Smashed GN trailer into back of my 5058M :(

[yelbike]

I understand your point, and I'm all about safety, but there has to be a line somewhere. So you chock the wheels. What if the trailer rolls over the chocks, or the chocks slip? Well, it probably won't do that, but it could. Maybe I should put an anchor in the ground and chain the trailer to the anchor. But the anchor could pull out, so I should put two anchors. Etc... At some point, you have to draw the line and say, "this is safe enough." That's not complacency. It's just common sense. I've parked the trailer on the same pad time and time again. It has never rolled. The pad is almost perfectly level. I have manually dragged the trailer over to the truck to hook it up and I'm aware of exactly how much force is required to start it rolling. Unless gravity changes or something, I can park that trailer on that pad without chocking it without creating a safety risk.

Could it be that when you set your trailer down, your were still moving slowly? Then the trailer just kept on skidding.:confused3:

 

[joshuabardwell]

Could it be that when you set your trailer down, your were still moving slowly? Then the trailer just kept on skidding.:confused3:

I think you may have me confused with the OP.

 

[pclausen]

As the OP, let me clarify how it happened. I loaded a ~2400lbs bush hog at the extreme rear of the trailer. This was mistake #1, as it made the front very light. I was then coming around with the finish mover which I was going to load onto the middle of the trailer. A gravel pile was in the way, so I backed up to the trailer with the tractor and raised the 3pt mounted trailer mover until the ball was solidly engaged in the GN. I then got off the tractor and locked the GN collar pin so that there was no chance of the GN popping off. I then moved the trailer about 30 feet, not realizing the ground now had a slight slope to it. Mistake #2. Got off the tractor again and unlocked the GN collar pin and used the fender mounted switch to lower the 3pt trailer mover without chocking the wheels first. Mistake #3.

Interestingly enough, the trailer did not start moving right away. It wasn't until I got back on the tractor and had pulled away a few feet that the trailer started coming towards me. Perhaps the vibrations in the ground from the tractor, as weak as they must have been, was just enough to start the trailer moving?

At this point the trailer was moving very slow and it looked like the drop leg kept trying to "dig in" to stop the trailer again. So I continued to maintain a distance of a few feet. Once I realized that the trailer wasn't slowing down, it was in fact picking up speed, and knowing that the hill was about the get a lot steeper and we were heading into the woods, I decided to start slowing down the tractor to let the trailer ram me. I don't know that I really had a choice because I had the 1200lbs mover deck dangling on the pallet forks and the terrain was starting to become anything but smooth and level.

The impact was pretty severe as it knocked the PowrReverser relay completely out of its socket, and it also caused the clip that holds the buddy seat up to get knocked out of alignment, making it very squeaky when driving over bumpy terrain. The ROPS structure built into the cab is very strong to have been able to absorb stopping ~7200lbs of mass with only a few little nicks.

 

[birddog0304]

Thank GOD your okay.
Thought I had a level pad Turned out to have a 2-4 degree slope. Had parked my 16 ft Hudson under the carport to keep some household items from getting wet. Didnt chock it. Middle of the night bing-bang wham-blam. Ran outside, no trailer. Thought someone had stolen it. Tracked it through the woods about 2 hundred feet away. Best we could figure, it was so well balanced that a cat or critter jumped up on the the back and that little bit of slope was all it needed after the jack came off the ground in the front. Chock them all.

 

[jdphan]

Just a thought. To all those parking unchoked on " flat and level" remember, Murphy's law loves "flat and level"

 

[s219]

Just a thought. To all those parking unchoked on " flat and level" remember, Murphy's law loves "flat and level"

Heh, ain't that the truth! When I first got my 7x16 trailer in January, I parked it in my back yard and chocked the tires with a couple bricks -- this was before I made up my big 6x6 chocks. I jammed the bricks tight against one tire on each side, in the direction I thought would be resisting the very slight slope. Luckily I put the bricks between the two tires, because the trailer proceeded to roll about 6" in the opposite direction, until the bricks stopped against the other tire. Boy did I feel dumb. To this day, it still looks nearly flat with a slight slope in the other direction.

 

[The Haymaker]

Those are junk. they are hollow inside and a loaded trailer will roll right over them. Get the solid chocks.

Do tell? We use the same type at my work, and it takes effort to roll an 80klb truck over them, and will rock an empty (15k) trailer quite noticeably. You feel substantial resistance either way. I doubt you would have issues with them being able to hold in our applications.

 

[Bigfoot62]

Too bad that happened to your new tractor.

Very glad that you were not injured. That could have easily been the case.



Just wondering if your insurance will cover the brown stain on the seat?

 

[harp]

Thank you for taking the time and interest to share. Your experience made me think how I can make improvements on my trailers. You being okay is all that matters. My brother-in-law, who had been around heavy equipment all his life, lost his life trying to stop a moving pickup. Thanks again for sharing.

 

[pclausen]

The service manager from the dealer just stopped by and looked at the damage. He is going to recommend that the entire cab be replaced since it is part of the ROPS structure and it got nicked pretty bad in a couple of places. They will also replace the following:

Fender
Hydraulic line feeding the rear SCVs (it got nicked)
2 hydraulic couplers
2 hydraulic oil collection cups
Interior trim panels (they got nicked by the glass pieces)

In short, they are going to restore it back to showroom condition. He estimated it would take them 3 days in the shop to replace the cab. All the removable pieces from the existing cab will be moved over to the new one (doors, windshield, etc). He said it would hurt resale real bad if ROPS repair were evident.

He also said I was real lucky that nothing happened to me. They had a similar instance a few years ago where the operator was severely injured.

I'm going to be much more careful going forward, that's for sure!