Trailer safety chains

[grafy82]

G'day all.
    I've just been to the local chain specialist and picked up some 13mm chain and a couple of shackles for my draw bar. Question is, do I weld them straight to the draw bar (pic2) or should I weld some thicker plate there first before welding on the chain (pic3), just for extra strength.Or is that nor really necessary?Any info or expierence will be great.

Cheers

Wes

[BigJules]

How thick is the drawbar RHS? I don't think I can recall ever seeing a plate welded on to strengthen the area, but it couldn't hurt. I would make that plate larger still in that case.

[RebsWA]

Is it high tensile chain? New Australia wide regs stipulate high tensile. Dunno if Qld has adopted the regs tho.
Anyway I would just weld them to the drawbar.

[grafy82]

The draw bar steel is 3mm. The chains are lashing grade, I'm not sure if its high tensile or not. I hadn't really ever seen plate welded there either but I wonder if it would be worth doing seeing as though the chains are 13mm thick and the draw bar is only 3mm thick.

[xcvator]

With all due respect mate, if you're asking these questions you're not qualified to do the job. Spend $100-00 and get an experienced welder to do it. Not much to spend when you consider the value of your car, trailer and possibly somebodyelse's car/life, it's a SAFETY CHAIN  for goodness sake      

[1HDT]

grafy,

I'd go straight to the draw bar. Never seen the brace/backing plate on any trailer. By the looks of it you have a plate welded to the 'open' end of you RHS so i don't think it would peel back the RHS wall under load. Have you got 2 chains? One chain for each side? (cant remember the pic) If so you are halving the load as well. But...like Jules said...can't hurt to weld on the other plate either.

1HDT

[BigJules]

With all due respect mate, if you're asking these questions you're not qualified to do the job. Spend $100-00 and get an experienced welder to do it. Not much to spend when you consider the value of your car, trailer and possibly somebodyelse's car/life, it's a SAFETY CHAIN  for goodness sake   

Sheez, that's a bit harsh. A simple question and some educated answers and he will be qualified or at least informed about the job. Folks build trailers all the time, at least this one will have been well considered.

[xcvator]

Sheez, that's a bit harsh. A simple question and some educated answers and he will be qualified or at least informed about the job. Folks build trailers all the time, at least this one will have been well considered.

Not meaning to be harsh, just seems strange to me when people try to do things like this that ultimately can cause a lot of grief and cost a lot more than was initially saved if it goes pear shaped 

[Campa]

Grafy82 not sure if anyone has mentioned it or not but if the chain is zinc coated you will have to grind it away before you weld.

[grafy82]

Thanks for all the reply's. Xcvator, no harsh feelings, I have no issues with laying down a good weld, I was more interested in the loads that may be applied to it under duress and if it was a spot worth beefing up or not. Yes, I did buy enough to do 2 chains and the ends of the 100x50 are capped off.
    I may think about it too much sometimes I guess.

Cheers

Wes

[ivan]

I drilled through draw bar and used D shackles.Draw bar is 5mm thick.

[speedcomm]

Just make sure you connect them to the car  Brother in law copped a $ 350 fine yesterday " because he had lost the pin out of the D"

[Sixtys Guy]

The chain has to have an Australian Standard stamped into it as well. When I had mine rego'd they guy said that was the most common reason for failing rego inspection.

[jim-m-72]

After building trailers for a couple of years i have never seen a chain not welded straight to the draw bar 3mm rhs is a lot stronger than you think and will be unlikley to tear out from a welded chain just check the relevant regs for chain specs.
Jim

[kylarama]

I drilled through draw bar and used D shackles.Draw bar is 5mm thick.

I'm pretty sure regs say chains must be welded.


Majority of trailers I've seen have the chains welded to the draw bar.  I did and mines 3mm RHS too.

Word of caution, careful where you attach them.  This is how I did mine and they foul on the hitch if you do real tight turns.
Should have hung them downwards.

[singo-26]

Just as an alternative if you were to weld a plate on you could shackle both ends of the chain. I have 2 trailers set up like this and carry an extra longer chain in the toolbox, the chains I normally use are the perfect length for my car but dads car requires longer chains.

[prodigyrf]

Have a look at Jayco camper chains and you'll see they weld them horizontally to the bottom of the closed drawbar, bearing in mind they'll easily handle a 1.2T and up loaded camper range. Why would you weld them to the bottom? Because in the event it jumps off the hitch you want those chains lifting from the lowest point and crossing them may also keep the loose drawbar as high as possible if the hitch catches the cross. WRT different tugs I've recognised my Jayco has larger links than yours which allows a too long chain to easily be doubled back to the towbar shackles to keep the extra links from hanging down. Who wants to carry extra chain and shackles?They can't snag when turning either you'll also note from a previous comment. Jayco have worked it all out over the years for anyone who wants to copy them.

[Shaker]

Just as an alternative if you were to weld a plate on you could shackle both ends of the chain. I have 2 trailers set up like this and carry an extra longer chain in the toolbox, the chains I normally use are the perfect length for my car but dads car requires longer chains.

The Vehicle Bulletin for the building of trailers states that it is illegal to shackle or bolt chains to the draw bar, they must be welded along 2/3rds of the chain link.

[singo-26]

Ok didn't realise that.

[prodigyrf]

The Vehicle Bulletin for the building of trailers states that it is illegal to shackle or bolt chains to the draw bar, they must be welded along 2/3rds of the chain link.

Then that also explains why my Jayco chain is 10mm thick with 72 X 37mm (outside dims) links. Use smaller thicker chain when you have to weld 2/3 of a link and you're left with a tight eye there as well as struggling to double the excess back together on towbar shackles.
 
Before you start something always look at what the commercial boys do and then think carefully about why they do it that way and what rules and regs they have to comply with. The latter may not be immediately obvious but it's always there in their mix.

[MDS69]

The Vehicle Bulletin for the building of trailers states that it is illegal to shackle or bolt chains to the draw bar, they must be welded along 2/3rds of the chain link.

Does the bulletin state how long the chain must be.
I was considering cutting the second link leaving the first welded link and using a shackle to attach a short length when towing. My reasoning behind this was to provide another deterent, albiet small, for thieves so they couldn't tow it by the chain unless of course they had some themselves.

[VKPrado]

The regs state how much of a link has to be welded. The chain does have to be stamped. It is all in the regs which are an Australian Stnadard but does not seem to be enforced in every state. It is enforced big time here in Tasmania and a lot of campers/ boat trailers from the mainland get knocked back when trying to get registered here.

Friends bought a brand new galvenised boat trailer from QLD from a known builder and when they tried to register it here it didn't pass because the safety chain was not stamped. Had to cut the chain off and reweld the correct one on. The builder was questioned and there statement was "not an issue up here, must be a Tasmanian thing". When it was pointed out to them it was an Australia wide standard they were told they wsholud have checked it when they bought it.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[whitey1]

In WA they can be shackled onto the drawbar. And there only needs to be one chain these days but it must be load rated and have its rating stamped on the links

[grafy82]

Done. Thanks for the reply's Decided to fill weld the inside and front edges to stop any moisture/salt/mud etc. getting in and rusting

[MrHorsepower]

Dont know if this is in another thread but PDF of Bulding Small Trailers National Code of Practice on this website http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/vehicle_regulation/bulletin/vsb1/index.aspx