ATV Trailer Hookup

I always tell my customers that towing an ATVbe crossed under the tongue of the trailer. Do not
trailer is serious business. When towing a trailer,use chains or cables that are too long; just long
you have the responsibility to know what you areenough to allow for turning, but not so long that
doing. Not only can you put your equipment atthe trailer tongue would hit the ground if it comes
risk, but you and your family could get hurt. Notoff of the ball.
to mention innocent drivers on the highway.One way to adjust the length of the safety
3 THINGS YOU SHOULD DO WHEN HITCHING UPchains, if you are not using cables, is to twist the
YOUR ATV TRAILERchain. This makes the chain shorter. Stop when
1. The couplerthe desired length is achieved and then attach the
The first thing that one usually does is back up tochain to the vehicle. The second time that I had a
the trailer and put the coupler down on the ball.trailer come off of the ball I was towing a 27' long
This is fairly straight forward. Occasionally, theboat trailer that belonged to a friend of mine.
coupler will not go all the way down onto the ball.Fortunately it happened when I was going slowly.
One should be very conscious of this possibility.The safety chains caught the tongue and kept
If this happens unnoticed, the latch could bethe trailer attached to the vehicle. When I
closed, and the ATV trailer would appear to bestopped, a nice motorist helped me get the trailer
properly hooked to the tow vehicle.back on the ball and the trailer only had some
The ATV trailer can even be moved in thisscratched paint.
condition, sometimes even long distances. Then3. Wiring
when a large enough bump is encountered, theThe third step in hitching an ATV trailer to the
trailer will bounce off of the ball. In my 34 yearstow vehicle is the wiring. The importance of
of manufacturing and servicing trailers I havehaving running lights, turn signals and brake lights
seen this happen many, many times. I have evenworking properly is obvious. So after connecting
done it myself twice.the wiring and raising the jack out of the way,
One time I towed a trailer 15 miles onto and offcheck to make sure all of the lights are working
of the freeway and was within 4 blocks of myproperly.
destination when I went over a set of rail roadIf not; the first thing to do is clean the electrical
tracks and the trailer came off the ball. Luckily Ipins on both the tow vehicle and the trailer
did have the chains crossed under the tongue ofconnectors. The connecting pins build up an
the ATV trailer. They kept the tongue fromoxidation on them over time and can form a
dragging on the ground and prevented damagebarrier to a good electrical connection. If that
2. Crossing Safety chainsdoesn't solve the problem, have someone check
The second next step in attaching the ATV trailerboth the ATV trailer and the vehicle as soon as
to a tow vehicle is the safety chains. As I justpossible.
mentioned there should be 2 chains or cables.Hitching up a trailer is easy, but it is also serious.
When attaching them to the vehicle they shouldSo be sure it is done correctly every time.