Re: [A/S] Safety chains - Loose balls?

[Jerry Flanders <jeflanders@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Concerning the "fit" of the ball and socket and the question of the two 
becoming disconnected:

I had a boat trailer years ago. To disconnect the trailer, I would release 
the little lever that unlocks the socket from the ball. This actually 
allowed a shoe to move down inside the socket, sort of like making the 
socket bigger. This is what allowed the ball to disengage when I raised the 
socket with the tongue jack. I remember having to adjust the linkage for 
this once because the ball was looser than I thought it should be. I had to 
adjust the nut like the one that you can barely see in figure A of:

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/bo_maintenance_repair/article/0,2021,DIY_13718_2277896,00.html

That picture is not the lever type, but it illustrates what actually locked 
the ball in place and this is exactly where the adjustment nut I had to 
turn was located.

My AS is all locked up right now and it is not easy for me to remove the 
locked ball and look up inside the socket, but I would probably see an 
adjustment nut up in there if I did. Even if not on the current models, an 
adjustment of this type might have been used years ago.

If this is the case, then wearing or perhaps misadjustment of this coupler 
by a rookie might not keep the ball secure when under big-time stress, like 
going across a bumpy RR crossing.

Jerry 4404