Drawbar On Trailer Snapped While Driving

[wttmrwolf]

I had a scary incident on Thursday night last week. My trailer snapped in two!

Luckily no-one was hurt and the boat is fine. Happened at relatively low speed, about 20km/h.

Just wanted to warn fellow boaties that these things do happen. There is no visible signs of corrosion, seems to be metal fatigue where the U-bolt goes around the drawbar.

I should have slowed down more when I saw the pothole but it was hard to avoid because there was a traffic island reducing my room to manouver.

Hopefully insurance will cover the accident. Fingers crossed.

Ben

[prawn*]

wow u were lucky! could of been alot worse eventhough u would never think the drawbar would snap. i always think of things like that happening on long trips and pray it would never happen to me.. glad everyone was ok and looks like a easy fix maybe upgrade wall thickness on drawbar

have u ever jack knifed your trailer whilest backing maybe previous owner has done that and put a hairline fracture through the steel?? only a thought,

Edited November 15, 2010 by mc fishn

[musty]

Thats insane!

Was that some sort of join/weld there previously do you think, even if it was unbeknown to you?

You not wrong about serious metal fatigue but even still, Why has it broken off so neat and tidy and from that one spot?

As far as i was aware drilling or welding to ANY part of the structural frame of the chasis was a no no and in particular the coupling section which specifically says do not weld of drill into it.

Im glad that you and the family were not hurt mate! Good thing it happened when it did and not on a freeway!

Goodluck with it.

Musty

[brickman]

in the second pic it looks like the crack has started in the bottom left hand side off the section because it is rusty there and also looks abit rustys on the inside in the same area

also your draw bar looks long there are a few things that could off helped cause this

the frame was not left in the acid bath for a suitable time before hot dipping and the gal did'nt stick properly on the inside

having a long drawbar and weight not being spead over the trailer wheels[to much weight on the drawbar]

where the ubolt was fixed it seams to have cracked just in frount a weak point if you had weight to far forward

but having said all this it could off been a crap section off steel with a fault in it from the word go

two things i have seen in the last few months 1; steel sheet that hot dip gal just will not stick two 2; 16mm plate from a lazer cutter that split in two after cutting first time i have seen either in 30 years off eng. both steels were from china

your one lucky fella to come out off this with you boat in one peace if your going to get the trailer repaired i would do a compleat dye penentant crack test over the hole unit for peace off mind but i would prefer a new unit

cheers gary

[Day's Fishin]

Hi Ben, take a lottery ticket as you were lucky it happened at low speed and not on the expressway. This has happened on one of our plant trailers and there was no drill holes or noticeable cracks however it sheered clean like yours. We put a piece of thick angle iron across and welded it up,treated it and sprayed the section,that was 3 years ago and no problem. We have now done the same to the other side and on both sides of the second trailer just to reinforce those sections as we think it may be a weak point because of the length of the draw bars which makes them flex there when they have weight on them and you go over bumps ,holes( like you did) etc.

Regards Jeff

.

[wttmrwolf]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Brickman I think you are right, started where the small rust spot is on the inside of the bar plus weakspot due to U-bolt and too much flex.

Day's Fishin, I'm getting quotes for full repair including that crack test Brickman mentioned. I think they are going to slide a thicker gauge bar over the existing bar and weld to the front triangle and move all the hardware across from the other bar eg tow ball.

Thanks guys.

Ben

[Guest Aussie007]

shouldnt the winch post be up a futher foot it looks to far back?

[wttmrwolf]

shouldnt the winch post be up a futher foot it looks to far back?

When its fixed we are going to move the winch forward but the axle will need to move forward as well since the boat is balanced on the trailer nicely how it is.

[fryboy]

Just out of interest, how did you then get the boat and trailer home?

Fryboy

[wttmrwolf]

Just out of interest, how did you then get the boat and trailer home?

Fryboy

Called a mate who had a flatbed truck. took a couple of hours, got to bed around 4am.

Insurance company has been great, they are paying for the repair and I just have $100 excess. There was no signs of rust and they accepted it was accident.

Its already at the repair shop getting rebuilt. Should be back on the water soon.

[Guest Aussie007]

Called a mate who had a flatbed truck. took a couple of hours, got to bed around 4am.

Insurance company has been great, they are paying for the repair and I just have $100 excess. There was no signs of rust and they accepted it was accident.

Its already at the repair shop getting rebuilt. Should be back on the water soon.

well done saves buying another trailer when u get the trailer back inspect it very closely as a few years back a teenager drove up behind my cousins car while i was locking the door and cleaned up the boat trailer it was sent off to the insurance companies smash repairer when it came back a few weeks later there was a new mud guard and all seemed ok untill we looked closer the whole frame was twisted and no number plate mount