Unhitched on I80

Posted By: ndorf
Date: 11/13/11 8:58a.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

Not what you think...no lawyers involved. Read about Bruce King's harrowing event while driving home from Richmond Harbor... Some of you who were at Richmond for the sail over to Angel Island might have met Bruce King, who sails a Montgomery 15 and lives over in my direction in the Sacramento area. He tried to post his story here on the board but ran into difficulty, so he emailed it to me to post for everyone: * * * * * Hi Neil: Here is what happened on the way home from the Bay. I tried to post it for everyone to see, but somehow it doesn't get posted. Feel free to post it on your group site. Bruce King It turned out to be a bit calm on the wind side, however we found a very pleasant group of people. We had a great time until our trip back to the Sacramento area. Along interstate 80 while traveling at the speed limit, suddenly the trailor and Monty were swaying sideways and building momentum as I gradually tried to stop. My vehicle is rated for 5,000 lb.'s towing capacity and I believe that helped the situation from becoming a disaster. As you might guess, it swayed to the limits of the safety chain. THE BLOODY NUT AND LOCK WASHER WERE GONE FROM THE BALL! The threads were cutting the pavement and about 2 inches ground off the parking support gear. I had tightened that ball using an 18" wrench! Please take my advice and do one of two things to the ball/nut assembly. Either drill a hole below the nut and place a cotter pin or add a second nut and use two wrenches to secure them. I would not even trust a virgin nylock type of nut without a cotter pin below. I hope this info saves others from this situation. Bruce King M15 #484 * * * * * Neil's notes My hitch and ball+post assembly are welded together, but I inspect the weld before every trip.