear and thus raising the tongue spear.
Gotta have a system that can control this.

It is not just what you are towing, it is also covering what another
person's mistake can do.
Tomes

"Mike Romain" wrote in message
...
You aren't likely to convince him. He 'thinks' he is edUcated so he
knows better.

I had some short blond in a large pickup ram into my utility trailer 3
times at a red light before I got out to see what the hell she was
doing. She was so short, she couldn't see the trailer and just couldn't
understand why she couldn't get closer to me.

That one wrecked a 'legal' trailer hitch and the tongue spear also
wanted to come up over the bumper. My bumper was a 'real' one so the
tongue didn't punch through it.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2115147590
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)


Tomes wrote:

Richard,
I also note upon looking at the setup again, that the safety chains
would
attach to the same piece of metal that the hitch resides upon. If the
weak
link here is the strength of the bumper material, having the chains
attached
to the frame will help.

A while back in the thread, Mike painted a scenario where you might be
rear-ended and the trailer tongue shoots through the Jeep's tub. I
have
actually had this happen to me. I have a pop-up camper towed by a
Sienna.
While waiting to make a left turn, a van hit the back of the trailer
hard.
Both the other van and the trailer were totaled. The tongue was indeed
pushed into the back of the Sienna and the force vector was straight in
line
with the car's direction and also upward a bit. The upward tilt of the
hitch ball surprised me a bit, but there it was. I had to unbolt the
whole
hitch and drop it to disconnect the trailer from the ball, as it was
buried
up in the upper bumper. The combination of the Class 2 hitch and then
the
frame of the Sienna absorbed it all, about $2500 worth of fixed damage
to
the Sienna. I speculate that if I had an equivalent of this hitch
design,
it would be likely that the trailer tongue would, in its upward vector,
pierce the rear of the tub and head for people in the seats.

At least safety chains attached to the frame instead of the part that
is
(connected to at least) part of the failure might mitigate this. The
chains
need to be of plenty of girth as well.

In other words, if the bumper is the weak point, and the chains are
attached
to the metal attached to the bumper, the chains provide zero additional
help. They would only help if the trailer jumps off of the ball. I
advocate attaching them to the frame.
Tomes

"Richard J Kinch" wrote in message
. ..
Here is my design for a bumper-mounted Jeep Wrangler TJ trailer
hitch:

http://www.truetex.com/jeep_trailer_hitch_bracket.htm