Tongue jack / Safety chain failure.

Good Afternoon All, We took delivery of our new 179 in August and had it out for the third time this weekend. When operating the factory (manual, flip-foot) tongue jack, we heard a loud pop. Upon further examination, the one side of the bottom bracket that the jack runs through sheared off. The bolt with the chain simply pulled out. We figured that we'd go back to the dealer tomorrow. When we were leaving today, the jack seemed "Bound up" and was very difficult to move. The "good" side was now completely bent down. I was afraid to crank any further, afraid of breaking it and driving home with no safety chain connected at all. With help from the campground owner we were able to get the Pod on our TV and we got home safely. Has anyone heard of this happening? I wouldn't have thought that simply operating the jack would have any impact on the safety chains. It's my position that this is a warranty issue. Do you agree? Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks, Marty  

We do. Does that make difference?

Good Morning Furpod, Thank you very much for this information. Looks like we'll be upgrading to the two chain solution. I never would have thought that the WDH would have been the culprit.

The chains do not drag, but just barely. I planned to use a small bungy if needed.

I have heard the "cross the chains" mantra all my life. My dad used to be in the Cali DMV. One of his positions years ago involved traffic safety and accident reconstruction. He said he never saw evidence for, or against it. The only "purpose" of the chains is to restrain the trailer in the event of an uncoupling. In the case of Pods, the chains start out so close together anyways, I suspect the whole "catch the tongue and not let it dig in" theory is, just that, theory. 

The bolt that goes through the flip foot can easily get caught in the chain. I had it happen bad enough that the bolt sheared off. I replaced it with a Grade 9 yellow zinc bolt.