Get Rid of Covered safety cables

[alldodge]

My car trailer had some limbs which I was moving. Didn't have that much in limbs so far as weight. Was in a hurry and thought the ball was in the receiver, and had the safety cables connected. Pulled forward and heard a thud, both safety cables snapped. These were class 4 (10,000 pound) cables with vinyl jackets, and both sides snapped in two. They rusted apart from the inside.

So use only chains or cables with no jacket

 

[82rude]

WOW!

 

[ajgraz]

That is now on my list.

 

[Sprig]

Wow, I'm surprised. I believe mine are stainless and after 8 years no signs of rust. Although I prefer chains and plan to replace the cables with chain very soon.

 

[Alumarine]

Good to know.

 

[Grub54891]

The same thing can happen with battery cables, They look good on the ends, but corrode down the insulation. glad you found the issue before they were actually needed.

 

[alldodge]

I think the ones that are not covered should be good, you would see if they were rusting. Thought the vinyl covered ones were also stainless, guess they are real low grade stainless. I like the cable because they are self recoiling, in most cases they don't drag on the ground

Similar thing happed when I was in the USCG. We use to use nylon cord and wrap the hand rails in different locations, then paint them with spar varnish, looked real good. There was a guy (not on our ship) which was leaning on the rail and it broke loose and he fell overboard (didn't get hurt, just wet). Right after that they found the railing was rusting under it, so we had to cut all the stuff off.

 

[gm280]

Out of sight out of mind isn't always a great thing. JMHO

 

[mla2ofus]

With safety chains that are too long and you can't/don't want to shorten them just twist them until they're clear of the pavement and drop the hooks in the loops.
Mike

 

[Scott Danforth]

Its stainLESS, not stainFREE

That being said, the place the vinyl cracks is where the cable breaks. Just like the area where the coil-over spring paint is scratched is where the spring breaks

 

[alldodge]

Stains don't cause rust on quality stainless.

 

[jkust]

Maybe five years ago on my previous boat and trailer set up, I had a safety cable wrapped around trailer body and though the spare tire locked together as a theft deterrent. It was a heavy duty cable and lock or so I though. One day while driving, my then newly purchase spare tire holder's weld broke and the tire went flying into traffic on the busiest week of the year. The safety cable snapped like a piece of string. I had a completely false sense of security as to the strength of these safety cables and now see why a chain is necessary for actual safety. Manufacturer of the spare tire holder admitted it was a know defect.

 

[dingbat]

Stains don't cause rust on quality stainless.

There is no such thing as "quality" stainless steel. Only good, better or best for the application.
“Stainless steel” by definition is an iron (fe) (the “steel” part) based alloy with a chromium content greater than 10.5% by weight.

The chromium content passivates forming a chromium oxide layer on the surface of the material. The oxide layer blocks oxygen diffusion to the iron (fe) surface preventing corrosion from spreading into the bulk of the metal.[SUP][3][/SUP] Passivation occurs only if oxygen is present, making it highly susceptible to low-oxygen, high-salinity, or poor air-circulation environments.

Using stainless in a crimp connection then covering it with vinyl falls under two of the three combinations noted above, making stainless steel a very poor choice for the application to begin with.

FWIW: I use the vinyl wrapped cables as well. Pretty sure they're galvanized, not SS. Chains are a rusting mess in a matter of months.

Having said that, I refuse to use the ones covered with black vinyl. Only use the ones with clear vinyl so I can keep an eye on the connection. Five years in and they're just now starting to discolor. Will keep a close eye on them from here on out.

 

[dwco5051]

About 15 years ago GM had the same problem with the cables on Chevy and GMC pickup tailgates. They replaced enough of them to probably go around the world if laid end to end under recall.

 

[alldodge]

The ones on my RTV and pickup are not covered at all, and there is no rust or discoloration showing. The shift and throttle cables are covered but have yet to see one rust into. Air planes use cables exposed (different ball park) are new corrode. Have seen and have had 40 sum year old boat with bare steel (of some sort) cables that didn't rust away.

I'll go back to either chains or bare cables

 

[JimS123]

Years ago I was stopped at a signal and was rear-ended. The "safety chains" survived, but the tongue of the trailer split in half. I've never had safety cables - always a chain. Mot were cd plated. Never had one rust so far. If I ever buy a new trailer that comes with cables, after seeing this I'll replace them with chains.

 

[anymanusa]

I've had welded chain break at the weld. Your cables looked bad from the pic. They asked for replacement long ago if you'd listened.

 

[mla2ofus]

Chain is like most everything, you get what you pay for. Quality chain will stretch enough so's you can push it before it breaks.
Mike