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  1. #1
    Big Traveler
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    The Calif. Highway Patrol, during their presentation at the NorCal GDRV rally a couple weeks ago explained that any ball type hitch used in Calif. must also incorporate safety chains. All of your goose neck hitches and yes AUH require safety chains in Calif. A fifth wheel hitch does not require safety chains. Check your local vehicle code to make sure you are in compliance.
    Jim & Georgianne
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  2. #2
    Seasoned Camper
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    AUH makes available and sells safety chain equipment to add to the hitch.
    Robert & Kat
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  3. #3
    Big Traveler SouthTX's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by J&G garage View Post
    The Calif. Highway Patrol, during their presentation at the NorCal GDRV rally a couple weeks ago explained that any ball type hitch used in Calif. must also incorporate safety chains. All of your goose neck hitches and yes AUH require safety chains in Calif. A fifth wheel hitch does not require safety chains. Check your local vehicle code to make sure you are in compliance.
    May be good advice as, like the cops like to say, you may beat the rap, but you won't beat the ride.

    The Texas vehicle code is very clear that safety chains are not required on fifthwheel or gooseneck hitches. California, as might be expected, is not so clear. But the CA DMV website discusses conventional ball hitches in the context of bumper pull trailers then seperately discusses fifth wheel trailers. There's no doubt that conventional trailers require safety chains, then it goes on to say:

    "Safety chains are required for travel trailers. Safety chains are not required for fifth-wheel trailers."
    https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/?1...l648/dl648pt12

    Reviewing the actual CA vehicle code on fifthwheel trailers seems to make no distinction between HDT's and RV's and in several places it says that safety chains are not required for fifth wheel hitches. I guess one could argue that the AUH uses a ball-type articulated coupling, but it is hitched to a fifth-wheel trailer and on each side of the hitch is a sign saying that it is a fifth-wheel hitch.

    I think that before I spent the money on something of little obvious value (at least in the opinion of most other states) I'd do some serious research on the necessity of installing safety chains. I carry a copy of the Texas code with my vehicle papers and I think that if I was in CA I'd carry at least a copy of the DMV webpage.

    YMMV
    John and Jean
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  4. #4
    Big Traveler
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    The CHP was quite clear that once you install a ball type hitch it is no longer a fifth wheel trailer. The term fifth wheel pertains to the hitch type not something to do with the trailer. The AHU is not a fifth wheel hitch.

  5. #5
    Big Traveler SouthTX's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by J&G garage View Post
    The CHP was quite clear that once you install a ball type hitch it is no longer a fifth wheel trailer. The term fifth wheel pertains to the hitch type not something to do with the trailer. The AHU is not a fifth wheel hitch.
    Did you get the trooper's name? Did he cite a specific provision of the vehicle code? Did this anonymous trooper even know what an AUH is? How is the AUH not a fifth wheel hitch? It says in big letters on both sides of the AUH that it is a fifth wheel hitch and fifth wheel hitches do not require safety chains.

    We can argue this all day, but its a fair question to ask someone on this forum to cite some authority for what they state is fact. I went to the CA DMA website and everything I found indicated that safety chains are not required with the AUH. I'd be happy for you to find something more authorative so that people who read this forum get the best possible information.

    Best,

    John
    John and Jean
    Springer Spaniel furkids Mea and (the late) Molly
    Blogs - BataanMissing.com - AirSafety.info
    2017 Ford F-350 6.7L CC SB, Andersen Ultimate Hitch.
    2018 Reflection 337RLS fifth wheel.

  6. #6
    Big Traveler
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    Haha. Get the offficer's name. That will get me off the hook. Both officers attending were familiar with the AUH, BTW. Both of them were prepared to issue a citation for no safety chains for a ball and socket hitch. The term fifth wheel describes a type of hitch. Let me say that again as I think there is some comfusion here, the term fifth wheel describes a specific type of hitch. If you remove the fifth wheel hitch and install a ball and socket hitch or install a ball and socket hitch in place of the fifth wheel hitch you no longer have a fifth wheel. The RV industry has taken to calling a trailer that attaches to the tow vehicle over the rear axle via a fifth wheel hitch a fifth wheel trailer. Technically that's only true if the TV and trailer have a fifth wheel hitch. The AUH isn't some magic hitch. It's simply a ball hitch sitting on top of pyramid. In Calif. ball hitches require safety chains. You can ask the officer's name while he's writing you up for no safety chains if you like. Just because " It says in big letters on both sides of the AUH that it is a fifth wheel hitch..." doesn't make it a fifth wheel hitch I'm afraid. Maybe a hitch for a fifth wheel "type" RV trailer but it's not a fifth wheel hitch. Not even close.
    Jim & Georgianne
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  7. #7
    King Pin
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    Quote Originally Posted by SouthTX View Post
    Did you get the trooper's name? Did he cite a specific provision of the vehicle code? Did this anonymous trooper even know what an AUH is? How is the AUH not a fifth wheel hitch? It says in big letters on both sides of the AUH that it is a fifth wheel hitch and fifth wheel hitches do not require safety chains.

