It seems to me that if my trailer came off the ball and was held only by the
safety chains, I'd want the trailer brakes to activate in order to keep the
trailer from running forward into the tow vehicle. Also, with the trailer
brakes on and rearward pressure against the chains it would be easier to stop
in a straight line. Otherwise, the trailer would tend to wander side to side
and slam into the tow vehicle repeatedly as you tried to slow down.
Brian Jenkins
> For many years I would repeatedly read that the break away
> cable should be shorter than the safety chains which never made
> sense to me. I even argued against this in a letter to
> the Phred Sez column a fewer years ago.
>
> Herb Quade seems to agree with me on the break away issue, and also
> fastening the break away cable, the one long enough to be the last
> thing to activate, to a point on the vehicle other than the hitch.
>