# Broken cable thingy



## DancingArabian (Jul 15, 2011)

I was looking over my trailer and I noticed that the little cable that you loop through the chains is broken. I think it's the cable that's supposed to break if your trailer unhitches from your truck and it turns the trailer brakes on? It looks like it was either melted or cut from a weedwhacker or something. It was intact when I last used the trailer.

Anyway, I need to use my trailer this weekend. Does anyone know how I can replace this? Preferably in a do it yourself fashion with stuff from Lowe's or Home Depot. I will not have easy access to a trailer repair shop due to time constraints (yay for school and stuff).


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## Phly (Nov 14, 2012)

That's what's called a "breakaway". And yes it set the trailer brakes in case of a unhitching. Some states they are mandatory other not. I'm gonna put my neck out here, if you don't know what it really is/ or how it works, chances are the battery that is mounted on the trailer is probly junk anyways. That lil battery is what sets up the brakes. Dead battery= no breakaway brakes. Soooooo if that's true, pulling with the wire worn thru is no more dangerous. I'll also asume that your safety chains drag. Hence the reason then breakaway wire is worn in two. Get the chains off the highway and replace the battery. After you fix the breakaway. Just my experiences talking.
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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

You can buy steel cable at Lowe's or Home depot. get at least two compression fittings, which are fittings that both ends of the cable fits in and is then squeezed. 

Get a sales associate and tell him you need the thing to join the cables.

I usually don't squeeze the fitting but hit it with a hammer and smash them.

Come to think of it you might just get the fitting and rejoin the broken cable.

Go to lowes.com and search for steel cable.

This fix will probably cost you more in gas to get there than the stuff you need to fix it.


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## DancingArabian (Jul 15, 2011)

Phly said:


> That's what's called a "breakaway". And yes it set the trailer brakes in case of a unhitching. Some states they are mandatory other not. I'm gonna put my neck out here, if you don't know what it really is/ or how it works, chances are the battery that is mounted on the trailer is probly junk anyways. That lil battery is what sets up the brakes. Dead battery= no breakaway brakes. Soooooo if that's true, pulling with the wire worn thru is no more dangerous. I'll also asume that your safety chains drag. Hence the reason then breakaway wire is worn in two. Get the chains off the highway and replace the battery. After you fix the breakaway. Just my experiences talking.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I wasn't for certain  I'm new to trailer lingo. For all I know, maybe the battery does more than just work the brakes. I am confident that the battery works as it has a test button which I check before every haul, and it passed state safety inspection not long ago.

My safety chains do not drag. I was always taught to NOT allow them to drag so I make sure that they don't. However, I did mention in my post that the tie was INTACT when I last parked the trailer, so it broke between the last time I parked it and now. It looks melted through, though I can't imagine what could have melted through the cable, so maybe while the farmhands were weedwhacking, they clipped it.

I know my post came off as a little ignorant sounding, but give me SOME credit 

Thank you for your concern, now....I need to replace the breakaway and don't know what I can get or from where to do so. A "trailer repair shop" is not an option available to me (they close before I can get there).


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## Phly (Nov 14, 2012)

Sorry if I came off harsh. It's just soooo common. On actuallly fixing it, overhead doors use the same wire rope. Anything to reattach it will work. Also you could replace it with baling twine to get by.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## DancingArabian (Jul 15, 2011)

So just a regular bit of plastic thin cabling and some clips will work? Super! I love things that are easy.

I find that when I don't know something, it's easier to call something a "thingy" or a"whatsit" because if I use the wrong term inadvertently, I end up sent down the wrong path! Seems easier to come off a little ignorant than to come off too informed, you know?

Thank you for the help!


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## Phly (Nov 14, 2012)

Anything that's strong enough to pull the clip off the breakaway will be fine. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

I doesn't have to be lowes.....stop by any hardware store.....

This isn't a tough fix and won't cost much.


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## Joe4d (Sep 1, 2011)

cable and the crimper tool and a couple crimps, might find it in a kit in a saltwater fishing section. Parachute cord will work for a couple days till you can get to the store.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

If you left the pin attached to the break away controller, your battery that powers that is dead. When the pin is in, the battery is on, so when you disconnect from the towing vehicle, keep the pin out. In order to find out what is functioning properly on a trailer that is going on public roads hauling large animals, take it to an RV service center. You are risking safety by not doing so, reason why I love living in my area, they routinely have roadblocks checking trailers & RV's, from what I have read on here, the states seems to be lacking.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## DancingArabian (Jul 15, 2011)

waresbear said:


> If you left the pin attached to the break away controller, your battery that powers that is dead. When the pin is in, the battery is on, so when you disconnect from the towing vehicle, keep the pin out. In order to find out what is functioning properly on a trailer that is going on public roads hauling large animals, take it to an RV service center. You are risking safety by not doing so, reason why I love living in my area, they routinely have roadblocks checking trailers & RV's, from what I have read on here, the states seems to be lacking.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I think that's where the confusion is. I don't see a pin that pulls out. There's the battery in a box, some wires that run to a piece at the front of the Aframe that the cable connects to. Do you mean that piece?

For what it's worth, I've never heard of having to remove some pin to preserve the battery. While this is my first self owned trailer I've been with people who have had trailers (private owners as well as show barns) and none of them removed anything like what you're saying. They roll the wheel down, disconnect the chains, the breakaway cable and the lights cable and that's it. Are you certain all trailers even have this feature?

You are incorrect about the RV service station. There's an RV dealership that I pass on the way to the barn and they do not service horse trailers in any way. I asked them about the breakaway cable and they had no idea.

I repeat, the battery has a test button that tells you if the battery is dead. It is not dead. The light is green and says charged.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Joe4d (Sep 1, 2011)

DancingArabian said:


> I think that's where the confusion is. I don't see a pin that pulls out. There's the battery in a box, some wires that run to a piece at the front of the Aframe that the cable connects to. Do you mean that piece?
> 
> For what it's worth, I've never heard of having to remove some pin to preserve the battery. While this is my first self owned trailer I've been with people who have had trailers (private owners as well as show barns) and none of them removed anything like what you're saying. They roll the wheel down, disconnect the chains, the breakaway cable and the lights cable and that's it. Are you certain all trailers even have this feature?
> 
> ...


Thats because waresbare is exactly backwards. The brakes are released with no power, they brake with current applied. The battery has a contact in the circuit that has a nonconductive piece of usually plastic holding the contacts apart. One end of your cable is attached to this , probably all you see is a little loop on the side of a small box. You are checking your battery and every time you hook up and drive one of the wires in that plug is a "trailer battery charge" wire so it gets recharged whenenver you drive. No you dont pull the cable when you park, THAT would kill your battery, although it would lock up your tires for awhile, at least until the battery dies.


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## DancingArabian (Jul 15, 2011)

Joe4d said:


> Thats because waresbare is exactly backwards. The brakes are released with no power, they brake with current applied. The battery has a contact in the circuit that has a nonconductive piece of usually plastic holding the contacts apart. One end of your cable is attached to this , probably all you see is a little loop on the side of a small box. You are checking your battery and every time you hook up and drive one of the wires in that plug is a "trailer battery charge" wire so it gets recharged whenenver you drive. No you dont pull the cable when you park, THAT would kill your battery, although it would lock up your tires for awhile, at least until the battery dies.


Goodness. Thank you, seriously. My setup is exactly like what you're describing and what I've always seen. Yes I do check it before every haul and usually I check it several times before the actual haul. Safety is important to me so I try to do the best I can in that regard.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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