    We can argue this all day, but its a fair question to ask someone on this forum to cite some authority for what they state is fact. I went to the CA DMA website and everything I found indicated that safety chains are not required with the AUH. I'd be happy for you to find something more authorative so that people who read this forum get the best possible information.

    Best,

    John
    John - Check out Andersen's Help section on safety chains. According the their data, California, Texas and Indiana (with some exceptions) require safety chains. I don't believe that Andersen would publish this if there wasn't a requirement. It would have been nice if they'd listed the applicable code, but they didn't. See the link below:

    https://help.andersenhitches.com/faq...th-wheel-hitch

    Jim

  8. #8
    Big Traveler SouthTX's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TucsonJim View Post
    John - Check out Andersen's Help section on safety chains. According the their data, California, Texas and Indiana (with some exceptions) require safety chains. I don't believe that Andersen would publish this if there wasn't a requirement. It would have been nice if they'd listed the applicable code, but they didn't. See the link below:

    https://help.andersenhitches.com/faq...th-wheel-hitch

    Jim
    Thanks, Jim, for the opportunity to provide some factual information since other posters seem to feel no obligation to verify what they post - and, yes, this goes for Andersen, too. I was going to stop beating this nag before being invited to the woodshed (again) for argueing my point, but since you asked. [g]

    There are a lot of people who read this forum and accept anything they see as fact - its on the internet, so it must be true. I try not to post anything that I can't back up with something better than an anonymous source or someone's brother-in-law's cousin said.

    Here's what Texas law says:

    Texas Administrative Code (Last Updated: July 13,2017)
    TITLE 37. PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONS
    PART 1. TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
    CHAPTER 21. EQUIPMENT AND VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARDS
    SECTION 21.5. Standards for Safety Chains
    (a) A person may not operate a passenger car or light truck while towing a trailer, semitrailer, house trailer, or another motor vehicle on a public highway unless safety chains of a type approved by the department are attached in a manner approved by the department from the trailer, semitrailer, house trailer, or drawn motor vehicle to the towing vehicle.
    (b) Exceptions.
    (4) Does not apply to fifth wheel or gooseneck semitrailers.
    http://txrules.elaws.us/rule/title37_chapter21_sec.21.5

    California is a little more complicated. If you review the vehicle code, it is clear that safety chains are not required on fifth-wheel trailers, but it doesn't explicitly say that includes RV's. For an intrepetation of the law, look to the DMV website where there is a page titled: "Towing your trailer safely". (I posted a link to this page earlier, but when I clicked on it in the forum it went to a higher level page, so you may have to google to find the right page.)

    This web page discusses travel trailers and fifth-wheel trailers at length. It speaks at length on ball hitches, but only as they relate to (bumper pull) travel trailers. Reading the entire page leaves no doubt about the meaning of the following:

    "Safety chains are required for travel trailers. Safety chains are not required for fifth-wheel trailers. The purpose of safety chains is to prevent the trailer from separating from the tow vehicle in event of a hitch failure, such as a hitch ball that has loosened. The chains should be crossed in an "X" fashion below the ball mount, with enough slack to allow unrestricted turning, but not enough to allow the coupler to hit the ground."
    https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/?1...l648/dl648pt12

    As far as Indiana law goes, if I still lived there and was pulling a fifth-wheel trailer, I would certainly get off my butt and research the applicable law on the subject, but I wouldn't be satisfied - one way or the other - to take the unsubstiantiated, uncooberated opinion of some anonyomus cop.

    That's all I have to say in this thread.

    Best,

    John
    John and Jean
    Springer Spaniel furkids Mea and (the late) Molly
    Blogs - BataanMissing.com - AirSafety.info
    2017 Ford F-350 6.7L CC SB, Andersen Ultimate Hitch.
    2018 Reflection 337RLS fifth wheel.

  9. #9
    Big Traveler
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    Hey I found it!! Officer Steve Joiner. There, now he's not anonymous. So it all must be true.
    Jim & Georgianne
    N. California
    2016 Reflection 29RS
    2008 Ford F-250 Super Duty PSD
    B&W Companion hitch
    Rubber turtle with no name

  10. #10
    King Pin
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    Moderator Note: This thread was created from comments in another thread in order to keep the original thread from becoming sidetracked.

    Jim

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