Where do you hook your Brake Break-Away Cable??
 

Where do you hook your brake break-away safty cable on the truck?











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I hook mine around the locking hitch pin. The hook on the cable is the perfect size to slip on the pin and then the locking part goes on. No way it can fall off.

I wouldn't tow a lot of weight with that round tube hitch, they are notorious for cracking the welds...

I hook mine onto the ears on the hitch where you hook the saftey chains. Of couse this will do no good if that part of the hitch or the entire hitch breaks free from the truck.

NOT where I hook the safety chains.

It's hooked to my bumper which is not mounted to the frame with the same bolts as the hitch.

Here is another associated question:

What length should the break-away cable, electrical connection, and safety chains be?

Meaning, lets say your hitch/coupler fails and your trailer comes dislodged...

Should your electrical connector cable (assuming you have E/H brakes) should be longer than your safety chains?
I say yes. That way you still have control of your brakes even if your trailer is only being held to the truck by the chains.

Should your emergency break-away brake cable be (slightly) longer than your safety chains?
I say yes. That way you still have control over your brakes using the truck/electrical connection cable. If your safety chains break, THEN the break-away brake cable will actuate the trailer brakes within a split second.

Also, look at the routing path of your break-away cable. You don't want your trailer to fall to the ground and clip your cable in half before it yanks out of the actuator. You also don't want anything else to get in the way of this action.

I hook mine to the ears on the trailer hitch... I am guessing it is going to get pretty messy if the brakes on the trailer lock up if it becomes dislodged off the truck...

What cable? What brakes? :party-smiley-004::lolhit:

and hold my beer:drink:

Almost 20,000 posts and your finaly hooking up the break away cable and holding your beer? time to buy a new truck with cup holders:drink:

Ive been hooking it up to the safty chains,it want reach the hitch,I need to buy a longer one,just seeing if theres a better way or trick way:drink:

Hook it to the bumper so if the hitch falls off the bumper pulls the brake...

My F350 has a special hole for it....

I just have my friend back there hold it in his hand just in case the hitch AND the bumper fall off. He usually remebers what to do:drink:.

I like the hooking it to the bumper idea, I think I'll start doing that now.

It's funny I looked over the whole setup tonight after I hooked up and I was getting ready to go do some engine troubleshooting and questioned whether or not the break-away chain should be longer or shorter than the safety chains.

Seems like ideally, you would want the break-away chain to reach full extension/actuation at about the same point the safety chains would reach maximum extension, at least on surge breaks anyway. That way when the brakes kick in via the break-away chain, there isn't a severe yank/tension on the truck/chains/trailer when the trailer begins to slow down and the truck is still going forward, potentially ripping the chain ears and/or hitch of the back of the truck...

I couldn't agree more and have often pondered what would I do if this scenerio happened. I'd prefer the brakes to not kick in if the hitch came loose so I had more control over what was going on. As long as the electrical is still connected with Electric/Hydraulic you could use the brake controller to apply braking to the trailer to help slow everything down. "If" the brakes applied on the trailer odds are the safety chains are longer than the wiring and you would then be at the mercy of the brakes locking up...I know mine will lockdown all 6 tires so you'd have the sudden stop while the vehicle was still moving forward at whatever speed.

It amazes me everytime I see a 10,000# boat being towed by a hitch rated at 6000#'s and a ball rated at the same...

How do you know your break away is in functional condition on an older trailer? Anyway to test? I've got a new battery, but????

You guys are idiots! The breakaway cable/chain is for the trailer brakes so it obviously needs to be attached to THE TRAILER! So for a double measure of safety I always attach it to the bow hook on the boat so if the boat comes off the trailer, the trailer will stop! :party-smiley-004:

I don't use the cable. Why would I want my trailer to break away? I want my boat right behind me when I get to the lake. :)

Pull the cable out. Your brakes should engage